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tt1567609 | Get the Gringo | The film opens with a getaway driver (Mel Gibson) and a wounded accomplice dressed as clowns fleeing from American police toward the Mexican border. The driver crashes through the border fence, whereupon he is arrested by corrupt Mexican police officers Vasquez (Mario Zaragoza) and Romero (Gerardo Teracena). When they find over $2 million in the car, they incarcerate him in El Pueblito prison under false charges, keep the cash for themselves, and cremate the accomplice, who by then has died. As one of the only Americans incarcerated there, the driver becomes known as "the Gringo". El Pueblito proves surprising, operating more like a small ghetto than a prison. The Gringo quickly manages to work out the prison's criminal hierarchy and engages in petty thefts and robberies from some of the prison's less reputable businesses. One of these thefts is witnessed by an unnamed kid (Kevin Hernandez) who is living with his incarcerated mother (Dolores Heredia) and is protected by the prison's criminals. Curious, the Gringo presses him to explain why the criminals protect him, but the Kid refuses.
Later, the Gringo stops the Kid from an ill-fated assassination attempt on Javi (Daniel Giménez Cacho), leader of the crime family that runs El Pueblito. After an argument, he learns why the Kid is protected: Javi has a failing liver, and the Kid is the only viable match; Javi has already killed the Kid's father and harvested his liver. The Gringo vows to stop the transplant from happening and to help kill Javi. Meanwhile, the Gringo attracts the attention of an American Embassy employee (Peter Gerety), who easily identifies him as a career criminal. Unconcerned, the Gringo and the Kid work towards bringing down Javi, and the Gringo grows closer to the Kid's mother. The Gringo ingratiates himself to Javi by saving Javi's brother, Caracas (Jesús Ochoa) and revealing the money stolen by Vasquez and Romero. Thugs working for criminal boss Frank (Peter Stormare) have already located Vasquez and Romero and are torturing them to find the location of an additional $2 million. Javi's men kill everyone and take the money, enraging Frank. With the aid of the Embassy guy, Frank sends assassins into El Pueblito to kill Javi and the Gringo.
The resulting shootout results in the Mexican authorities planning a raid on the prison. Knowing time is short, Javi hires the Gringo to kill Frank and sets up an immediate transplant operation. In the US, the Gringo lures Frank out of hiding by arranging a meeting between him and shipping magnate Warren Kaufmann (Bob Gunton). The Gringo sets up his ex-partner, Reginald T. Barnes (J. J. Berry), who had betrayed him, and kills Frank. When the Gringo ambushes the Embassy employee, he learns about the transplant operation and rushes to save the Kid, who has unsuccessfully attempted to stab himself in the liver. Using the Embassy guys's credentials, the Gringo infiltrates the raid on the prison and interrupts Javi's liver transplant surgery. Threatening to kill Javi, the Gringo forces Caracas to retrieve the kid's mother, who Javi has tortured. Caracas returns with two thugs, but the Gringo kills them all. A nurse helps the Gringo by pretending to capture him. When Caracas relaxes, the Gringo shoots him. They grab the money, and the nurse helps them escape from the prison in an ambulance. In the epilogue, the Gringo recovers the missing $2 million hidden in the escape car held in the impound lot, and the Gringo, the Kid, and his mother retire to an idyllic beach. | neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | While watching this movie i was wondering why this movie was provided on a VOD service.....with such awesome stunts ,a strong script and brilliant acting this movie deserved a wide release .I was never a big Gibson fan but now i think i like his style of action thrillers never meant to say that i didn't like lethal weapon series but this in a way is more simplistic and tough.This movie is seriously meant for fans of tough action movies and is not for people looking out for a highly intelligent action movie.This is a smartly and slickly written piece of work which definitely has its ups and downs.The story is nothing new, first half hour is Mel settling into prison life ,but when the action begins it's a very brutal affair.The ups of the movie include the sublimely realistic acting of all the lead actors with Mel Gibson leading from the front,a tightly and smartly written screenplay(courtesy Gibson)and a smart yet simplistic approach from the director.The downsides include the quality of shots taken which i think they should have taken with a much higher budget in hand and also a pretty unimpressive trailer.
It is a shame his new film, Get the Gringo, has gotten such a limited release, playing exclusively on DirecTV before eventually getting a wider VOD and DVD release later this year.This is by no means a great film, but it holds up a lot better than recent action films boasting a huge actor has the lead (Taken is the prime example here) and packs in half the amount of incredulity as those as well.
The movie is often laugh out loud funny - I know that because I was the only one laughing - but that may be you know, I was probably the only American, some things may have gone too fast for people.The plot is a bit silly, but great characters, some memorable scenes, really unexpected locations and scenery, the production design was quite extraordinary, well-paced, good action sequences...Overall, pretty good value for 30 dirhams.
exactly.This was a bad-ass film, I watched it because I was curious and because of Mel Gibson, as I am an all time fan, and I have to say from screenplay to a great storyline to the fantastic directing to all the actors - main and supporting - and to the film all together, I am happy to have watched it and enjoyed it.
Get The Gringo(How I Spent My Summer Vacation) directed by Adrian Grunberg is one of the finest movies to come out in the mid-2012 and one of the best Mel Gibson movies.The movie is scheduled to release on 1st May 2012 in the U.S.A,but luckily in the Middle East it released a few weeks back and I was glad to watch it.Although the movie may be a bit similar to Mel Gibson's Payback,but still Get The Gringo is fresh and entertaining.Story:- A career criminal (Mel Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy (Kevin Hernandez).Mel Gibson delivers one of the best performances ever.Get The Gringo is a stylish move with loads of action scenes,dark,gritty,humorous,violent and above all entertaining.The director Adiran Grunberg does an excellent job.All in all,Get The Gringo(How I spent my Summer Vacation) is a not only a must-watch for Mel Gibson fans but also for those who are not because it is one of the best movies to come out in the mid-2012.I am giving a nine on ten for Get The Gringo.Strongly Recommended!.
"To the untrained eye it looks as if crime pays doesn't it, but bear in mind for guys with my particular set of karmic could-be's there was bound to be a bump or two down the road." After a car chase ends with Driver (Gibson) being caught be the Mexican police he is thrown in to their prison.
Consequently, The Beaver divided opinion last year and barely made a splash at the box office and Get The Gringo (released in the UK as How I Spent My Summer Vacation) has similarly slipped under the surface with barely a ripple.In both cases it's a great pity and, whilst I'm sure it will have dented Gibson's pride (and bankability as far as the studios and investors are concerned), the real loss is yours.
Get The Gringo is fun, at times funny, throws in a few grimaces and is packed with action that, while not up to the pace or jaw-dropping fluidity of The Raid, is nonetheless absorbing, engaging and the most fun I've had in front of the big screen this week.Kevin Hernandez gives a creditable performance as the boy who is both dignified and canny, a born survivor, while Delores Heredia is sensitive as his determined mum and succeeds in being warm and an obvious potential love-interest without slipping into damsel-in-distress mode.
It's a glimpse into the murky world of corruption where criminals run rampant within the walls that are supposed to restrict their freedom, but instead turning the premises into fiefs of operations.Based on a story written by Mel Gibson, Stacy Perskie and Adrian Grunberg, with the latter making his debut directorial feature after deputizing for numerous films, it has all the ingredients necessary to stand tall amongst this season of summer blockbusters, with a tale that keeps you guessing of the Driver's backgrounds and motivations, which soon dissolve into the basic theme of friendship developed with a nine year old Kid (Kevin Hernandez) who holds a certain secret that keeps him alive within a notorious place, and who may just be Driver's ticket out if the cards get played right.
It took a while to have elements set up and put in place, although you'd get to appreciate the efforts it took to gel all character relationships together, with Grunberg adopting a style especially in the beginning with its quick edits cutting very close to how Tony Scott would have stylistically done it if the latter was at the helm.For all the action that the trailer promises, what truly stood out was a mid section, free for all shoot-em-up complete with its graphical depiction of bullet wounds flying all around, entering and exiting various points of the body, and the requisite slow motion to keep things watchable, not forgetting having the Driver break his cover on his background having to save the Kid and his mother (Dolores Heredia) from gunfire coming at all sides.
It reminded me a lot of Mel Gibson's "Payback" - but this of course is an entirely different premise; that of a world closing in on an American criminal trapped in a Mexican prison.The action and violence is intense.
then just when everyone has given up on his and starts calling him a has been, he whips out a great film like this.The movie is about a criminal called Driver, who gets arrested crossing the Mexican border who ends up in a rough prison.
a 10 year old boy.OK, so a good movie does not forgive Mel for his actions or his views, but if you forget his personal life and just look at his career, then the man can act and has made some fantastic movies.This is not one of his best, but it proves he still has it in him.The story is very good.
It was shocking at first, but very well done.The action is good and the movie is a lot of fun.Mel is back and I hope he manages to get his fans back.I will give this film 7 out of 10."Well, boys and girls.
Great gritty feel with the setting for a good part in a south of the border prison, come ghetto, come refugee camp and a very human character driven story to go with the Peckinpah type action.
A crime gone wrong, the witty loner protagonist, some plotting, the (often needless) voice-over narrative, and an R-rating.It's not "Payback" though, but still pretty close even when considering the main setting/location is a weird prison that looks like a crappy and dirty flea market.This film is not overly smart, not even too exciting and the trashy surroundings can bother some people, but it manages to be good.
A career criminal (Mel Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a young boy (Kevin Hernandez).Not only was this movie incredibly entertaining and action-packed...
I learned about El Pueblito prison (which apparently is a lot like the film portrays it to be) and "Bombay blood", a blood type so rare that only 0.0004% of people have it.Urban Cinefile said, "Mel Gibson is back doing what he knows, playing a flawed character with redeeming qualities who is also a resourceful tough guy." Precisely!
The driver meets a streetwise ten-year-old boy who helps him learn the ropes of his new home and tells him of how he came to be a resident of El Pueblito and why he and his mother remain there: Javi.GET THE GRINGO feels like a return to the Mel Gibson we knew and loved from the Lethal Weapon series.
The silver toe studded hit men is a direct reference to an early episode of Breaking Bad where two hit men from Mexico wore those same type of silver toed boot.The action picks up at the end when the guys from whom the money was stolen by Driver in the first place, ratchet up the plot by wanting their money back.I enjoyed this film, but the subtitles sucked, they were bleeding through and hard to read...so unless you know un pocito espanol you might miss some dialog.Check out this flick..
Bare in mind the first hour was debatable for me - started off REALLY strong with the car chase - you think this is going to be incredible but then it all slows down a little but be assured it definitely picks back up in a big way leaving you pleasantly smiling at the end with a feeling of enjoyment and respect for Mel Gibson.
Things become even more complicated when the crime boss he ripped off (Peter Stormare) comes looking for his money.The movie has been said to be an unofficial sequel, 'in spirit', to the Gibson film 'PAYBACK', by fans.
¨If I was going to survive in this place it was time to do what I was good at.¨ People in Hollywood need to stop boycotting Mel Gibson's movies because Get the Gringo is the best film I've seen this year.
Mel Gibson is at his best once again and never ceases to entertain as he's narrating his experience in a unique prison in Mexico called ¨El Pueblito.¨ Gibson hasn't starred in many films in the last decade (since his work in Signs he's only been in three films including this one) and he seems to choose his roles carefully because each one has been great.
Perskie and Grunberg had both worked together as assistants in Man on Fire, a movie I found very similar to this one in many ways.Mel Gibson plays the gringo whose name we never really hear (following the same tradition from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and last year's Drive starring Ryan Gosling).
He not only has to learn how to survive in that dangerous prison, but also try to recover the money that he stole, and help the kid get out as well.Get the Gringo is a really entertaining film with good amount of laughs and action sequences.
The kid, Kevin Hernandez was also really good and had great chemistry with Mel. The movie not only works as an action film, but it also has some elements from the buddy comedy genre.
He's a little old, he has demons swirling around (including his own), and there are a lot of people that plainly don't like him, but he still can come up with the goods in film.The movie is not half bad, and much like we've seen before in films of his as well as others, but I think Mel wanted to produce a film just like this considering his circumstances.
This is personified in his latest film "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" or "Get the Gringo" which will undoubtedly go down as one of the best "straight to DVD" films of all time.Directed by débutante Adrian Grunberg, who co-wrote the script with Gibson, the film tells the story of a hardened criminal (played by Gibson) who finds himself in jail in Mexico and his eventful stay at the institution.
This is a prime example of just how good he still is as an actor.My motto when it comes to movies is, "If Mel Gibson is involved in it, I am going to watch it", this has very rarely ever let me down.This movie is non stop action and fun from start to the finish and will have you on the edge of you seat and laughing in other places and never lets up.
(Yeah, that's one Spoiler I should've alerted you about but I didn't and you'll know when you'll see the movie yourself) Gibson plays a man with no name -- he gives a number of aliases, (first appear wearing a rubbery clown mask; but he's billed only as the Ryan Gosling character and credited simply as "Driver") an unfortunately timed coincidence -- who commits a robbery and leads officials on a high-speed chase before barrelling over the U.S.-Mexico border.
Once the audience realise they're getting Mel in classic action-movie mode, they'll come around and see that it's that same old Australian bad-ass handling weapons just like the old days, they'll realise what they're missing out here.It's true The Beaver, directed by his good friend Jodie Foster, was an awkward misfire but go back a little further and I defy anyone who appreciates great screen action to deny the cinematic virtuosity on display in the Gibson-directed Apocalypto.
The tone, inspired by film noir but amplified considerably for 21st-century audience, suggests "Lethal Weapon 3's" battle-scar comparison scene, as if this flashback were being offered to explain a gnarly gash — in this case sustained while breaking back into the world's craziest slammer, El Pueblito prison, based on a real correctional facility, in which inmates are allowed to bring their families to live with them behind bars.Gibson's sensibility remains one that chuckles at carnage and sees torture as the most effective way to ratchet up audience sympathies, but still doesn't take itself so seriously that the actor can't poke fun at himself — or old friend Clint Eastwood in an especially amusing impersonation.
Not perfect, but some very nice action scenes (movie starts off with one chase scene, that is "border-line" so to speak).Mel Gibsons character also tries to continue a long tradition of men with no name.
His only friend is a 10-year-old kid (Kevin Hernandez), who lives in the prison with his prostituting mother (Dolores Heredia).Dark and gritty "Get the Gringo" is a welcome return for the publicly much reviled Mel Gibson.
And it is good but only just half maybe.On the one hand it is definitely being a maintaining enough crime-action-thriller vehicle for Mel Gibson but it is never a movie that becomes truly a great or surprising one.
The sort of stuff that can make these sort of action-crime movies great to watch.Mel Gibson definitely still has it in him.
Don't know how it will do money wise but I hope its a solid hit as it should be, it ticks all the right boxes, action, well written, fun at times, great setting, and yes the last 20mins might be a bit "no way" but it does not take anything away from the film.
The gritty tone of this movie brings the somewhat simple idea to life delivering one of the best Gibson action films in some time.
Director Adrian Grunberg has teamed up with Actor, producer and screenwriter Mel Gibson to create this gritty, violent but splendid action film called " Get The Gringo.
I Enjoyed It. Get The Gringo or How I Spent My Summer Vacation as it says on my DVD (2012)Plot In A Paragraph: A career criminal (Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a young boy.I enjoyed a lot of this movie.especially Mel's Clint Eastwood impression.
Maybe in the film the odds are against him, but watching this he certainly has something good going for him, it is almost like seeing the good old action movies of his, like Payback or even the humor and action ones, like Lethal Weapon.I think this film works out very well, it is entertaining and interesting all of the way, a great film for the guys :) You should see it if you haven't and especially if you like Mel Gibsons action movies..
when I read about "Get The Gringo" in Wikipedia, and I saw "The film will be released exclusively through video-on-demand" and not enough about it, I just said, well average movie, but it's good to see Mel Gibson again on the screen ...
But as an individual movie this flick is great.Gibson plays a criminal who ends up in an open Mexican prison where the bad guys rule.
I feel like I have to qualify every review I make of a Mel Gibson film, so yes, he is an awful, crazy person, but oh man was this an great movie!
One of the best movies of Mel Gibson- can watch it million times.
it was no surprise for me , i knew this had to be a fantastic movie, check it out: Mel Gibson, Mexican prison , bad guys , a bag full of money , chase in the dessert , corrupt police officers , and so on and on.
Good action, nice story, and great to have Mel Gibson back on the screen....
Not horrible, Not great, just decent or OK.Mel Gibson has been in a lot of good movies so there has to be a dud in there somewhere, I think this one just might be it.. |
tt0343135 | Along Came Polly | Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller), a life insurance underwriter, is celebrating his honeymoon with newlywed wife, Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing), on the island of St. Barts, but catches her having sex with Claude (Hank Azaria), a French scuba instructor. Returning home to New York alone, he attempts to piece his life back together. Reuben goes to an art gallery with his friend, Sandy Lyle (Philip Seymour Hoffman), where he runs into former junior high school classmate Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston).
Reuben and Polly begin dating, with her introducing him to activities he once wrote off as "too risky", such as eating at a Moroccan restaurant and salsa dancing, which culminates with the pair enthusiastically having sex together, with Reuben shouting "50" as he orgasms. The contrast between their two personalities is a source of comedy throughout the film until Lisa returns and tells him she wants to reconcile their relationship. Meanwhile, Sandy, a self-centered, former teen idol, is trying to make a comeback by having a documentary filmed about his starring role as Judas in an amateur production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Reuben is torn between the free-spirited Polly and the safe and familiar Lisa. To solve this issue, he enters information about Polly and Lisa into a computer insurance program which measures risk. The computer tells him that, despite his numerous blunders with her, Polly is the best choice for him. Polly joins Reuben on a sailing trip where he is to inspect Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown), a high-risk client, but she is offended when she sees his risk analysis of her. She rejects his proposal to move in together, telling him that he would be better off going back to Lisa.
Back home, Reuben tries talking to Polly, but to no avail. He eventually invites Lisa to Sandy's opening show, where he learns that Polly is leaving New York for Cincinnati in a few hours. After a speech given by his father, Irving (Bob Dishy), to Sandy about not living in the past, Reuben realizes he wants to be with Polly and not Lisa, and he rushes to her apartment to stop her from leaving. Polly is not convinced she should stay with him, so Reuben eats food off the ground to prove he is capable of taking risks.
Reuben and Polly vacation on the same beach where Lisa and he had their honeymoon. Reuben again encounters Claude, but instead of being angry, he thanks Claude before heading into the water with Polly to join Van Lew on his new boat. | bleak, comedy, entertaining, storytelling | train | wikipedia | I can imagine that if you are easily offended by fart ( or "shart") jokes or the shiny hiney's of Ben Stiller or Hank Azaria, you may not like this movie.
The characters were all so much fun- the kind of creepy boss, the obnoxious but extremely lovable best friend, the risk expert who finds something to worry about in any situation, the goofy, scatterbrained ferret- owning waitress/creepy children's book author, the australian who likes to free fall off of tall buildings, the priceless scuba instructor, and the very cute salsa dancer.
And Alec Baldwin steals every scene in which he appears (would love to see him do more comedy).I am not easily offended by bathroom humor quite the opposite, I think it's funny when pulled off right.
The other Ben & Jen. ALONG CAME POLLY (2004) *** Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Debra Messing, Bryan Brown, Hank Azaria, Michele Lee, Bob Dishy, Alec Baldwin, Missi Pyle.
Stiller gives another of his patented hapless schmuck romantics turns as newlywed risk management assessor whose marriage is on the rocks when his wife (Messing) has an affair on their honeymoon, sending him back to NYC to assess his life and runs into former junior high friend Aniston who knocks him for a loop despite her flaky demeanor.
Frequently funny and evenly paced by writer and first-time director John Hamburg the laughs come often and no thanks to Hoffman as Stiller's sloven has-been actor buddy and Baldwin as his vulgar boss.
Yet, this sadly doesn't hold a candle to 'Something About Mary', which may have been his best movie of his career.We begin the film, seeing Reuben (Stiller) marrying Lisa (Messing).
It is funny, and it's not a bad film at all, it's clever and cute, it's just that it does tend to lose flavor each time you see it.Aniston and Stiller were equally good in this, and I still recommend it.
A one time watch, or just once every so often is good enough.Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) analyses risk for a living and is an extremely cautious man, with an extremely cautious life.
Who will it be, the free-spirited Polly, or Lisa, with whom Reuben shares a lot in common?I thought this movie was very cute and I liked the ferret :).
Aniston is great as Polly and with the addition of Stiller, the two become a great duo, feeding off of each other's energy.This movie is a great date flick and is even a good film to just pop in once and a while.
The film belongs to the demential genre, it's a comedy like "There's something about Mary" -actually there's the same actor, and the same screenwriter of recent Ben Stiller movies as well.We laugh sometimes, but (as it often happens) we see that the most comical moments were in the trailer!
Ben Stiller always does the same character -the Jewish young man, awkward and jinxed-, with a beauty to court (this time is Jennifer Aniston).Everything here is predictable, nothing surprises us.
Reuben Feffer {Ben Stiller} is looking for a new relationship after walking in on his wife {Debra Messing} with a scuba diving instructor {Hank Azaria}.
Ben Stiller plays a "Risk analyst" (and he is the most cautious man on earth, quote: "you don't eat mixed nuts on a bar everybody knows that" and "I don't take the subway home because you a 1 to 45000 risk to get into a serious accident") and the first day of his honeymoon his wife cheats on him...And along came Polly, an old friend from school.
Jennifer Aniston as Polly Prince Ben Stiller as Reuben Feffer10/10 Grrrrrrrrrreat movie.
Ben Stiller and Jennifer Anniston play a couple who are opposites- and yet they are attracted to each other.If that plot line doesn't take you by surprise and thrill you, the movie won't either.Lots of sight gags and fart jokes.
And Hank Azaria and Phillip Seymore Hoffman must have got paid a great deal of money to be in this kind of average ho-hum movie, I've come to expect more from them.What was interesting was that I saw this after I saw American Splendor, which is a truly funny and original movie- and I compared the two in my head, and found myself wishing that the movie executives would be forced to sit through those two movies back to back- perhaps that would knock some sense into them andthey'd start making better movies with unknowns rather than this formulaic stuff that plays best on airplanes..
I may be the only person in the world who didn't think something about Mary (sorry--keyboard is broken and won't capitalize consistently) wasn't funny so I thought this movie was much better done, especially with the toilet humor.Excellent performance by Hank azaria (I didn't recognize him).a good movie to watch when it's too nasty to go outside.
Any fan of Ben Stiller or Jennifer Aniston will most likely enjoy Along Came Polly.
Great plot, incredibly funny minor characters such as: the Great Hank Azaria (he's responsible for the voices of Apu, Moe, Chief Wiggum and others on "the simpsons", by the way) in an absolutely unrecognizable body, playing the role of Claude, a French scooba instructor you'll love to meet.
A lot of Slapstick, a lot of seemingly "low" humor, but it's just SO funny seeing that slow motion shot of someone's hairy belly rubbing ALL over Ben Stiller's face during a basketball match
Along Came Polly manages to be a real fun Comedy with a true sense of kindness, love, and humor.
I can't believe it that this film has such a low rate of 5.8 in IMDb, this movie deserves at least a rating of 7 stars.Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston are very good in here, and there is very good chemistry between them too.
If you take out the toilet jokes, and the two horrible main characters, and the sappy moral, and the dumb animal joke, you end up with a few great supporting characters: Hank Azaria, Alec Baldwin, and Missi Pyle could have made a better movie with just their characters.But the thing that makes this worth watching is Phil Hoffman.
It means we see his energetic projection.The character he plays is one of those folded ones: an actor playing an actor whose role in the story is in a play, and in a reality TeeVee show of himself, and finally as "proxy" for Ben Stiller while Stiller is off doing the formula date movie ending.Watch this just for Hoffman.
I realize several Ben Stiller movies are out or will be out this year, but perhaps he should insist on quality, not quantity.I was dumbfounded at what the filmmakers thought passed for comedy in "Along Came Polly." Stiller's Reuben is grating, charmless and ranks as one of the worst performances of the year.
As long as she keeps making more movies such as "The Good Girl" (in which she's terrific) and less like "Along Came Polly," she'll have a career of which she could be proud.Aniston tries desperately to overcome the limp material with which she's working, but it's a daunting task for any actress.
With the exception of a few moments with Alec Baldwin, as Reuben's boss Stan, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as Reuben's best friend Sandy, there's nothing funny in this awful film.
So overall I felt the potential gain outweighed the potential risk, which oddly enough ties into the theme of the film.Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, a guy whose wife (Debra Messing, yuck) cheats on him during their honeymoon and who ends up bumping into a girl he liked when younger, Polly Prince (Aniston).
His friend Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to cheer him up and takes him to the party where old schoolmate Polly (Jennifer Aniston) erm...
One poor part of the movie I thought though was that Jennifer Aniston's character (Polly) didn't seem to be able to make up her mind about what she wanted.
I thought if she'd known what she'd wanted from the start (even if she didn't show it to Ben Stiller's character, just us) it would have made it a lot easier to focus on the actual comedy of the movie..
Torturing Ben Stiller can only be so funny for so long - in this flick, he shares the company of a ferret, rubs up face first against a sweaty, hairy guy, and befriends an intolerable Philip Seymour Hoffman (Every time I hear the word "sharted," I want to revoke the Oscar he won for Capote and brain him with it).
While in his honeymoon in a paradisaical beach, the conservative risk analyst of an insurance company Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) finds his wife Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing) having intercourse with her scuba instructor Claude (Hank Azaria) in his boat.
When Lisa returns, Reuben has to decide if he wants to live his life in the suburb with his unfaithful wife, or have a risky relationship with Polly."Along Came Polly" is a good entertainment, where the beauty of Jennifer Aniston shines.
I like Philip Seymour Hoffman very much, he has a good performance in this film, but indeed the character of Sandy Lyle seems to be tailored for Jack Black.
Ben Stiller is the WORST actor in the whole world, as always.Jennifer Aniston or Debra Messing may be cool actress, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is great but, c'mon, what the hell are they doing here?
As for the actors...Ben Stiller shows why he's worthy of a Razzie award...Philip Seymour Hoffman, a wonderful actor, is uncharacteristically unlikable...Jenifer Aniston's OK, in a wooden, sleepwalky kind of way...Hank Azaria does a good job in a small part..& is nicely silly.
Even the farting noises are irritating.)The movie tries to preach to us that we all should live our lives like Polly: careless and without worry, because as one character says in the stereotypical Big Inspirational Speech of the film, we only live our miserable lives once, and why make it completely miserable instead of looking for the good in things?
"Along Came Polly" isn't really all that funny, with lots of bodily humor and silly juvenile jokes, not to mention a rather disappointingly contrived performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman who tries (to no avail) to make his character realistic.
The characters played by Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston are so thinly drawn that they don't even seem like real people, just markers being nudged down an extremely familiar path by a screenplay that exists in a dimension BEYOND cliche.
Stiller plays Reuben Feffer, who is pretty much the exact same character he always plays in movies like this, and Aniston's Polly is such a ghost of a character that she only has one personality trait that I could pick out.
Philip Seymour Hoffman supplies a good number of laughs (pretty much the only ones in the movie) as Reuben's lecherous best friend Sandy, a former child star who is oblivious to his own foolishness.
Funny guy Ben Stiller plays Reuben Feffer a hard working insurance adjuster who's just recently married his elegant and attractive sweetheart Lisa(Debra Messing)and upon their honeymoon Reuben finds out that he's been cheated on right away!
This is at least the third film in which I've seen Ben Stiller on a toilet, and twice now that I've seen Philip Seymour Hoffman complain in movie about his bowel movements, or lack thereof.
Situations like this have been filmed before, viewed from the perspective of either sex, so if you're going to tread in these oft-visited waters, you really do need a fresh concept.Stiller plays a neurotic, insurance risk assessment specialist and Jennifer Aniston is the playful Polly.
Same Old Same Old. How many times can you watch a Stiller / Aniston comedy with the same weak plot over and over again until you finally lost feeling in your legs and start to wonder how movies like this get made?
Starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston at around both of their career peaks, this film doesn't offer much of anything special or different than other romantic comedies.
Ben Stiller is a likable enough comedic performer and Jennifer Aniston was at the height of her 'Friends' fame when this romantic comedy was made.It's a decent enough film, with some big laughs, but it never seems to know what sort of film it wants to be, and ventures from heart-warming to lewd with alarming ease.As a step away from her 'Rachel' persona, Aniston chose well, but her character is so two dimensional and at times annoying, that I could never really like her.If anything it is a film stolen by the supporting cast, with Hank Azaria and the much missed Phillip Seymour Hoffman stealing every scene they're in.Pitched as a dream pairing of Stiller and Aniston, if anything it instead just reminds us of the good work both have done elsewhere..
You know it kind of feels like Ben Stiller movies rolled into one here, a bit too much crude humour on that but still it does seem like that at times, nothing original here and a film that doesn't really bring positivity to the party.Now Ben Stiller as the main character Reuben is OK and Jennifer Aniston as Polly is the same, the problem is they don't gel and that is the key here to why this isn't a good show from the creators.
I did like the supporting cast, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Sandy is funny at moments and Alec Baldwin chips in too acting wise, but in all honesty because the main two's chemistry doesn't work, it kind of ruins it for all.Now John Hamburg writes and directs this and does it in a way as I said before, like every other Ben Stiller ever made.
The main actors actually do make this slightly better, they can be relied on to be consistent here but maybe that is the problem, drawing people to watch it only because of the big names.It is basically Rom-com gone bad and one that for me is unforgivable given that Hamburg and Stiller can and have made good films like this before, but both (but more Hamburg), fail at this one.
Creator John Hamburg takes two likely comedy protagonists -- a risk-assessing neurotic type (Ben Stiller) and the free-spirited unpredictable type (Jennifer Aniston) who come together after Stiller's character's wife cheats on their honeymoon -- and puts them in outrageous situations and dealing with strange characters to amp up the humor.
It all happens quite naturally.By the end, "Polly" is no longer the commitment phobe she was at the beginning of the film, while Stiller's character has learned that life is not about achieving "milestones" and to take things slowly.We feel good about their prospects...definitely a Happy, Feel-Good Movie.One leaves the theater feeling satisfied.
Along Came Polly (2004, Dir. John Hamburg) Reuben Feffer (Stiller) thinks he's found the love of his life, but on his honeymoon, he unfortunately discovers her cheating on him with a scuba instructor (Azaria).
But it's not going to be easy for Reuben, especially when he spends his days calculating risks, and when someone unexpected turns up.'Along Came Polly' is another on of Ben Stiller's comedies.
ALONG CAME POLLY is an entertaining romantic comedy filled with laughs starring Ben Stiller as Rueben Pfeffer, a tightly wound insurance agent, whose bride cheats on him on his honeymoon and upon returning home, embarks on a romance with a free-spirited girl (Jennifer Aniston) who he knew in junior high school.
This is your average romantic comedy with several gag jokes that Ben Stiller is famous for in his movies.
This film is amusing and worth watching, in spite of two very obvious and significant shortcomings: (1) it stars Ben Stiller playing a character almost - exactly - like - every - other - character - he - has - ever - played - on - television - or - on - film; and (2) it co-stars Jennifer Anniston playing a character almost - exactly - like - every - other - character - she - has - ever - played - on - television - or - on - film.That it is worth watching is high testimony as to the likableness both of these actors convey in all their roles and by their personalities both on- and off-screen.Philip Hoffman is often hilarious as the (also likable) pompous and nerdy, combined (no small feat for an actor) small-time actor in the plot - one who knows-it-all and knows little at the same time.Hank Azaria adds to any production in which he appears, as do Debra Messing, Byran Brown and Alec Baldwin.
Along Came Polly is a comedy featuring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston, as two former high school classmates, who begin a new romance after a chance meeting years later.There are several scenes that I got a good laugh out of, like the overflowing toilet bit and the basketball
er how shall I say, "mishap".
You know the movie that starred Ben Stiller and he was really funny in it?
I recommend this movie to all Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston fans, and to everyone who loves goofball and romantic comedies.
Few positives are that it did have a good moral of the story at then end of the movie, and I felt Jennifer Aniston portrayed her character Polly well.For comedy movie fans, I wouldn't recommend watching this movie as there isn't enough funny moments and the plot is not that good..
The movie works because you care about Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston.
Ben Stiller is funny in this movie, but it is not his best work.
I believe the only thing worthwhile in the film is Jennifer Aniston, she looks so much more attractive and sexy than in Friends she made my mouth water....Ben Stiller plays Reuben, a complete insecure idiot with no character (or "cojones") that somehow is a "star" at the insurance company he works for (first contradiction). |
tt0142521 | Lal Darja | Nabin Dutta (Subhendu Chattopadhyay) was a 47-year-old dentist. He had a son Kushal who was studying in Darjeeling. His wife was not satisfied with him and wanted to be separated. Nabin thought he had some acute disease, but it was nothing serious. Every moment Nabin felt a lack of satisfaction.
He compared his situation with his driver Dinu who had two wives, Sukhi (Nandini Maliya) and Maloti (Indrani Haldar). Dinu's wives were satisfied with him and they had no complaints about Dinu. Nabin tried to understand himself. Most of the time he thought about his childhood in Cherrapunji and the red coloured gate which he thought obeyed him. His mother said that the gate had a huge tolerance and Nabin compared himself with the red coloured gate. Ultimately, after departing from his wife and son, he raised his tolerance to a maximum stage and started to live alone with himself. | allegory | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0863046 | Flight of the Conchords | The series centres on the day-to-day lives and loves of two shepherds-turned-musicians, Jemaine Clemaine and Bret McClegnie (Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, playing fictionalized versions of themselves), who have uprooted themselves from their native New Zealand to try to make it big as a folk duo in New York City. The two have frequent appointments with their officious and ineffectual band manager, Murray Hewitt (Rhys Darby), a Deputy Cultural Attaché at the New Zealand Consulate. Jemaine and Bret constantly fend off the amorous attentions of Mel (Kristen Schaal), a married woman who is their sole fan and stalker. Their friend Dave Mohumbhai (Arj Barker) works at a pawn shop and gives them advice on dealing with American women and culture. Other recurring characters include their landlord, Eugene (Eugene Mirman), Bret's short-term girlfriend Coco (Sutton Foster), Jemaine and Bret's ex-girlfriend Sally (Rachel Blanchard), Mel's husband Doug (David Costabile), and Murray's put-upon assistant Greg (Frank Wood).
Most episodes centre on the five main cast members. The antagonists outside of this small group are usually either Doug (Mel's husband), their girlfriends, or Australians (see "Bret Gives Up the Dream", "Sally Returns").
Jemaine or Bret break into song in each episode. The songs are built into the narrative structure of the show in several different ways. Some songs form part of the plot of the show. In these instances, Bret or Jemaine sing to another character. Other songs serve as the internal monologue of one of the two. Typically, at least once per show, a song is shot in the form of a music video. Some songs use a combination of the styles. For example, in the first episode, "Sally", the song "Most Beautiful Girl in the Room" is a mix of Jemaine's thoughts and his spoken invitations to Sally to get a kebab and to go back to his place. The music video for "Business Time" (from "Sally Returns") depicts a daydream that Jemaine is having. As the series evolved, other main characters also had their own musical interludes, depicted in a similar manner to Jemaine and Bret's own songs.
The enthusiastic manner in which the characters express themselves through song contrasts with the otherwise low-key tone of the show. Thus, when the characters cannot speak about their feelings, the songs serve as inner monologues. | absurd, humor, satire | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0064409 | Heaven with a Gun | Preacher Jim Killian (Ford) arrives in a town divided between cattlemen and sheep herders. Killian is not just any preacher. He is a former gunslinger who has set upon a different path.
Leelopa (Barbara Hershey), an American Indian girl who looks up to Killian, becomes a target of opportunity for one of the cowhands, Coke Beck (David Carradine). (The actors became real-life wife and husband three years after the movie's release.) Coke happens to be the son of cattle rancher Asa Beck, and when Coke is stabbed to death through the neck, the cattlemen blame Killian.
Madge McCloud (Carolyn Jones), the whiskey-drinking madam of the town's saloon and brothel, acts as Killian's conscience. After a gunslinger working for the cattlemen tries to kill Killian and four cowhands burn the church, Killian straps on his gun and prepares to act alone.
Madge tells him that he must make a decision to be either a gunman or a preacher — he must choose between Heaven and Hell, else he risks the trust of the community. She tells him that trying to be both is a worse sort of Hell. But there is also a pending showdown between the cattlemen and the sheepherders over water rights, and somehow Killian must be in the middle of it, whether armed or not. | violence | train | wikipedia | Excellent western--fine acting performances.
Glenn Ford turns in a fine performance, contrary to what some have said.
Who better to portray a reluctant hero, a reformed gunfighter/preacher?
Ford is perfect for the part, just as Clint was perfect for the Man with No Name and Dirty Harry, and the Duke was perfect for the lead role in The Cowboys and True Grit.
If you don't like Glenn Ford, fine.
I'm a fan of Eastwood and Wayne, but Ford is a better actor than either.
David Carradine turns in a top notch acting job also as a villain/foil to Ford as hero.
True Western fans will appreciate this film..
late 60's western.
A late 60's western about ruthless cattle ranchers and their ranch hands who terrorize helpless sheep ranchers, with the action alternating between the range, the ranch, and the town, itself with a thriving saloon/brothel where a lot of the action is centered.
Into this arrives an ex gunfighter turned preacher played by Glenn Ford who wants to bring peace.
The script nearly does the film in, although the story and late 60's permissiveness keep one watching.
As well, even though the screenplay verges on being ridiculous, the acting by Ford, John Anderson (as the ruthless big cattle rancher with a sadistic son played by David Carridine) and some other parts (J.D. Cannon chews some serious scenery as hired gun Mace) elevate the entertainment quotient, and the film's ending doesn't make one feel remorse about watching this..
This Is A "Must-see" Movie.
By the time I was 16 years of age, I was a devout Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy fan, but when I saw "Heaven With A Gun", Glenn Ford instantly became my number 1 cowboy hero, and me old mates Randolph and Audie had to take a back seat.
For me, due to the humble, yet determined character Glenn Ford played so beautifully, this movie offered some great moralistic encouragement, and at the same time, stimulated an enthusiasm to believe in myself against all odds and "stick to my guns", as the expression goes.
You will relate to this expression if you watch the movie.
If anybody knows where I can buy this difficult-to-purchase movie, please let me know.
I would do absolutely anything to add this movie to my collection.
If you want to be truly entertained, this is a "Must-see" movie..
Heaven with a Gun is directed by Lee Katzin and written by Richard Carr.
it stars Glenn Ford, Carolyn Jones, Barbara Hershey, John Anderson, David Carradine, J.D. Cannon and Noah Beery Jr. Music is by Johnny Mandel and the Metrocolor/Panavision cinematography is by Fred Koenekamp.
This is a good ole late 1960s Oater, not one to rush out and see immediately, or quickly part with your cash to buy or rent - or go out and steal.
But it has Glenn Ford, who maybe in the twilight of his career, but still a bad mutha with gun, shovel and a pulpit!
It's the town of Vinegarroon and a war is raging between cattle and sheep breeders.
Into this walks Jim Killian (Ford), a famed gunfighter who has come to build a church and preach the bible.
However, Pastor Jim is not afraid to use his guns in the name of the Lord!
It is what it is in that respect, the cheeky kicker here is that Killian is unorthodox in his methods, anyone wanting to come to church will be guaranteed safety, important since Killian is trying to convince the cattle and sheep barons that they can co-exist, that the animals (all God's creatures of course) can do it, and thus so can the humans.
Naturally some are more keen to give it a try than others - cue intimidation and bloodshed, Killian clearly has his work cut out here...
The musical score is a touch out of place, one big turn of events feels completely unnecessary, while the delectable Hershey works hard but never comes close to convincing as a girl of Indian blood.
Converseley the Arizona locales are nicely prominent, while Anderson does his stuff, Carradine fits well as a dastard hot-head and Beery Junior is a reassuring presence.
As is Ford, a Western actor that fans can rely on, to feel safe around, it is he that keeps this on the good side of good.
Early Barbara Hershey.
Passable western looks like movie-backlot goods, but does feature a very fine performance by young Barbara Hershey (in only her second picture), and also by Hershey's future-squeeze David Carradine, in this melodramatic story of a new preacher in a tumbleweed town who is eventually forced into taking on the bad guys.
Glenn Ford has the lead and he's solid as usual (Ford never really disappoints, but rarely did he try anything new; even as the heavy in "3:10 To Yuma" he was in fine form and yet unsurprising).
Admirers of Hershey should take a look, she's really terrific.
Having a bad habit of falling asleep in the middle of a movie in the wee hours, I dared not change the channel at 4AM lest I fall asleep and wind up recording "Fox and Friends" instead of the documentary for which I had set my DVR timer.Thus began the 100 minute or so ordeal of watching this film.
It would almost be worth buying the DVD - if it existed with commentary - to see how a film with such excellent actors and acting could so misfire in the plot department.
You get down to the seventh bill before you even get to Noah Beery Jr. with the players in the upper bills including the excellent Glenn Ford, David Carradine, Carolyn Jones, and John Anderson, all turning in solid performances while spouting gibberish - endless gibberish - with literally no action.
Meanwhile Barbara Hershey seems to be doing a screen test for a bit part in "Billy Jack" and somehow wandered on to the wrong set.
It is supposed to be the time-honored western tale of cattlemen versus sheepherders, but everyone just stands around, talking.
After a solid first hour, "Heaven With a Gun" thins out and becomes slightly more than routine.
The movie could have used less sadism and sensationalism; while a topless Angelique Pettijohn is appreciated, gratuitous nudity tends to put off the very audience attracted to this kind of western.
Carolyn Jones is nearly wasted, and I really wanted to know more about her prior relationship with Ford.
Barbara Hershey does a fine job as the half-breed Hopi whom Ford protects.
Ford and Hershey's relationship could have also used a little more sexual tension; and Hershey, to her credit, seemed ready to provide it.Production values are good, if not spectacular, and director Lee Katzin, while no Sergio Leone, keeps things moving nicely."Heaven With a Gun" is a cut above most of Glenn Ford's later western.
Too bad MGM didn't put a little more into the story and running time.I give "Heaven With a Gun" a weak "7"..
Fair western drama/action movie about 19th century western feud between cattle ranchers and shepherds gone astray.Good acting by lead actors and Hershey is as sexy as ever.This movie would have been much better with a better lead actor besides Glenn Ford and the directing,screenplay and cinematography was only average.Too bad because the story and script was good and deserved a much better production effort........
Once more a clash of Cattle ranchs vs shepherds at Ford's way!!!.
It's looks like a deja vu on Ford's way,like in "The Sheepman" he has to handling this matter again,this turn he is a sort of gunfighter and pastor.trying to make peace among them,the old stars like Ford and Jones appears newcomers as David Carradine & Barbara Hershey promissing actors to next generation,meanwhile we has the fine John Anderson as angry rancher and Noah Beery Jr. who seem to be enough mind to realise such killing,apart that the saloon's girls garnish the picture with some rare nude scene in werstern in this period...the time is changing!!Resume:First watch: 1981 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.
Solid acting (Noah Beery Jr, John Anderson, Glenn Ford, Barbara Hershey, and David Carradine) is compromised by formulaic direction and a script that zig-zags, forgets, remembers, and improvises, but the action occasionally rises, and the preacher-gunman conflict keeps things on track just enough to keep one watching till the end.From the distance of 2010, 60s cultural interest is raised by the film's brief, gratuitous, and confusing nudity, as well as Barbara Hershey's hippie depiction of a half-Hopi girl, but the biggest surprise may be that this otherwise predictable western was produced as late as 1969.
Except for those 60s flashes, I could imagine my parents and their siblings enjoying something similar in 1955, while I would have wished for a hero less earnest and boring than Ford.Among the film's skewed lines, the oddest may be that the sheep-herder side of the range war is first identified with American Indians but is then shifted to a polygamous Mormon.
Preacher/Gunfighter.
Known gunfighter Glenn Ford arrives in the town of Vinegarroon a name made famous as the seat of Judge Roy Bean's court.
But here the local power is the local Ponderosa owner John Anderson and his punk of a son David Carradine.
Some sheepman have been intruding on government range and Anderson isn't having any.When Ford comes to town he takes a lease on an old barn and then reveals he's now a minister as well, but ready to back his sermons with gunfire if necessary.
His main allies though are the women of the locale.Two women prominently figure in this film.
One is Carolyn Jones who runs the local watering hole.
In keeping with the times the film is quite specific about what the women are there for.
Jones and Ford have history.
Looking to make some history with Ford is Barbara Hershey who is a young Indian girl he rescues.
Also in keeping with the abolition of the Code is one brutal rape scene involving her and her real life husband David Carradine.Despite the sexual frankness Heaven With A Gun has an old fashioned look to it.
It's not in the same league as some of Ford's earlier westerns like 3:10 To Yuma, Jubal, or The Violent Men. But his fans should be pleased.The climax is borrowed some from Destry Rides Again and some from Duel In The Sun..
After watching quite a few Westerns with the cattle vs.
sheep rancher theme, this is the first time I've ever seen one in which an attempt was made to get the two factions together by demonstrating that both animals could live together side by side.
I wonder why no one else ever got that idea, until Glenn Ford came around as preacher/gunman Jim Killian.
Pastor Jim plays it fairly straight down the middle for the picture's entire run, cleverly inviting the opposing forces to join his congregation while they try to settle their differences.I have to give some casting credit here to the roles of John Anderson and David Carradine as father and son, positioned as the main heavies to oppose Pastor Killian.
The younger Beck had almost as good a resemblance to his movie father as he did to his real dad, John Carradine.
It makes me curious now if the Carradines in question ever did portray themselves as father and son.There's also decent support work here with Noah Beery Jr. as a Beck henchman, and Carolyn Jones and Barbara Hershey in somewhat adversarial roles for the affection of the good pastor.
It's not played that apparently, and Killian seems to be above it all, but the picture could easily have gone in either direction.
I'm always impressed with the expressiveness of Indian names; Hershey's character was a Hopi Indian named Leloopa - 'Life From Faraway Star' - very mysterious and romantic.Hey, how about that scene where Pastor Jim blasts Beck henchman Mace (J.D. Cannon) in that under the table gunfight.
Glen Ford, Gunslingin' Preacher.
Slightly better than formulaic script never really explores the moral tension inherent in the central character: a gunslingin' preacher played by Glen Ford with his usual professionalism.
The moral/spiritual dilemma is pretty well ignored until Carolyn Jones directly confronts Ford and compels him to make a choice: gunslinger or preacher.The acting is always good.
I like Glen Ford and Carolyn Jones.
This is actually one of David Carradine's better performances.
He is a very good sadistic old-west punk.
Barbara Hershey is easy to look at.
I guess she turns in a fair performance as a half-breed speaking stereotypical pidgin English.The most interesting scene is the gunfight in the saloon between a nasty hired gun and Ford while they are SEATED opposite one another at a poker table.
The movie earned more originality points for that twist than for the paradoxical plot revolving around the gunslingin' preacher character..
A Sixties Western.
In many ways, this movie is mediocre and formulaic.
There is a conflict between cattlemen and sheepherders.
As usual, the sheepherders are good and the cattlemen are bad.
Enter Jim Killian (Glenn Ford), the gunfighter who wants to hang up his gun and become a pastor, but not before he uses his gun one last one last time.
Finally, there are some whores with a heart of gold, headed by Madge (Carolyn Jones).At the same time, the formula has been modified to suit the late 1960s.
To begin with, there are a couple of Native Americans that are also sheepherders, consisting of a father and daughter.
The father is hanged by a couple of the cattlemen, one of which is Coke (David Carradine), leaving Leloopa (Barbara Hershey) orphaned.
When Killian walks into the small house he just bought, he finds Leloopa inside, cooking some baby rattlesnake.
Killian is forced to relent.
The fact that they will be living together in a one-room house creates a little taboo tension: They are not married, she is a minor, they are of different races, and we are not sure whether she thinks of herself as a daughter to Killian or as his wife, giving us a tinge of incest.
However, Killian leaves at night to sleep somewhere else, presumably at the hotel.Leloopa mentions that her mother was white, a captive whom her father married.
In the old days, her mother would have been raped, but movies were trying to portray Native Americans in a more favorable light by this time.
Because of this trend of treating Native Americans in the movies in this way, it shocks us a little when Killian tells her she is going to have to take a bath, and she has no idea what a bath is.
But why, we ask ourselves, would a movie made as late as 1969 suggest that Hopi Indians are a bunch of dirty, smelly savages?The answer is that the movie wants to titillate us some more.
You see, when Barbara Hershey is in a movie, it is usually just a matter of time before she gets naked.
In fact, when Killian tells Leloopa that in order to bathe, you first have to take your clothes off, we are not surprised when she starts undressing right in front of him.
He stops her, however, and leaves the house so she can have some privacy.Later in the movie she manages to get raped.
Coke starts making advances to her in the street.
Instead of remaining in the street where there are plenty of people around, she gets the bright idea of running into a barn, which means that Coke can rape her in private.
We figure, "All right, this is where we get to see Barbara Hershey naked." But she is only partially undraped as she leaves the barn.Killian beats up Coke.
Finally, that night, when he gets home, Barbara Hershey is sitting outside completely naked, although we only get to see enough of her body to give the movie an M rating ("M" for mature, a designation eventually replaced by PG).
She says she knows he is trying to find her another place to stay.
After he puts her to bed, she asks if he will stay with her, which was probably the real reason she got naked and not all that Hopi nonsense she was spouting.
But he leaves.After Killian kills Mace (J.D. Cannon), the gunslinger that had been hired by chief cattleman Asa Beck (John Anderson), Madge convinces him that if he really wants to hang up his guns and become a pastor, he must stop killing.
But what to do about all those evil cattlemen threatening to wipe out all the sheepherders?
Killian gathers together all the townspeople, including the wives and children of the cattlemen, and they all go to the lake where there was to be a showdown, placing themselves in what would have been the middle of a battle between cattlemen and sheepherders.
It is suggestive of the civil disobedience, civil rights marches, and nonviolent resistance so characteristic of the 1950s and 1960s.Finally, it becomes clear that Killian is going to allow Leloopa to stay with him, presumably as husband and wife, though that is not explicitly stated.
This too is a change from the old days.
Normally, Leloopa would have been off limits for Killian, not so much because they were of different races, but because she had been raped.
Miscegenation was something of a taboo in the old movies, but it did happen from time to time, as in "Broken Arrow" (1950).
But a raped woman was damaged goods, and the movies usually figured out some way to keep the protagonist from marrying her, as in "Man of the West" (1958), assuming she was even allowed to be alive by the end of the movie.
The idea of a raped woman marrying a man and living happily ever after was just too offensive in the old days.
But this movie doesn't see it as a problem. |
tt0079840 | The Sacketts | Three brothers from Tennessee, Tell, Orrin, and Tyrel Sackett, are brought together by the tragic events that occur at Orrin's wedding. Tell (Sam Elliott) is a mountain man who hasn't seen his family in almost ten years, Orrin (Tom Selleck) is a former lawman now looking to settle down with his family, and Tyrel (Jeff Osterhage) is the youngest brother who is very good with a revolver. At the wedding, Long Higgins (James O'Connell), the brother of a man Orrin had previously killed arrives in the middle of the ceremony and holds Orrin at gunpoint. Long pulls the trigger, but Orrin's fiancée gets in the way and is shot and killed. Tyrel arrives and shoots Long dead.
Having killed a man, Tyrel clears out of Tennessee and heads west. Following the funeral of Orrin's fiancée, his mother tells him to join Tyrel and find Tell, and to go start a life in the west. Meanwhile, Tell has found work in a mining camp in Uvalde, Texas. During a card game, Tell accuses one of the men, Wes Bigelow, of cheating and shoots him dead. The leader of the mining camp suggests that Tell should leave before the victim's brothers arrive to seek revenge, and Tell heads out alone into the wilderness.
On his way west, Tyrel meets with a cattle drive and signs on as a cowhand. He immediately becomes friends with aging cowhand Cap Rountree (Ben Johnson), and former gunfighter Tom Sunday (Glenn Ford), who becomes a mentor to Tyrel. Orrin catches up with the group and joins them. As they finish the drive in Abilene, Kansas, Cap, Tom, Orrin and Tyrel make plans to collect wild cattle near the Purgatoire River. While in the town, Orrin becomes attracted to the daughter of wealthy man Jonathan Pritts (John Vernon), while Tyrel becomes attracted to the Drusilla (Ana Alicia), the granddaughter of wealthy Mexican Don Luis (Gilbert Roland). Don Luis and Pritts are arguing with each other over Luis' land in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Orrin and Tyrel eventually meet up with Tell in a small town in Colorado called Purgatorie. Cap and Tell decide to go searching for gold up in the mountains, while Orrin, Tyrel and Sunday continue with their plan to collect wild cattle on the way to Santa Fe. Soon after they leave, Ira Bigelow (Jack Elam) arrives in town and declares that he is tracking Tell Sackett with the aim of killing him.
In Elizabethtown, New Mexico, Tell and Cap are confronted by a young gunfighter named Kid Newton. Tell avoids a gunbattle with Newton by talking him down and ordering him to leave. When Ira Bigelow's search for Tell brings him to Elizabethtown, Newton offers to be his guide.
After reaching Santa Fe, both Orrin and Sunday run in the election for town sheriff. Pritts helps Orrin win the election by disclosing that Sunday is a disbarred lawyer and ex-convict from Louisiana. Sunday starts drinking heavily and becomes increasingly hostile towards Orrin. Orrin asks Sunday to be his deputy, but Sunday blames Orrin for ruining his dream of a fresh start in Santa Fe and angrily refuses the offer.
Don Luis soon dies of old age. Orrin and Tyrel, now appointed as deputy sheriff, prove that Pritts has been attempting to run the Mexicans out of Santa Fe and send him to jail. Orrin decides to run for mayor if Tyrel stays as sheriff. As Orrin is announcing his intention to the townspeople in the plaza, Sunday arrives seeking a final confrontation with Orrin. Tyrel sees him first and stands in his way. When Tyrel refuses to move, Sunday draws his gun. Tyrel draws and shoots Sunday first. Tyrel weeps as Sunday dies in his arms.
While searching for gold in the mountains, Cap and Tell find a lost woman, Ange Kerry (Wendy Rastatter). Ira Bigelow, his brother Jack (Slim Pickens) and their hired men soon arrive and assault Tell's camp, wounding Cap in the leg. Ange escapes on a stolen horse and wires a message for help to Orrin, while Tell and Cap escape back to Purgatorie on foot. The Bigelows and their men catch up to them in town and challenge Tell to a gunfight the next day at daybreak. Orrin and Tyrel receive Ange's telegram and rush to join Tell at Purgatorie.
The following day Tell strides out onto the street alone to face the Bigelow gang, now including the last Bigelow brother, Benson (Gene Evans). Unbeknownst to Tell, Cap grabs a shotgun and hobbles after him. Tell finds Orrin and Tyrel waiting for him in the street. As the Bigelows and their men start to emerge from the livery stable, the Sacketts open fire and the gun battle begins. With the help of Cap, the Sacketts kill all seven of the Bigelow gang. Cap joins the reunited Sackett brothers as they walk away down the street. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0035460 | Tortilla Flat | Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the shabby district of Tortilla Flat, inhabited by a loose gang of jobless locals of Mexican-Indian-Spanish-Caucasian descent (who typically claim pure Spanish blood).
The central character Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather where he and his friends go to live. Danny's house, and Danny's friends, Steinbeck compares to the Round Table, and the Knights of the Round Table. Most of the action is set in the time of Steinbeck's own late teenage and young adult years, shortly after World War I.
The following chapter titles from the work, along with short summaries, outline the adventures the dipsomaniacal group endure in order to procure red wine and friendship.
=== Chapter summary ===
1 How Danny, home from the wars, found himself an heir, and how he swore to protect the helpless. — After working as a mule-driver during The Great War, Danny returns to find he has inherited two houses from his deceased grandfather. Danny gets drunk and goes to jail. He and the jailer drink wine at Torelli's. After escaping, Danny talks his friend, a clever man named Pilon into sharing his brandy and his houses.
2 How Pilon was lured by greed of position to forsake Danny's hospitality. — Danny fails to get the water turned on. Pilon kills a rooster, rents Danny's second house for money which it is understood he will never pay, and exchanges paper roses for a gallon of Señora Torelli's wine.
3 How the poison of possessions wrought with Pilon, and how evil temporarily triumphed in him. — Danny and Pilon share wine, two women, and a fight. Drunk a second time, Pilon sublets half his house to Pablo.
4 How Jesus Maria Corcoran, a good man, became an unwilling vehicle of evil. — Pablo, Pilon and Danny discuss women and the payment of rent. Pablo and Pilon sublet their house to Jesus Maria. Since he has just $3 and a dime with him, they take a $2 deposit and leave him the rest to buy a woman he likes a present.
5 How Saint Francis turned the tide and put a gentle punishment on Pilon and Pablo and Jesus Maria. — Pilon and Pablo enjoy two gallons of wine. Monterey prepares for night. Pablo enjoys dinner, firewood and love from Mrs. Torelli. Jesus Maria is beaten up by soldiers because he enjoys their whiskey and their girlfriend Arabella. Pablo's candle, dedicated to St. Francis, burns down the house, while Danny, who is with Mrs. Morales next door, pays no attention.
6 How three sinful men, through contrition, attained peace. How Danny's friends swore comradeship. — Pablo, Pilon and Jesus Maria sleep in the pine forest. They wake up smelling a picnic lunch which becomes theirs, and is shared with Danny, into whose remaining house they move.
7 How Danny's friends became a force for good. How they succored the poor pirate. — The pirate, a mentally handicapped man who is followed by 5 dogs, is invited by Pilon to stay at Danny's house. Pirate promised that if God would save his sick dog, he would buy a golden candlestick for St. Francis. The sickly dog recovered, though he was soon after run over by a truck. Pirate is determined to keep his promise to buy a gold candlestick for St. Francis with 1000 quarters, or "two-bitses" ($250). The Pirate is the only paisano who works, and makes 25 cents a day selling kindling, but lives on food scraps given in charity, and saves the cash. He has hidden a great bag of quarters, known about by all. When he reveals his treasure to them, they are guilted into aiding him in his endeavor.
8 How Danny's Friends sought mystic treasure on Saint Andrew's Eve. How Pilon found it and later how a pair of serge pants changed ownership twice. — Joe Portagee returns from army jail, burns down a whorehouse, goes to jail again. He and Pilon seek treasure in the woods on St. Andrew's Eve (29 Nov), and see the faint beam from a spot which they mark. Next night, with wine Joe has gotten for a blanket he has stolen from Danny, they dig at the spot and uncover something labeled "United States Geodetic Survey + 1915 + Elevation 600 Feet". Realizing it is a crime to take, they get drunk on the Seaside beach. Pilon, to punish Joe for stealing from his host, recovers the blanket and trades Joe's pants for wine, leaving Joe naked on the beach.
9 How Danny was ensnared by a vacuum cleaner and how Danny's friends rescued him. — Danny trades stolen copper nails for money for a vacuum cleaner from Mr. Simon, to give to Sweets Ramirez (who has no electricity). Sweets contentedly pretends she has electricity, pushing the machine over the floor while humming to herself, and Danny wins her favors. He spends every evening with Sweets, until Pilon, telling himself he misses his friend, takes the vacuum and trades it to Torelli, the local shopkeep, for wine. Torelli then finds the vacuum which has been "run" with pretend electricity, actually has a pretend motor.
10 How the friends solaced a corporal and in return received a lesson in paternal ethics. — Jesus Maria befriends a young man with a baby, and brings him to the house. The baby is sick. A Capitán has stolen the man's wife. The baby dies, and the man explains why he wanted the baby to be a Generál, saying that if a mere Capitan could steal his own wife, then imagine what a general could take. The friends take few moments to digest the moral of this, then make a satirical statement in support.
11 How, under the most adverse circumstances, love came to Big Joe Portagee. — Joe Portagee comes out of the rain into Tia Ignacia's. He drinks her wine, goes to sleep, and wakes up to a beating from the woman because he drank her wine and did NOT take advantage of her. In the midst of fending off this attack in the middle of the street and in the rain, he is stricken with lust. A policeman happens by and asks them to stop doing what they're doing in middle of the muddy road.
12 How Danny's friends assisted the pirate to keep a vow, and how as a reward for merit the pirate's dogs saw a holy vision. — The pirate finally trusts Danny and delivers his bag of quarters into the house, whereupon the bag disappears. Big Joe is beaten into unconsciousness for stealing the money. The friends take the thousand quarters which the pirate has earned over several years of woodcutting, to Father Ramon for him to buy a candlestick and feast. In San Carlos Church on Sunday the Pirate sees his candlestick before St. Francis. The dogs rush into the church and must be removed. Later the pirate preaches all of Fr. Ramon's St. Francis stories to the dogs, which are suddenly startled by something behind him, which the pirate believes must be a vision.
13 How Danny's friends threw themselves to the aid of a distressed lady. — The unmarried Teresina Cortez has a menagerie of nine healthy babies and children, who all live on nothing but tortillas and beans, but nevertheless are found amazingly healthy by the school doctor. Teresina gleans the beans from the fields. As the Madonna of the tale, Teresina produces the droves of babies with seemingly no particular help. When the bean crop is ruined by rain, Danny's housemates steal food all over Monterey for the children. It makes them sick. However, the arrival of some stolen sacks of beans at the door is deemed a miracle, the children regain their health, and Teresina is also pregnant again. She wonders which one of Danny's friends was responsible.
14 Of the good life at Danny's house, of a gift pig, of the pain of Tall Bob, and of the thwarted love of the viejo Ravanno. Why the windows shouldn't be cleaned. The friends tell stories. Danny: how Cornelia lost Emilio's little pig to its sow. Pablo: how everyone laughed after Tall Bob blew his nose off. Jesus Maria: how Petey Ravanno got Gracie by hanging himself and being rescued at exactly the right moment, thus convincing her of his love; and how Petey's father the viejo (old man) hanged himself to get the same effect, but the door blew shut at exactly the wrong moment, and nobody saw him.
15 How Danny brooded and became mad. How the Devil in the shape of Torelli assaulted Danny's house. — Danny moves to the forest and cannot be found by his friends. When Torelli shows the friends the bill of sale for Danny's house, they steal and burn it.
16 Of the sadness of Danny. How through sacrifice Danny's friends gave a party. How Danny was translated. — Danny is deeply remorseful. His friends work a whole day cutting squid for Chin Kee. All of Tortilla Flat makes a party at Danny's home. He enjoys many women, and challenges all men to fight (wielding a table leg). He dies after a forty-foot fall into the gulch.
17 How Danny's sorrowing friends defied the conventions. How the talismanic bond was burned. How each friend departed alone. — Danny's friends cannot dress adequately for his military funeral. They tell stories of him beforehand, in the gulch. Afterward, they drink wine stolen by Pilon from Torelli's. Pablo sings "Tuli Pan". A small fire is accidentally set in the house, and the friends watch in approval, doing nothing to save it. No two walk away together from the smoking ruins. | allegory | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0044916 | Monkey Business | Dr. Barnaby Fulton (Cary Grant), an absent-minded research chemist for the Oxly chemical company, is trying to develop an elixir of youth. He is urged on by his commercially minded boss, Oliver Oxly (Charles Coburn). One of Dr. Fulton's chimpanzees, Esther, gets loose in the laboratory, mixes a beaker of chemicals, and pours the mix into the water cooler. The chemicals have the rejuvenating effect Fulton is seeking.
Unaware of Esther's antics, Fulton tests his latest experimental concoction on himself and washes it down with water from the cooler. He soon begins to act like a 20-year-old and spends the day out on the town with his boss's secretary, Lois Laurel (Marilyn Monroe). When Fulton's wife, Edwina (Ginger Rogers), learns that the elixir "works", she drinks some along with water from the cooler and turns into a prank-pulling schoolgirl.
Edwina makes an impetuous phone call to her old flame, the family lawyer, Hank Entwhistle (Hugh Marlowe). Her mother, who knows nothing of the elixir, believes that Edwina is truly unhappy in her marriage and wants a divorce.
Barnaby takes more elixir and befriends a group of kids playing as make-believe Indians. They capture and "scalp" Hank (giving him a Mohawk hairstyle). Meanwhile, Edwina lies down to sleep off the formula. When she awakens, a naked baby is next to her and Barnaby's clothes are nearby. She presumes he has taken too much formula and regressed to a baby. She takes the child to Oxly to resolve the problem.
Meanwhile, more and more scientists (and Mr Oxly) at the laboratory are drinking the water and reverting to a second childhood. The formula is lost with the last of the water poured away.
The parting adage is "you're old only when you forget you're young." | comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0100514 | 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. | comedy, neo noir, murder, cult, revenge, violence, humor, suspenseful | train | wikipedia | Yeah, the dialogue is a bit crappy, especially by Pepe Serna's lines; he jitters while he talks most of the length of time of the movie!Well anyway, I thought it is a pretty enjoyable cop drama, due to the funny chemistry between Eastwood and Sheen, who do great Mel Gibson/Danny Glover impressions.
I though the action was good in this film, especially the opening car chase, and I thought Eastwood gave s good performance and was even funny at times.
Clint is perfect as a skilled and dried cop (just as in the '88 Dirty Harry series, 'The Dead Pool' - by the way, one of the best from the collection, maybe even better than 'Magnum Force'), and Sheen is good as a police neophyte.
Clint Eastwood's grip on police reality is completely gone here, and Charlie Sheen is just way out of his depth as a tormented rookie cop.
Not Too Bad. I stared at this movie on the shelf for about 4 weeks before I finally took a chance with it.Clint Eastwood who directed and starred in The Rookie, plays a cop who looses his partner one night on a bust.
Clint Eastwood starred in and directed this predictably low-rated film about an aged cop with a reluctance to accept a newly-recruited rookie assistant (played by Charlie Sheen) in his undercover police operations.
All these things seem to go over the top and there is also a bad cast and not even the likes of Charlie Sheen or the late Raul Julia (of Addams Family fame) could lift the gloom of this being the worst film but thankfully, the great Clint Eastwood only did few bad films and if I like violent action films, I watch Arnie in Commando instead..
If you want a great action movie with Clint Eastwood or Charlie Sheen, this is it.
Eastwood directs himself as a hard-nosed detective with little time for organised crime, teaming up with rich kid turned cop (Sheen) whose high society parents (Skerritt & Mitchell) have to bear the ignominy of his career choice which leaves them estranged.
Brazilian beauty Sonia Braga has a decent supporting role as Julia's most trusted enforcer, tackling well beyond her weight.It's formula stuff with no surprises, a sort of "Lethal Weapon" / "Dirty Harry" hybrid and a disappointing directorial effort by Eastwood, especially considering the substance of his other film projects made around the same time..
In 1990 Clint Eastwood was obviously more comfortable making films where he gets to shoot people rather than elephants, so it was no surprise, after the failure of 'White Hunter, Black Heart', to find him regressing to yet another formula variation of Dirty You-Know-Who. The plot has only been recycled ninety times before, but the familiar terrain was doubt reassuring to Eastwood fans, for whom character and credibility aren't as important as the number of cars that can be smashed together.
Quite a few are totaled in the spectacular opening chase, but after that the film settles into a routine cops-and-robbers caper, with nothing too surprising about it except the revelation that villain Raul Julia and his nympho-psycho-killer girlfriend Sonia Braga are meant to be German.
Even Clint Eastwood has done it before as Harry Callahan.So, if you like Clint Eastwood (starred and directed) and Charlie Shhen, then maybe this is worth your time.I tuned in for a chance to see Raul Julia and Sonia Braga.
It isn't Moon Over Parador or Kiss of the Spider Woman or The Burning Season, all of which got Braga and Julia Golden Globe nominations, and one actual win for Julia, but they are so good together, I just can't miss the chance to see them.So, I'll watch another veteran-rookie film where I know the ending before it even gets started.
STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsDavid Ackerman (Charlie Sheen) is a young cop who has recently been promoted to the Grand Auto Theft Division.David is in fact a rich kid from a rich family but is quite apparently genuinely motivated to become a cop.But beneath this facade,David is motivated by a burning desire to convince himself he is not an evil person after,as a child,he unwittingly lured his younger brother to his death.He finds himself partnered with Detective Nick Pulovski (a 60 year old Clint Eastwood,in typical loose cannon form) to chase after Strom (Raul Julia) the criminal mastermind leading a gang of car thieves and the cold-blooded murderer of Nick's former partner (what an original angle).Chases,gun-fire,explosions and buddy-banter ensue.As I stated,Clint was 60 when this was made,and unlike fellow action star Chuck Norris when he appeared in the film The President's Man,truly looks his age,haggard and even slightly dishevelled,making him chronically ill-suited to the leading role.He might have been able to detract from his inevitable physical appearance had he been given a script which gave him some clever lines and puns to work with.Sadly,The Rookie also fails in this department,with one as bland and uninspiring as they come.Matters aren't helped by a similarly lifeless,unthrilling soundtrack,which fails to liven up the proceedings or go any way in making them more exciting.As for the action scenes,yeah,there are one or two nice touches as far as these are concerned here or there,but they're either far too predictable or must have occured at some stage too far into the movie for your interest to have been sustained any longer.With all these faults already piled against the film,it's also far too long for it's own good,the longer it goes on,the more of a rambling,disconcerting effort it ends up becoming.Put it this way.For a film running at just under the two hour mark,when you've switched off after what can't be any more than about three quarters of an hour in to it,you know you're in trouble.Best not to give it even that though.Just avoid the whole thing altogether,and give your time and money to something much more rewarding.*.
This is one of the low points of Clint Eastwood's directorial career: A by-the-numbers action movie that is partly tongue-in-cheek, but only genuinely funny when Charlie Sheen tries to play the tough guy role and fails miserably.
The utterly ridiculous plot is stock cop/buddy/action movie formula with Eastwood as the gruff take-no-prisoners veteran paired with a rookie (Sheen) who has a tragic past.
There's no reason at all, except for him to show the movie audience that he was wearing a bulletproof vest!Probably in response to the then-success of such macho action heroes as Stallone and Schwarzenneger, Eastwood pumps up the violence and testosterone to ridiculous levels, none moreso than when Sheen takes on a bar full of rowdy customers and ends up demolishing the place in an unintentionally hilarious sequence that depicts his transformation from uptight rich kid to macho supercop.
"The Rookie" takes me back to the early 90s when thrillers and action pictures were all set aside for Sunday night, and from time to time, I was allowed to enjoy the movie with my Dad. Give me a few seconds to embrace the nostalgia...And I remember when I saw good old Clint Eastwood in his car, watching carjackers loading a whole semi-trailer with their recent (and valuable) "purchases", I had but one certitude in mind: his partner would better have a last puff on his buddy's cigars because he'd soon become another "dead on duty" statistic.
and the next day, he's assigned a new partner, a young detective named David Ackerman.The set-up was predictable and the rest of the story was swimming in familiar waters: a tense relationship between the old street-smart cop and the sensitive rookie played by Charlie Sheen, bargains with snitches, television kicked by the bad guy, the sexy villainess, and the spectacular stunts.
But it was still good enough to deliver what was expected to an audience who knew what to expect.It could be better given its talented director and its set of villains, it's unfortunate that they had to put so much effort on the hardest part and not tried to densify the story a little, but I'll end with the same nostalgic tone that opened this review, "The Rookie" wasn't a theater film but the perfect movie to rent in VHS for a fun Saturday afternoon..
Sure, he's in Los Angeles instead of San Francisco and is working grand theft auto duty instead of homicide but otherwise it feels like a Dirty Harry film...especially when Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) has his partner killed early in the story.
Charlie Sheen is mean, moody and handsome and isn't really required to be anything else, the dad-son "You were never there for me!" scenes are an embarrassment to be perfectly frank and could well have been omitted from the film.The story is simple about a veteran cop and his new partner, Charlie Sheen going on the rampage in LA for car thieves while in the pursuit of revenge for the murder of Eastwood's partner early on film by the leader of the criminal gang.
My memory is a bit hazy- I remember through a cloud of smoke seeing The Machine( Charlie Sheen )talking to Dirty Harry but not in a good Dirty Harry movie, this is a piece of crap Dirty Harry movie, like I guess Dirty Harry got demoted cause he's working in the auto theft department, his partner still gets killed so its still a Dirty Harry movie but like Charlie Sheen keeps popping up getting a lot of screen-time, as if he were playing the role of a principal character, but that can't be right cause that would mean some one intentionally employed The Machine to act, and anyone who gives Charlie Sheen acting work is crazy, no, really man, I'm telling you, CRAZY.
This is a misfire by Clint Eastwood as he teams up with young Charlie Sheen in this buddy-cop film, a genre which was massive at the time.
Good that Charlie Sheen pays homage to the superb Blazing Saddles at one point, but definitely towards the lower end of the scale in Clint Eastwood Police films.
Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order I come to The Rookie (1990)Plot In A Paragraph: A veteran cop (Eastwood) whose partner is killed, gets paired up with a by the book rookie (Charlie Sheen) who has to be taught the rules of the street by the older officer.
Eastwood's ballsy buddy cop action programmer "The Rookie" starring alongside Charlie Sheen is considered to be one of his weakest efforts and I would have to agree.
In fact, given that he's strapped to a chair for half the film at the whim of not only Raul Julia (as a German?) but also Sonia Braga, I'd say that for die-hard Eastwood fans it should be worthwhile to watch at least once.
The Rookie is the kind of dumb Hollywood action show that I wanted to like more than I did, grimacing during the more uncomfortable scenes (i.e. Braga and Eastwood's "number" on the chair), and seeing at best some solid genre mechanics going on.
It's no surprise to see a formulaic, by-the-numbers action exploitation flick like this; the surprise is that even with Clint Eastwood in the directing chair, it ends up being completely pointless.
It's no surprise to see a formulaic, by-the-numbers action exploitation flick like this; the surprise is that even with Clint Eastwood in the directing chair, it ends up being completely pointless.
Raul Julia does a great villain, as always, but like Sheen and Eastwood, he's not good enough to save the film.
Raul Julia does a great villain, as always, but like Sheen and Eastwood, he's not good enough to save the film.
I recommend it to only to very big fans of one or more of the three lead actors, Eastwood, Sheen and Julia, and fans of exploitation action films.
I recommend it to only to very big fans of one or more of the three lead actors, Eastwood, Sheen and Julia, and fans of exploitation action films.
Clint Eastwood is great as the subtly brooding senior cop whereas Charlie Sheen just has the right attitude to play the title role.
Now, after 5 "Dirty Harry" films Clint Eastwood goes through another film that serves as a metaphorical transition: a tough as nails veteran cop gets partnered with a rookie.
Pun intended.As far as Clint Eastwood's body of work is concerned this is one of his more ridiculous and self-indulgent films; in particular the concluding act has some odd excess and the final action scene turns too cold blooded for its own good.
You know I can tolerate Clint giving a half assed 'tired cop' performance ever now and again after doing brilliant police roles like in Tightrope and Sudden Impact, and pretty boy Sheen always has a bit of a 1980's Yuppie nostalgia thing going on, but casting.........Raul Julia as a German car thief as the central villain?
Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen in a pretty good buddy cop movie..
In the end this film is just your basic buddy cop movie in the same vein as "Lethal Weapon" as Clint Eastwood plays the aging cop and Charlie Sheen a cop new to the job who is just transferring into the stolen cars part of the police force.
The film is nothing special as far as plot and such go, but it plays out nicely and Eastwood and Sheen make the movie better than it should be.
The end of the movie is is spectacular as well as humorous: the death of the bad guys and the final scene when a new rookie is introduced as partner of Sheen.
Anyway the film is as good as one can expect from one of the lesser known Eastwood 90's offerings.This was one of Raul Julia's memorable movies that I remember it, Raul Julia and Sonia Braga did a fine job as a team of criminals against two cops Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen.
This is interesting type of film in the way of that is slight in a pretense real powerhouse Clint Eastwood Academy Award-winner directing type of stuff in filmography, and Eastwood just play around in genre, he doesn't try to do anything groundbreaking or independent or any kind a big heavy one, you just have good old fun time watching this flick.
Fasten your seat belt.This is Clint Eastwood's last good action flick and even tough the movie was a flop in blockbusters in the 90's it is still fun film to watch and it is never boring.
Anyway this movie get's 9/10 out for me I still have enjoy it.The Rookie is a 1990 buddy cop film directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Howard G.
Rookie, The (1990) ** (out of 4) Disappointing action picture has tough nosed cop Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) getting stuck with a rookie (Charlie Sheen) while trying to bring down a German criminal (Raul Julia) who is running a variety of chop-shops around L.A..
The cast was excellent as well with Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Sonia Braga, Raul Julia, and Lara Flynn Boyle.
Buddy Cops, Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, action, bad cop, good cop...how can it fail...but it does, it falls flat on his face and there isn't even anything redeemable about it which is amazing to me!!
To his dismay, Pulovski is given a new partner...rookie cop David Ackerman(Charlie Sheen).
Generally I am a huge fan of Clint Eastwood's work, but The Rookie was below par as Eastwood plays Dirty Harry in all but name( surely he could have thought of something more original) and the whole film is threadbare , with the plot, where Raul Julia plays the leader of a gang stealing expensive cars and who has murderous tendencies and has murdered Eastwood's partner, isn't too hot.
It's just The Rookie is flat, Braga and Julia are totally wooden( couldn't they hire some real Germans), Eastwood seems bored and his sub Dirty Harry wisecracks don't work in this, and Charlie Sheen as a rich boy who joins the police isn't very convincing..
The Rookie is set in Los Angeles where auto theft squad cop Nick Pulovski (Clint Eastwood) & his partner Powell (Hal Williams) are on the trail of the biggest car thief in the state, a German guy named Strom (Raul Julia).
The acting is a mixed bag, Eastwood is alright but he's been playing this cop on the edge role for decades, Sheen is a touch bland but does look & feel like a fresh faced rookie while Raul Julia is simply terrible!
Plot: Clint Eastwood plays a veteran detective who gets stuck with a rookie cop (Charlie Sheen) to chase down a German crook (Raul Julia.) This will probably go down as one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films considering I'm one of those people that likes Eastwood but don't love him as much as some people.
Both Eastwood and Sheen have really good chemistry with each other which is what a buddy film needs to make it work along with an engaging story.The rest of the supporting cast also does a good job especially Raul Julia(may he rest in peace) and Sonia Braga who brought enough menace to their roles that made them convincing villains.The action is very well done when it comes with some exciting stunt sequences that rival some movies today.
The only 2 problems that I have are the pacing being a little slow and of course the famous rape scene where Sonia Braga take advantage of Clint Eastwood although they don't linger on it too much unlike other films which helped.The Rookie is a fun buddy cop film with 2 really good performances by the leads, good villains, fun action, and a good story.
Disappointed that legend Eastwood and recent box office star Charlie Sheen turned out a pretty standard cop movie, critics were not kind to The Rookie. |
tt1582271 | The Good Doctor | British medical student Martin E. Blake transfers to a Southern California hospital to start his residency. Martin's main motivation for becoming a doctor is to earn the respect of others. At the start of his residency, Martin is bewildered by a nurse's harsh demeanor towards him. This attitude quickly alienates him from the nurses, whom he perceives as disrespectful. After Martin fails to endear himself to his first few patients and begins to worry about his regard and performance, 18-year-old Diane Nixon comes in suffering from a kidney infection. Diane treats Martin with the kindness and respect that he feels he deserves, fulfilling his motivations. After Martin treats Diane, her family hail Martin as a hero, inflating his self-esteem.
Martin is invited to dinner with Diane's family. Upon arriving to dinner, Martin is disappointed when Diane fails to show. Martin quickly steals a photograph of Diane from her room before departing. As Diane's health continues to improve, Martin visits Diane's home briefly and tampers with her medication, intentionally botching her treatment. Diane returns to the hospital and Martin maintains the illusion that he is doing everything within his power to nurse her back to health. Martin and Diane grow closer while she is in the hospital and they have tender discussions. As Martin continues to secretly intervene with her treatment, Diane's health worsens. One night as Diane and Martin are talking, Diane drifts into sleep and Martin kisses her. The next morning, Martin wakes outside Diane's hospital room to find that he has overslept and that Dianne is in critical condition. He rushes to her bedside where she is receiving CPR and defibrillation. Diane opens her eyes and looks at Martin as she flatlines and dies.
An orderly, Jimmy, discovers a diary in which Diane had recorded her feelings towards Martin. Recognizing that even the implication of an improper doctor-patient relationship could potentially damage Martin's career, Jimmy uses the diary to blackmail Martin into providing him with narcotics. When Jimmy reveals that he intends to never hand over the diary, Martin laces the drugs with potassium cyanide and kills Jimmy, then breaks into his locker and steals the diary.
During the course of the criminal investigation in Jimmy's death, Martin is questioned by a police detective who comes to visit him at his home. Martin becomes panicked and visibly awkward during the questioning, eventually locking himself in the bathroom and attempting to flush the diary down the toilet. When the toilet clogs, Martin climbs out the window and goes to the ocean, where he contemplates suicide. Instead, he sneaks back into his apartment and puts the diary in the garbage. With no evidence to implicate Martin in Jimmy's death, the detective leaves. An unspecified amount of time later, Martin returns to his duties at the hospital, assuring a young patient, "I'm getting better all the time." | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0050439 | The Girl in Black Stockings | A lodge in Kanab, Utah is where Los Angeles lawyer David Hewson goes for a peaceful vacation. He quickly is attracted to Beth Dixon, a switchboard operator and a former personal assistant to lodge owner Edmund Parry.
The murder of playgirl Marsha Morgan, her throat cut, disrupts the peace and quiet. Sheriff Holmes begins the investigation, starting with the wheelchair-bound Parry, who admits to hating the dead woman, and Parry's possessive sister Julia, who helps him run the lodge. It turns out David once dated Morgan as well.
A new guest, Joseph Felton, checks in. The sheriff's suspects also include guests Norman Grant, a drunken actor, and his ambitious girlfriend, Harriet Ames. A missing kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon is found by Indian Joe, who works at the lodge.
Beth eavesdrops on a phone call Felton makes from his room. Felton is later found killed by a gunshot, and it turns out he was a private detective. David becomes more and more convinced that the Parrys are behind all this. Ames is seen kissing Edmund Parry, which does not please Edmund's sister or Grant.
To his shock, David arrives as Beth holds a knife to Julia Parry's bloody throat, claiming to have stabbed her in self-defense. It turns out, however, that Edmund had hired the investigator Felton to follow the psychologically disturbed Beth, who is responsible for all the murders. | mystery, murder | train | wikipedia | It was directed by the able and eclectic Howard Koch, and features three quite different actresses in major roles,--Mamie Van Doren, Anne Bancroft and Marie Windsor.
Suave character man John Dehner is cast as the local lawman; ex-Tarzan Lex Barker is the male lead; Stuart Whitman and Dan Blocker have small roles; and Barker wrote the music score.
This is the only movie I have ever seen that features a murder suspect who is a bitter, woman-hating man, psychosomatically paralyzed from the neck down, who can't even pour his own drinks or light his own cigarettes.
Ron Randell plays him marvelously, and had the film been directed by Ingmar Bergman would surely have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
I wouldn't quite call this movie trashy, but it has a trashy feel to it, as it comes across in some ways as a sort of Southwest version of Peyton Place crossed maybe with Anatomy Of a Murder, the small-town black and white mood of which it strangely anticipates.
Music is by Les Baxter and cinematography by William Margulies.When a party girl is found murdered at a Utah hotel, everyone is under suspicion.Miserable predatory creatures!One of the definitions of the low budget drive-in movie, The Girl in Black Stockings is an odd and fascinating picture.
In core essence it's a standard murder mystery piece, a sort of minor Ten Little Indians only with kooky overtones.She'd get on that dance floor and fry eggs!The characterisations, performed by a wide scope cast list, are firmly in the realm of the off kilter or suspiciously suspect!
What can you say about a movie whose three female stars are Anne Bancroft, Marie Windsor and Mamie Van Doren?
And that's basically the problem with this little tailfins-era whodunit about a serial killer at a Utah mountain lodge.
Owner of the lodge, Ron Randell, is a psychosomatically paralyzed woman-hater nursed by his doting sister (Windsor).
Van Doren does her platinum-blonde bombshell shtik and John Dehner, as the sheriff, seems to have wandered in from a Western shooting nearby.
The movie looks good, in a simplified, populuxe way, and winds up like a better-than-average TV drama from circa 1957.
Too bad: The Girl in Black Stockings had all the makings of a more interesting movie..
Unbelievable murder-mystery centering around an upscale lodge in Utah, wherein sheriff John Dehner (in a cowboy hat) investigates the gruesome slaying of a blonde actress, a "man-hating witch" who had plenty of enemies.
Soon, more bodies start popping up, the main suspects being: Lex Barker as the local he-man (with his navel judiciously covered at the pool), Ron Randell as an anti-social quadriplegic, Anne Bancroft as his wet-nurse, Mamie Van Doren as a model, and Larry Chance as Indian Joe (Chance appears to believe his character is a Wooden Indian instead of a Drunken Indian).
Koch (who later became a famous producer) sets up this whodunit like a plodding amateur, and most of the acting is atrocious (including La Bancroft).
Van Doren has an oddly surreal tipsy scene that rates as pure camp and Dan Blocker is fun as a leering bartender (how come he isn't a suspect?), but the poor writing defeats Dehner and Randell.
Man, I want to stay at the "Parry Lodge" for a weekend!!Every time actor Ron Randell opens his mouth, you know you're in for some scenery-chewing, par none.
"Sheriff" John Dehner comes across the least scathed, although as a previous comment did point out, he appears to have wandered in from another movie set.All in all, worth a viewing, just to see what it meant to stay in a "motel" before Holiday Inn and Ramada ruined the experience.UPDATE: Lodge is still up and running - see parrylodge.com!.
Note the five-minute explanation Dehner has to deliver in order to tie-up loose ends in the movie's last scene.
But then, who could bring off all that goofy sarcasm that the script sticks in his mouth.The real crime is not using such ace performers as Marie Windsor and Anne Bancroft to better effect, especially Windsor whose role could have been filled by a dozen lesser actresses.
In fact the whole production seems a curious affair-- almost like a bunch of Hollywood types suddenly found themselves at the same Southwestern resort and decided to shoot a movie, typing up the script each night after a heavy cocktail hour.
The stars are Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, John Dehner, Ron Randell, Marie Windsor and Mamie Van Doren.
The stars are Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, John Dehner, Ron Randell, Marie Windsor and Mamie Van Doren.
The plot concerns murders at a resort - in fact, the film begins with the discovery of a dead body, and several more follow.
The resort is owned by a man with hysterical paralysis (Randell) and his sister (Windsor), who takes care of him.
There's a Barrymore-type actor preparing for a comeback with the help of a va-va-va-voom blonde (Van Doren), and several guests, including Barker and Bancroft, who apparently have some sort of history together.The acting is okay with the exception of a very young Bancroft, who smartly underplays what could have been an extremely over the top character.
The Girl in Black Stockings (1957) ** (out of 4)Bizarre thriller set in a Utah resort where the body of a woman is found brutally sliced up.
David Hewson (Lex Barker) was supposed to have gone out with the woman but instead went with someone else (Anne Bancroft) and soon he's looking into who did the brutal murder.
It's important to note that THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS came out three years before PSYCHO or PEEPING TOM and while this film here isn't nearly as good as those two, it's worth saying that this one here beat them in regards to murder and mental illness.
This film here is too uneven and at times too poorly done to be considered "good" but I think fans of the genre are going to find enough interesting things here to make it worth viewing.
I really liked how the film played itself out and once you see who is responsible and why the murders were done, well, it's very nicely handled.
Barker, best known for his stint as Tarzan, does a pretty good job here as he's at least interesting enough to help the viewer go through the entire film.
He manages to carry the film without a problem but Bancroft also deserves a lot of credit as she too is extremely good.
Ron Randell is also good in his role as a paralyzed man and Marie Windsor, a noir vet, is good as his sister.
Barker not only acted in the film but he also did the music score, which is quite effective.
Still, this film manages to set itself apart from a lot of other mysteries from this period and the good things here make it worth sitting through at least once..
Whatever inspired Howard Koch to direct this B-movie was certainly not the script, full of atrocious dialog and given dead pan acting by everyone in the cast except RON RANDELL as a bitter crippled man being cared for by his wife, MARIE WINDSOR.
Randell at least attempts to give some backbone to his role, but nothing works as he delivers most of his dialog through clenched teeth.JOHN DEHNER is the sheriff at a Utah lodge, who questions suspects of a brutal murder with absolutely no conviction.
He seems distracted by something or other even as the investigation becomes more complex and seems almost bored with his role.ANNE BANCROFT and MAMIE VAN DOREN are figured prominently among the women in the cast but do nothing here that contributes to the film's effectiveness.
LEX BARKER shows off his physique but was much more convincing when he was playing Tarzan than he is here.Summing up: A complete waste of time.
It's astounding how many reviewers here have given this either high marks for being a well-made film noir(-ish) murder-mystery, or for it's high camp value.
It's just plain bad, in every way imaginable.But let's get something else out of the way first: for those who want to claim a 'Twin Peaks' connection for this film (which is the reason I was curious about it, initially), such an assertion is basically a bunch of garbage, grasping at less than even tenuous similarities and standard murder-mystery tropes.
You know it's gonna be bad from the very first lines of dialogue exchanged between Lex Barker and young Anne Bancroft.
It's the kind of meaningless, pseudo-hip banter that has zero meaning and makes you want to slap the screenwriter, tell him, "Try writing some words that sound like they might come out of the mouth of an actual human being, you hack!" But the main problem (one of MANY problems) is that no one seems to take the murder particularly seriously.
But after about 30 seconds of this guy, you'll change your mind and start hoping that when Anne Bancroft and Marie Windsor take him in the pool for some hydrotherapy that they'll both get phone calls and leave him to make out on the bottom with the Creepy Crawly.
Like so much in this film (just wait until you hear Lex Barker's 'explanation' for the murderer's motives at the end of the film), it MAKES NO SENSE.And not just that - IT'S BORING!
It's bad enough that we, the viewers, don't care what's being said, but when the actors all sound like they're on Quaaludes...Never has 74 minutes passed so slowly, so excruciatingly.I will say that, as someone who loves the '50s as a design era, the Parry Lodge (and the adjoining boutique, the Pink Poodle) are pretty cool to look at; the fact that they shot this stinker on location is about the only thing this movie has going for it, although it also means that the Kanab Chamber of Commerce gets in a number of blatant promos for local businesses and sights.
Thought this 1957 film starring some very great actors would be entertaining or at least a good murder mystery.
One night, a girl is murdered and slashed to death with a knife multiple times and it looks like they have a serial killer on their hands.
Lex Baxter, Anne Bancroft and Mamie Van Doren all add a great deal to this story with their great supporting actors roles.
With such shapely feminine types as Anne Bancroft, Marie Windsor, Mamie Van Doren, and Diana VanderVlis, The Girl In Black Stockings surely boasts one of the sexiest casts of women ever in the same film.
All of these people are at a resort lodge in Utah when a whole lot of murders start to happen.
Two more murders follow and one accidental death of a presumed suspect occurs when sheriff John Dehner and deputies go to question him.
A veteran of many a noir film, Windsor is the sister of her quadriplegic brother Ron Randell who owns the lodge.
Usually Windsor played sex pots in films, this represents a change of pace for her.
But don't kid yourself, she holds her own in beauty with the rest of the pulchritude.As for Randell, he laces his part with appropriate bitterness and he'll be the one you remember if you can take your eyes off the feminine beauty for a bit.In smaller roles are such future stars as Stuart Whitman who arrives at the lodge looking for his runaway bride and Dan Blocker seen briefly as a bartender.The Girl In Black Stockings despite a cheap production and lurid title is a competent enough mystery.
Some of this is slightly entertaining in a trashy kind of way, but not quite enough to save this stiff and incompetently Directed Movie.People talk and talk and say very little.
This atrocious Z-Movie is the kind of thing that its cast would rather leave off their CV's though I doubt if it would have done much harm to the careers of Lex Barker, John Dehner, Ron Randell, Marie Windsor and a certain Miss Mamie Van Doren who also appeared in "The Navy Vs the Night Monsters" and "Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women".
Actually, the whodunit plot, (party-girl is murdered at a posh resort and everyone's a suspect), isn't that bad but the dreadful script, inept direction, (by Howard W.
THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS and SCREAMING MIMI, both made at the tail-end of the American Film Noir cycle (1941-1958), predicted something wicked this way comes -a savage darkness that would reach fever pitch in Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO just two years later.
Female serial killers are a rarity in real life -and rarer still in films up to that time- and she's a brutal sex-slayer of women no less, possibly a film first.
The film's "Americana" Utah resort locations (with wardrobe by "The Pink Poodle of Kenab") are used to excellent sun-shiny effect; the outdoor scenes reflect a "normalcy" that belies the darker indoor melodrama and the film's stark B&W low-budget TV look and feel shows up in THE SCREAMING MIMI as well, accounting for a lot of their dark charms.
Midway through THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS, the killer opens the door to a couple's room and watches while they make out.
After getting a voyeur's thrill that sets the twisted psyche raging, the killer barges in, knocks the man out and butchers the girl!Lawyer Lex Barker (more a giallo hero than a noir anti-hero), in Utah to get away from the rat-race of L.A., gets sucked into a whirlpool of sex and savagery in a shocking opening sequence that sees him use his cigarette lighter in the dark to bring to light the mutilated body of a woman.
The resort's owner, Ron Randall, hates women -he actually became paralyzed because one left him.
His sister, Marie Windsor, caresses and kisses his brow the way a wife would -and it was she who drove her brother's woman away.
A Native American ranch-hand hates all women because he cared for, and tended to, Randall until Windsor hired Bancroft to do it.
There's a young buck recently released from prison (who hasn't had a woman in two years!), an aging Addison De Witt-type actor and his Miss Caswell (Mamie Van Doren), the sheriff and other various and sundry guests.
What's interesting here is that Anne Bancroft plays the same "mouse" she did in 1952's DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK -only this time, it's the mouse and not the platinum blonde bimbo (Van Doren here) that has a few mental screws loose.
Once you know that Anne Bancroft's the culprit, watch her throughout the film and catch the clues she's trying to give us that she's the killer.
Best scene: Mamie Van Doren drunk at the dinner table, throwing herself on paralyzed Ron Randall.
There's some lingering shots of Lex Barker in his bathing trunks and the Va-Va-Voom attributes of Mamie Van Doren are often on display.
Throat slashed ...even her arms and legs." Anne Bancroft, as well as the rest of the cast, are in top form giving it all they've got in their respective ways.
THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS is seminal -and "killer" for so many reasons and in so many ways....
Notable for its eclectic cast and authentic setting, this odd little murder mystery has entertainment value in spite of itself.
Set at (and filmed on location at) the Parry Lodge in Utah, it stars Barker as a handsome and tan ladies man who finds himself investigating the people around him when a young woman is found brutally slain.
A particularly oddball batch of characters make up the list of suspects including Bancroft as Barker's mousy girlfriend, Randell as a paraplegic with a strong resentment towards loose women, Windsor as his overprotective sister and Holland as a somewhat lecherous movie producer.
Other faces include Van Doren as a platinum blonde starlet, Dehner as the local sheriff, Van der Vlis as a fellow motel guest and Chance as a stone-faced, heavy-drinking Indian.
The film is aided immeasurably by the location shooting around a real motel that is still in operation today (and was the favorite boarding choice of many old time Hollywood stars and crews who were using the surrounding terrain when filming movies.) Barker, a former Tarzan, is bronzed and strong, offering several glimpses of his physique in and around the pool.
Small roles are played by future stars Whitman as a concerned husband and Blocker as the lodge's bartender.
There's nothing life-changing about this rather run-of-the-mill movie, but it offers some decent black and white photography and an intriguing assortment of actors, along with an ending that may surprise some viewers.
Lex Barker, Marie Windsor, Anne Bancroft, Mamie Van Doren, score by Les Baxter,Stuart Whitman in a tiny role, directed by Howard Koch.Filmed like a Perry Mason episode, the movie is interesting but has no real tension, drama and a flaccid climax.
Eye candy for any persuasion: Lex Barker in swim trunks and Mamie Van Doren in skin tight dresses.
Marie Windsor is always a treat, but largely wasted in this as her wheelchair bound brother's caregiver.Easy to guess the perpetrator in this one, but still fun to watch.Goof: Lex Barker takes off in a 56 Chrysler which turns into a 55 Chrysler during the same trip, then back again into a 56 Chrysler as he pulls up to his location..
Then, there's one of the many screen Tarzan's, all together for the story of a character that you only see briefly as a corpse and find out that everybody had some reason to kill her, as well as several other murders that occur in very much the same grizzly way.Having been around with no real success on film, Anne Bancroft is the female star, not the murdered first victim, with Lex Barker as the dead girl's much abused ex who falls for the sweet Bancroft, filled with secrets of her own.
John Dehner is the law enforcer on the case, while Ron Randell plays another key figure. |
tt0177625 | Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return | Hannah, the first child born of the original Gatlin corn cult, visits the town of Gatlin to find her real mother. On the way, she picks up a street preacher by the name of Zachariah whose car broke down. He tells her about her name, and then vanishes. After crashing into a corn field a lady sheriff suddenly appears and takes Hannah to a hospital in town. Once there, she finds out Isaac was not killed by "He Who Walks Behind The Rows", but instead went into a coma. The hospital appears to be filled with strange patients who speak of a prophecy involving Hannah and Isaac before the scene changes.
After she leaves the hospital and resumes her journey, she is nearly driven off the road by a mysterious truck. After pulling into a strange motel, she almost steps on a dead crow and then is startled by a smiling young boy (Daniel L Nicoletti) who suddenly appeared in a chair next to her car. In the motel office, she meets a pair of romantically-involved teenagers, a girl and her boyfriend, Matt. She then checks into the motel. The next morning as Hannah is leaving the motel, a small crowd gathers around her car, fascinated by her. Meanwhile, the scene changes and it is revealed that Isaac has awakened from his long 19 year sleep (in which He Who Walks Behind the Rows left him in at the end of the first film) and that he has a son. Hannah returns to the hospital where she begins having visions in the empty hallway before Gabriel appears behind her. He shows her to the record-room so she can look for her birth-certificate. While they're in the dark, she is almost killed when Jake tries to split her head open with an axe. Gabriel leaves Hannah alone to take Jake back to his room. While alone, Hannah finds a scythe pinning what she thinks is her birth-certificate into the wall.
In the middle of the night, a strange woman tries to touch Hannah while she is lying in bed, but leaves once she realizes Hannah is awake. Hannah recognizes her truck as the one that drove her off the road. She follows the truck until dawn into the middle of the corn-field, but before she can follow the person she runs into Jesse: another strange teenager carrying a machete. He tells her the owner of the truck is Rachel Colby, the same name on the birth-certificate. In her motel-room, Hannah discovers the words "GET OUT OR DIE!" written in what appears to be blood in the shower. Back at the church, Rachel confronts Isaac. It is revealed that Rachel is the wife of Amos (Children of the Corn) and she believes her daughter to be dead. When she leaves, Isaac tells how she will be punished for her betrayal. Rachel later talks with Dr. Michaels, who just wants to move on beyond the ideas of cults and sacrifices. He tells Rachel to do whatever she needs to do to try to stop Isaac.
Dr. Michaels comes back to the hospital, he finds Jake has clogged the sink and caused water to go all over the floor and is now muttering mindlessly on his knees. Isaac steps out of the shadows, displaying supernatural power. Michaels stands, unafraid of him, warning him to leave Hannah alone, exposing himself as the one who took Hannah away from the town. Isaac pulls a sparking electric cord from the wall and drops it on the wet floor, electrocuting Michaels. Later, Isaac approaches the son, who is revealed to be Matt. He is proud in the belief that his son will carry on his legacy. Matt, though, seems less than enthusiastic. While Gabriel talks with Isaac in the cornfield, Hannah is meanwhile driven off the road again, this time by a drunken Matt. After she yells at him, he hands her a shovel and tells her he is a descendant of Isaac and for her to trace her lineage. Hannah begins digging up the grave of Baby Colby, Rachel's apparently dead child. As she digs, the bloody dead body falls right above her head hanging from a tree; however, this turns out to be only an illusion. Rachel is in the graveyard with her and warns her that there's no going back if she continues. Hannah then says she'll only leave if Rachel tells her the truth. Rachel denies her this, calling it "repulsive". As Hannah prepares to open the casket, a desperate Rachel tells her the prophecy: "The firstborn daughter of the children will return on the eve of her nineteenth-birthday to find out who she is and He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Rows will awaken".
Hannah opens the casket to see it is empty and Rachel knew Hannah was her child and wasn't dead. She tells a distraught Hannah that Isaac wants Hannah to make a new, "pure" race. Hannah accuses her of insanity and runs away. In the corn-fields, all of the cult has gathered to celebrate as Matt is branded as the first of the chosen. While Hannah is walking through the corn-fields that night, she is surrounded by children, one of whom injects her with a sedative. Hannah wakes up surrounded by the cult-members and a blazing bonfire. They place a crown of corn-husks on her head and brand her hand like they did Matt. They begin to perform a union-ceremony between her and Matt, but Hannah escapes. They try to catch her, activating the irrigation-system and driving motorcycles through the fields. Rachel appears before the cult-members, claiming Isaac is a fraud. In the fields, Matt's girlfriend attempts to help Hannah escape, because she wants to be with Matt. They are soon cornered by the cult-members who capture them. It turns out that Gabriel was on the bike Hannah was put on and takes her out of the cornfields. Matt's girlfriend, though, isn't so lucky and Isaac orders Matt to kill her. Matt refuses and Isaac, cursing his son, splits her in half with Jesse's blade. With that, Matt runs into the corn-field.
Gabriel tends Hannah's wounds in a barn, helps her bathe and kisses her. They begin to have intercourse at the exact moment the clock strikes twelve. Matt then soon appears in the barn, Hannah asks about her mother and, after not receiving any answer, leaves to look for her. While in the barn, Gabriel shows Matt his collection of all of the farming tools of the original children and promises that Matt will be with his girlfriend. He leaves the barn with Hannah and Matt impales himself on a scythe. In the hospital, Rachel is being held in the basement and Hannah is being led to her by visions of her being beaten by Cora. In the hallway she meets Jake, who warns her of "a false-prophet, sheep’s-clothing, raving-wolves!" while Gabriel kills Jesse with his supernatural-power. Hannah now confronts Isaac, who now believes himself to be 'He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Rows' and has gone mad with power. Gabriel storms down the halls of the hospital and, when Cora tries to shoot him, with a flick of his wrist and the word 'bang', has her kill herself. He then confronts Isaac and exposes that he was the firstborn child of the children and that Isaac denied him his birthright in favor of his own son.
Gabriel tells Hannah to kill Isaac, but listening to her mother, Hannah does not. Gabriel goes on to explain how everything that has happened has gone according to his plan. He then levitates Isaac with his power and reveals himself to be 'He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Rows". He restrains Isaac to the ground and stabs him with the broken end of a lead pipe. Rachel stabs Gabriel, then she and Hannah flee from the hospital. Gabriel, though, is healed almost instantly and begins to set off explosions which kill Jake. Rachel and Hannah are then seen walking down the road, with Hannah now pregnant with the child of 'He-Who-Walks-Behind-The-Rows'. | cult, murder | train | wikipedia | What follows is an incoherent mess including the return of Isaac from a 19 year long coma, a "prophecy" foretelling a breed of new "killer kids" coming from our lead character Hannah and Isaac's firstborn son, and a case of mistaken identity resulting in the definitive answer of the question who is "he who walks behind the rows?".
Fans of serious cinema would not have rented this movie due to the title alone (try to tell your significant other that we are going to enjoy CHILDREN OF THE CORN 666: ISAAC'S RETURN tonight).
Children of the Corn 666 Isaac's Return: Potential squandered.
Sadly Isaac returns into a mess of a film with a terrible cliched concept, an outstandingly dull pace and a film that contributes nothing to the series at all.Credit where credit is due it does have a great twist and the final scene is great, but then immediatly ruins it by having a poor finale to that.Starring the excellent Stacy Keach Isaac's Return should have been great but poor writing killed it stone dead.The Good:Decent twistThe return of Isaac and same actor is greatThe Bad:Very boringDisapointing endingThings I Learnt From This Movie:Calling a sixth movie 666 is tacky when it has nothing to do with the source materialI thought "He who walks behind the rows would be taller.
When I rented Children of The Corn 666, I wanted to see a very bad movie...but, surprisingly, the atmosphere was pretty scary and mysterious, and some actors were fine...creepy, isn't it?
This sixth edition has all of the right elements--- especially for a movie made with no budget--- great cast, good scares and a wonderful twist ending.
Amongst all this Hannah manages to find love in the form of a young man who comes to visit Gatlin with his reporter father and gets involved with the children.
Plagued by disturbing nightmares, a young woman returns to her hometown in Gatlin, Nebraska and learns that the town are all disciples of a fanatical cult leader behind her visions that have been intended to get her to fulfill a prophecy and tries to stop it from happening.There was some good stuff to this one when it tried to.
The mystery here almost feels like a back-story during the segment it's supposed to be the main focus as it spends most of the time intermingling the search with the townspeople meet-and-greet which makes the beginning play out really slowly and not that interesting.
The film should be called ADULTS of the corn: Isaacs return.
I read Children of the Corn, and subsequently, watched the original movie.
I was fearful to give Children of the Corn another chance after watching the story butchered, but I was intrigued by 666, which includes John Franklin, the star, Isaac, of the original film.
I know that the 2-5 sequels get off track as far as the original 'Corn' story, but 666 was right back on the basics of the story, from the creepy Isaac himself, to prophecies, to God. There is gore, of course, but you expect it and unless you have a weak stomach, it's not bad.
I enjoyed the acting, especially Franklin, who reinvented my view of Isaac - I actually was liking the boy by the end of the movie!
"Children of the Corn" was just another flaky horror series that was ruined by excessive sequel overkill.
The "Children of the Corn" series should have ended after the first movie, which was actually worth watching.
Movies like this are made for people who have nothing else better to do than rent "Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return" at 3 in the morning.
I would watch him, but I think these movies are stupid and am not going to waste my time with all of them.The fact that I'm doing most of them is good enough.
This movie features the talk of a prophecy of a girl who needs to make more children of the corn with Isaac's son.
"Children of the Corn" series has to be one of the worst and most repetitive series ever made.Really it just the same old boring crap again!Admittedly the original was pretty atmospheric and creepy,and next two parts were decent enough to watch them once,but the rest of this series sucks!Here we have the sixth installment which is so dull and boring that I was asking myself:why did I even bother watching such trash?Almost no gore,just a lot of stupid fake scares and truly bad acting.Definitely one to avoid!.
Many years ago, I saw a couple of 'Children of the Corn' movies, but I am not a fan or a follower of this series.
I have just watched 'Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return' on VHS and I have not understood the story.
I do not recommend this movie for anybody but those who follows the sequels of 'Children of the Corn'.
I mean, if you watch the first Children of the Corn and then watch this one, you wouldn't even know there were 4 other movies.
But, at this point, I suspect the budget was so low they could barely afford craft services.The trivia on IMDb says that John Franklin is the only actor to appear in more than one "Children of the Corn" movie.
Children Of The Corn 666 Isaacs ReturnThis movie started of really spooky, I really enjoyed that scenes, Main lead, her voice is very annoying and with Isaacs Return and his voice, sound likes cat nails on blackboard.I found This movie was slightly better then the 5 movie.It did not have much gore it in, but it was some-what entertaining and movie can be really confusing at times and also liked the twist at end.Acting was not great but it was watchable, still I could not connect to any of them as, i Just found them really annoying.This one is worth watching!
I've watched all of the Children of the Corn films leading up to this one and enjoyed them all on different levels.
Children of the Corn 666 is a great movie.
It was not as great as the first Children of the Corn, but none the less it's a cool movie.
I think that it's cool the way they brought Isaac back for one last time, after all, Isaac was the main character in the first children of the Corn movie, that's what caught my eye and made me want to watch it.
Okay, this chick is finding her birthparent who she learns was an original member of the religious cult in Nebraska led by a bunch of kids who worship some Corn god called "he who walks blah blah" you know its name.
I have to admit good acting, okay script, messed up plot I give Children of the Corn 666 ** out of **** (2 out of 4 for those who can't read "star").
Isaac hadDIED in the first Children of the Corn, then was sent back by He WhoWalks Behind The Rows to kill Malachai (that's the correct spelling ofhis name) and bring Malachai back with him.
- the town not looking thesame, the corn being bright green instead of yellow-green and nearlydead like in the original, the story not following like it should, thefact that He Who Walks Behind The Rows turns out to be some idiotboyfriend, etc.) More than all others, this film was a COMPLETE waste of time.
quite a good movie actually - a horror film that doesn't use gore to create the suspense.
It makes me sad that this has such a low rating since it is really an artful film that managed to scare me - - - and i've seen a LOT of horror movies - the only sad thing is that it does leave a lot of questions open in the end and you sort of get the feeling the that evil has won - but can't say anything for sure.I can only hope for a sequel that completes this plot.
I do admit, the Children Of The Corn series does get old and boring, yet they still keep making the movies, trying to bring the movies back to life.
The story was okay, but Children Of The Corn: Revelation which has come after this one had the same storyline, only the woman in this one was searching for her grandmother in a small town.
Children of the Corn 666 (1999) ** (out of 4)The sixth film in the series is a mildly entertaining if rather needless direct sequel to the first film.
Once there she awakens Isaac (John Franklin), the original film's leader of the children.
If you've seen the original film then you know it's impossible for Issac to be in a coma here let alone have the possibility of coming back to life but this is a horror series so you'll just have to put that out of your mind.
I thought the first half of this movie was rather slow without too many good things going on but the final half really picks up and makes for a mildly interesting film.
But still if you like horror movie you should see this film..
Checked out by heavy-smoking doctor Stacy Keach (as Michaels), Ramsey discovers original "Children of the Corn" star John Franklin (as Isaac Chroner) is a comatose patient in the hospital.
By now, someone should have tried to tie these films together; they are confusing and inconsistent...With clocks, corridors and camera angles, director Kari Skogland and his crew do give it some style, though.**** Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return (10/19/99) Kari Skogland ~ Natalie Ramsey, Paul Popowich, John Franklin, Nancy Allen.
I think it's a bit stupid of me to have watched the first Children Of The Corn, no others.
I'm not very good at writing reviews, but i used to love the Children Of The Corn movies so thought i'd do a quick review on this one.
The Children of the Corn-series is one of the rare series to feature all new different characters in all of its movies.
"Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return" is the only exception to this, since it again features John Franklin, who also starred in the first movie, made 15 years earlier.Guess that John Franklin needed the money or the attention, since he also is the one that actually wrote the story for this movie.
Basically all of the Children of the Corn sequels are pointless, this one included, since they add very little to this very average horror-series, originally written by Stephen King.I like the movie for providing it with a more modern look and feel to it.
One other thing I didn't like was the fact Isaac was in a coma for 19 years...then barely has time to acknowledge himself, and just dies at the end.
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return (CotC6) probably has the best cinematography, best editing, some of the best effects, and some of the creepiest scenes of any CotC film to this point, but the script is a complete mess and helmer Kari Skogland does not seem to be very skilled at directing actors.For at least the first 10-15 minutes of CotC6, I was prepared to give it at least a 9.
Hannah (Natalie Ramsey) is driving to the town of Gatlin, Nebraska--the setting of the first film--and gives a ride to what turns out to be a disturbing ghost.
The plot brings back Isaac (John Franklin) from the first film, with Hannah playing a major role in a "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"-religion prophecy.
Well, I know that this is out of order with the Children of the Corn series, but unfortunately, this is the only sequel that Hollywood Video had, so I'll just have to deal.
Well, I almost killed myself watching this movie.Basically, a girl, Hannah, is going to the town of Gaitlin to find her long lost mother who she's been told is dead, but she doesn't believe so.
It turns out that her mother was a cult member and Hannah has woke up Isaac out of his deep coma, she is destined to be with Isaac's son and have the child who will help his prophecy come true.
But there is another demon in town who wishes to over throw Isaac's plans and leave the door open at the end for another sequel that will probably never be made.Let's face it, this was a pretty bad movie and extremely corny, it was over acted and the story was just insulting my intelligence.
This time around in the "Children of the Corn" series, a woman named Hannah is driving to a Midwestern town all by herself.
After arriving to the town though, Hannah becomes part of a chain of events concerning the cult of children, and this time Isaac (from the original film) returns to fulfill a prophecy after being awoken from a coma by the presence of Hannah.I know this film was supposed to be the "sequel to end them all" because of Isaac's return (which was apparently anticipated by die-hard fans of the series, which I am not), but this movie failed for me.
It was more like "Children of the Corn: All Grown Up" because the cult members were all 30-something years at least, including Isaac himself.
This movie wasn't as good as I thought it would be, I thought since Isaac was coming back the series would get back on track.
It seems that in the first COTC, Issac after being brought back to kill Malachi was put into a coma by He Who Walks Behind the rows and was to be awakened 19 years later to fulfill a sisnister prophecy.
After Hannah sees Isaac wake up, she leaves the room running into Gabriel who seems like the only normal person in the town but all is not what it seems to be as far as Gabriel is concerned.
Which is why his son in this film is now 19 and Isaac was in a 19 year coma.
Anyway, all in all "Isaac's Return" is a good film that holds your interest with performances, surroundings, and story, rather than gore and blood like the previous 5 films before it..
John Franklin reprises his role as the original "Giver of his word" the malicious Isaac Chroner in this 6th installment of the Children of the Corn Series.
I loved this film because up until this fans had to speculate on what had happened to the first 'children' in Gatlin.
Ever since the first film Isaac has been in a coma for 19 years.
He kills Isaac and Hannah and her mother are about to leave when Gaberiel confronts them.
She meets a boy who takes an instant interest in her as it was foretold they will conceive the promised child.This film was quite good despite the multiple plot holes within the script like adults are permitted inside the cult, they were taken to a new town in the sequel and Isaac didn't die but hung on in a coma.What makes the ending fall flat is it makes you believe a new breed of killer mutants will come forth, but Issac's first born is a case of mistaken omens which leaves you confused rather or not if they succeeded.It does drag a tiny bit unlike the other films as Hannah plays detective for evidence to who her mother is and the people that stalk her.
"He Who Walks Behind The Rows" killing Isaac in the end - that just blows.And the idea of Hannah Montana being the only one to save them from Isaac throughout the film (until the ending) really stinks.
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return.
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return.
Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return.
It is there that we see Isaac, the little preacher boy from the original Children of the Corn.
Majority of the film is spent showing Isaac building up the next generation of brainwashed children and teens, including his own son Matt, to carry out "he who walks behinds the rows" prophecy.
The threat in this film for Hannah is a group of brainwashed teenagers and not-so-young Isaac who believe that he is "he who walks behind the rows".
***SPOILERS*** The 6th out of 7 movies about the children of the corn with more on the way has to do with Hannah Martin, Natalie Ramsey, going back to Gatlin to find her birth mother whom she was told died in childbirth.
That's the same age that her father Amos was sacrificed to the "One who walks behind the Rows" by the children of the corn's whacked out leader Isaac, John Franklin.At Gatlin Hannah finds out it had became a ghost town with even the children of the corn not that much interested in the fall corn harvest and annual human sacrifice.
It's then that Isaac who was supposedly killed in the original children of the corn movie and has been in a self induced coma ever since had like in the story of "Sleeping Beauty", without even being kissed by the handsome prince or princess, come alive to continue the work that he started some 15 years ago.***SPOILERS*** About the best thing in the movie is that we and Hannah finally get to see just who this mysterious "One who walks behind the Rows" really is to the shock of the children, now teenagers, of the corn's leader Isaac.
Isaac has been trying to get the children of the corn to believe that he was in tight with the "One who walks behind the Rows" as him being his spokesman or messenger on earth!
That since even before he was beaten into a coma by the children of the corn 15 years ago by him failing to deliver on his promises!This made me wonder why would the very people who did Isaac in back then fell for his same line of BS now knowing full well just how full of it he really is! |
tt0455829 | Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu | Rani (Bidushi Dash Barde), the daughter of former Chennai police officer Arokiya Raj (Prakash Raj), tells her father over the phone that she will be back home in Madurai in three hours. As she leaves the telephone booth, she is approached by someone she knows. Rani does not come home. The following morning, Arokiya Raj finds Rani's finger hanging at his door.
Arokiya Raj calls Raghavan (Kamal Haasan), his old friend and fellow police detective from Chennai, to help in the investigation of Rani's disappearance. With Raghavan's assistance, the police eventually find Rani's body in the outskirts of the city. The coroner's report states that the killer bisected Rani's body with a surgical knife, proving that the murderer has a strong medical background, and that he also savagely raped her. Following the trauma of losing their only daughter, Arokiya Raj and his wife (Rajashree) move to New York to be closer to their other children who are living in America.
After some time, Raghavan learns that Arokiya Raj and his wife have been brutally murdered in New York. This creates a link between the Chennai police and the New York Police Department. Raghavan leaves for New York to represent the Indian police. On the flight, he reminisces about his late wife Kayalvizhi (Kamalini Mukherjee), who was murdered by a local gang because he was a threat to them. Raghavan still blames himself for his wife's murder and has remained single ever since. Once in New York, he begins his investigation with NYPD detective Anderson (Lev Gorn).
Raghavan stays in a hotel in downtown New York where he constantly keeps his superiors in Chennai updated on the investigation. Staying next to his room is Aradhana (Jyothika), an NRI. He immediately notices that she is going through a rough time in her life. One night, he gets suspicious about what she is up to and breaks into her room, only to find her attempting suicide by strangling herself. Raghavan saves her life and the two strike a friendship. Aradhana reveals that her violent husband is filing for divorce after cheating on her.
At the same time, Raghavan and Anderson find a connection between Rani's murder in Madurai and an Indian-American girl, Chandana, whose finger was also found hung in her boyfriend's car. Using Raghavan's instincts, they find the body of Chandana and three more American girls raped and murdered in similar ways hidden in a restricted area in the suburbs. After narrowing down on their suspects based on flight records, their suspicion falls on two Indian medical students studying in New York — Amudhan (Daniel Balaji) and Ilamaaran (Salim Baigg).
Raghavan and Anderson visit Amudhan and Ilamaaran's apartment to question them. Since they are not home, Raghavan and Anderson break into their apartment and find photos and details of the murdered girls. Before they can call for backup, Amudan and Ilamaaran come home. A violent fight breaks out and Anderson is shot dead while Raghavan is injured and Ilamaaran falls unconscious. In order to buy time, Raghavan asks Amudhan why such intelligent young men like them would succumb to such psychopathic acts.
Amudhan explains that ever since they were children, they had developed a habit of killing. He claims that he managed to keep his violent urges under control for three years. However, the animal inside him was revived on the night he and Ilamaaran were arrested by Arokiya Raj for assaulting Rani. The inspector on duty had them locked up at a local station for a night with a eunuch who molested them. Thirsty for revenge, both of them left for New York City to pursue their higher studies in medicine and went on to kill many local young women. During their summer break in India, they killed Rani and then returned to the States. After finding out that Arokiya Raj had moved to New York, they killed him and his wife. Thinking Raghavan will be dead in minutes due to the stabbings, they set their apartment on fire and take the next flight to Mumbai to escape the NYPD.
Raghavan makes it out alive by jumping out the window and is hospitalised. Aradhana takes care of him and their bond grows stronger. Raghavan and Aradhana return to Chennai together. During their flight, Aradhana explains that she has a daughter who is living with her parents in Chennai and she feels guilty for wanting to commit suicide so selfishly. As they wait in line for customs, Raghavan proposes to Aradhana, but she refuses, saying that she is not ready for another relationship, having just finalised her divorce, as she wishes to focus on being a good mother to her daughter first.
Amudhan and Illamaran, who have evaded Mumbai police at Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, reach Chennai through Goa and Kozhikode. Amudhan, after seeing Aradhana with Raghavan, kidnaps her while Ilamaaran tries to get into Raghavan's house to kill him but flees after the cops charges. He is chased and caught by Raghavan. After murdering many, in a duel between them, Raghavan eventually kills both Amudhan and Illamaran and rescues Aradhana, who accepts his love and they marry. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0166276 | Monkeybone | Stu Miley is a disillusioned cartoonist whose comic strip features a rascal monkey named Monkeybone. Stu is in love with a sleep institute worker named Dr. Julie McElroy, who helped him deal with his terrible nightmares by changing his drawing hand. One night, Stu crashes his car after accidentally activating an inflatable Monkeybone raft, causing him to fall into a coma.
His spirit ends up in Down Town, a limbo-like carnival landscape populated by human beings, mythical creatures and figments of people's imaginations where nightmares are entertainment. In Down Town, Monkeybone is real. During that time, Stu befriends a catgirl named Miss Kitty. When Stu learns that his sister Kimmy is about to pull the plug on him, he asks Hypnos, God of Sleep, for advice. Hypnos tells Stu that to get back to the living, he has to infiltrate the Land of Death to steal an Exit Pass from Death which are given out to coma victims by Reapers giving them permission to leave Down Town and awaken from their coma. Stu successfully steals an Exit Pass, but Monkeybone steals it from him in turn and enters the Land of the Living in Stu's body through the Revive-O as Hypnos states that they have plans for Stu's body.
When Stu is locked up, Hypnos later visits the jail cells, where Stu finds himself locked up with Attila the Hun, Jack the Ripper, and Stephen King, who reveals his nightmare of Cujo pulled the same trick Monkeybone pulled on Stu. Hypnos explains to Stu that he plans to use Stu's body to get a chemical substance named Oneirix that Julie developed that gives people and animals nightmares, which gives him more power. Upon being sent to the institute by Hypnos upon reminding him of his mission, Monkeybone (in Stu's body) ends up successfully stealing the Oneirix, switching it with another juice. Monkeybone obtains the Oneirix and puts it inside stuffed monkey toys of himself (Monkeybone) so that those who touch them will be infected and given nightmares. With help from Miss Kitty, Stu escapes from his imprisonment.
Monkeybone in Stu's body prepares a pinata for the Monkeybone farting dolls at the party. Meanwhile, Stu reveals Hypnos' plan to Death upon capture and convinces her to send him back for only an hour, only to find himself in the body of a dead athlete organ donor. As he flees the morgue attendants, Stu finds out about Monkeybone's planned party and heads there with the extractors still in pursuit. At the party, Stu's agent, Herb, exposes himself to the Oneirix in the Monkeybone doll and ends up seeing in the mirror that his clothes are coming to life. This causes Herb to run through the party naked, telling everyone that the clothes have come to life and turned evil. After that, Monkeybone in Stu's body tells everyone to forget about it as he brings down the Stu piñata containing the Monkeybone dolls. Stu uses Monkeybone's main characteristics from the comics to cause him to panic and escape. A chase ensues, culminating with Stu and Monkeybone battling each other while clinging to a giant Monkeybone balloon. The balloon is eventually shot down by a passing incompetent police officer and both Stu and Monkeybone fall barely enough to be non-fatal and fall unconscious.
Stu and Monkeybone are falling toward Down Town where the residents cheer on their fight. Just then, all the rides stop and a giant robot emerges near the Revive-O causing everyone to flee the area. When Stu and Monkeybone are caught by it, the operator of the robot is revealed to be Death, who seems quite cheerful despite the circumstances. Monkeybone tries to have Death let him go to the bathroom, but Death places Monkeybone back in Stu's head which is where he belongs. Death then uses her robot to send Stu back to the living.
Stu wakes up in his own body. Stu then proposes to Julie and they get married. An erratic Herb breaks the fourth wall urging the audience to take off their clothes and the film cuts to an animated sequence where cartoon characters strip their human disguises revealing monkeys underneath. | cult, comedy, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | One thing that weakened Selick's second movie was his decision to begin and end with live action footage, when the glory of both "Nightmare" and "Peach" lay in skilful, sharp, gorgeous stop-motion animation.In "Monkeybone" Selick has watered the original batch of Nightmare juice still more (note to Selick: it's time to stop mining this lode - if you make a fourth feature, get a new look), with at least half of the footage lacking the visual trademarks that were probably the reason for making the film in the first place.
There WAS some stop-motion footage thrown in, probably it's for old time's sake.Still, this is a better, more memorable movie than Selick's last one, and certainly not nearly as bad as the miserable box-office returns and scathing reviews would lead you to believe.
(If you want to see Fraser's charm wasted, see "Bedazzled".) At one point Stu is forced to temporarily occupy another body (Chris Kattan), and we instantly transfer our affections to the new actor without giving the matter a second thought - which is more remarkable than it sounds, and shows that Fraser really had been WORKING to get us to like Stu.Then there's Downtown, which you must admit, looks good.
The sequence in which Stu goes into the surrealist painting he himself made has an unsettling quality to it that I usually only feel with Dali or Bunuel.Brendan Fraser is very adequate in this movie, and Chris Kattan's appearance was quite welcome, but Bridget Fonda's prodigious acting talents are wasted here..
The cast was excellent with two bravura performances by Brendan Fraser and Chris Kattan.They cemented the film into a wonderfully dark comic piece.This is a difficult balance to develop and maintain.
Monkeybone is a visually delightful, darkly humorous, and totally refreshing fantasy flick full of great special effects, likable characters, and a style that mixes everything from "Brazil" and "Cool World" to "Hellraiser" and "Eraserhead".
It reminded me of "Dark City", "Freaked", "Forbidden Zone" and the work of Sid and Marty Krofft, but at the same time completely fresh and original."Monkeybone" does suffer from some flaws, but they seem like the manipulations of some behind-the-scenes tinkering to make the movie more "normal".
The most visible scars occur when our hero Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser, who is quickly becoming a great comedic actor) first arrives in Monkeybone's nightmare land.
Chris Kattan is outstanding, providing some hilarious, "Re-Animator"-style hi-jinx as "Organ Doner Stu", Dave Foley is also funny as Stu's manager, and Whoopie Goldberg is really good as Death, whose head explodes when she gets mad.But the real stars here are the fantasy characters who inhabit the nightmare town.
Starting and ending with cartoons about the titular character 'Monkey Bone' this is a hilarious and visually stunning film.It is NOT a film for children so don't let the television adverts fool you into thinking that it is a delightful animated romp in the park for kids.
The first cartoon sequence explains in graphic detail how the character of 'Monkey Bone' got his name; and it is not something that can be repeated in this forum.Unfortunately, when I went to the matinée the audience was primarily children.When Stu Miley (S Miley get it?) is tricked into staying in the 'Downunder' (the place where people in a coma go to) to provide nightmares for the denizens of 'Downunder' the film becomes much too frightening for children; but more visually elaborate and stimulating for adults.The sound track starts out strong and only gets better.Brendan Fraser is wonderful as Stu the comic book author who has a very dark side to him.
Bridget Fonda is underutilized as Dr Julie McElroy the sweet and good-natured girlfriend of Stu. Megan Mullally as Kimmy, Stu's sister who wants to pull the plug on Stu (though it is never real clear why) essentially reprises her role as 'Karen' from the television show 'Will and Grace' but she is always a delight to watch.Rose McGowan ('Scream') is a visual treat as Kitty the lone citizen of 'Downunder' that is willing to assist Stu in returning to the real world.
Whoopi Goldberg is fabulous as Death just the right amount of sly wickedness that you would expect of an embodied death.But Chris Kattan does a real star turn as the Organ Doner his physical comedy and outrageous antics as a recently deceased gymnast are truly riotous and quite different from the characters he has played in past films or currently plays on Saturday Night Live it is worth seeing this film just for his performance.The plot is actually fairly complicated and the graphics and visual style are brilliant and mind-blowing; but again, this is not a film for children.
The movie really consists of two main parts: Stu down in Hell (although not quite dead yet in real life), trying to find a way back up; and Stu back on terra firma, trying to Save The Day. What connects the two parts is that the nefarious Monkeybone, who's ostensibly been helping Stu to get an "exit pass" has actually schemed to return to the land of the living himself - in Stu's body.
You see, instead of Barney or the like they wanted Monkeybone over and over.And anyone who thinks kids shouldn't watch it needs to lighten up.(Someone actually thought the opening sequence about a kid getting an erection over his teachers arm fat was too inappropriate to mention.
Henry Selick, the genius behind similar movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach," once again uses a variety of eye-popping, indulgent gimmickry to provide a delight for the senses.
Model puppets, elaborate set designs, computer animation, stop-action photography, claymation, convincing and complex makeup, far out costumes and even some nifty voice effects preside the entertainment of "Monkey Bone." Selick creates a world so full of energy and inventive characters that it justifies the movie's existence.
His long time girlfriend, Julie (Bridget Fonda), comforts, loves him and is ecstatic when Stu's cartoon primate creation, Monkeybone, a wisecracking and obscene libido portraiture, becomes a national television show.
The carnival-like realm inhabits a variety of unusual characters, like Kitty (Rose McGowan from "Jawbreaker") an attractive waitress dressed in a feline furnish, Hypnos (Giancarlo Esposito) the half-man, half-goat ruler of Downtown, Death (Whoopi Goldberg) the cynical head honcho who determines the visitor's fate, and even the concoction of his own imagination-the aggravating nuisance himself: Monkeybone (voiced by John Turturro).
The movie begins with a short `Monkeybone' cartoon, a pilot created from a popular comic strip written by Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser), which has just been picked up by Comedy Central and contracted for a number of episodes.
Monkeybone himself (with voice provided by John Turturro sounding like he's been inhaling helium), is-- far from being funny, cute or endearing in any way, shape or form-- an annoying little spud who grates on the senses from the moment he appears on screen, which beyond the opening cartoon, begins with Stu's descent into `Down Town,' the land of nightmares residing within his own mind into which he slips when a freak accident puts him in a coma.
Monkeybone(2001) 4 out of 10, 1st watched 6/4/05 Dir-Henry Selick:Goofy, only mildly funny unique movie about a cartoonist who goes into a comma and comes back as his cartoon character(his alter ego), monkeybone, with disastrous results.
You have, Downtown, the pre-death nightmare land filled with goofy creatures coming out of his dreams, and then the live-action world of real life that he first comes into as Monkeybone in his own body and then later as himself in a practically dead corpse of a prior gymnast's body played by Chris Katten.
As many might have expected, Henry Selick, director of such visual eye-candy productions as "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach", delivers - with this dark and wicked new film.Monkeybone is the kind of film people want to see these days at the movies.
Not only are the visual effects incredible but the esemble cast as well.Brendan Fraser ("The Mummy", "Gods and Monsters") stars at Stu Miley, the slightly independent shy cartoonist, making it to the top with his newest comic creation, 'Monkeybone'.
Monkeybone is purely one of the great films of 2001 - filled with witty humor, an excellent cast (and crew!), and incredible scenery and other eye-candy for all audiences..
I also like Brendan Fraser, Chris Kattan, and Whoopi Goldberg, and had the pleasure to see a scene of this movie being filmed while I was in L.A.I went to this film not knowing what to expect.
Brendan Fraser needs to start making more better films and funnier ones like he did in Bedazzled.
One is that the animation was crisp and had barely any flaws in that and the other is that some scenes were funny like when Brendan Fraser is making out with that girl on the bed and others but that was it.
A cringe and groan inducing mess that is certainly my official pick for worst movie ever made.Brendan Fraser stars as a successful cartoonist who falls into a coma after an accident, the details of which are too stupid to mention, and ends up in a parallel universe inside his mind where he meets his creation Monkeybone (voiced by John Turturro).
Fraser (still in his own head we think), makes a plea to Death, played by Whoopi Goldberg and is loaned a body to win back his girl before Monkeybone gets his dirty ape hands on her.Co-stars Bridget Fonda, Megan Mullally, Dave Foley, Rose McGowan and Chris Kattan round-up an unremarkable list of "talent" that were hired to stand behind stop-motion models and in front of rejected Beetlejuice sets.
There are too many films like this, dumbed down to appeal to everyone, inoffensive and unstimulating.The plot is predictable as are the jokes, there is nothing new, the good guy wins and there is a happy ending, a load of "hilariously funny" sketches fill in the gaps.
He proved this talent when he directed "A Nightmare Before Christmas" (It's a shame so many fans of that movie just assume Tim Burton directed it and ignore Selick's achievement.) and made great use of his team of talented animators to bring Burton's original idea to life.
Brendan Fraser is actually fairly likable as Stu Miley (However when Monkeybone takes over his body, he becomes annoying and only makes Monkeybone's character more annoying as well.) and Selick has once again brought on board tons of playful and creative visuals.
There is also a genuinely disturbing (Yet memorable) scene in which Stu is forced into one of the nightmares that he himself painted years ago, where Selick shows off yet another fantastic visual effect that only makes me wish the films script was redeemable.However, when the film takes place in our world - it is clumsily directed and is made twice as painful to sit through due to the lack of any creative visuals.
Monkeybone was already annoying in the underworld, but when he takes Stu's body - actor Brendan Fraser goes from likable to cringe worthy.
The comments of jhclues of Salem make me think that he's stuck in his own nightmare and simply fails to see the fabulous insight the writers, cast and crew bring to this, in my opinion, very funny picture.Brendan Fraser, to my mind, is really an amazing and very under appreciated actor who has a remarkable gift for physical acting and comedy.
However when push comes to shove, it is Monkeybone that escapes back into the real world to put his evil plot into action.For the first thirty minutes or so of this film I was wondering why it didn't have better ratings on this site because I actually found it very enjoyable.
After James and The Giant Peach and The Nightmare Christmas, Henry Selick left Burton's style of animation and tried to pursue his 'own' 'kid-friendly' career in film-making.
Monkeybone escapes from the underworld where death holds court.With places like 'The Coma Bar,' I was laughing because it was ironic because I almost fell into a coma watching this movie.
From beauty and charm to screen presence, Fonda has created a repertoire of talents to utilize in comedies or dramas; however, she fails to convince me that her performance was great."Monkeybone" is an insult to fans, actors and directors alike because it is one of the worst movies ever made and should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg all have one thing in common; they star in one of the worst films released in 2001.
Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg all have one thing in common; they star in one of the worst films released in 2001.
"Monkeybone" is the perfect example for movie studios to re-examine standards for stamping their approval on films with no story, character development and extremely bad writing."Monkeybone" revolves around the life of Stu Miley, a cartoonist who has created a comic strip featuring Monkeybone, who has become a nusence for Stu. With a beautiful girlfriend at his side and a successful comic strip becoming a national television show, fate steps in to take it away from him.
"Monkeybone" is the perfect example for movie studios to re-examine standards for stamping their approval on films with no story, character development and extremely bad writing."Monkeybone" revolves around the life of Stu Miley, a cartoonist who has created a comic strip featuring Monkeybone, who has become a nusence for Stu. With a beautiful girlfriend at his side and a successful comic strip becoming a national television show, fate steps in to take it away from him.
The best example of this occurred with the appearance of comedian Chris Kattan as a recently dead gymnast whose body is taken over by Stu.My thoughts were how could the director cast someone like this; but then I remembered it was a stupid movie to begin with.I have always enjoyed watching Fraser because he has built a body of work.
The best example of this occurred with the appearance of comedian Chris Kattan as a recently dead gymnast whose body is taken over by Stu.My thoughts were how could the director cast someone like this; but then I remembered it was a stupid movie to begin with.I have always enjoyed watching Fraser because he has built a body of work.
From beauty and charm to screen presence, Fonda has created a repetoire of talents to utilize in comedies or dramas; however, she fails to convince me that her performance was great."Monkeybone" is an insult to fans, actors and directors alike because it is one of the worst movies ever made and should have been left on the cutting room floor.
Brendan Fraser plays at least two characters in this film, with his body inhabited by his alter-ego, Monkeybone, at one point.
Ok. I will admit that "Monkeybone" isn't a very good movie but I only bought it because Chris Kattan was in it.
The movie had potential to be very entertaining, but it seems like a lot wasn't shot or was cut out(especially when you look at the extra scenes on the DVD).
I left the movie theater feeling thoroughly entertained and wonderfully surprised!There is no doubt that "Monkeybone" would not appeal to everyone, but it is superbly brought to life by Brendan Fraser.
This is the best movie I've seen since "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Not is it only visually stunning with an amazing soundtrack (The best scene being where Stu is entering purgatory via roller coaster--the swelling of Anne Dudley's "Welcome to Downtown" is almost orgasmatic) but the story line is creative, the characters are lovable (Monkeybone is a great character--you love to hate him!
In these tame, toothless cinematic times, one has to give credit to Twentieth Century Fox for even releasing a film like "Monkeybone", Henry Selick's epically bizarre fantasy-comedy.
Like a Ralph Bakshi nightmare without the hardcore animal sex, Selick's film is strange, surreal, slightly disturbing, and, at certain intervals, fine and clever fun.Stu Miley (Brendan Fraser) is an example of the healing power of art, having battled back from depression and almost paralyzing nightmares by channelling his horrors into an anarchic cartoon alter ego named Monkeybone, who wreaks havoc through the pages of an underground comic book.
It's now up to Stu's soul, trapped Downtown, to get out and reclaim his body before Monkeybone turns the world into an army of out-of-control id-monsters like himself.As you can probably already tell, this film is not your standard cookie-cutter Hollywood product.
"Monkeybone" stars Brendan Fraser and Bridget Fonda, two very likeable and talented actors, and features impressive sets and costumes.So what happened?Well, there's the story: Cartoonist Stu Miley (Fraser) is on top of the world.
The sets, costumes, and animation were very imaginative, and the acting was riotous (Brendan Fraser and Chris Kattan outdo themselves in performance), but the film as a whole is a failure in its mission to enrich our imaginations.Henry Selick really is a great director-- The Nightmare Before Christmas and the animated short Devil Went Down to Georgia are fascinating works of animation.
Chris Kattan's work as the "dead" athlete is itself a great bit of physical comedy; Dave Foley was fine as Herb, the money-mad manager (no one can say that Dave can't convincingly portray someone who's gone nuts.) Brendan Fraser did a good job as Stu Miley but then, even if he weren't a good actor (which he definitely is) his prettyboy face and greater than average height would make him an engaging screen presence.In all, you should see this film if you're a fan of Fraser's or if you want to see some fantastic special effects.
Brendan Fraser gets sucked into a nightmare world (and the only thing nightmarish about it is the fact that the audience can't get out) whilst Monkeybone well, just annoys you. |
tt0190861 | Vatel | The story takes place in 1671. In the prelude to the Franco-Dutch War, a financially struggling Louis, Grand Condé is visited by King Louis XIV for three days of festivities at the Château de Chantilly. The Prince wants a commission as a general, and spares no expense in order to impress the king. In charge of organizing the event is François Vatel, Master of Festivities and Pleasures in the prince's household. Vatel is a man of great honor and talent, but of low birth. As the great Condé is prepared to do anything in his quest for stature, the tasks assigned to Vatel are often menial and dishonourable. While Vatel tries to sustain dignity amidst the extravaganza he is meant to orchestrate, he finds himself in love with Anne de Montausier, the king's latest lover, who returns his affections. However, due to their incompatible social standing and the rigid hierarchy of the court, continuing the liaison is clearly impossible.
In the last day of the visit by the King Louis XIV, Vatel realizes that he is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of his superiors, bought and sold like a piece of property, after learning that the Prince of Condé has "lost" him in a card game with the King. Disheartened and refusing to leave his people (the servants of the Château) and go to work for the King, Vatel consequently commits suicide by throwing himself on his sword. Nevertheless, the word that goes to the King by his own court members is that Vatel killed himself because the roast was not sufficient to feed several unexpected guests, the clouds dulled the fireworks display and he lacked confidence that there would be enough fish for the morning meal. This explanation pleases the King very much. Anne de Montausier is grief-stricken upon hearing the news, but knows she must not speak of it. In doing so, she flees the court quietly and no one ever hears about her and Vatel again. | revenge, intrigue | train | wikipedia | "Vatel" is a French period film with Depardieu as the title character, a master steward under the crown of King Louis XIV whose job it is to put on feasts and spectacles for the pleasures of royalty.
Typical of director Joffe, the film peers deep into the character of Vatel, around whom swirl politicking and wickedness, with such depth and dimension as to make the plot of secondary importance.
Replete with sumptuous sets, elegant costuming, and epicurean delights, the film fills the eye and whets the palate as few films can while it paints a portrait of a sensitive and honorable man who makes the supreme sacrifice for dignity.A superb watch for those into period films painted with delicate brush strokes and subtle nuances..
Roland Joffe's "Vatel" does something few movies can do these days: it takes you to a place you've never been before.The French made film has Louie XIV visiting a poor province ruled by an improverished prince, who must put on spectacular entertainment fit for the Sun King.
There's more than the King's time at stake here, though, for Louie wants the prince to lead his army, should France go to war with Holland, and the Prince desperately needs Louie's financial help, to save his nearly brankrupt province.Enter the prince's chief steward, Vatel, played by Gerard Depardiue.
From pop up lawn decorations to fire works extravaganzas that would shame the Chinese, Vatel displays a genius for spectacle that will literally leave you breathless."Vatel" the movie includes lots of court intrigue and some fine acting from those carrying it out.
It's an understated performance in which much of what is going on is behind his eyes (and probably in his stomach ulcers) rather than on the surface.His protagonists are Julian Sands as the petulant,devious King and Tim Roth as the chief court intriguer, kind of an early version of a political advance man.
Uma Thurman is a lady in waiting who has caught all three men's eyes.All are good, but what sets "Vatel" off is the visuals which give you a look at spectacle the likes of which this writer had never before seen.
Only then we come to understand that this was only a clever device that Louis XIV created to maintain all of these rich dilettante aristocrats busy with life at court to keep them away from the real world and the real politics thus providing him with absolute power (This was his glory not Versailles).
If anything, this movie is a mirror of society at is very worst and best, and a great point of reference to look at ourselves as we were and as we presently are.
Those who pretend that this story is just a boring fantasy of the past of some fertile imagination dressed up in pretty costumes with some period music; they need a better set of glasses than an eye doctor can normally prescribe.
Vatel was not a bad movie, in fact it was worth viewing.
Another good theme was the disfunctionality of the royals and how the servants interacted with these powerful people (Vatel tried not to as much as possible).
If you've ever experienced an unrequited or forbidden (not illicit) love, you'll empathize with the plight of François Vatel, played by Gérard Depardieu, whose performance is characteristically excellent.
The love story is not original (stations interfere with true, but conflicted, love), but the context and visual surroundings -- and the fact that it is historically based -- add an unexpected dimension to the viewing, which is best appreciated on a large screen..
It's one of the few that I have to re-watch, every so often.Now, one of the things that struck me most strongly was the fact of Vatel and Anne's goodness -- this, in spite of where Louis' example might have led them -- with the people who worked with them.The scenes with Vatel and Colin; with Anne and Louise...
This film is about a servant of noble values having to prepare an extravagant feast for the King's visit.Vatel understandably focuses on one single character, Francois Vatel.
Vatel, perhaps a weak title to a spectacular film; it recreates the excesses of the French court in its pre-off-with-their-heads-phase.
The fete is essentially an Olympic opening parade that goes on for three days in dazzling costume orchestrated by one great artist, the Viscount's steward, Vatel.Vatel orchestrates the extravaganzas and falls for Uma Thurman, the King's new mistress.
Indeed, Vatel is a man of integrity, denying the King's pedophile brother a young kitchen boy at the risk of his life.
The story of Francoise Vatel, the Condé's Master of Cerimonies, and the King's three days visit at Condé's Castle.
Depardieu, together with the whole excellent cast and the wonderful sets and costumes, gives us the taste of Vatel's life.
It is deeply frustrating that what could, and should, have been a great period drama, with some fine acting talent, should end up a dull, mediocre piece of cinema.
Uma Thurman appears to be totally miscast in the role of Vatel's secret admirer, and her performance is dull, emotionless and sometimes irritating.
This is probably the one true great moment in the film, but it seems to get in the way of the one piece of entertainment on offer to us and the tragic impact is lost completely.On balance, it is the ending that is the greatest disappointment.
The final scenes lack any emotional impact or integrity and overall the film appears shallow and insubstantial.A totally wasted opportunity..
I enjoyed this movie due to the historical treatment of how politics played out during the time of the European kingdoms.
Gerard Depardieu gives a good performance and the costumes and scenery are exquisite..
This is a movie made for His Majesty Gérard Depardieu,with an absurd supporting cast and lots and lots of wasted money.
Depardieu is everywhere in the movie and reduces the others characters to walk-ons.Roland Joffé films everything he can,and tries to impress the audience with fireworks,audacious camera tricks,Fellini-inspired settings but he does not create anything.The Sun King is featured but he pales into insignificance ,which is a shame all the same!His brother is first shown as a wicked perverse man (in the French tradition:for that matter,take a look at the "Angélique "series)when the historians describe him as an admittedly gay man but a human being who was courageous,generous with the vanquished at war,and finally gentle(see "Monsieur,frère du roi" by Philippe Erlanger).At least his last line shows his real nature but it's too little too late.But the biggest bomb is Tim Roth's Lauzun!The duc de Lauzun was a Gascon ,who was always cracking jokes ,a bon vivant,fond of women ,so insolent that he was finally sent to the Pignerol jail where he met again Vatel's former master,Nicolas Fouquet -the movie briefly hints at him-.Tim Roth's sullen face is by no means duc de Lauzun,this joker who would marry the king 's cousin ,la grande Mademoiselle,a spinster,for her dough:oddly this colorful dowager does not appear at all.Montespan,La Vallière do,but they do walk-on parts.(Only one line each:Montespan:"I'm coming up" Vallière:'I'm coming down",the only touch of humor in the whole movie) Queen Marie-Therèse is not well portrayed either:she was rather ugly,gauche and self-effacing.Here she seems to outshine Montespan,which is rather odd!.
Great intriguing story and premise, with the best possible cast you could wish for, yet the net result is a boring slow self congratulatory journey through pretension and psuedo intelect masquerading as art.
VATEL: Good actors, a good film but certainly not the best one of 2000.
Gérard Depardieu is known for his historical films, in which he his master.
But this films isn't every historical it is always about food and the please the king Louis XIV.
Uma Thurman, Tim Roth & Gérard Depardieu gave good performances but this film was to flat.
But the principal error is the beauty of a movie in which food, costumes, colors, words, art in every form transforms the story in ordinary pretext.Depardieu is a brilliant Vatel and his impressive talent, his artistic force are reflected in acting.
You will be impressed by the beauty of the scenes and discover the public show technics used under French King, Louis the 14th.
This is to establish that kings are human and that Vatel is of the History-as-a-collection-of-body-fluids school of movie-making, of which 'Le Roi danse' is a prime example.
the delicate precision of the making the story, the tension, Gerard Depardieu as the only reasonable choice for the lead role are pieces for a fascinating trip across mysteries and across the spirit of a century.
This film tells the story of François Vatel, a master of ceremonies at the service of Prince Louis II of Condé, one of the most important aristocrats of the French court but that was bankrupt and away of the good graces of King Louis XIV.
Then Vatel is in charge of organizing a three-day party like never seen before for king's amusement.
Based on historical events, the film is directed by Roland Joffé, has argument by Jeanne Labrune (in original French version) and features Gérard Depardieu (Vatel), Uma Thurman (in the role of Anne of Montausier, one of the king's lovers) and Tim Roth (as the Marquis de Lauzun, the king's confidant).Joffé managed to make the audience relive the events.
The environments, the locations for filming, the costumes, the music, everything was thought out and analyzed carefully to reproduce the atmosphere of the time, so we must congratulate this effort for historical accuracy, which even received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Art Direction.
The script also works in interesting ways, including some situations where we glimpse the contrast (and even shock) of the two worlds of seventeenth-century France: the richness and unparalleled luxury of the court and the absolute misery of the common people.
These two films are visually superior to "Vatel", as well.
Whatever little intrigue and plot there is tends to be unpleasant rather than fascinating.Who cares whether Vatel's boss or some other moron gets to fight the king's war?
Certainly, this movie will get some academy awards for sets/costumes.Gerard Depardieu is a brilliant french actor, and anyone could tell that he was having problems with the english language which probably impeded his natural style.
The inventions and spectacles that Vatel creates are truly amazing, but there doesn't seem to be any real depth or passion in the character.
The film tries to do too much, and in the end is just a superficial glimpse of what could have been a great story..
Gérard Depardieu wandered through this movie looking dazed and confused.
Uma Thurman sat around looking sad and wistful and, for some reason not really explained, fell in love with Depardieu.
If you must, watch the movie for the setting and costumes but don't expect heavy drama or deep historical significance..
It is sad that a great cast worked on a movie as profoundly boring and meaningless as Vatel.
Unless it was to present a good-looking, but meaningless film OR a movie with some of the worst dialogues ever seen in a serious movie and the kind of plot so thin that you have to work really hard to see it is indeed there.
OK, I said that I didn't care for much of this review but that is because Vatel is a movie where stuff sort of happens to cardboard figures which are there to try to fill our need for a character.
Vatel is a movie to be relished for those not with time to spare but who will spare the time this film deserves.
-- is he really like this or is this a persona he has perfected?), but this interpretation of perhaps the world's first great French chef (played by Gerard Depardieu, typically inimitable) makes one think twice about the current excesses of Emeril, Puck & Co. on TV..............
Duc de Condé's employee, François Vatel (1631-1678) was in charge of cooking, and preparing shows for the French King Louis XIVth when he once come in the castle of Chantilly, owned by de Condé.
Read (again) Sévigné to know more about Vatel.In the movie, he falls in love with a King's mistress (Uma), he is refined, very competent (he even invents the whipped cream "crème Chantilly").
The movie shows three days of banquets.The brilliant Gérard Depardieu is Vatel.
Gerard portrays the character Vatel perfectly, the "party liaison", shall we say, who is trying to help Prince de Conde' regain the favor of the King, Louis XIV, to save his bankrupt province by putting together a massive weekend of splendor and banquets.
Maybe it is because that is what those aristocrats do all day, but they don't have to let it actually occupy most of the movie.The film did convey the contrast the lives of aristocrats and the merely normal people.
All Dressed Up with Nothing To Do. Despite the best efforts of talented actors like Uma Thurman and Tim Roth, director Roland Joffe's film lacks any sign of character depth.
In fact, they don't have much to do, other than enjoying the amazing masterpieces of entertainment that Vatel (a horrid Depardieu) puts together.
It was quite obviously played as indoor croquet.I felt that the film conveyed the story of a downtrodden manager who attempted all for his master only to be shafted in the end.
A brief fling with a courtesan, one that means much more to him than to her, contributes to his final act of frustration and despair.I'm sure that others will find historical inaccuracies, a fault of the production team, but I'm prepared to accept them as part of the process of bringing a story to film.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story telling.Altogether an interesting movie that makes a telling commentary on the excesses of the French aristocracy of the time.JC.
) to welcome and to host the king of France, who was very much impressed with the work done by this man, Vatel (Depardieu).
The plot showed an efficient acting of Depardieu, and poor one from Uma Thurman and Tim Roth, probably due to the roles given by the director to them.
Any true gourmand knows the story of Vatel -- and that he died for his art.
I didn't care that this wasn't Depardieu's best film or that it wasn't that well-acted.
SOME SPOILERS AHEADThe movie was mildly interesting as it describes (what I call) the "Martha Stewart" of 17th Century France, Francois Vatel.
What saved this film was Gerard Depardieu's performance as the title character who organizes all the interior decorating, shows, and meals prepared for the coming of King Louis XIV to a chateau in Chantilly.
Uma Thurman's performance as Vatel's love interest is well, below mediocre.
French/English period piece, the story of Vatel..
Gérard Depardieu is François Vatel, I'm not sure what his actual title was, but he was a combination of master chef, kitchen manager, estate manager, and live show producer.
The setting for the whole story is the country estate, over a few days, when the king of France, Louis XIV, and his vast party are dropping in for some peace and quiet.
Meanwhile, the merchants who provided food and other supplies were put off until then, and it fell to Vatel to convince them that the money would come.Much of the middle story involves the spoiled and decadent behavior the king and his vast traveling party.
Uma Thurman is the vaguely British Anne de Montausier, having an affair with the king, but attracted to Vatel.
A good movie for those who enjoy realistic period pieces.MAJOR SPOILER.
When Uma's character sleeps with the king she looks at herself in the mirror and sees herself as an object for the first time.I thought this film was all about the powerlessness people felt during this time.
However, we were both wondering (and I hope someone out there can tell me more)--are the special effects, such as the incredible set that appears around King Louis XIV, anachronisms?
I loved the end, as it was a wonderful way for Gerard Depardieu's character to stand up to the King and make a statement about freedom.
So, while we agreed on almost the whole film (she gave it a 6 and I gave it a 7), I was left feeling more positive about the film because I have a very high tolerance for depressing and dreadful endings that many people will not enjoy.Overall, not a great film but worth seeing--particularly if you like costume dramas..
Good looking film needs more passion.
Conde has put the 3 day feast and all of the entertainment in the hands of Francois Vatel (Gerard Depardieu) who can work magic when it comes to preparing feasts even though he may not have enough food.
At times he is forced to tell some of the royal guests "No" to certain extravagances and this has caught the eye of Anne de Montausier (Uma Thurman) who has become the Kings new mistress and also has to repel the advances of the Marquis de Lauzun (Tim Roth).
The look of the film is very impressive and the Art Design was nominated for an Oscar.
We watch Vatel in this film spend too much time poking his fingers in pots and tasting the food.
I do think Depardieu is good in this film and Thurman isn't bad either.
But Vatel, a superb movie about the creation of spectacle, misses perfection precisely because its director eschewed a spectacularly upbeat Hollywood ending, presumably in deference to historical accuracy.
Vatel is one of the most dazzlingly complex yet perfectly executed movies ever made -- with superb casting, great direction, sublime performances, and magnificent production values in every detail.
But it just did not fit with the humane and careful character of Vatel so wonderfully created by Gérard Depardieu in this film.
As much as I admired most of Vatel, I so hated the ending that I doubt I will ever watch it again, and I cannot in good conscience recommend it. |
tt0105606 | To Grandmother's House We Go | Twin Sisters Sarah and Julie (Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen) are two naughty but sweet children who drive their work-obsessed divorced mother, Rhonda (Cynthia Geary), up the wall. They overhear her saying that they are a "handful" and she needs a "vacation". They decide to go give Rhonda what she wants and head off to their great grandmother's house for Christmas. The girls pack up their bags and hop on their bicycles. But there's a problem; they aren't allowed to cross the street on their own. The city bus pulls up and they sneak on through the back door. While riding the bus, an elderly lady informs them that it only goes back and forth between Uptown and Downtown, who also informs them that Edgemont (where Grandma lives) is actually several hours away.
After getting off the bus downtown, they spot Eddie (J. Eddie Peck) (a delivery man who has a crush on their mom) and his truck. They sneak into its back thinking that he will lead them to their great-grandmother's, and only reveal themselves to him because Sarah desperately has to go to the bathroom. He doesn't like kids, but eventually starts to enjoy the girls' company after he figures out that he gets large tips when they deliver packages with him. He even buys them ice cream, as well as a lottery ticket with the numbers of their birth date (6-13-19-8-7). Meanwhile, the babysitter has noticed that the girls were missing and inform Rhonda about it, who in concerns of the news frantically closes her opened 24/7 store, and rushes home to inspect the place and call the police. Just as she is reporting it to the police, Eddie calls her and gives her the good news that he has the girls and how they got there. She agrees to come pick them up, but he agrees to keep them and watch over them promising to bring them back at the end of the day when he has finished, while having the girls believe that he will take them to Grandma's if they help out.
After the day's deliveries are finished, of course against their will, he brings them home even revealing to them that adults will saying anything to get kids to go along. He manages to make it back home telling the girls to go to the back to get their suitcases where he will meet them there. He manages to step out of his truck, only to be attacked by two robbers who steal his truck (with the girls still inside). When the robbers, Harvey and Shirley (Jerry Van Dyke and Rhea Perlman), discover them and why they are there, they decide they can make some money by kidnapping them for ransom. Shirley makes a phone call to Rhonda, asking for a ransom which she calls a "reward" of $10,000 in cash. She also forced Rhonda not to inform the police about it, or else they will permanently disappear with the girls. She tells her that they will make the trade at the ice rink in Edgemont, and that she is to wear a red hat.
Meanwhile, Harvey has begun to like the girls and when he asks Shirley why they never had kids, she replies that it's because they're too busy being criminals, though he agrees that it's just their job rather than a mission, which is how Shirley views it. Eddie and Rhonda reluctantly agree to raise the money for ransom through opening up and selling merchandise which Eddie is supposed to be delivering. However, they succeed as planned and manage to make it close to the threshold of what they're supposed to raise. Eddie gives Rhonda a red cowgirl cat from his stack of cowboy wannabes. They succeed as planned, and however, the pawnshops start noticing the stolen merchandise and reporting to Detective Gremp (Stuart Margolin) and his officials, writing out a warrant for their arrest, mistaking them for the bandits.
Through managing to make it to the skating rink in Edgemont, through many pros and cons between Eddie and Rhonda and the bandits and how the girls run off again over being upset about the truth that Harvey reveals to them, and through runaway horses disguised as reindeer which Santa left after they had a visit with him, and with the help of Eddie's intervention and resilience, Sarah and Julie eventually get to their great-grandmother's house, and then Eddie and Rhonda (who by this time has learned that it was because of her saying she wanted a vacation that the girls ran away, and apologizes to the girls for being upset and making them think like that) get together after he saves the girls. Just as everything becomes okay, and Eddie and Rhonda share a hug, Detective Gremp and one of his officials burst in and handcuff them. They try to reveal to Gremp the truth about what was going on in their side of the story and what Eddie had planned to do to pay it all back, but he immediate denies it still assuming that they are the real bandits because of the whole ransom deal. Harvey's heart goes out to them as Shirley is trying to force them to get away while they have the chance, and thanks to his conscience kicking in, he intervenes and causes the truth to be revealed. They get handcuffed and sent away, with Harvey telling Shirley that if they ever get out, he promises to make her proud by being the worst convict possible.
Through enough persuasion, Gremp agrees to let Eddie, Rhonda, and the girls go all the back to the city with him, so he can be back in time to be able to have a chance at winning the lotto of 1.3 million dollars on a TV show. He promises to split what he wins between Rhonda and the girls, and has the girls spin it for him. Through pure luck, he wins the jackpot. Afterwards, they give all the people their parcels back. At the end everybody is happy spending Christmas together. | cute | train | wikipedia | A Road Trip for a set of adorable twins!.
Julie and Sarah (the Olsens) live with their pretty mother in a large city.
Mom is a single mother who struggles to survive on her salary as a convenience store manager.
One day, the twins hear mother complain to a babysitter that her two girls are a "handful" and that she would love to have a vacation without the duo in tow.
Well, okay.
Julie and Sarah decide to give mother what she wants by going to their grandmother's house in New Jersey.
They pack and run.
Fortunately, they are aided by the help of a delivery man who is sweet on their mom.
Unfortunately, a couple of thieves steal the van with the twins inside.
How can this turn out happily?This is such a sweet little movie.
The very young twins are almost as charming as Shirley Temple and there are two of them!
Mother is pretty, the hero is good looking and funny, and the rest of the cast is quite adept at moving the story along with humor.
Children should be cautioned that not everyone in the world is as friendly or just as the people who aid Julie and Sarah, however.
That said, this is a movie that will please families who are looking for entertainment around the Holidays.
Just board the sleigh with the twins and take a road trip of giggles..
Terrific!
The Olsens' 1st & still a classic!.
I don't care what anyone else says about this movie.
I loved it when I was 10, and I love it now.
The Olsen girls are so talented and absolutely adorable.
Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron, no exceptions.
Jerry Van Dyke and Rhea Perlman give wonderful performances as the two crooks.
And the cameos by Saget and Loughlin only put the icing on the cake of this lovely, funny, adorable, fun-filled show..
An adorable one !.
Oh i loved this movie.
The twins are so sweet and you can just sense the whole Christmas spirit.
Mary Kate and Ashley had done a great job even though they were just kids.
J. Eddie Peck was really good too.
He completely blended in his role.
The cast was brilliantly picked.
You would never say it is an 1992 movie because compared to some 'nowadays' movies this is a classic !
This was my favorite movie when I was a kid and even though so many years have passed I can still watch it and feel the same way I did when I first saw it.
It's an adorable movie for the whole family to watch and enjoy.
Especially around holidays.I would recommend it to anyone..
A Fun-Filled Family Romp....
if you like that sort of thing.
I suppose this movie is harmless enough, but there is no chance that it will go down in the annals of cinematography as one of the best movies ever.
It is, at best, harmless fluff.To summarize, this movie features the Olsen twins who, at least temporarily, appear to have faded into obscurity.
I suppose this is an example of poetic justice since a lot of the people in "TGHWG" who previously had perfectly viable careers apparently have disappeared from the cultural landscape.Besides these charming cherubs, the movie stars Cynthia Geary, Jerry Van Dyke, Rhea Perlman and others who will probably soon grace the pages of Biography Magazine's "Where Are They Now" section.
Geary plays the twins' ineffectual single mom who can't keep her children from escaping when they think she wants them gone.
A highlight of the film is Geary's dead-on impression of the late Boris Karloff while reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to her children.
Geary's character also apparently spends a good bit of the movie fantasizing about what her life would be like with a working class hero (played to perfection by soap opera star J.
Eddie Peck).Perlman and Van Dyke (in his most challenging role since "Coach") play bumbling crooks who are somewhat harmless, despite the fact that they are, in fact, crooks.
To be honest, crooks don't come any more harmless than these two, who probably couldn't hold up a fleeing turtle.The most unfortunate victim of this movie is perhaps Stuart Margolin, who plays a detective.
Margolin's appearance here is particularly tragic when you consider he was a big star prior to this.
He had even appeared in "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" with John Agar.
Of course, "Women of the Prehistoric Planet" was hardly Oscar material, so perhaps Margolin was also a victim of poetic justice.
Unfortunately for those of us who fondly remember Margolin as Angel on "The Rockford Files", he too seems to have since disappeared off the face of the earth (although rumor has it he is now working at a 7-11 in Des Moines, Iowa under an assumed name).In short, watching "To Grandmother's House We Go" most likely won't do you any harm.
However, it will take up a significant chunk of your life that could have perhaps been better spent doing other things, such as watching reruns of "Gadabout Gaddis" or cleaning your gutters..
This Was A Wonderful Movie!!!!!.
The reason I give this movie a 10 is because it was WONDERFUL!!!!!
I have been a huge Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fan ever since they were 9 months old.
And I will always be a huge fan of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
I have read some of the comments that other people have wrote.
About how Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen cannot act.
And I know that people can have their own opinion.
But my opinion is that they can act and they can sing really really really well.
I will always and I do mean always will support Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
I think that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have a lot of talent when it comes to acting and singing.
And I think that for this being the first movie that they have ever done together they did a wonderful job.
To Grandmother's House We Go is one of my favorite Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movies.
As a matter of fact I have a copy of this movie.
I think that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have a lot of talent in acting, singing and dancing..
2 good reasons to avoid parenthood....and the holidays.
Were these 2 argumentative crumb munchers cute or a gargantuan pain in the butt?
Cute and funny show not intended to be anything but what it was - mindless Christmas entertainment.
My Christmas wish is to never have kids, especially a pair like this duo..
really bad.
Mary-Kate and Ashley are really obnoxious in TGHWG.
Sometimes I had to change the channel to stop myself from throwing the remote at their irritating little faces.
The only good thing about this movie was Eddie.
He was funny although he swore in front of the little kids.1 out of 10.
this is a great tear jerker and a good film for the kids to enjoy.
this film was really good and it was all about listening and doing as your told and helping your brothers or sisters it was a brotherly sisterly love kinda film i nearly cried it was so adorable to see them at that age now look at them they look the same and they have grown up xxx if you don't like this film you must be mad because it is good and a tear jerker.
please give this film a thumbs up it is really good and a little soppy but upsetting when the girls get kidnapped i mean they are only 5 years old.
please give it a thumbs up it'll be good for the little children more than adults.
this was amazing because the love that was shown shows us how to care for our family and friends and teaches us a lesson in a way..
Quite pressing.
Comparing to all of the crappy, airheady films that the Olsen twins have done these days, this cute piece of nothing is quite harmless...but not very entertaining.
These two girls at, any age, haven´t had any kind of acting talent.
The thing that saves them in this movie (and almost all of their movies) is the slight charisma, cuteness and the fact that they are twins and are interesting for a while because of that.
But that isn´t enough for a movie to become good.
TGHWG is predictable, badly acted, childlish etc.
It is not the worst thing from Olsen twins and kids under 12 may be entertained.Some parts were a little nice but just listen to them SING!
Horrible..
Gyhfd.
Ndehebdbsjdhxhuxhdbsbshhsbsbvssgbsbssvyshhsbhshzhshhss |
tt0040974 | The Woman in White | Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, encounters and gives directions to a mysterious and distressed woman dressed entirely in white, lost in London; he is later informed by policemen that she has escaped from an asylum. Soon afterward, he travels to Limmeridge House in Cumberland, having been hired as a drawing master on the recommendation of his friend, Pesca, an Italian language master. The Limmeridge household comprises the invalid Frederick Fairlie, and Walter's students: Laura Fairlie, Mr. Fairlie's niece, and Marian Halcombe, her devoted half-sister. Walter realizes that Laura bears an astonishing resemblance to the woman in white, who is known to the household by the name of Anne Catherick: a mentally disabled child who formerly lived near Limmeridge, and was devoted to Laura's mother, who first dressed her in white.
Over the next few months, Walter and Laura fall in love, despite Laura's betrothal to Sir Percival Glyde, Baronet. Upon realizing this, Marian advises Walter to leave Limmeridge. Laura receives an anonymous letter warning her against marrying Glyde. Walter deduces that Anne has sent the letter and encounters her again in Cumberland; he becomes convinced that Glyde originally placed Anne in the asylum. Despite the misgivings of the family lawyer over the financial terms of the marriage settlement, which will give the entirety of Laura's fortune to Glyde if she dies without leaving an heir, and Laura's confession that she loves another man, Laura and Glyde marry in December 1849 and travel to Italy for six months. Concurrently, Walter joins an expedition to Honduras.
After six months, Sir Percival and Lady Glyde return to his house, Blackwater Park in Hampshire; accompanied by Glyde's friend, Count Fosco (married to Laura's aunt). Marian, at Laura's request, resides at Blackwater and learns that Glyde is in financial difficulties. Glyde attempts to bully Laura into signing a document that would allow him to use her marriage settlement of £20,000, which Laura refuses. Anne, who is now terminally ill, travels to Blackwater Park and contacts Laura, saying that she holds a secret that will ruin Glyde's life. Before she can disclose the secret, Glyde discovers their communication and becomes extremely paranoid, believing Laura knows his secret and attempts to keep her held at Blackwater. With the problem of Laura's refusal to give away her fortune and Anne's knowledge of his secret, Fosco conspires to use the resemblance between Laura and Anne to exchange their two identities. The two will trick both individuals into traveling with them to London; Laura will be placed in an asylum under the identity of Anne, and Anne will be buried under the identity of Laura upon her imminent death. Marian overhears part of this plan but becomes soaked by rain, and contracts typhus.
While Marian is ill, Laura is tricked into traveling to London, and the plan is accomplished. Anne Catherick succumbs to her illness and is buried as Laura, while Laura is drugged and conveyed to the asylum as Anne. When Marian visits the asylum, hoping to learn something from Anne, she finds Laura, who is dismissed as a deluded Anne when she claims to be Laura. Marian bribes the nurse, and Laura escapes. Walter has meanwhile returned from Honduras, and the three live incognito in London, formulating plans to restore Laura's identity. During his research, Walter discovers Glyde's secret; he was illegitimate, and therefore not entitled to inherit his title or property. In the belief that Walter has discovered or will discover his secret, Glyde attempts to incinerate the incriminating documents; but perishes in the flames. From Anne's mother (Jane Catherick), Walter discovers that Anne never knew what Glyde's secret was. She had only known that there was a secret around Glyde and had repeated words her mother had said in anger to threaten Glyde and then later got the idea into her head that she knew the secret. The reason that Glyde's parents never got married was that his mother was already married to an Irish man, who left her. While he had no problem claiming the estate, he needed a marriage certificate between his parents to borrow money. So he went to a church in a village, where his parents had lived together and where the pastor, that had service there had died a long ago, and added a fake marriage into their church register. Mrs. Catherick had helped him getting access to the register and was awarded a golden watch with chain and an annual payment.
With the death of Glyde, the trio is safe from persecution, but still, have no way of proving Laura's true identity. Walter suspects that Anne died before Laura's trip to London, and proof of this would prove their story, but only Fosco holds knowledge of the dates. Walter figures out from a letter he got from Mrs. Catherick's former employer, that Anne was the illegitimate child of Laura's father. On a visit to the Opera with Pesca, he learns that Fosco has betrayed an Italian nationalist society, of which Pesca is a high-ranking member. When Fosco prepares to flee the country, Walter forces a written confession from him, by which Laura's identity is legally restored, in exchange for a safe-conduct from England. Laura's identity is restored and the inscription on her gravestone replaced by that of Anne Catherick. Fosco escapes, only to be killed by another agent of the society. To ensure the legitimacy of his efforts on her part, Walter and Laura have married earlier; and on the death of Frederick Fairlie, their son inherits Limmeridge. | insanity, gothic, murder, haunting | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1708532 | Ready | The movie begins with Raghupathi (Nassar) being introduced as the eldest of his three brothers - the other two being Raghava (Tanikella Bharani) and Rajaram (Vajja Venkata Giridhar) and sister Swarajyam (Rajitha) and her husband (Chandramohan) with Chandu (Ram) as the only son of Raghava and sole inheritor of the property of 'R S Brothers'. Chandu plans the elopement of his cousin Swapna (Tamannaah) with her boyfriend (Navdeep) due to which he is ousted from the house and is isolated from his family by Raghupathi. However, Chandu tries to re-establish links with his family members, but to no avail. Meanwhile, on the last day of his college, Chandu and his friends meet their friend "Google" Gopi (Ravi Varma) who is depressed because his girlfriend is getting married to someone else. Chandu decides to stop the marriage and marry off her to Gopi. However, they kidnap Pooja (Genelia D'Souza) instead of Gopi's girlfriend due to a mistaken identity. After being chased by some hooligans - who are after Pooja - they escape with the exception of Chandu and Pooja who end up in forest. Chandu falls for Pooja who also reciprocates her feelings.
After learning that her best friend is not in town, Pooja decides to stay in Chandu's home disguising herself as disciple of Raghupathi's spiritual guru. Chandu is also welcomed back in his family. When he was about to propose to Pooja, Chandu gets to know about the true identity of Pooja. She is an NRI who came to visit her warring maternal uncles Peddinaidu (Kota Srinivasa Rao) and Chittinaidu (Jaya Prakash Reddy). Both of them try to force her into marriage with their respective sons to get a hold on her property she inherits. Chandu decides to transform them before marrying Pooja. He joins their auditor "McDowellf" Murthy (Brahmanandam) as his assistant. Murthy introduces Chandu as his nephew to both Peddinaidu and Chittinaidu. When asked about Chandu's experience in auditing, Murthy lies to them that he used to be an auditor in America to imaginary brothers "Chicago" Subba Rao and "Dallas" Nageswara Rao.
Chandu manipulates Murthy's funny idea and makes his uncle Raghupathi and his father pose as Chicago Subba Rao and Dallas Nageswara Rao respectively. Swarajyam's husband and Rajaram pose themselves as the friends of Pooja's parents and make Peddinaidu think twice about his son's marriage with Pooja after they deliberately lie to him that her parents took a loan of 100 crores from World Bank. Chittinaidu also decides to call off his son's marriage with Pooja after Chandu plays a prank on him that Chicago Subba Rao's daughter has more property than Pooja. After some hilarious twists and turns, Chandu and his uncle Raghupathi bring about a positive change in both Chittinaidu and Peddinaidu and Pooja marries Chandu after her uncles give their consent. | romantic | train | wikipedia | One of the movies that give you a big headache.The film is about two brothers ready to kill each other over some easy money they stand to make if either of their sons gets married to Asin.
But Asin is a smart cookie, so she gets ready to elope and cons Salman and his family into believing that she is the perfect girl who will set everything in place for them.
However from the inside, I still remain the same excited moviegoer, who readily feels the butterflies in his stomach while watching his lovable hero dancing on a HIT song being flashed on the silver screen.For the record, I immensely enjoyed last two movies of Salman and could easily appreciate and relate with the star enigma in DABANGG.
While watching it I was neither able to cherish the lovable Salman Khan acting his own-self on the screen nor I could take pleasure in the two HIT songs being played loud.
In short, the film is a complete washout right till the end with only a few places where you are able to laugh out loud.It starts off with a usual and needless 2 minute credit animation sequence and then after the not so happening entry of Salman you right away get the first item song.
But strangely while watching READY in the first half, I had the feeling as if I was watching a dubbed South Hit film on a Cable TV Channel.Its no-doubt a Salman film all the way, but somehow this time I even couldn't enjoy Salman's performance too as he doesn't seem to be acting in the movie at all.
Though I did enjoy some realistic kind of dialogues and one liners by Salman in the movie but overall it surely cannot be included in the list of the actor's better performances of his career ever.Asin on the other hand looks both ravishing as well as tired in her various sequences.
Whereas its Cinematography and Background score, both just serve the purpose.Summing up, I would like to say that in India, since star worship is the main guiding force towards film-making, therefore READY would surely be seen and loved by all Salman fans as a must.
For this feeble and unexplainable kind of attempt I entirely blame its director Aneez Bazmee who constantly keeps giving us films like these and this time he even fails to encash one of the biggest craze of our nation, Salman Khan.So if you love Salman, then do watch READY only to satisfy your star- love.
Ready has an wafer thin hackneyed story line which begins with rich spoil brat Salman Khan (as Prem) whose profession was probably "helping people" .
It is sad that Aneez Bazmee scripted (rather remade) such a boring script only to cash in Salman's star status and sadly the film might become the biggest grosser of all time decelerating Indian cinema to the backwardness from which movies like Satya,Dil Chahta Hai,Dev D and lots of young directors did their best to change the notion of Indian cinema.
The supporting cast involves some of the big names of the industry like Paresh Rawal,Mahesh Manjrekar,Sharad Saxena,Akhilendra Mishra,Manoj Pahwa and credit should be given to Bazmee for bringing out loud performances from otherwise natural comedians.
This film will pull you into its world and you will realize, as it progresses, the movie is a Paisa Vasool.The Song Character Dheela gets the film starting and it rocked the entire theater.
Salman and Asin are the soul of the film and they are the reason why READY works.
Directed by Anees Bazmee(who directed abysmal comedies such as No Problem and Thank You) does a better job this time.The film's highlight is Salman Khan,without doubt.He is the soul of the movie.Talking about the comedy,the film offers kitsch comedy.The story is average.The music is ordinary barring "Dhinka Chika" and "Character Dheela".Performance wise.Salman Khan is the soul of this movie.He simply rocks!Asin is dull.Paresh Rawal is superb!Suedesh Lehri(Comedy Circus Fame) is another comedian to watch out.He is excellent.Ready boasts of many supporting characters,but the ones who stand out are Mahesh Manjrekar,Manoj Joshi,Manoj Pahwa,Sharat Saxena and Akhilendra Mishra.
None of the ladies work.Arya Babbar is wasted.Ready also has two characters named after Salman's two flop movies Veer and Yuvraj,who are bad.Puneet Issar is okay.Hemant Pandey is plain Ready has several guest appearances out which Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn work.Zarine Khan sizzles in Character Dheela.Kangna Ranaut needs to improve her dialog delivery.Arabaaz Khan is ordinary.Chunkey Pandey is average.On the whole Ready is Salman's show.Watch it if you worship him!.
It would seem that Indian cinema is in a downward spiral led by the desire of Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan to prove who is actually the worst actor in India and the most incapable of performing in comedy roles.
Its a turgid 3 hours indeed when you don't even get anything remotely resembling a good laugh out of a comedy.Okay, we all know that Salman Khan cannot act to save his life but please, can we at least get one film without him removing his shirt to show off his physique?
Some of the action sequences are laughably bad (sorry, there was a laugh in the film!), characters are clichéd beyond the ridiculous, the plot is non-existent (more like a collection of short films that may or may not be edited together in a coherent way), nothing in the way of originality to be found and they really didn't even take the opportunity to properly use some of the great locations Thailand would have given them.Basically a formulaic film to showcase the dubious talents of Salman Khan.
Such mainstream rubbish in the name of entertainment...Look at the type of films that release everywhere in the world!Only this type of a film can do so well in India...Mindless, childish, stupid, superficial, badly made, cheap....Salman showing off his abs, no story, the dances were alright....But what was the point?When such innovative, provocative, and unique films get ignored in India, films like THIS, Welcome, Singh in Kinng, Houseful and all the other "MASALA" Rubbish become box office blockbusters...In a land where their is so much culture, tradition, history, folklore, etc etc, most Hindi films are either copies of foreign films or mimicry of western styles...The worst thing is that the audience prefers such mediocre films over quality...Meanwhile, mediocre films are also awarded and given publicity on T.V...Quality is completely ignored in India and this film is a disgusting example as to how such mediocrity can do well...I thought India was a land of intellect?
"Ready" is the proof that Bollywood can never go beyond starstruck audiences, loud and unnecessary irrational songs, weak- ludicrous and farcical story , slapstick humor for Whistle-blower's rejoice, pee-break and ensemble casts.Salman Khan was just being himself.
In India, since star worship is the main guiding force towards film- making, therefore READY would surely be seen and loved by all Salman fans as a must.
Ready has a paper thin story line which begins with rich spoil brat Salman Khan (as Prem) whose profession was probably "helping people" and like any "unique" story he falls in love with beautiful Asin (as Sanjana) but wait like any original love story there is a twist in this tale.
It is sad that Aneez Bazmee scripted (rather remade) such a bad script only to cash in Salman's star status and sadly the film might become the biggest grosser of all time decelerating Indian cinema to the backwardness from which movies like Satya, Dil Chahta Hai, Dev D and lots of young directors did their best to change the notion of Indian cinema.
Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Kangna & Zarine Khan in brief cameos are fine.For all the directors and producers out there, please don't overdo the 'Only Salman and no Storyline Genre', as it does seem to provide profits to the producers and makers but it might not be the wise choice in the long run.So if you love Salman, then do watch READY only to satisfy your star- love.
After impressing with "Wanted" and "Dabangg", Salman has given us a family entertainer that defines Bollywood by incorporating all of the main aspects: action, music, comedy and romance.Anees Bazmee has shown us what a talented director he is in this genre, and his talent is evident in every single frame of the movie.
Pritam has impressed again.The film is incredibly lavish, and the wonderful scenery of Thailand in particular has been cleverly used to add to the overall effect of the movie; not only that, it also helps maintain the mood of the film, similarly to Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.Verdict: a light hearted and refreshing family entertainment package that will definitely better your mood, even if you're in a good one already.
With the box office smash Dabanng, expectations are high for Salman Khan's Ready, with news reports of sold out sessions across India that made me wonder why the fervour wasn't propagated to this part of the world at least in Sunny Singapore, with tickets still largely available in one of the biggest halls screening Hindi films.
A remake of a Telugu film, Ready began brilliantly after a catchy opening credits song of Character Dheela which had Zarine Khan, Salman's co-star in Veer, sizzling the screen as the item girl.
Ready throws up a slew of cameo appearances within the first 10 minutes with the likes of Akay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Kangana Ranaut amongst others, and just as you're lulled into thinking the film has enough surprises to keep you engaged, it's an unfortunate spiral all the way down from there, failing to build up from the kick ass introduction.One thing I noticed about Hindi comedies, or at least the one that I managed to catch, are that they can't seem to steer clear of fake identities contributing to a major plot point, from Housefull all the way down to Ready, now with Asin's Sanjana Singh pretending to be Prem's bride to be in taming the rascal with her appeal to his family, but in fact turning out to be using an opportunity to escape from her own marriage to the mob.
So a plot got hatched of course for some long winded rescue of the damsel in relationship distress and reconciliation between feuding mob families, as well as for Prem to romance Sanjana for real, and to show off in some set action pieces that once again proves to be Salman's forte in almost every character he tackles.This is undoubtedly a Salman Khan one man vehicle, where his star power alone guarantees a large box office opening, with fans turning up in droves to catch and lap up everything he throws on screen, be it a swagger, an attitude, an inside joke or two from his previous films (such as the names of two minor characters adopted from his flops), and in essence having no fear to even parody himself.
And a shirtless moment will never be absent too, though here it was played off in a jokey day dreaming sequence (which I have to admit it worked).But what Salman Khan brought to the table with Ready, and I believe will begin a fad and a trend on the dance floor, are his moves in the song Dhinka Chika, which sort of aspired to be the equivalent of Dabangg's belt play, but here having the hands move a little below the belt into the pockets and groin area to well, play with the fabric covering the pelvic area, combined with pelvic thrusts and bum massages.
Other than that, Salman was being purely Salman the major star, playing a character he can tackle with his eyes firmly closed, or in this case, firmly hidden behind shades.In her second collaboration with Salman Khan after London Dreams, I think Asin may probably want to relook into her choice of movie roles from Bollywood, having to make that breakthrough in Ghajini opposite Aamir Khan, but never quite finding that same stratospheric footing with roles that don't do her acting abilities much justice, other than to show that she doesn't have two left feet from the numerous musical numbers in Ready.
The movie is not worth being Nr.2 top opener in India....but thats the fact, and its only cause of Salman Khan and his previous Dabangg.Ready, has nothing new to offer, comedy is same same, and many times in the movie I could see Akshay Kumar doing this kind of role.For me Anees Bazmi is a SH*T director, and made some of the most stupid movies, and Unfortunately the public loves these kind of movies, and that only encourage these kind of directors to keep making these kind of movies.
BUT I cant stop thinking that Salman Khan is much better than making this kind of stupid movies...He should stay Dabanng Style.Asin had nothing to offer in this movie, and the only reason she must have been casted must be to attract the South Indian market.
READY – CATCH IT ( A ) Salman Khan is bringing his A Game with every movie these days.
I am always a fan of Salman Khan that's the real reasoning that I chosen to watch This excellent blockbuster film this movie was really impressive and entertaining Good storyline good twists and turns good action great comedy brilliant screenplayAnd best editing best direction and and best performances of each character Asin was decent paresh was funny as always nikitin was superb arya babbar was really nice in his role Other fit their role fine Overall my rating is 7/10 What a family entertainer.
Movie: Ready Rating: 4/5Salman Khan has a good and clean image among family audiences and he maintains it very well.
The song Dhinka Chika is already a chartbuster and you will keep loving it.On the whole, Ready is a nice family entertainer.
Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Kangna & Zarine Khan appear in brief cameos.On the whole, 'Ready' is entertaining, but what makes this film stand tall, is Salman Khan.
And the movie has all Salman Khan elements like his typical dancing style, dialogue delivery, and comic timing.The movie is well supported by efficient star cast (Paresh Rawal's chemistry with Salman is more appealing than Asin and Salman).Regular dose of songs and humor helps to scroll down the movie in a smooth way.
And as soon as the movie ends, a Salman Khan fan is sure to get a good smile.Such movies are never meant to be logical or extraordinary, so wasting your time in observing loop holes in the movie is no smart thing.Cameos by many stars are totally successful in making Ready an another extravagant movie.If you love Salman, you will love Ready.If you want to enjoy some popcorn and candy floss along with friends for a weekend, Ready is ready for you..
STORY:- Prem(Salman Khan)is the only son of the Kapoor family.
Ready can easily be called or titled "SALMAN KHAN".The reason???because the whole movie makes rounds around just one star, SALMAN.The director Anees Bazmee doesn't really make an effort to make the scenes more humorous.Barring some scenes from the Khan himself and Sudesh Lehri,the humour element was missing most of the time.The story was average,saved by the persona and charisma of Sallu Bhai.The music was OK with some good numbers like "Dhinka Chika" and "Character Dheela".Asin was really no choice.Somebody else could have done better.Paresh Rawal was good,and rest supporting actors did fine in their role.All-in-all READY is a complete SALMAN KHAN stuff.If you are really a big fan of Sallu,go for it..
READY,is the worst "Salman Khan" movie ever.
READY,truthfully,is one of the most boring-est comedy ever.Story-Prem(Salman Khan) is the heir to his family's business empire.
Returning to India, Prem and his family concoct a grand scheme to win hearts and take home the bride.No proper story-line,dozens and dozens of characters appearing scene after scene(most of them unwanted), unnecessary fights and fail-to- bring-laugh-jokes.All these minuscules make the movie a dull experience.One would have expected READY to be a mass entertainer since it has the darling of masses Salman Khan and even the trailers promised it to be a full on entertaining movie with loads of jokes.But READY falls apart.Director Anees Bazmee must take a break from making comedy movies.Seriously!First NO PROBLEM,then THANK YOU and now READY.Music is the saving grace of the film.Cinematography is fine.Salman Khan is the suave of READY.He is superb!Paresh Rawal is the Godfather when it comes to comedy.The rest of the actors fail to evoke laughter and therefore are dull.READY sucks!.
Watch this movie only if you are a die hard Salman Khan fan...
salman khan movies comes with a lot of expectation.
Salman Khan once again proved that he is the king of comedy in the Indian film industry.Songs are awesome, specially "Dhinka chika" ..
Ready is always the most expected & the first biggie of the year, but still it gives better than expectations.Anees Bazmee, the man who has special comic treatment that forces to make audiences jump on their seats laughing, yet again proves that he is not cold enough after delivering Ridiculous No Problem(2010) & Thank You(2011).Prem Kapoor(Salman Khan) incidentally loves Sanjana(Asin), who is bound in chains if her two 'Chachus' as they want Sanjana to get married with their brother-in-laws.
That's Ready.Shuttle performances by everyone, especially Salman Khan & Paresh Rawal, makes Ready more efficient for family audiences to bring their laughs out.
Ready is a full package of two hours entertainment guaranteed.The amazing chemistry between Salman Khan and Asin is something to watch out for.
Talking about the performances, Salman Khan evolves as the heart of the movie, his extraordinary comic timing and romantic styles are eye catching.
Asin looks beautiful throughout and her chemistry with Salman brings life to the love story.Paresh Rawal does well , but Sudesh Lehiri impresses by his comic timings.
READY was no great shakes worked only because of Salman Khan and his star power. |
tt0168629 | Dancer in the Dark | The film is set in Washington state in 1964 and focuses on Selma Ježková (Björk), a Czech immigrant who has moved to the United States with her son, Gene Ježek (Vladica Kostic). They live a life of poverty as Selma works at a factory with her good friend Kathy (Catherine Deneuve), whom she nicknames Cvalda. She rents a trailer home on the property of town policeman Bill Houston (David Morse) and his wife Linda (Cara Seymour). She is also pursued by the shy but persistent Jeff (Peter Stormare), who also works at the factory.
Selma suffers from a degenerative eye condition and because of this is losing her vision. She has been saving up to pay for an operation which will prevent her young son from suffering the same fate. To escape the misery of her daily life, Selma accompanies Kathy to the local cinema where together they watch fabulous Hollywood musicals (or more accurately, Selma listens as Cvalda describes them to her, to the annoyance of the other theater patrons, or acts out the dance steps upon Selma's hand using her fingers).
In her day-to-day life, when things are too boring or upsetting, Selma slips into daydreams or perhaps a trance-like state where she imagines the ordinary circumstances and individuals around her have erupted into elaborate musical theater numbers. These songs use some sort of real-life noise (from factory machines buzzing to the sound of a flag rapping against a flag pole in the wind) as an underlying rhythm. Unfortunately, Selma slips into one such trance while working at the factory. Soon Jeff and Cvalda begin to realize that Selma can barely see at all. Additionally, Bill reveals to Selma that his materialistic wife Linda spends more than his salary, there is no money left from his inheritance, and he is behind in payments and the bank is going to take his house. He asks Selma for a loan, but she declines. He regrets telling Selma his secret. To comfort Bill, Selma reveals her secret blindness, hoping that together they can keep each other's secret. Bill then hides in the corner of Selma's home, knowing she can't see him, and watches as she puts some money in her kitchen tin.
The next day, after having broken her machine the night before through careless error, Selma is fired from her job. When she comes home to put her final wages away she finds the tin is empty; she goes next door to report the theft to Bill and Linda only to hear Linda discussing how Bill has brought home their safe deposit box to count their savings. Linda additionally reveals that Bill has "confessed" his affair with Selma, and that Selma must move out immediately. Knowing that Bill was broke and that the money he is counting must be hers, she confronts him and attempts to take the money back. He draws a gun on her, and in a struggle he is wounded. Linda discovers the two of them and, assuming that Selma is attempting to steal the money, runs off to tell the police at Bill's command. Bill then begs Selma to take his life, telling her that this will be the only way she will ever reclaim the money that he stole from her. Selma shoots at him several times, but due to her blindness manages to only maim Bill further. In the end, she performs a coup de grâce with the safe deposit box. In one of the scenes, Selma slips into a trance and imagines that Bill's corpse stands up and slow dances with her, urging her to run to freedom. She does, and takes the money to the Institute for the Blind to pay for her son's operation before the police can take it from her.
Selma is caught and eventually put on trial. It is here that she is pegged as a Communist sympathizer and murderess. Although she tells as much truth about the situation as she can, she refuses to reveal Bill's secret, saying that she had promised not to. Additionally, when her claim that the reason she didn't have any money was because she had been sending it to her father in Czechoslovakia is proven false, she is convicted and given the death penalty. Cvalda and Jeff eventually put the pieces of the puzzle together and get back Selma's money, using it instead to pay for a trial lawyer who can free her. Selma becomes furious and refuses the lawyer, opting to face the death penalty rather than let her son go blind, but she is deeply distraught as she awaits her death. Although a sympathetic female prison guard named Brenda tries to comfort her, the other state officials show no feelings and are eager to see her executed. Brenda encourages Selma to walk. On her way to the gallows, Selma goes to hug the other men on death row while singing to them. However, on the gallows, she becomes terrified, so that she must be strapped to a collapse board. Her hysteria when the hood is placed over her face delays the execution. Selma begins crying hysterically and Brenda cries with her, but Cvalda rushes to inform her that the operation was successful and that Gene will see. Relieved, Selma sings the final song on the gallows with no musical accompaniment, although she is hanged before she finishes. A curtain is then drawn in front of her body, while the missing part of the song shows on the screen: "They say it's the last song/They don't know us, you see/It's only the last song/If we let it be." | dark, murder, dramatic, psychedelic, tragedy, romantic, sentimental | train | wikipedia | In respect, it was a rich, rewarding odyssey, much easier to get through than, let's say, even half of "8½." My initial respect for the unique, uncompromising style of Danish director Lars von Trier goes back to his compelling work in "Zentropa" and "Breaking the Waves," both bleak, surrealistic studies of man vs.
Joel Grey has a brief, telling moment near the film's end as a faded musical star idolized by Selma.As in his other featured works, von Trier's gritty, hand-held camera work may be dizzying to the point of distraction at first but its overall impact to the stark proceedings is unquestionable.
Von Trier's film is one of those movies that truly change the way we think about cinema and its possibilities, and for such a film, words do no justice.
The biggest star is still the director himself; von Trier demonstrates his talent in a superb fashion by both telling a simple story that will most likely break you heart and examining the ever-persistent ills of the life of the lower class of the American society.
Not one of my favourite genres (but everyone loves The Sound Of Music, right?) but Lars Von Trier makes you re-evaluate your perception with a gentle loving pastiche of the way for no reason people and things in musicals spontaneously erupt into song, made more credible in this film by implicating a reason for it: Bjork's character is going blind so she hears music in the slightest thing and she, in her mind, sees how moves should be choreographed with the music she hears, reminiscent of her own It's Oh So Quiet' music video.
She is essentially an innocent and though this is her weakness you can't help but love her all the more: a sparkling performance from a unique singer in real life.However from this don't assume that this is a light happy film as there is a dark tragic side also, and this side is full of injustice, agony- and I mean agony-, sorrow- like you'd not believe-, and an intense emotional pull as I've ever felt in a cinema before, and it's this half that propels it from being just a great film to becoming one of the greatest.
Its greatness is in telling a simple story of a woman trying to stop her own genetic sight disorder afflicting her son, by working every hour to afford the operation, working heavy machinery despite essentially being virtually blind, its greatness is its ability to inflict upon you the gift of feeling every conceivable emotion you posses and you do, you really do experience so much during this film.
'tis great to see Joel Grey dancing again (hm, in the most improbable setting!)For a 5' 4'' singer-songwriter from Iceland, Bjork is a giant impact in this quiet powerhouse of a film, "Dancer In the Dark." Lars von Trier's vision and confidence in Bjork truly paid off!.
After seeing Melancholia and Antichrist, and after reading lots of stuff about Lars von Trier and his movies, I thought I understood what kind of director he is.
When I started watching his filmography, I was expecting everything, really, because I know people who've seen a lot of his movies and they were always telling me that his films are good, but extremely tough to watch.
So when I started watching it, I found out I was unprepared.Dancer in the Dark is a movie about Selma Jezkova (Björk), a factory worker from the '60s, who is slowly going blind.
That's when Selma starts to 'dance in the dark', both literally and metaphorically.Dancer in the Dark is the third film in the so-called "Golden Heart trilogy" by Lars von Trier.
The result of the combination of Björk's phenomenal voice and incredible acting performance was astonishing.But, as I was saying before, maybe the problem with the movie is that von Trier was using this 'destroying something beautiful' to get to the viewers.
Also the way he used lighting and still cameras in the music sequences expressed the surreal daydreams of Selma.Selma, played by Bjork, is a strong willed yet kind character who is hit by a series of bad events.
She doesnt act more than emote the character.With Lars Von Trier directing and great acting, this is far and away the best film of the year.
How, and I'm pointing fingers, a person could possibly detest this film to such an extent - to be filled with such revulsion - to grade it a 1 when all around the world a hundred thousand hours of TV is flooding through your little goggle boxes eating into your days and wasting your brains - hah, but you'll happily sit and watch that.To me this was as finely crafted piece of work as you could wish for.
How many movies do you need to watch where the final credits scroll up over the image of a hugging mother and child before you'll let a single "miserable" ending pass before your eyes without instantly leaping out of your seat in outrage?Selma needs to be destroyed, she ultimately is there to be sacrificed and I think I would be right in saying that enough parents swear they would sacrifice themselves for their child - well, here's your chance.
As a fan of Lars Von Trier's earlier works, as well as Bjork's music videos, I was quite excited to see a collaboration between the two.
But with a movie like DANCER IN THE DARK, it's very easy to get the sense that those who didn't like it are simple-minded sour-pusses with artistic tunnel vision.Plus, most people who hated it don't take the time to write a comment.
This means Lars Von Trier will be encouraged to make MORE horrible films!Being forced to watch Bjork act is like being forced to listen to Anna Nicole Smith play the saxaphone.
It makes me happy that people walked in the cinema theaters to see another kind of movie, another kind of musical and it makes me sad that the rest of the people didn't even have a thought of seeing this film.
...and it makes me happy that people shed a tear, impressed by the story of lars von trier's movie and the by one of the greatest performance in history...bjork's performance.
I mean the grain was awful, It looks like it was shot with a mini dv camera, and Von trier probably should have hired a camera operator.This was easily one of my top 10 films I've seen this year..
But if, like me, you think Bjork is completely weird and her music is awful, then read the rest of this review, because this will be your fair warning about the film "Dancer in the Dark"."Dancer in the Dark" is from Danish director Lars von Trier and may be the most unwatchable film of the past few years.
Bjork plays a character who may be the most pathetic character in film history and who's foolishness leads to her fate in a depressing plot, which is both ludicrous and manipulative as it leads to an unrealistic outcome that only a sadistic screenwriter and director could force-feed to an audience.
If having a completely pathetic lead character, bad musical numbers, a ridiculously contrived and depressing plot, nausea-inducing camera work, and lacking any entertainment value whatsoever is new ground, then yes, this movie does break new ground.
Stop reading if you are afraid to have important details know to you).My conflict here is that I really fell for the character and love the movie, but at the same time I think the plot line is just borderline stupid.
So many people have written that this was a difficult film to watch and I'd have to agree, since it was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
I know the utilitarian baldness of the words was part of the point, but that kind of thing needs a kind of careful handling von Trier is reluctant to give anything.P.S.: I've read that the film is set in the 1950s, or at any rate some time decades ago.
These are the kind of films that give us a breathe of hope: there's still people who think of movies as art and not dollars.Since the very beginning you feel next to Selma and her beautiful intentions, you live the innocence of a heavenly woman surrounded by a world that seems to be destined for her as a strike of pain.
I found the improvisational acting throughout the film to be very painful to watch most of the time and although I am a fan of Catherine Deneuve, her performance here is mediocre at best.
Unlike other dull and boring movies that have left me dull and bored, by the time I finished watching this one I had reached the level of actively despising Bjork and von Trier and was rooting for Selma to meet her destiny sooner not later.Bad movie; atrocious musical.
It hurts to give this movie such a low rating (5 out of 10) in some ways because it does have some things going for it--the performances of Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Joel Grey, Peter Stormare, and some lovely songs, as well.
I must say that writer/director Lars von Trier's choice to shoot a musical in his grainy, home-video-like style (which worked well in "Breaking The Waves", it actually deepened that viewing experience) simply doesn't work.
It's about a girl who is going blind but won't tell anyone even though she can barely walk on her own, a woman who is nominated to play the lead role in a theater production but has no singing or dance talent, a woman who tries to shield her son from any small hint of stress yet is quick to smack him if he skips school, a woman who has built a complete lie around her life to keep her son from knowing she's going blind, a man who will do anything for her even though she rejects him on a daily basis and shows no appreciation for him even when his life revolves around her, a man who is in severe debt but is able to get away with claiming he keeps a stack of 2056 dollars in ones, fives, and tens in his safe deposit box, and a correctional officer who is used to watching people executed but can't keep herself from developing a strong emotional attachment to the woman she has to execute.
One of the negative notes of this movie is the balance of characters: after "Breaking the Waves" Lars von Trier has been accused of misogyny and knowing that also The Dancer could be liable of the same remark, because of the very similar childish, tormented female main character, He surrounded Selma with a series of male characters who are almost all nasty and negative and He interspersed the script, especially toward the finale, with a lot of references to sorority and female bonding.
Finally two requests: don't take The Dancer as film against death penalty and the American way of life because those issues here are merely functional to the heroine's martyrdom; but above all don't ever compare Lars von Trier to C.T. Dreyer: They don't have anything in common but the fact that They're both Danes and The Dancer resembles more to Arthur Hiller's "Love Story" than to "The Passion of Joan of Arc".
Good directing, screenplay, and acting (except bjork, where she over-acted/mis-acted in several shots) but very poor and shallow plot.Basically you see this woman named Selma suffering in the whole movie and some of her friends tried to help her.
She is Selma.Both Björk and her tormenter von Trier deserves all the credit they can get for showing, there is still new ground to break in cinema.If you want to see a movie, choose something else.
I absolutely loved Bjork's performance; she pours her heart and soul into her character and makes you feel involved emotionally with Selma.
I thought Lars Von Trier as a talented and breaking-tie director with his movie "Idiot".
Dancer in the Dark confirms Lars Von Trier's status as a talented director.It is for the first time that he has worked on a musical genre film and has succeeded in infusing dramatic elements into it.His film is a boon for those film enthusiasts who would like to have tears roll down their eyes while humming a couple of nice songs.Some of this film's major themes have a direct bearing on the quintessential American dream.This has been highlighted by showing the hapless plight of an immigrant woman from Eastern Europe whose sad story reveals the victory of evil over good.A major problem of this film is its casting which is just on an above average level as some of the most talented actors like Jean Marc Barr and Catherine Deneuve have largely been ignored.They have nothing more than supporting roles to take care of.This is the reason why they appear as long lost souls.As it is a Dogma 95 film,one should not feel bored if there are irregular,unruly camera movements.They have been wisely introduced to create a sense of heightened tension in the film..
If you've seen any of Lars von Trier's work (I hadn't), and based on what you've seen you decide to watch Dancer in the Dark, DON'T!
Every time I see a Lars von Trier film, I feel like he has tried to manipulate me into feeling something.
The problem with Lars von Trier is that the way he makes his films is deliberately intended to make them feel more 'real' than the typical Hollywood production.
I think Lars von Trier is an extremely talented director and Bjork in Dancer in the Dark was fantastic and I loved the music/dancing scenes, but I still felt dirty and used at the end of the film..
I love films like this that are shot in a way that makes the characters the main focus, and not the camera itself.
I almost don't think of this film as a musical, as the musical turns aren't in fact 'real', they aren't part of the story and simply Selma's way of escaping her misfortunes.Selma is the very definition of a dreamer, but you always get the feeling that this is due to circumstance rather than a natural trait as all her dreams take place during difficult times.
Her main hate of musicals is that they eventually have to end, and because you know the end is coming when the camera lifts out of the roof, which is what is so sad about the ending of the film.After seeing the reactions to 'Dogville', I'm fairly sure that those who aren't fans of Von Trier's work will once again tell me about his 'anti-US' stance of a woman coming to America to heal her son, yet is cruelly and unjustly treated by the American justice system.
this movie is brilliantly touching, it excelled my emotions so much, i honestly couldn't stop crying for a minute, Bjork is amazing, she really makes you feel the character and the songs are simply fantastic ( check out thom yorke and bjorks version of 'ive seen it all') the ending is a killer, and i must say this one is not not for everyone, especially if you cried over things like the lion king, this film can be raw, sensitive and magic all at the same time.
as a bjork fan, this was a special treat, sad to know that she will not be making anymore movies but this has given her recognition for great acting, job truly well done..
But since the probability of this story becoming a true story is so small, and its a pure luck to meet so many cruel people at once, the film granted me no new insight, exactly what a serious tragedy like this must grant as a payment for the sorrow of watching such a depressing movie..
(I might note that people who don't like or understand this movie probably fail to make this connection with it.)Bjork's major film is a work to be proud of.
And as such I have a lot of difficulty getting emotionally involved in this film.Another point worth noting about Dancer in the Dark is that it is a very unconventional musical, as several times the emotions of the characters are illustrated by way of a song.
So regardless of whether I like this film or Von Trier himself, he has managed to create a real work of art here.Finally, one thing you have to say for Lars is that he has an uncanny knack for assembling excellent casts, and doing brilliant things with them.
If you hate Bjork's music, you won't like the dance scenes, but you'll have to hand it to her for her acting.
The music scenes are really the only thing worthy in this movie, and are basically the entire point of the movie, the rest is just dressing to justify the pathetic hell we have to watch our main characters endure.Have some time to spare and feel like sitting through hours of depressing pointless s***e?
There's a few redeeming factors in this movie, mainly Bjork's musical numbers, although they can't seem to make up for the rest of the film.
I'm glad people something in Dancer and Lars Von Trier's other work, but I can't seem to find this film to be anything other than pretentious..
"Dancer in the Dark" is a haunting film, it's incredibly simple and extremely forced, but some how, Trier ended up getting some emotion (even if in a forced way) of the viewer..
I am a follower of von Trier but this is one film I felt no great urge to see for two reasons:- 1/ I hate musicals - nothing spoils my involvement in a story more than all the characters suddenly breaking character to go into a song & dance routine. |
tt0089860 | Péril en la demeure | David Aurphet, a struggling guitar teacher is invited to give lessons to Viviane Tombsthay the daughter of a well-to-do couple. The wife, Julia, seduces him easily. They seem to be set on a standard affair when David gets a video with footage of their adultery. He confides in a friend Edwige who has a VCR and is a neighbour of the Tombsthays. At the same time, David is attacked but saved by the strange Daniel Forest. He admits to being a killer with Graham Thombsthay as a target. He warns David about Julia, giving him a gun. While her husband is away Julia invites David to their home. David arrives but finds Graham there wanting to kill him. David uses the gun. Julia warns David to hide and he seeks refuge with Edwige. She shows him a video that proves that Julia has killed Graham. David returns to the house where he finds Daniel, with a gun. David kills him, hides the body and leaves to look for Viviane with whom he will escape. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Erotic Thriller, French Style.
Péril en la demeure is a rather unusual little thriller, in which musician David Aurphet starts an affair with the mother of his pupil.
Her husband finds out and David's life has some nightmarish turns.
I have to admit that my description makes it sound rather conventional but it certainly is not.It is debatable how well this film works as a thriller, but there is no doubt that the love scenes between Nicole Garcia and Christophe Malavoy are absolutely stunning.
They ooze sensuality and are almost like a ballet, both people moving sensitively, slowly, and silently, suggesting, responding to the other, teasing and hesitating, touching and retreating.
These few little scenes belong to the most erotic moments ever to be put on celluloid..
Threatening Erotics that seem to be waiting to explode in violence..
Although the film has some very beautiful & erotically tense scenes, the little & few dialogues, combined with moody glares, make even some of the completely silent scenes very threatening.
It's a little like listening to the rumbling of a live volcano, not being able to run and wondering if, and when it will erupt..
what lies beneath a cozy upper class mansion.
Michel Deville is a French filmmaker known for his aesthetic refinement and "Péril en la Demeure" bears its author's trademark.
It's filmed with elegance and everything from the scenery to the acting, the camera angles to the music without mentioning witty dialogs breathes the refined.
One can't forget the neat link shots, the fluid editing that add to the pernicious charm this shady thriller exudes from its three exploited mainsprings: perversion, manipulation and voyeurism.
Nearly everyone in this film is a peeping tom like the offbeat female neighborhood (Anémone) who films the lovemaking between the guitarist teacher David (Christophe Malavoy) and Julia (Nicole Garcia) or Julia's husband Graham (Michel Piccoli) who watched these lovemaking sessions on the videotape.
As for the manipulation, Julia leads David up the garden path by making him believe that he killed her husband while seasoned killer Daniel (Richard Bohringer) tries to make him understand that he's got a mission to fulfill.Deville diverts the codes, the ingredients of the genre to his own advantage to create a stylish, idiosyncratic thriller and a mirror film directed to the viewer about his peeping tom side.
It's easy to let oneself immerse in this universe and to forget the irregularities or glitches that undermine a little the storytelling even if Deville has recourse to zones of shadow and clues likely to explain the characters' motivations.
If the filmmaker bore this in mind, he can be forgiven for his possible mistakes..
No other country but France would get away with this film!.
There are films where things happen that at first do not make sense.So you think about it all during and maybe after.Maybe you watch it again.Now MEMENTO would be one of those films.Then there would be DEATH IN A FRENCH GARDEN.Almost every aspect of the plot makes no conventional sense.There are some seriously open ended concepts.eg the father allegedly had boyfriends earlier in life,there is mention that the mother only wants the guitar teacher because he looks like her brother.Who really wants who and how are any of them really connected?The alleged hit-man seems to have set the teacher up for the fall all along,but then doesn't have any bullets in his gun on purpose at the time needed.OK,every aspect of his character screams wannabe lover of the teacher,which is maybe why he allows him to know a version of the truth which results in him coming into 300,000 Francs for making every mistake in the book.
Why is there no lock on the new place?What is the point of the teasing,perverse neighbour who lies about everything?
I ended up thinking that the makers of this film were having a laugh because every aspect of every character could be a lie.Not one thing about any of them holds up to examination or belies true human interaction and behaviour.
Even though at the end it is totally frustrating,I still liked the damn thing!Its open to numerous interpretations,but I don't think any would truly hold water.I think really its just a deconstruction of the labyrinthine narrative of the conventional thriller/neo-noir.None of it means anything...because I may not sleep for a week thinking about what it all means really...and no film is that important!.
A paradoxical mystery you hope you never solve.
One of the movies that keep on running long after you've stopped watching.
One of those paradoxical stories, that become the more confused the more one understands.
One of those one is tempted to watch again and again, hoping to understand this time, at the same time anxious to spoil the commitment by finally finding out what it's all about.
Perhaps paradox is the key.
Nicole Garcia's tempting beyond all limits turns out to be destruction (poor telephone!), Piccoli's apparent impotence turns out to be masterminding some hideous plan, Bohringer's menacing ways lead to redemption.
The more Malavoy gets into the mess, the more lustfully he ventures on getting even deeper into it.
Malavoy's father hands the little time-bomb to his son as if it was his old watch or camera, wishing him luck and grinning as if it's been just another visit of a beloved child.
And things become boring once they're solved and all the hoods dead.
What's left is a country community on an old farm.
Who wouldn't yearn to be back in the beautiful and elegant bourgeois world Malavoy and his pupil have just left, the corruption and conspiracy it conceals below an innocent surface not being an odd, but the matter you actually want..
Laying It On With A Trowel.
This is one for the 'style-over-content' buffs which is not, of course, in itself a bad thing.
Stylish it definitely is; in spades yet, but content.
It's one of those entries where even as you are admiring the style you find yourself asking pertinent questions (Warning: Spoilers Ahead).
How has the guitar tutor come to the attention of the family, so much so that the father will consider no one else to teach his - as it turns out - precocious daughter?
Would the tutor really leave a tuning-fork behind at his initial interview, indeed, would he even have 1) taken it at all and 2) removed it from his pocket if he had?
Given that he DID leave it behind without realising, would the wife insist on returning it to him immediately and then seduce him?
Would an apparently single woman living alone move into a large, expensive, family-sized home, effect a limp merely because she had a cane with her, invite a stranger into her new home and over light refreshments engage him in a discussion on the relative pros and cons of blonde versus brunette pubic hair?
Would this same eccentric neighbor begin immediately to videotape the sex sessions the tutor enjoyed with the mother of his pupil and then send the tapes to the participants for no recognisable (i.e. blackmail) motive?
Would a hit-man be passing at the precise moment the tutor is attacked and, having saved the tutor would the hit-man go on to befriend him and ultimately confide that his next 'target' is the father of his pupil?
If you answered 'yes' to any or all of these questions do you always park your brain at the popcorn stand on the way to the auditorium?
The trick with a movie of this kind is that, Yes, you DO ask yourself these questions even as the improbable sequence of events unfolds before your eyes but you choose to IGNORE them and surrender to the Style and/or performances.
With heavy hitters like these you won't go far wrong and the film remains ultimately a triumph of style over content.
Playful, bold, and surprising.
"Death In A French Garden" is a film that only the French could have made, and, in this case at least, this is meant as a compliment.
It's both low-down and elegant; it's sexually very frank, with characters on the edge of morality, but at the same time the director keeps winking at you, telling you not to take all of this too seriously.
This attitude is personified by the lead of the film, Christophe Malavoy, who stays bemused and unshocked for, say, 95% of the time, even though he meets nymphomaniacs, weirdos, assassins, etc.
Some of these characters may appear extraneous at first, but they all serve their purpose as the constantly surprising plot unfolds.
And classical music buffs will love the eclectic soundtrack. |
tt0118843 | Crna macka, beli macor | Matko Destanov, a small-time Romani smuggler and profiteer, lives with his teenage son Zare in a ramshackle house by the Danube River in eastern Serbia near the Bulgarian border.
He has plans to acquire a whole train of smuggled fuel, which he finds at cut-price. To obtain a loan that would subsidize the heist, he visits Grga Pitić, a wheelchair-using old gangster, who's an old friend of Zarije Destanov, Matko's father and Zare's grandfather. Matko then plots the details of the job with an ally named Dadan, a rich, fun-living, drug-snorting gangster who has a harem, juggles grenades, and cheats at gambling. However, Dadan double-crosses him and glitches up the deal by giving Matko a drink that is drugged, and carrying out the job while Matko is unconscious, which means that Matko owes Dadan a great deal of cash. Matko cannot afford to pay, so Dadan makes a deal whereby he would forgive the debt, thereby wiping the slate clean, if Zare and Afrodita, Dadan's midget sister whom he desperately wants to marry off, get married. However, Zare is in love with Ida, a barmaid who works in an establishment run by her Roma grandmother Sujka, and Afrodita is waiting for the man of her dreams. Dadan coerces Afrodita into marrying by dunking her in a well, while Zare first learns of the scheme to marry him off from Ida, who has overheard Dadan and Matko plotting it in the restaurant where she works. Meanwhile, Zare retrieves Zarije from the hospital where he is being kept, with the aid of a gypsy band. Grga Pitić is having problems of his own, as he wants his grandsons, including six-foot plus giant Grga Veliki, to get married.
The two reluctantly endure the wedding ceremony held at Matko's house, which Dadan refuses to postpone after the sudden apparent death of Zarije. They were not supposed to have a wedding while in mourning, but Dadan decides to delay the death announcement, so Matko and Zare hide Zarije's body in the attic, packed in ice. Zare is dismayed, since he wants to leave the place, and had hoped that the required mourning period for his beloved grandfather would give him the opportunity to get away, and thus avoid being married off against his will. Ida and Sujka provide the catering for the wedding, and Ida is upset at seeing her beloved married off to someone else. By contrast, Dadan is really enjoying himself, whether dancing to gypsy band music, bouncing on the bed with his harem, and juggling grenades. However, the bride runs away mid-ceremony, pursued by Dadan, Matko and Dadan's criminal cronies. Meanwhile, Grga Veliki is driving his father and brother to Matko's house so that they may visit Zarije's grave (Grga Pitić and Zarije are old friends). The fleeing bride then stumbles across Grga Veliki, and he stops the truck when he sees her crossing the road; he is willing to protect her from her villainous brother, and the couple fall instantly in love. Grga Pitić arrives on the scene, after his wheelchair had fallen out the back of the truck and rolled downhill, and he is delighted that Grga Veliki has found his mate. The old gangster forces Dadan, who had once worked for him, to accept the match.
The groom meanwhile conspires with Sujka and Ida to bring Dadan down a peg, and rigs the outhouse so that the seat will come apart. While the preparations for the wedding ceremony of Afrodita and Grga Veliki are being conducted, Matko and Dadan pass the time by playing dice, with Dadan cheating. Sujka comes in during the game, and serves the unsuspecting Dadan a drink spiked with something that would give him diarrhea. Furthermore, Grga Pitić apparently dies, and Dadan and Matko hide his body in the attic, where Zarije's body is also hidden. However, the two corpses soon both come back to life; they were not dead after all. They are surprised to find themselves together, as they had not seen each other for 25 years and each had thought the other was dead. During the ceremony, Dadan starts to feel uncomfortable and rushes into the outhouse ... and falls into the manure. His harem and cronies desert him, and as he tries to clean himself off on a goose, only Matko remains loyal, and he provides Dadan with a shower from the garden hose. Zare meanwhile grabs the wedding official at gunpoint and orders him to solemnize his marriage with his sweetheart, Ida, and the two sail off together on a riverboat set for Bulgaria with a fistful of cash stashed in his grandfather's accordion, the blessing of their respective grandparents and, as witnesses, a black cat and a white cat. | psychedelic, comedy, humor, stupid | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0058947 | Battle of the Bulge | Military Intelligence officer and former policeman Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley (Fonda) and his pilot, Joe, are flying a reconnaissance mission over the Ardennes forest, spotting a German staff car. Under the ground in a subterranean lair, German Col. Martin Hessler (Shaw), a fictional character loosely based on SS-Standartenführer Jochen Peiper, is briefed by his superior, Gen. Kohler (Werner Peters). Kohler points out a clock with a 50-hour countdown, which is the time allotted for the operation, beyond which Germany has no resources for full-scale attack. At the same time German soldiers disguised as American troops, led by Lt. Schumacher (Ty Hardin), are tasked with seizing vital bridges and sowing confusion behind the Allied lines.
Meanwhile, Kiley returns to headquarters where he warns that the Germans are planning one more all-out offensive. His superiors, Gen. Grey (Robert Ryan) and Col. Pritchard (Dana Andrews), dismiss it out of hand: all available intelligence points to Germany not having the resources and manpower to launch another attack.
Hoping to uncover more proof, Kiley visits a US infantry position on the Siegfried Line under command of Maj. Wolenski (Charles Bronson). A patrol led by Lt. Weaver (James MacArthur) and Sgt. Duquesne (George Montgomery) capture some young and obviously inexperienced German soldiers. Kiley concludes that experienced German troops have been replaced by these men and withdrawn for an offensive, but Pritchard dismisses this as well.
Hessler launches his attack the next day. Awakened by the noise of German tanks, Wolenski leads his men into the wooded area of the Schnee Eifel, where they try to fight them off but are overrun. A group of Allied tanks led by Sgt. Guffy (Telly Savalas) also attempts to slow the Panzers, but their tanks' weak guns and thin armor make them ineffective, forcing him and his crew to retreat.
Lt. Schumacher and his disguised troops capture the only bridge over the Our River capable of carrying heavy tanks. Hessler continues his spearhead toward Ambleve, while being observed by Kiley. Schumacher later takes control of a vital intersection of three roads connecting Ambleve, Malmedy and the Siegfried Line. He sabotages the road signs, and the rear echelon of Wolenski's troops take the wrong road to Malmedy; almost the entire unit is captured and massacred. Lt. Weaver manages to escape, but Duquesne is killed. US soldiers become suspicious when they witness Schumacher's "military police" lay explosives incorrectly on the Our bridge, and his masquerade is revealed.
Hessler's tanks and infantry storm Ambleve, finally taking the town. Although many Americans, including Wolenski, are captured, Grey, Pritchard, Kiley and others escape to the River Meuse. American forces regroup and begin to reorganize for a counterattack. Facing the dangers of a foggy night, Col. Kiley conducts an aerial reconnaissance in an attempt to locate the main German spearhead. He orders the pilot to shut off the engine and glide in an attempt to listen for enemy tanks. Suddenly, through a gap in the fog, he spots Hessler's tank column heading toward American lines. Kiley radios in the coordinates, but his plane is hit by German fire and crashes near an American fuel depot.
Meanwhile, Gen. Grey's forces, with the Meuse at their back, prepare to fight off Hessler. The outgunned, outarmored American tanks are systematically destroyed, but at the cost of the Germans burning up much of their fuel. Guffy, Weaver and the surviving Americans head to the depot.
Aware of the fuel shortages, Hessler leads a detachment toward the depot to capture its stocks. Weaver and the stragglers arrive first. Weaver recognizes Lt. Schumacher, who is still posing as an American MP and whose men have taken control of the depot, but Schumacher doesn't recognize him. At Weaver's signal, he and his men open fire on the disguised Germans, killing them all. The US defenders flood the road with gasoline and set it ablaze. Nearly all the German tanks are destroyed in the fire, including Hessler's. The remaining Germans give up the attack, marching back to Germany. | violence, historical | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0057848 | Antes llega la muerte | Opening quote: "And branded upon the beast, the mark of his kin. For none shall live whom they have seen."
Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) have been investigating the kidnapping of a girl named Donna Reynolds. They have a suspect, Adrian Zayne (Michael Maize). They question him but he panics, woges into a Schakal and attempts to escape but Nick and Hank apprehend him.
As they lack evidence, Zayne is released and Nick threatens him as a Grimm. Nick sneaks into his house in an attempt to find evidence and stumbles upon Hank, who was also looking for evidence. They discover Zayne's corpse hanging with symbols marked on his body. The police arrives and Wu (Reggie Lee) tells them that Zayne confessed to the kidnapping and Donna was saved.
While the TV makes a report, the symbols cause shock to Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Bud (Danny Bruno). Monroe explains that the symbols means the Endezeichen Grimms, these Grimms have no heart and kill any Wesen in their path. As Nick is the only known Grimm in Portland, the Wesen will confuse him as the killer. Renard (Sasha Roiz) meets with Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) to discuss Nick and after it seems that they unintentionally flirt, she leaves.
A video showing Zayne's torture before dying is uploaded on internet and the police identify one of the vans belonging to Richard Berna (Michael Patten), a friend of Zayne. They arrest him but he is worried that Nick would kill him, confusing him as the Endezeichen Grimm. He is somehow released and the police raid his house to discover his corpse. He is then taunted by the Endezeichen Grimm on the phone. They find out that Ryan (Michael Grant Terry) let Richard go and he went after Bud. Nick and Hank discover that Ryan has been stalking Nick.
Nick and Hank locate Bud in a warehouse while Nick chases Ryan. Ryan confronts him for his methods of interacting and being friends with Wesen. Ryan struggles with control of his Lebensauger side and Nick arrests him. Renard visits Juliette and after some tension, they kiss. Juliette finds out it was he who kissed her in the hospital and they kiss again. Juliette then slams the door on his face, confused. | revenge | train | wikipedia | Good Chorizo Western well realized by the best Paella Western director , Joaquin Romero Marchent.
Farmer Clifford (Jesus Puente) aware his wife (Gloria Milland) has a cerebral tumor and is necessary her intervention at a hospital of Laredo .
Clifford sells his properties and organizes a caravan to city of Laredo throughout Indian territory .
Along the way , Clifford is helped by various men as Bob Carey (Paul Piaget) , wife's ex-boyfriend , the gunfighter Ringo (Robert Hundar) who wishes to kill Carey and others ( Fernando Sancho , Francisco Sanz , Wu ) .This interesting western contains a story full of humanity , good dramatic pace and slick direction .
Enjoyable Chorizo-Spaghetti Western mostly produced by Spain and Italian secondary participation ; it doesn't follow the Sergio Leone wake and being proceeded in American style .
The film packs action , shootouts , drama , good feeling , high body-count and it's fast moving and quite entertaining .
It's a thrilling western with spectacular outdoors and breathtaking confrontation among protagonists , Robert Hundar and Paul Piaget ; and both of them against the heartless Ralf Baldasarre and his underlings .
Acceptable action sequences with rousing Indian attacks against the Northern fort and spectacularly realistic shootouts .
Charismatic performance for whole casting .
The notorious Spaghetti actor , Robert Hundar is good in his usual tough role .
Fantastic performance by the always great Fernando Sancho in a likable role , subsequently he would play similar characters , furthermore the slimy, menacing outlaw played by Ralf Baldassarre, here in his ordinary role as bandit and in a cruelly baddie character .
There appears as secondaries the habitual in Spanish/Italian Western such as Francisco Sanz , Lorenzo Robledo , Beni Deus , Luis Induni , Gaspar Indio Gonzalez , Alfonso Rojas and of course Alvaro De Luna who still continues playing .
The musician Riz Ortalani composes a nice soundtrack , well conducted , this turns out to be one of the most memorable parts of the movie; as it's full of enjoyable sounds and haunting musical background and with agreeable leitmotif .
Very nice cinematography filmed by Rafael Pacheco on locations in Tabernas and desert of Almeria , as usual ; including good sets by Cubero and Galicia who carried out the most Production Design on Western shot in Spain.
The motion picture is finely directed and in personal style by Joaquin Luis Romero Marchent at his best .
He's is an expert writer and director of good Western .
His first film was ¨El Coyote¨ and the sequel titled ¨Revenge of Coyote¨ shot in Mexico .
After that , he filmed ¨The shadow of Zorro¨ and ¨Revenge of Zorro¨.
He went go directing Western as ¨ Riding to death ¨ , ¨Adventures in the West¨ , ¨Three good men¨, ¨Sabor Venganza ¨ and the most popular and violent ¨Condenados a Vivir¨ .
Plus , he wrote for his brother Rafael Romero Marchent the followings Western : ¨Manos Torpes¨, ¨Ocaso un Pistolero¨ and ¨Garringo¨ .
Rating : Better than average .
Worthwhile watching ..
classical western before Leone's style.
This film directed by Joaquin Romero Marchent is a typical example of American western tough it is partly Italian and partly Spanish.
Normally Italian films contain more violent scenes, shootings, deaths.
In this one we have pure sentimentalism, assault by indians, irony and so on.
We are far from Leone's style who launched a new western style that inspired many other directors, Americans too.
Most of the actors are Spanish, even if there are some Italians like Raf Baldassarre in the role of Jeff, a violent cowboys, and Robert Hundar pseudonym of Claudio Undari a Sicilian actor specialized in western films.
The original dialogues seem to be in Spanish then dubbed into Italian in the version I have.
Shot in Almeria and in the Elios studios near Rome..
The masterpiece of Spanish western.
Based on a real story about director's grandmother, a very sad western with great fatalism.
Very good directing, good performances -specially Jesús Puente, sometimes Spanish voice for James Stewart-, superb cinematography, this is a little big movie that must be seen..
An Unusually Serious Spaghetti Western.
Anybody who knows anything about Continental westerns knows Joaquín Luis Romero Marchent was an important pioneer in the evolution of the genre.
He started out making movies about the masked avenger "Zorro" and later followed in Sergio Leone's footsteps.
Moreover, anybody who knows anything about Spaghetti westerns knows that the genre bristled with lots of unusual sagebrushers, too.
Marchent's "Hour of Death" is also known as "Seven Guns from Texas," clearly an effort to lure in audiences that had seen "The Magnificent Seven." Ultimately, "Hour of Death" shares little in common with most westerns foreign or domestic, and this makes it refreshingly different.
Several things set this oater aside from others.
The primary hero, Bob Carey (Paul Piaget of "Charge of the Seventh Calvary"), does a stretch in prison for killing another man in a gunfight.
Carey drew a five-year prison sentence, but the dead man's brothers take little comfort in the court's intervention.
One of those brothers, Ringo (Robert Hundar of "The Relentless Four"), vows to kill him, but Carey is fast enough on the draw to thwart him.
Indeed, Carey pulls a Lone Ranger and shoots Ringo in both hands, so he must wait for his hands to recover.
Consequently, Ringo's revenge-minded brothers decide to finish the job.
They wound Carey, but he survives the ambush.
Meantime, we learn Carey left a woman behind, María (Gloria Milland of "Fury of Achilles"), who he had planned to marry.
María winds up wedding a well-heeled gentleman, Clifford (Jesús Puente of "Adiós gringo"), but he learns from a local doctor that she is suffering from a brain tumor.
When was the last time that you heard of anybody in any western stricken with a brain tumor?
Anyway, Clifford is told that he must take his wife to Laredo for the operation.
The valiant husband sells all his belongs and heads off to Laredo with several others, including Bob Carey, Ringo, and a half-breed troubleshooter named Scometti (genre stalwart Fernando Sancho) as his hired guns.
One of the men that Scometti convinces Clifford to hire is named Jess (Raf Baldassarre of "Blindman") plots to kill Clifford, steal his money, and take his wife.
Happily, Carey leaves him on foot without a horse.
The major obstacle in Clifford's way is an outbreak of Apache violence, and this slows them down.
They are confined to a cavalry fort with other families.
They manage to repulse the Apaches before they embark on the second half of their journey of hardship across a searing desert with few water holes.
Jess comes back to plague them.
First, he blasts their water barrels full of holes, so they exhaust their supply of water.
Second, he rides ahead of them and ambushes them at the next water hole.
While all this is going on, Ringo starts to behave differently about his vow to kill Carey.
Eventually, María discovers the truth of her predicament.
Carey dies trying to kill Jess.
Whoa!
That's right, the ostensible hero dies!
Clifford survives all these travails, too.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrives in Laredo, María has succumbed to her brain tumor.
Typically, in westerns, the hero doesn't often die, and the woman in peril survives, too.
Marchent stands the formula on its head, and this strategy makes "Seven Guns from Texas" a western of far greater realism.
Production values are strong.
The attack on the fort is handled with aplomb.
You can tell this was an early Spaghetti effort because Fernando Sancho had yet to evolve into a swinish Mexican outlaw with a Genghis Khan laugh.
Reportedly, Marchent waxed a bit autobiographical in the content of his screenplay.
It seems that a loved one of his died from lung disease and everything that his family and he tried to intervene with proved ultimately futile.
According to Pedro Gutiérrez Recacha, Marchent is quoted as saying, "It happens that my mother, a few years earlier, while still relatively young, was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The entire family tried to find a solution, a possibility to extend her life in spite of the fact that the doctors had given up hope.
We literally tried everything, even went to some kind of African healer.
But nothing could be done, she was beyond help.
So while making the movie I kept thinking, consciously or unconsciously, of this desperate struggle to save the life of a loved one.
This misfortune had happened in Madrid in 1960, but was moved to Texas 1878."Incredibly, Riz Ortolani's score is nothing like his "Day of Anger" score and blends in unobtrusively with everything else.
Altogether, the realism of "Hour of Death" elevates it..
Old-fashioned Spanish western.
THE SEVEN FROM TEXAS is one of those early spaghetti westerns made before Sergio Leone popularised the style and gave the genre its own gritty, violent and stylish look.
This old-fashioned outing is more in line with the American westerns of the 1950s and it feels a little dull and dated by comparison.
The thrust of the plot is the passage of a caravan through Indian territory, where the heroic leads must battle vicious native fighters, bandits, and various forms of corruption.
This Spanish-made production has a nice colour palette but is spoilt by some lacklustre action scenes and a generally low budget feel. |
tt0137311 | The Karate Kid | High school senior Daniel LaRusso and his mother, Lucille, move from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, Los Angeles, California. When they arrive, Daniel meets a neighbor, Freddy Fernandez, who invites him to a beach party taking place the next day. Their maintenance man is an eccentric but kind and humble Okinawan immigrant, Kesuke Miyagi.
At the beach party, Daniel meets Ali Mills, a high school cheerleader from Encino. The two fall for each other, which draws the attention of Johnny Lawrence, Ali's ex-boyfriend. Johnny is the top student of a karate dojo called "Cobra Kai," who attacks Daniel when he intervenes after Johnny breaks Ali's radio. Johnny and his gang continue to bully, bother, and harass him. At a Halloween party, Daniel douses Johnny with water, leading to a chase. Daniel is eventually caught and beaten savagely, but Mr. Miyagi arrives and rescues him and beats up the five attackers with ease. Amazed, Daniel asks Miyagi to teach him to fight. Miyagi refuses, but agrees to accompany Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo to resolve the conflict. They meet with the sensei, John Kreese, an ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran, who dismisses the peace offering and demands to set up a match between Daniel and the other Cobra Kai students. Miyagi proposes that Daniel will enter the Under-18 All-Valley Karate Tournament, where he can compete with all the Cobra Kai students, and he requests that the bullying cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the terms, but warns that if Daniel doesn't show up at the tournament, the harassment will continue on Daniel and Miyagi.
Daniel's training starts with menial chores he believes only makes him Miyagi's slave. When he becomes frustrated, it is explained that these actions have helped him learn defensive blocks through muscle memory. Their bond develops and Daniel learns about Miyagi's dual loss of his wife and newborn son due to complications arising from childbirth at Manzanar internment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe, where he received the Medal of Honor, the Army's highest award for valor. Through Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns not only karate but also important life lessons such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons that Miyagi taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali.
At the tournament, Daniel unexpectedly reaches the semi-finals. After Johnny defeats a highly skilled opponent, Kreese instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, getting disqualified in the process. Daniel is taken to the locker room, where the physician determines that he can't continue, but Daniel believes that if he doesn't continue, his tormentors would have gotten the best of him. So he convinces Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique so that he can continue. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Ali tells the master of ceremonies that Daniel will fight. Daniel then hobbles into the ring and faces Johnny.
The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor leg technique to trip Johnny and deliver a blow to the back of the head, giving him a nose bleed. Kreese orders Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg, an unethical move. Johnny, horrified at the order, insists he can beat Daniel legitimately, but obeys under Kreese's intimidation. As the match continues, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and delivers a vicious blow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he observed Miyagi performing on the beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and delivers a kick to Johnny's chin, winning the tournament. Having gained respect towards his nemesis, Johnny takes Daniel's trophy from the master of ceremonies and presents it to Daniel himself as Daniel is carried off by the enthusiastic crowd. | violence | train | wikipedia | Oh my god, I can't believe I still remember this cartoon!. The Karate Kid (1989) was a cheesy saturday morning cartoon thatdebuted on N.B.C. The cartoon was real hokey and I didn't stick with it (the phony voices had something to do with it). The plots made part threelook innovative. Man, I thought I was dreaming that this show ever existeduntil I saw it on this site. I knew I wasn't hallucinating! Like most 80'snostalgia nothing was worth remembering and this series is one of them.Bad cartoon spun off of a dead in the water franchise. Nothing torecommend (unless you're a masochist). |
tt0053593 | The Amazing Transparent Man | Former U.S. Army major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) plans to conquer the world with an army of invisible soldiers and will do anything to achieve that goal. With the help of his hired muscle, Julian (Red Morgan), Krenner forces Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Trisault) to perfect the invisibility machine Ulof invented. He keeps Ulof's daughter, Maria (Carmel Daniel), imprisoned to keep Ulof in line.
The nuclear materials Ulof needs to better his invisibility machine are extremely rare and kept under guard in government facilities. Krenner arranges the prison break of notorious a safecracker, Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), to steal the materials he needs. Of course Faust will do the jobs while invisible. Krenner offers Faust money for the jobs and Faust expresses his grievances against working for him. Faust tells him that he will sing like a canary if he is returned to prison, but Krenner informs Faust that he is wanted dead or alive, so Faust reluctantly complies. However, when he meets Faust’s woman, Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman), he slowly charms her into a double cross.
Faust continues attempting to escape and tries to get one over on Krenner. It looks as if he may have the edge on Krenner when Faust attacks Krenner while invisible. However, Dr. Ulof’s guinea pig dies and, during the second time he is invisible, Faust uncontrollably reverts from invisible to visible and back again. Despite these drawbacks Faust forges ahead, intent on breaking free from Krenner's control. | murder | train | wikipedia | Many critics and viewers have panned this movie because they expected some sort of INVISIBLE MAN-style plot with good acting and plenty of special effects.
But if it was high-quality cinema they were looking for, then why in the hell did they choose to watch a movie with a title like "THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN"?Viewers with no expectations, a good sense of humor, and an open mind will probably enjoy this bizarre little sci-fi romp.
The whole mad scientist/escaped prisoner/invisible Nazi story is beyond befuddling, but it is so unbelievably far-fetched that you'll be entertained anyway.THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN does a nice job at not dawdling on boring fake science jargon (a shortcoming that most sci-fi yarns of this era suffer from) and somehow manages to dole out one outrageous scene after another during its unusually short running time.
Extremely compact (57 minutes) yet entertaining story of ruthless safe-cracker (Kennedy), sprung from gaol by a demented former military agent (Griffith) and his cheap-wine associate (Chapman), forced to endure radiation experiments that make him invisible in order to steal guarded uranium deposits so Griffith can build an invisible army to take-over the world.
Street-wise Kennedy decides to turn his transparency into an opportunity to pull a bank heist, but things go awry when the invisibility wears off mid-way through the crime.Griffith is an impeccably dressed, meek-looking but sadistic villain, keeping his associates subservient via various forms of duress, Chapman plays the life-of-crime broad, mistreated by Griffith (there's a great scene in which Griffith slaps her twice the second he calls "the dot on the i") seeing an opportunity to make it big with Kennedy's safe-cracking skills.
Kennedy is the cornerstone, delivering an economical performance of a career criminal with no pride or patriotism, only a loyalty to his young daughter from whom he's forcibly estranged.You won't get much in your special effects on this budget, nevertheless it's not a bad variation on the "invisible man" theme like an "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone" episode with real exteriors and a capable and reasonably distinguished cast.
Joey Faust (what a name!), safecracker, is busted out of the pokey and made an offer - turn invisible and steal radium for a mad scientist/soldier planning on setting up an invisible army to conquer the world.
Cheesy Rip-Off. The notorious safecracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from the state prison and Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman) drives the getaway car.
Underlying the mediocre special effects, the occasionally overblown dialog, and the uneven performances, the story line presents an interesting take on the invisible man theme.The heavy, played without much verve by James Griffith, is an ex-Nazi spy who looks and speaks like Mr. Rogers.
His plan, involving all manners of extortion, involves forcing refugee German scientist (Ivan Triesault) to use radiation to turn an escaped convict safe-cracker (Douglas Kennedy) invisible.
Enjoyable Atomic Age version of the The Invisible Man. The Amazing Transparent Man is very similar to The Invisible Man and one main difference with this movie is that involves the Atomic Age, radiation etc.A criminal who has escaped from prison is made invisible by a mad scientist and gets him to steal nuclear fuel to help with future experiments.
Things go wrong when he robs a bank though as becomes visible and is also dying through radiation poisoning.This movie has some good special effects considering the low budget.
And the opening prison escape bit is good, as well as the police checkpoint scene, and they involve some nicely framed external shots.In fact its all looking like this might be a surprisingly enjoyable film, until the escaped safe-cracking crim Faust (played by Douglas Kennedy) has his first real indoor talking scene.
Anyway - - I don't think I'm giving much away to point out the early setup in the film when Krenner (the Bad Guy) says something like "Dr, make sure the radioactive material is kept away from the beam, or else we will all blow up", and then Dr Ulof repeating something similar back to Krenner five minutes later - - clearly, something is eventually going to go wrong along these lines much later in the film, and they really don't want you to miss it.The other annoying thing about this movie is how quickly the characters (Faust, Krenner, Dr Ulof, Laura (the bad guys girl), and Julian (the bad guys hired help)) seems to keep swapping alliances and personality, all as a result of some simple statement that would even make a daytime soap opera blush.(eg: a "But your son is dead" has Julian swapping sides without a thought that "Hey, maybe she is lying because I have a gun pointed at her?").So, the film is not too strong on the logic of how and why the characters act and respond.
When combined with its over-earnestness, the final sentence uttered in the film, instead of being the deep and meaningful thought provoker the director and producer obviously intended, resulted in me chuckling for quite a while after the closing credits finished.Ultimately - The Amazing Transparent Man is better than its title suggests, but not something to recommend..
Douglas Kennedy stars as a charismatic and eloquent safe-cracker with a very cool name (Joey Faust), running from prison with the help of a vicious ex-military officer who developed a bizarre plan to gain world power!
The sets are cheesy, the story is pretty stupid, the actors either overact or can't act at all, the ending is over the top.......these are all part of the elements that make low budget films fun to watch.
Ulmer is only 58 minutes.DOUGLAS KENNEDY (looking a bit flabby and tired) is the lead, a man who has just escaped from prison and has a girlfriend (MARGUERITE CHAPMAN) waiting just outside for a quick getaway.
Here's a scheme that could have done with just a little more thought: help professional safe-cracker Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) to bust out of prison, force desperate scientist Dr. Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to turn the thief invisible, and then send him to steal enough radium to create an entire army of undetectable soldiers.
Hardly the most reliable of chaps, career criminal Faust has his own ideas once he vanishes from sight, robbing banks with the aid of Krenner's sidekick Laura Matson (Marguerite Chapman).At not even an hour long, this low-budget early-'60s sci-fi/gangster B-movie doesn't really have time to drag, and consequently proves rather entertaining for the duration, with some decent performances from the largely unknown cast, a few enjoyable bargain-basement special effects, and a big dose of goofiness (the radium heist and a bank job where Faust becomes visible as he leaves are the film's highlights).
The Invisible Man it most certainly isn't, but as a painless way to waste 58 minutes, The Amazing Transparent Man does very nicely (and is better than its current IMDb rating of 3.8 suggests).5.5 out of 10, rounded up to six for ending with an atomic blast!.
Despite its shortcomings, "The Amazing Transparent Man" is smarter and better than most of the cheap sci-fi films you can find in your average movie bargain bin.
It also leads to a pretty entertaining resolution; as one would say, things end with a bang.Tough guy actor Douglas Kennedy stars as Joey Faust (!), a criminal busted out of jail by nefarious Major Krenner (James Griffith) and his associates.
Krenner has forced unhappy scientist Peter Ulof (Ivan Triesault) to perfect a method of turning a man invisible, and Krenner wants to use this method on Faust so that the hood can commit acts of espionage for him.
At 57 minutes, you've got a nice compact sci-fi film that won't tax your brain too much (unless you try thinking about the plot).Joey Faust gets busted from the barry hole by a dame, and gets taken to a farmhouse run by a mysterious and shifty ex-army guy who wants to use both Joey's lockpicking skills and a mad scientist's invisible ray gun to create an army of invisible men.
Clearly written "on the fly", the script manages some strong moments, like Faust's decision to return to the farm house for the final confrontation, as well as evoking some unpleasant political and historical issues - the development of the atomic bomb, obviously, but, more subtly, the tortuous pseudo-scientific "experiments" conducted at Nazi concentration camps (which the doctor confesses to having performed).All of this not only raises difficult questions for the viewer, but also remind us that the director once made a number of truly amazing films, most memorable being the virtuoso performance of "Black Cat".
This movie starts with a man hiding in the woods.A car pulls up and he gets in it.We later learn he's a safe cracker that just broke out of prison but not before they go through a road block.The cops just stand on the side of the road waving flashlights and people stop.The escapee pretends to be sleeping and the cops say they don't want to bother him.That's when you should know to shut the movie off but I didn't.It turns out that he was broken out by people he didn't know and that's not the weird part.He's wearing a tuxedo and carrying a gun!How can anything after that even matter?The plot involves a guy forcing a not so evil scientist to invent a machine to make people invisible.And he does just that,yet the movie is called The Amazing Transparent Man.I don't understand why they always lied in old b-movie titles.Today if a movie is called Big Ass Spider, there's a big ass spider in it not a fairly large spider.
The Amazing Transparent Man (1960)** (out of 4)A convict (Douglas Kennedy) gets busted out of jail by his girlfriend (Marguerite Chapman) and a scientist (Ivan Triesault) who has plans for the escapee.
He certainly makes this film a lot better than it would have been in the hands of most B-movie directors but there's still no question that there's nothing too good here.The story itself is simple enough at at just under 60 minutes it certainly doesn't feel too long or forced.
"The Amazing Transparent Man" has a good idea for an agreeable B movie viewing experience, but its potential for the most part is pretty wasted.
Douglas Kennedy is the escaped convict who becomes The Amazing Transparent Man as the result of a laboratory experiment by Dr. Ivan Triesault under the direction of perennial movie villain James Griffith.
Yes, indeed.Anyways - The Amazing Transparent Man's story features a typically crazed ex-military officer (merrily dreaming of world domination) who forces an unwilling scientist to develop a process that will induce invisibility through good, old atomic-radiation.
(How delightful!) As expected - Even before his plans to create an invisible military force are ever realized, matters swiftly take a mighty ugly turn for the worse.Yep. I'm sure, if you're like me, you'll find The Amazing Transparent Man so "amazing" that you'll definitely forget to be amazed.
Krenner's men break safecracker Joey Faust out of jail and make him invisible, so that he can steal more radium, and then events take an unexpected turn," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Not only does "Invisible Man" Douglas Kennedy (as Joey Faust) suffer from on-again/off-again transparent powers; but also, he is also given less than a month to live, due to radiation poisoning.
Black and white didn't help this movie.Sometimes just being in black and white can help a bad horror or sci/fi movie be a little bit more creepy.That didn't help this clunker one bit.Some evil genius guy intent on creating an army of invisible men breaks a bank robbing safe cracker out of prison so he can get the safe cracker to break into a government installation and steal a powerful radioactive material called X-13.With this more powerful agent the man can create an army of invisible men.But the guy already has some scientist held captive and the scientist is already working on some sort of x-ray that can make things invisible so the plan is to make the safe cracker invisible so he can just stroll into the plant and get the X-13 out easily.The X-13 will make better invisible stuff or something,than the stuff they were using,at least I think that's what was going on here.....it a little hard to follow the plot of a clunker cause stuff tends not to get explained in very much detail.You might think it sounds cool but it wasn't.The acting was bad and the plot was just silly.Why would you want to create an army of invisible men if you had the power to make people invisible?How would you control invisible people and get them to do your bidding?
I'd just make myself invisible and spend my days stealing a bit of money but mostly I'd just lurk around in the female dorms on every college campus on Earth.But that is just me.Anyway things go awry when the invisible bank robber convinces the evil genius' moll to help him rob a bank.The only special effect to speak of was when things went invisible.And that wasn't very special at all.When invisible it was clear that the actor was just out of the camera shot saying his lines.And when he would carry stuff ,like a bag of money,it was easy to see that it was a bag being moved by a string.The government installation was a chubby guy in a police uniform sitting at a desk in what looked to be a hallway.Despite the title there is nothing the least bit amazing about this film---it's just a dull slow ride to nowhere..
Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) escapes from prison with the help of Laura (Marguerite Chapman) and Maj. Paul Krenna (James Griffith).
But insert 'the Major', a real type A geek who wants to create an army of invisible men to terrorize the world - very much like real life commie rats who infiltrated our society and corrupted every bit of it unseen - and you get riveting action!Add to this 'Mr. Faust', the man-turned-lab-rat who disappears, then goes on a bank robbing spree.
Paul Krenner plays the role as a ex-major in the Army who has managed to contact Peter Ulof a scientist who has developed a radiation technique that will make men invisible.
Bitter and crazed ex-military officer Paul Krenner (an excellent performance by James Griffith) forces kindly scientist Peter Ulof (a sturdy turn by Ivan Triesault) to create an invisibility process using radiation.
"The Amazing Transparent Man" is a good little B-movie that people are ridiculing unfairly because it lacks a big-name cast..
The Amazing Transparent Man. A determined(quietly deranged under the surface) Major Krenner(James Griffith)wishes to possess the ability to create an invisible army and enlists, through an arranged escape, notorious criminal Joey Faust(Douglas Kennedy)a thief and all-around bad hombre, to steal money from banks while completely unseen thanks to the genius of dying former Nazi scientist Dr. Peter Ulof(Ivan Triesault)(..the "former Nazi" part is more subtly mentioned in the screenplay never elaborating what country he worked for, but the horrifying description of what he did to his wife, through undetermined experiments, one can see who he represented considering the atrocities committed).
But Faust has different ideas about how to use his invisibility most of which involve bank robbery.First I'll mention the relatively small list of positives I found in The Amazing Transparent Man. I think the basic idea behind the movie is interesting.
Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy) safe cracker is sprung from prison so he can do the bidding of the evil Major Krenner (James Griffith).
Being in the mood to watch a short,snappy ,fun film on this leap day I decided to take a look at some ultra cheap triple feature DVDs that I had watched parts of during Haloween.As I got to the last two DVD's,I noticed one which I had watched the first two features of, (Attack Of The Giant Leeches and Revolt Of The Zombies)but had never got round to taking a look at the final film on the disc.Finding out that the movie had a running time of 58 minutes,I decided to get myself set for what would hopefully be a film that featured everything that I was after for a days viewing.The plot: Getting broken out of jail by old flame Laura Matson,convict safe cracker Joey Faust starts to wonder where Laura is planning to take him.Soon after Laura has finished driving Joey away in a getaway car she takes him up to a strange looking lab.Desperate to find some sort of normality Joey looks round the lab until he catches a glimpse of a crazy looking scientist!.Trying to get a grip on the situation that's accruing around him,Joey meets a new individual at the lab called Paul Krenner,who due to having a grand military vision wants to perform some "tests" on Joey which will cause him to become invisible.View on the film: Since seeing the films extremely low IMDb rating,my first expectation was that the screenplay by Jack Lewis would be filled with an almost endless supply of "technobabble" which I have disappointingly often come into contact with when watching these types of movies.Happily Lewis actually spent almost the whole film (bar the ending-which hits the movies message down like a hammer!) leaving the plodding exposition behind and instead making a pretty fun gangster spin on The Invisible Man that moves at a really brisk pace.For his work on the film director Edgar G.
Dr Ulof is now a peace loving pacifist who doesn't have long to live due to his experiments that, like with the Nazis, he was forced to conduct by the crazed Major Krenner.Forced to be put under the super X-Ray machine Joey does turn invisible and gets the X-13 from a US military nuclear plant.
Major Paul Krenner (James Griffith) engineers a prison break for Joey Faust (Douglas Kennedy), because he needs a human subject to further Dr. Peter Ulof's (Ivan Triesault) experiments in invisibility. |
tt0264739 | Yami No Shihosha Judge | Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.) is a successful defense attorney in Chicago who has been estranged from his family in a small town in Indiana for some time. While in court, he receives a call telling him his mother has died. As he leaves to fly to his hometown of Carlinville, it is revealed that Hank is going through a divorce (due to his wife's infidelity) and custody battle for his young daughter.
In Carlinville, Hank reunites with his older brother Glen (Vincent D'Onofrio), owner of a tire shop, and his younger brother Dale (Jeremy Strong), an autistic aspiring filmmaker who carries an old 8mm film camera everywhere he goes. Hank then stops by the small county courthouse, softly enters a courtroom, and sits in the back where he observes a case in progress. The judge is Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), Hank's father. When Joseph sees Hank for the first time in many years, at the funeral, he is treating guests with kindness but acknowledges his son coldly.
The next morning, Hank notices damage to his father's Cadillac Coupe DeVille as he is preparing to leave. Upon seeing the damage, Joseph denies knowing how it happened; but Hank believes his father was drinking and driving and damaged his own car. After a heated exchange, Hank leaves, promising never to return. But after boarding his plane, Hank learns that Joseph is being questioned by police with regard to a fatal hit and run. The victim is identified as Mark Blackwell (Mark Kiely), a recently released convicted murderer whose crimes, before the killing, Joseph had treated with leniency.
After Blackwell's blood is found on the car, Joseph is soon indicted, with prosecutor Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) seeking a conviction for first-degree murder. Hank agrees to defend Joseph and learns that his father was undergoing chemotherapy. This explains Joseph's inability to remember the accident and provides a potential diminished capacity defense, but Joseph rejects any such defense because of the potential damage it would do to his legacy. During the trial Hank and Joseph confront their bitterness with each other, dating back to a teenage drunk driving accident in which Hank was driving and Glen was injured – ending the latter's potential for a career in professional baseball. Joseph saw to it that Hank was sent to a youth detention center, and Hank left Carlinville after never receiving acknowledgement from Joseph for turning his life around.
Hank also reconnects with his old girlfriend Sam (Vera Farmiga), whom he abandoned after going to a Metallica concert more than 20 years ago. He discovers that Sam has a daughter, Carla (Leighton Meester), born nine months after he left, and deals with his concern that he is Carla's father.
At trial, Hank believes he has established enough reasonable doubt in the case to result in an acquittal. But Joseph sabotages the case by testifying that although he still cannot remember the accident, he has come to believe that he probably did kill Blackwell intentionally. Joseph confesses on the stand that he was personally haunted by Blackwell's case, having seen Hank in Blackwell, and wanting to help him like he would his son. Having misread Blackwell, Joseph afterward saw him in Hank.
Joseph is acquitted of murder but convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison, though he is released on compassionate parole after seven months, his cancer being terminal. He and Hank go fishing. After acknowledging Hank as the best lawyer he knows, Joseph dies peacefully in the boat. Hank, having made peace with his father, returns to the courtroom Joseph once reigned over, and spins the judges chair, where it ominously stops, pointed at him. | revenge | train | wikipedia | I completely disagree with the previous review. I have seen this short movie twice and the other review here on IMDb from 2001 has misunderstood the fundamental concepts behind the movie. I mean no offense--it is an understandable mistake. In Japanese culture (as in some other cultures, such as the ancient Greeks), the concept of "Hell" is not the same as in Christianity. It is more a place where all the dead reside. Just because the judge sends evil people to Hell does NOT mean he is evil--quite the opposite, he is good and punishes the evil with death. The defense attorney CLEARLY is EVIL in the movie--he defends ANYONE and could care less if they are guilty. His "defense" included repeated attempts to murder the judge and he defended a completely horrible man--how could he have seen as "good"?! Okay, on to the movie. It looks as if it's some sort of pilot for a failed television series. Too bad there aren't more episodes, as it really is unique. I especially love all the ways the judge puts the evil doers to death--they are VERY creative (though a bit gross).The down side? The animation is extremely poor when compared to more recent animation coming to the West. The quality is light years behind Miyazaki's movies (such as Kiki's Delivery Service and Spirted Away) and also much more choppy and poorly drawn when compared to any recent anime television series (such as Inuyasha, Full Metal Alchemist or even Pokemon). If you can ignore these limitations, it's still very much worth viewing. |
tt1130969 | Sinners and Saints | Detective Sean Riley (Johnny Strong) is emotionally destroyed after the death of his son and the abandonment of his wife. After the death of his partner, Det. Dave Besson (Kim Coates), Riley's superior, Captain Trahan (Tom Berenger) assigns Riley to investigate a series of murders involving victims burned several times over. One of the victims is the younger brother of infamous gangster Weddo (Method Man), which sparks a gang war in the Big Easy.
Riley's childhood friend Colin (Sean Patrick Flanery) resurfaces one night. He tells Riley that since they served in the military together, he has gotten various freelance jobs with a private security company called Spartan. The next day, Riley is partnered with Detective Will Ganz (Kevin Phillips), a stable family man, to continue his investigation. They stumble into a group of mercenaries in the act of burning another victim, and a shootout ensues.
It is revealed that a man named Raymond Crowe (Costas Mandylor) hired the mercenaries. As the investigation continues, Riley discovers that Colin is in possession of incriminating evidence against Spartan: a video of the same mercenaries from the shootout executing innocents while on assignment. Riley and Ganz find Colin at a decrepit part of the city, but too late. The mercenaries, now revealed to be Spartans, attack. A badly wounded Colin takes his own life, blowing up the house he is in so that Riley and Ganz can escape.
Trahan tells Riley that the city wants to blame Riley for the disastrous results of the investigation. Riley decides to take matters into his own hands, stockpiling weapons in his home. Trahan comes over to try to talk him out of it, but is ambushed and killed by Dekker (Bas Rutten), a leader of the mercenaries. Dekker tries to kill Riley, but Riley manages to kill him. He discovers that Crowe has kidnapped Ganz.
Riley breaks into Crowe's stronghold and kills the remaining mercenaries. Crowe manages to escape, leading to a street chase. Crowe reveals his intentions and manages to shoot Riley, but Riley shoots him down on the street. Riley is about to kill Crowe, and Ganz shouts at him to do it, but Riley decides not kill him; instead, Weddo and his gang drive up and take Crowe with them, presumably to kill him themselves. Later, Riley visits Ganz's child's birthday party. Afterward, he visits the cemetery where his son is buried. | revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0056112 | Jack the Giant Killer | This plot summary is based on a text published ca. 1760 by John Cotton and Joshua Eddowes, which in its turn was based on a chapbook ca. 1711, and reprinted in 'The Classic Fairy Tales' by Iona and Peter Opie in 1974.
The tale is set during the reign of King Arthur and tells of a young Cornish farmer's son named Jack who is not only strong but so clever he easily confounds the learned with his penetrating wit. Jack encounters a cattle-eating giant called Cormoran (Cornish: 'The Giant of the Sea' SWF:Kowr-Mor-An) and lures him to his death in a pit trap. Jack is dubbed 'Jack the Giant-Killer' for this feat and receives not only the giant's wealth, but a sword and belt to commemorate the event. A man-eating giant named Blunderbore vows vengeance for Cormoran's death and carries Jack off to an enchanted castle. Jack manages to slay Blunderbore and his brother Rebecks by hanging and stabbing them. He frees three ladies held captive in the giant's castle.
On a trip into Wales, Jack tricks a two-headed Welsh giant into slashing his own belly open. King Arthur's son now enters the story and Jack becomes his servant.
They spend the night with a three-headed giant and rob him in the morning. In gratitude for having spared his castle, the three-headed giant gives Jack a magic sword, a cap of knowledge, a cloak of invisibility, and shoes of swiftness. On the road, Jack and the Prince meet an enchanted Lady serving Lucifer. Jack breaks the spell with his magic accessories, beheads Lucifer, and the Lady marries the Prince. Jack is rewarded with membership in the Round Table.
Jack ventures forth alone with his magic shoes, sword, cloak, and cap to rid the realm of troublesome giants. He encounters a giant terrorizing a knight and his lady. He cuts off the giant's legs, then puts him to death. He discovers the giant's companion in a cave. Invisible in his cloak, Jack cuts off the giant's nose then slays him by plunging his sword into the monster's back. He frees the giant's captives and returns to the house of the knight and lady he earlier had rescued. A banquet is prepared, but it is interrupted by the two-headed giant Thunderdel chanting "Fee, fau, fum". Jack defeats and beheads the giant with a trick involving the house's moat and drawbridge.
Growing weary of the festivities, Jack sallies forth for more adventures and meets an elderly man who directs him to an enchanted castle belonging to the giant Galigantus (Galligantua, in the Joseph Jacobs version). The giant holds captive many knights and ladies and a Duke's daughter who has been transformed into a white doe through the power of a sorcerer. Jack beheads the giant, the sorcerer flees, the Duke's daughter is restored to her true shape, and the captives are freed.
At the court of King Arthur, Jack marries the Duke's daughter and the two are given an estate where they live happily ever after. | action, fantasy | train | wikipedia | As I understand it, this picture was produced to cash in on the tremendous success of "7th Voyage Of Sinbad", and the legal troubles that resulted from the vast similarities between the two films were the reason that the owners of the movie's rights were required to downgrade it into a ridiculous musical version.
Thankfully, after years of being unavailable, the original untouched "Jack" came out on video, and it was about as much fun seeing it again as an old codger as it was as a 10-year-old.For us "baby boomers" who started out on black-and-white TV and seeing such films as "King Kong", etc., when we were young, a stop-motion animated monster is just more scary, other-worldly, dangerous...whatever term fits an effective creature feature.
Although Kerwin Matthews' many nemeses in "Jack The Giant Killer" don't quite stand alongside Ray Harryhausen's magnificent work, they still make this film well worth seeing for anyone who enjoys a good, old-fashioned mythical adventure.Incidentally, if you have an idiotic sense of humour, the musical version is a scream to behold- especially the sequence of the evil wizard's servant returning to his master to report a failed kidnapping.
:D :DEveryone certainly has their own taste in motion pictures, but as far as this old monster movie watcher is concerned, "Jack The Giant Killer" is among the upper crust of its genre.
Many films borrow from a host of differing source material, often with surprisingly good results.One very important comment about the animation-- If you're the type that poo-poo's anything less than 21st century computer generated effects, then stick to films made after 2000 and stop knocking 40-year old films because their special effects aren't the same as you saw in "Independence Day".
Its antiquated effects only heighten its nostalgic value and fantastic feel, but i caution you to still watch this movie with a bit of mercy and leeway.Surprisingly, the 'demons' in the castle were rather authentic and creepy in a very contemporary sense (check them out), as well as the marching dragon men guards on the bridge, and the make up of the evil witch alter-ego of the princess (complete with way ahead of their time Micheal Jackson Thriller giant yellow demon contact lenses) all of which came off with an eerie modern vibe.I absolutely love how there were so many unique creatures always lurking about, like the Star Wars cantina scene or a Power Rangers episode.
Also, plenty of fun over the top dialogue about witches and demons and dragons and little people, plus more cheesy stop animation and I Dream of Jeannie dissapearing acts than you can shake your plastic Viking sword at.A real treat that had previously escaped me, as well as an obvious pre-cursor to the pinnacle godfather of stop motion sword and sorcery movies...
All the cast (Kerwin Matthews, Judi Meredith, Torin Thatcher, Anna-Lee, Walter Burke, Don Beddoes, et al) give fine performances and the special effects (most notably, the stop-motion animation, the cartoon-style animation) stand up well to the test of time.
The scenes where Pendragon (Torin Thatcher) uses that jewelled staff to turn her from a beautiful, kind princess into a beautiful, cold and icy witch had a real effect on me when I saw the film for the first time on BBC1 in the summer of 1976.
I saw the film again on Channel Four at Christmas 1997 and it was wonderful to see it again.Jack The Giant Killer offers an enjoyable story, great action scenes, competent direction, great special effects and a professional cast.
Unfortunately, it is relatively unknown, (especially in the UK where it cannot be found on DVD or video, and it has never seen a release on either of these formats to my knowledge- it does however, show up every 5 years or so on Channel 4-so look out for it there.) It also seems to be compared unfavourably with "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", which is a shame, as it surpasses this admittedly fine film in many ways.
There is a cruel streak running through this film which is totally absent from "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", and which makes this movie more like a horror film than a childrens fantasy.This fact was obviously picked up on by the film censors in the UK who gave it an "A" certificate (children to be accompanied by an adult) way back in 1967 when it hit the cinemas here- it was also cut by around two minutes of the more violent moments.
On the down side, the monsters in "Jack" are rubbery and unconvincing- which is unfortunate, and does make some of the scenes look very fake indeed, and in this respect, the film is no match at all for the beautiful models on display in "Voyage"- but the optical colour effects when spells are cast, and especially the nightmarish blue tints during the scary witches' attack on the boat, are breathtaking and look very magical, and there is also a fabulous finale when the evil "Pendragon" turns into a dragon and fights to the death with Jack.
Kerwin Matthews and Torin Thatcher virtually repeat their roles in Jack the Giant Killer that they had previously done for Columbia's 7th Voyage of Sinbad four years earlier.
For the juvenile viewers even today, they will have goosebumps over the witches, monsters, and giants that our intrepid hero Jack has to overcome.I do like the fact that Kerwin Matthews, Torin Thatcher, and the rest of the cast play their roles with absolute sincerity.
It would not have been appropriate to do it otherwise in a film meant for kids of all ages.The plot is simple, evil prince Torin Thatcher has designs on young princess Judi Meredith and tries one scheme with a giant to capture her and spirit her away to his evil enchanted island.
King Dayton Lummis makes Kerwin Matthews as Jack his daughter's protector and they have quite a few adventures before the happily ever after ending the fairy tale requires.It's still a pretty good family film and a nice bit of nostalgia for folks like me who were kids when it did come out..
The scene with the eerie glowing witches and demons ranks right up there with some of the Wicked Witch's star turns in *The Wizard Of Oz* as one of childhood's most delectably terrifying cinematic moments.While the SFX are sort of goofy-looking by today's standards, that's not a drawback for kids seeing the movie, and grownups who can get past their expectations of CGI-level realism should be able to appreciate them as well.I saw it once as an adult and was surprised to realize how many images and moments of dialog had stuck in my mind ever since.
Good acting by "7th Voyage of Sinbad" veterans Kerwin Matthews, as the hero Jack, and Torin Thatcher as the evil mage Pendragon..
I must admit to having fond memories of see "Jack The Giant Killer" as a 12 year old in the theater.Repeated viewings have strongly reinforced my feelings that this "7th Voyage Of Sinbad" wannabe suffers greatly from 2 main shortcomings: Shoddy stop motion models and a pretty pedestrian musical score.
When I was a kid, I wanted every movie to be like Jack The Giant Killer.
He is knighted Sir "Jack the Giant Killer" and becomes Meredith's protector...Seeing how millions of kids liked to spend Saturday afternoon watching Mr. Mathews battle special effects monsters in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958), producer Edward Small brought Mathews back with director Nathan Juran and villain Torin Thatcher.
And, there are memorable supporting roles by Walter Burke, Don Beddoe and Anna Lee.****** Jack the Giant Killer (5/18/62) Nathan Juran ~ Kerwin Mathews, Judi Meredith, Torin Thatcher, Walter Burke.
Jack The Giant Killer is a Film I have been waiting to watch since I was a kid, so I got to record it this year.
In Jack the Giant Killer director Nathan Juran reunites Kerwin Matthews (Jack), with the sorcerer from Sinbad, Torin Thatcher who in this film is another evil sorcerer, called Pendragon.
Special effects are very good and the producer was smart enough to give us another cyclops with a horn on his head early in the film....along the way Jack has to fight all types of monsters and ogres to attempt to rescue another princess (ala Sinbad) from the evil Thatcher.
By today's standards this film might be considered lame by some fantasy fans but remember it was made 40 years ago and I still consider the monsters and special effects very well done.
This film almost looks like a remake of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, with the same hero (Kerwin Mathews) and the same villain (Torin Thatcher).
The stars (Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher) and director (Nathan Juran) of "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" reunite for another engaging fantasy adventure, in which Mathews stars as the title Jack, who rescues the Princess Elaine (Judi Meredith) from a fearsome giant.
The good thing is that Jack is a consistently brave sort who is also able to get by with a little help from his friends: the viking Sigurd (Barry Kelley), Peter (Roger Mobley), the son of a ships' captain, and the powerful Imp (Don Beddoe), a leprechaun imprisoned inside a bottle."Jack the Giant Killer" is good, agreeable fun, if not quite as charming as the best films in this genre (some of which also star Mathews).
A wholesome farm-youth-turned-knight in medieval England (Kerwin Mathews) is enlisted to guard a princess (Judi Meredith) from the schemes of a wicked sorcerer (Torin Thatcher)."Jack the Giant Killer" (1962) is similar to "The Magic Sword," which was released a couple of months earlier.
Some people like to compare it to "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1958) because the hero and villain were also in that earlier movie, not to mention both films use stop-motion animation.
Kerwin Mathews and Nathan Juran, star and director of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), team up once again for more colourful fantasy adventure in Jack the Giant Killer, an engaging and inventive yarn crammed full of monsters and magic.Mathews plays Jack, a farm worker who is knighted after saving a beautiful princess (Judi Meredith) from the clutches of an ugly giant sent by the evil wizard Pendragon (Torin Thatcher, also from 7th Voyage of Sinbad).
When a second attempt to abduct the princess proves more successful, Jack sets off to rescue her, with the help of a viking, Sigurd (Barry Kelley), a young boy (Roger Mobley), and a leprechaun in a bottle (Don Beddoe).While the stop motion used to bring many of the film's creatures to life isn't quite up to Ray Harryhausen standards, the sheer quantity of special effects scenes make Jack the Giant Killer a whole lot of fun for fans of classic (ie.
The action starts with a miniature jester in a musical box growing into a towering horned terror, there's a wonderfully creepy assault on a ship by hideous witches (the film's highlight, possibly too scary for the really young ones), Pendragon summons up an army in a scene reminiscent of the skeleton attack in Jason and the Argonauts, a two headed giant battles with a lizardopus (half-lizard, half-octopus), and the evil wizard changes into a dragon to try and put an end to Jack once and for all.Clearly aimed at kids, the performances are of the pantomime variety, especially Thatcher as wicked Pendragon, who hams it up a treat.
I have to say that I assumed Jack wouldn't actually kill a giant but he does and it's in the first ten minutes.Is that a spoiler?The plot is basically the same as every Ray Harryhausen movie except that the star is a farmer.I should be disappointed at the unoriginality but I'm not.It was still a good movie.Although the special effects aren't as good as Ray Harryhausen's, the story is just as good as Harryhausen's best.And don't get me wrong, the make-up and stop motion in this movie are very good.Pendragon's witches are the scariest monsters I have ever seen in a movie but their powers are a bit less impressive.If you like Harryhausen's films you will like this..
This is a pretty interesting B-movie with a cliché but classic plot: A farm boy named Jack (Kerwin Matthews) becomes a knight and must protect the beautiful Princess Elaine (Judi Meredith) from the evil Pendragon (Torin Thatcher), who plans to marry the princess and assume the throne.Again, the plot sounds cliché but the movie was actually entertaining from what I remembered as a kid.
And ,last but no least ,when he goes for broke,the evil character turns into a flying monster,just as Maleficent changed into a dragon.This is good entertainment for the whole family ,although some pictures might have seemed a bit scary for yesterday's kiddies (the same can be said of Disney's "Sleeping beauty")much of which (the reflections in the mirror)has been blunted by the passage of time.The special effects are still good (except for the cardboard giants and monsters )and Kerwin Matthews had plenty of go .Even adults can dig it..
No doubt inspired by the success of 1958's fantasy adventures of the Arabian mythological figure Sinbad (The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad), this tale of a farmer boy, Jack (Kerwin Mathews), who unwittingly saves the life of the Princess of Cornwall (Judi Meredith), from the clutches of a giant, plays in similar fashion to the aforementioned adventurer.
After being knighted for his courageous actions, Jack is sent on a voyage to hide the princess, but is thwarted by the evil magician, Pendragon (Torin Thatcher), who takes her as a prisoner in his castle hideaway.Whilst the film looks very similar to the majority of fantasy adventure films of the time, with its beautiful use of vibrant colour, the histrionic acting (there are no complaints about this from me, as this over-exuberance is fitting to the genre), and the fantasy monsters, it is in its presentation of these that brings the bare bones of the narrative to life.
The script is a poor bastardized combination of Arthurian legend and Jack and the Beanstalk and Sinbad.And then there is the horrendous stop-motion animation and the even worse animated magical effects when the "witches" attack the princess' boat.
Starring Kerwin Mathews as Jack, Judi Meredith as the princess Elaine, and Torin Thatcher as the evil wizard Pendragon, the movie is chock full of stop-motion animation delight.
The miniature jester in the music box, the ghostly witches attacking Jack's ship,the dragon guarding Pendragon's lair, the valley of the Cyclops,all this and more provide a Panavision vista of the wonderful special effects which Ray Harryhausen summoned from his creative talents in this movie, and numerous others such as Jason and the Argonauts, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans,to name a few.The chemistry between Kerwin Mathews and Judi Meredith is alive, and Torin Thatcher is delightful in his supporting role as the evil wizard Pendragon,who stops at nothing to kidnap the princess and hold her as ransom to force her father the King to give Pendragon the land and riches he so desperately craves.
A wonderful story, music score, the direction of Nathan Juran and the creative stop-motion effects artistry of Ray Harryhausen make this movie a fantasy feast for the senses..
Produced on a modest budget but filmed in color with some primitive looking special effects, JACK THE GIANT KILLER will probably be just the right sort of entertainment for its target audience--kids.Stalwart KERWIN MATTHEWS, who seemed to be specializing in these kind of swordplay roles for awhile in the '60s, makes a good adventure hero and JUDI MEREDITH is a satisfactory princess who has to be rescued once she falls under the spell of the wicked TORIN THATCHER.Thatcher is the wizard/magician, power mad and obsessed with dethroning a king whose throne he covets.
Despite the terrific make-up, Thatcher is never quite as chilling a villain as Veidt.ANNA LEE has a small role as a woman who falls under his evil spell and TUDOR OWEN is another familiar face in the supporting cast.Matthews has to fight one stop animation figure after another, all in good fun and perfect entertainment for the kids.Summing up: Not bad for the kiddies and adults will appreciate seeing the late Kerwin Matthews in the sort of action role he was known for..
Jack the Giant Killer is an adventure fantasy that I feel stands the test of time better than a lot of animation monster movies out there.
On the surface you would think that this movie has it made - a fantasy with many of the ingredients which made The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad so successful - star Kerwin Matthews, baddie Torin Thatcher, director Nathan Juran, and stop motion creatures.
The plot is very entertaining, the acting is solid, Kerwin Mathews is perfect for fantasy movies like this and is charming as Jack, Judi Meredith is almost as beautiful as Kathryn Grant and Torin Thatcher is forever terrifying as the evil wizard Pendragon, the evil grin on his face and his Bela Lugosi Dracula stare makes him a perfect villain.
Brave, noble, resourceful farmboy turned knight Jack (well played with dashing aplomb by Kerwin Mathews) has to rescue fair damsel Princess Elaine (a charming performance by the lovely Judi Meredith) from the vile clutches of powerful evil sorcerer Pendragon (essayed with marvelously sinister brio by Torin Thatcher) and his creepy, whimpering henchman Garna (a perfectly detestable Walter Burke).
This is a film that comes from the same stable as 7th Voyage of Sinbad, insofar as Nathan Juran was director and Kerwin Matthews and Torin Thatcher are in it, but alas there the similarities end.
Fantasy and film noir sometimes mix successfully, although Jack, the Giant Killer (1962) is not the most entertaining of the genre despite the presence of lovely, talented Judi Meredith (who, alas, made only nine or ten movies, spending 80% of her career in TV episodes).
I saw this film on release at a drive-in movie theatre, i.e. HUGE screen, i.e. scarier looking monsters and witches. |
tt0060689 | Mera Saaya | Thakur Rakesh Singh (Sunil Dutt), an affluent descendent of the royalty, is a lawyer and happily married to Geeta (Sadhana) for three years. He goes to London for higher studies and after one year receives the news of his wife's illness. He immediately comes back only to witness his wife's death in his hands. He builds a small memorial in her memory in his mansion. He deeply mourns her by always sitting at that memorial and listening to recorded songs sung by Geeta.
While things are like this, one day a police inspector Daljit comes to meet him. He explains him about the bandit they caught on other day, Naina (Sadhana) who claims to be wife of Rakesh. Rakesh meets her and gets shocked as she looks exactly like Geeta. But he rejects that she was his wife as he saw his wife dying and buried her with his own hands. But that woman claims that she was indeed Geeta and tells him about intimate moments they shared. Rakesh gets surprised but suspects some mischief.
Case proceeds in the court and Rakesh starts to cross examine that woman. She answers every question correctly and claims that she was kidnapped by someone 2–3 days before her arrest. When Rakesh asks why she has no mangalsutra on her, which was compulsory ornament for married Hindu woman, she tells him that she removed it before going out on that day. He wouldn't believe that, as Geeta would consider mangalsutra very sacred and wouldn't have removed it.
After some drama, he asks her about her diary which Geeta always keeps near to her and she fails to answer. He decides that she was just an impostor and asks court to convict her. She becomes emotionally unstable after all this drama and ends up in a mental institute. One night she escapes from there and comes to Rakesh's house. There she explains Rakesh all that has happened.
Geeta had a twin sister named Raina, who was a bandit just like their mother. Geeta hides the fact about her criminal family and marries Rakesh. But one day her sister comes to her in a pitiable condition and asks her to give shelter for one night. Geeta, seeing her sick gets out of her house to buy medicine. But she doesn't want other family members to know about Raina and makes Raina up just like her and even gives her own mangalsutra to Raina. But when she comes out, Ranjit singh, Raina's husband (Prem Chopra) mistakes her for Raina and takes her away without giving her chance to talk. When Ranjit Singh comes to know that she wasn't Raina, he wants to take her back but police arrest them on their way back. While she was explaining all this to Rakesh, Ranjit Singh comes there and confirms her story. Police shoot him and he dies at Raina's memorial. Rakesh and Geeta reconcile and start their regular life. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Excellent thriller and as haunting as the shadow it deals with. "Mera Saaya" is an incredibly striking picture and it should provide a completely pleasurable watch not only for lovers of Hindi cinema and its golden era, but also for those who love thrillers which have both tension and substance. This film is about a young lawyer who is still mourning his wife's recent death and soon learns that an alleged criminal woman who looks exactly like his late wife stands trial in court and in her defense claims to be his own wife. From then on, the story follows how Rakesh, who is totally convinced of his wife's death (having actually seen her body before it was cremated), firmly attempts to disprove her claims despite the amazingly genuine evidences she presents in court. The film has a great mix of suspense and romance, and the mystery does not get solved until the very end, although it manages to attract different assumptions from the viewers. The plot is interestingly twisted with unexpected proceedings. Raj Khosla's direction is very good; he delicately refines the film's intensity, yet makes sure the viewer keeps watching it until the fantastic ending. The film has a great Sunil Dutt, who successfully portrays the grief-stricken yet decisive Rakesh, but the greatest impact is made by Sadhana who shines in a brilliantly played dual role (even this aspect remains unclear yet unsuspected for the most part). The music is very nice, and the title song is beautifully sung by Lata Mangeshkar. All in all, "Mera Saaya" is another fine movie of 1966 (a year of many great films). I highly recommend you to watch this classic.. Nainon Wali Ne Haay Mera Dil Loota. If anybody asks me the name of my most favourite bollywood actress of the bygone era, I will not take a fraction of a moment in replying - Saadhna. This gorgeous lady ruled bollywood in the sixties with memorable movies like Aarzoo and Mere Mehboob. Highly talented director, Raj Khosla made a trilogy of mystery movies taking Saadhna in the lead role - 1. Woh Kaun Thi (1964), 2. Mera Saaya (1966) and Anita (1967). Whereas in the first and the third, Manoj Kumar was cast opposite her in the male lead, Sunil Dutt was cast as her hero in Mera Saaya. Since I have been a fan of Sunil Dutt too, this movie is a very big treat for me. I have seen it umpteen number of times. Reason ? Not just the lead pair and their amazing on-screen chemistry but the other aspects of the movie too - spellbinding suspense, mesmerizing music, engrossing court-room drama, hilarious comedy, rain of romance, the works. This movie has something to offer to all kinds of movie buffs. It can undoubtedly be called a perfect entertainment spanning some 160 minutes.The story of Mera Saaya (my spirit) is based in the City of Lakes in Rajasthan, i.e., Udaipur. The story starts with the death of the wife, Geeta (Saadhna) of a renowned criminal lawyer, Thakur Rakesh Singh (Sunil Dutt) who becomes melancholous after parting with his beloved wife. However the real story takes off when police catches some dacoits and a woman with them who is the ditto of Geeta by her face and more importantly, she claims to be so. To refute her claim, Thakur Rakesh Singh cross-questions her in the court. At the same time, she also cross-questions him in order to prove that she only is his wife (she refuses to arrange any defence lawyer for her and decides to present her defence herself only). The interesting court-room drama finally culminates in herself first losing her case and then her mental balance, to be sent to asylum consequentially. However the mystery gets resolved through the ringleader of the dacoit gang in the ending scene of the movie.Mera Saaya has everything to recommend itself. There is not a single boring moment in the movie. This is inarguably the best directorial venture of Raj Khosla and the best ever acting performance of Saadhna. The narrative grips the viewer from the opening scene itself and does not loosen that grip till the very end of the movie. The court-room drama is one of the best court-room dramas portrayed in bollywood movies. Dhumal and Mukri have provided enough laughters and relief moments in between the heated-up drama and intense emotions. The character of the maid, Kumud Bole and her activities add up to the intricate mystery. Alongwith the director, the screenplay-writer and the dialogue-writer have also done their jobs pretty well.Madan Mohan has given the music of a lifetime in this movie with all the songs as immortal classics. Raja Mehndi Ali Khan has penned the beautiful lyrics for the songs. The movie has Lata's timeless songs like Tu Jahaan Jahaan Chalega Mera Saaya Saath Hoga and Naino Mein Badra Chhaye, Asha's great item number - Jhumka Gira Re Bareilly Ke Bazar Mein and Rafi's intense sad song - Aapke Pehlu Mein Aakar Ro Diye. One more song of Lata is there which is my favourite because of intermittent romantic dialogues and Shero-Shaayari of the lead pair - Nainon Wali Ne Haay Mera Dil Loota. The choreography of the songs is also excellent.Saadhna had her best on-screen chemistry with Sunil Dutt and this pair has lit up the screen with their marvellous interactions in the story, may they be in the court-room or in their household or in the beautiful locales of Udaipur. The romance is lovely and the emotions are intense. The love of the husband (Sunil Dutt) and the wife (Saadhna) looks damn real and the viewers may wish that their real life love be like that only. The gestures of Sunil Dutt and Saadhna in the song Nainon Wali Ne Haay Mera Dil tickle the romantic hearts so much that it's an experience to watch this song. The pain of losing the partner portrayed by both these artists is able to make the viewer empathize with them. Saadhna's dancing performance on Asha's song - Jhumka Gira Re Bareilly Ke Bazar Mein has made this dance number an unforgettable one. The supporting cast has rendered excellent support to this amazing pair which is all-pervasive in the movie.Mera Saaya is watchable for the scenic beauty of Udaipur also. Since I am a Rajasthani and I have resided too for more than one year in Udaipur, I can say that this world famous City of Lakes has never been shown more beautifully in any other movie. It's a huge pleasure to see a lovely pair romancing in a romantically beautiful location.Normally a mystery movie does not bear repeat value because of the nullification of the suspense factor after the first watch. But Mera Saaya is a great exception. Despite the suspense being revealed upon you after the first watch, you can watch it umpteen number of times. And every watch will give you the same soothing, nice feeling in your heart. It can unbiasedly be termed as 'the perfect entertainment'.A masterpiece indeed.. An excellent movie. This movie is one of the best movies of its time starring Sunil Dutt and Sadhna.It has thrill,it has mystery,it has good songs,good dances and strong performances.Sadhna gives a strong performance as a woman caught up by police and accused of being a bandit,whereas according to her she is wife of a big Thakur.Sunil Dutt gives a bravo performance in the role of a well read lawyer and a Thakur who loves his wife more than anyone but is depressed because of her death and because a young girl who resembles is wife is claiming to be his wife.The songs like "Mera Saaya",Nainon main Kajra" and all others have a strong appeal and Sadhna's dance in the songs "Nainon Wale ne" and "Jhumka Girra re" has been critically praised.On the whole I would say that the movie is a gr88 one and deserves to be seen.. Gripping suspense right till the end and splendid performances by the leads, specially Sadhna. Welcome to the perhaps only exceptional suspense romantic movie that you would love to watch again and again even though you learn of the suspense after watching it for the first time.Its easier to prove who is who when there are 2 similar people as someone reveals the distinct feature/attributes of the 2 people but what happens when only you (the person who is claiming to be the one she is) knows of that distinct feature/property.A woman dies in the arms of her husband and her death rituals are performed by the husband himself. How then can another similar looking woman claim and more importantly prove that she is his wife and not the woman that died in his arms? A fantastic courtroom drama follows where the other woman seems to be winning but her husband has one final proof that she is not his wife. The verdict is announced and the woman is sentenced.But wait she comes back to reveal the real secret.Watch it till the end for a mind-boggling suspense. |
tt0377917 | The Fifth Element | In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping concerning World War I, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years. The weapon consists of four stones, containing the energies of the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a fifth element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a divine light capable of defeating the evil. The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, that they will come back with the element stones in time to stop the great evil when it returns.
In 2263, the great evil appears in deep space in the form of a giant ball of black fire, and destroys an attacking Earth spaceship. The Mondoshawans' current contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the President of the Federated Territories of the history of the great evil and the weapon that can stop it. As the Mondoshawans return to Earth they are ambushed by Mangalores, a race hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who has been directed by the great evil (sending messages as “Mister Shadow”) to acquire the stones.
The Mondoshawans' spacecraft is destroyed, though the stones are not on board; the only item recovered is a hand of The Fifth Element. Scientists take it to a New York City laboratory and use it to reconstruct a powerful humanoid woman who takes the name Leeloo. Terrified of the unfamiliar surroundings, she breaks out of confinement and jumps off a high ledge, crashing into the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas, a former major in the special forces.
Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David, whereupon Cornelius learns that the Mondoshawans entrusted the four element stones to the alien Diva Plavalaguna, an opera singer. Zorg kills many of the Mangalores because of their failure to obtain the stones, but their compatriots determine to seize the artifacts for themselves. Upon learning from the Mondoshawans that the stones are in Plavalaguna's possession, General Munro, Dallas' former superior, recommissions Dallas and orders him to travel undercover to the planet Fhloston to meet Plavalaguna on a luxury cruise; Dallas takes Leeloo with him. Meanwhile, Cornelius instructs David to prepare the ancient temple designed to house the stones, then stows away on the space plane transporting Dallas to the cruise liner.
Plavalaguna is killed when the Mangalores attack the cruise ship, but Dallas succeeds in retrieving the stones from the Diva. During his struggle with the Mangalores he kills their leader. Meanwhile, Zorg shoots and seriously wounds Leeloo, before finding a carrying case that he presumes contains the stones and takes it back to his spacecraft, leaving behind a time bomb that forces the liner's occupants to evacuate. Discovering the case to be empty, Zorg returns to the ship and deactivates his bomb, but a dying Mangalore sets off his own device, destroying the ship and killing Zorg. Dallas, Cornelius, Leeloo, and talk-show host Ruby Rhod escape with the stones aboard Zorg's spacecraft.
The four join up with David at the weapon chamber in the Egyptian temple as the great evil approaches. They arrange the stones and activate them with their corresponding elements, but having witnessed and studied so much violence, Leeloo has become disenchanted with humanity and refuses to cooperate. Dallas confesses his love for Leeloo and kisses her. In response, Leeloo combines the power of the stones and releases the divine light on the great evil and destroys its power, causing the planet to be proclaimed dead by Earth scientists as it becomes another moon in Earth orbit. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt5619304 | Midnight Hair | A Mu moves with his wife, Le Xiaomei, who is two months pregnant, to a mountainside villa owned by his friend, A Ming. The villa is decorated with paintings of two boys playing string game and there is also a locked room A Mu claimed belonging to A Ming. Supernatural occurrences begin to haunt the couple, including a red doll that stalks Xiaomei, a music tape that plays a string game song, and most importantly, a ghostly woman with long hair and white dress. The doll is disposed of by A Mu at Xiaomei's request, while the paintings always resurface back whenever Xiaomei tries to remove it. A Mu also sees a woman in black robe who seems to watch him while going to work everyday.
One day, the two visit the orphanage that A Mu grew up in to become fundraisers. Xiaomei learns about a loner orphan in A Mu's generation named Xiaoshan who died when he was 10 years old. After a series of boxes containing increasingly threatening messages are left at his doorstep, A Mu installs security cameras around the house. That night, Xiaomei watches the footage to find a cloaked figure leaving the house. She decides to break into A Ming's room, finding more paintings of the boys and the disposed red doll. Spooked by the woman, Xiaomei runs away, pulling some of the woman's hair in the process, and falls off the stairs, causing her baby's miscarriage.
Arriving back at home from the hospital, Xiaomei forces A Mu to reveal the truth about Qingqing, his fellow orphan and childhood friend together with A Ming. A Mu and Qingqing maintain their relationship well to adulthood, but Qingqing apparently left him for a rich man when he struggled on money. She was subsequently killed by A Ming, who justified his actions due to her unfaithfulness. A Ming buried her body and showed it to A Mu the previous night, despite Xiaomei's claims about the hair. Another box is soon delivered to the couple, warning about not combing the hair during midnight, a trait of Qingqing. Xiaomei does just that and summons the woman in white, who tells her that A Ming does not exist.
From A Mu's orphanage, Xiaomei learns that "A Ming" is a nickname given to Xiaoshan, the son of two imprisoned thieves whose only friend in the orphanage was A Mu. One day, the two escaped from a locked room they were imprisoned in for robbery but slipped through the roofs. The dean chose to save A Mu over A Ming, as A Mu is her grandson born out of wedlock. She promptly gave offerings for A Ming, but suffered a heart attack and died with her face burnt. Xiaomei is visited by the woman in white, revealed to be Qingqing's younger half-sister, Yu Xiaohan. Xiaohan apologizes for the miscarriage and states that she wants Mu Kainan, A Mu's real name, to confess in his murder of Qingqing, the latter having supported Xiaohan's leukemia treatment and being the only family who supported her. She does this by haunting him, as "people would tell the truth if they are scared". A Mu arrives, exhibiting his dissociative identity disorder by constantly switching between his A Mu and A Ming's persona. In his A Ming's persona, he knocks out Xiaomei and bounds her, confirming his deeds including the murder of his grandmother. However, he is unable to kill her due to A Mu's memories of their relationship resurfacing. A Mu decides to commit suicide to prevent himself from harming Xiaomei even further.
Xiaomei visits Xiaohan at the hospital to inform her that A Mu left some money for her and Qingqing so she could pay her bills, wishing her recovery and saying that she is not alone anymore. Next she visits A Mu's orphanage and is horrified when she meets a new girl, Yangyang, carrying the red doll. Yangyang sings the string game song and a hand grabs the doll before the movie cuts off. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | Unoriginal, Cliched, By-The-Numbers Story with Hammy Acting.. This flick could only have been produced and underwritten by people who have no interest in film making other than its potential for making money. There was absolutely nothing new to see in "Midnight Hair." In fact, the poor, ridiculous title alone should've been enough to warn me away from it, but no, I just had to see where the Chinese were in relation to the vastly superior horror films emanating from South Korea and Japan.While I was watching this movie, I imagined a conversation in a lobby somewhere between a producer, director and janitor who just happened to be sweeping up the environs at the time.Producer: Hey, Director, I have a little money and I'd like to make a movie.Director: Make a horror film. They're cheap to produce and, if you're lucky, the rewards are high.Producer: Good. Here's a million dollars. Make sure the money has every cliche in the horror books so I can get my money back. Oh, and make sure the actors over-react in EVERY SCENE with open-mouthed stares and sloooooow walking so the audience will know they're seeing a horror film.Janitor: Um, fellas, shouldn't your movie be, at least, original?The producer whips out a gun and shoots the janitor dead.Producer: Meddlesome insect! I'm in it for the money! |
tt0104115 | Doctor Mordrid | Anton Mordrid is a wizard sent to Earth by a being called the Monitor, to stop the evil wizard Kabal from opening the gate to Hell. Kabal needs the Philosopher's Stone and several alchemical elements to complete the spell and open the gate, unleashing his minions from the Fourth Dimension upon the Earth. Mordrid watches for signs of Kabal's presence for 150 years; as the time of their epic battle approaches, Mordrid assumes the role of a criminal psychologist, and becomes the mysterious landlord to Samantha Hunt, a research consultant to the police.
Dr. Mordrid detects a series of thefts of the elements that Kabal is seeking, and Mordrid begins to search for his nemesis. Samantha is persistent in her attempts to penetrate Mordrid's secretive life. The battle for Earth spills over into the Magic Dimension where the gate is closely guarded by other good wizards. They are no match for Kabal, who defeats all but one of them. This survivor confirms Kabal's plans for Mordrid, and Mordrid returns to Earth to prepare his defenses. When Mordrid is arrested for murder, Samantha attempts to help prove his innocence. Mordrid reveals his true nature and his mission to her, and she agrees to help him escape.
In the final showdown, Kabal and Mordrid do battle within the Cosmopolitan Museum. Using his wits and his magical power, Mordrid narrowly manages to kill Kabal, preventing the destruction of reality as we know it. His mission accomplished, Mordrid is called by The Monitor to cross over once again into the Magic Dimension and leave the Earth behind. | comedy, murder, cult, flashback, good versus evil, psychedelic, revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0044456 | Bugles in the Afternoon | A rivalry between U.S. Cavalry captains results in Kern Shafter being demoted and disgraced for striking Edward Garnett with a saber. Kern claimed to be defending the honor of his fiancee.
Kern drifts for a while and is attracted to Josephine Russell, a woman he meets before a stagecoach to Fargo. When they reach Bismarck in the Dakota territory, Kern then heads to Fort Abraham Lincoln and enlists in the 7th Cavalry. He is assigned to a company headed by an old friend and former sergeant major, Capt. Myles Moylan, and assigned the rank of sergeant. He is pleased until he learns that Capt. Garnett is there at Fort Lincoln as well, who is the commander of a different company, but is referred to as "top dog" by Moylan.
Kern makes a friend named Donovan, a private. Donovan was formerly a sergeant until he punched a sergeant major. The two of them are assigned to investigate the murder of local miners by Sioux tribesmen, leading to a dangerous encounter. When these risky missions continue, Capt. Moylan begins to realize that Garnett is deliberately putting Kern at risk.
The feud escalates when Garnett makes romantic advances toward Josephine, who is angered by Kern striking him, unaware of their history or Garnett's true character.
The soldiers leave with General George Armstrong Custer to do battle with the Sioux. Garnett deliberately puts Kern, Donovan, and another soldier in danger by sending the three on a scouting mission, claiming there are no Sioux warriors in the vicinity. The three see their company fall back as they see the Sioux in their scouting area. After his friend Donovan is fatally wounded, Kern is able to get back to his command, only to witness Custer and his own command killed in battle. Garnett pursues Kern during a different skirmish with the Sioux, and the two scuffle with each other until Kern gets knocked out by Garnett. When Garnett is about to drop a large rock on Kern, a Sioux warrior fatally shoots Garnett. Capt. Moylan arrives and kills the warrior, and informs Kern he saw the end of the scuffle with Garnett. The two then regroup with their command to fight the Sioux, where Kern gets shot during the skirmish.
Kern and Moylan survive the battle and Kern's reputation and rank of captain are restored thanks to Moylan, and he is now seen by Josephine as the man she wants. | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1038685 | The King of Fighters | The titular King of Fighters tournament originated from SNK's previous fighting game franchises, Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting. The first game in the series, KOF '94, centers on a black market arms dealer named Rugal Bernstein, who hosts the well-known fighting tournament to lure worthy adversaries into his trap so that he can kill them and turn them into stone statues, adding them to his collection of defeated martial artists. In addition to previous established fighting game stars Terry Bogard and Ryo Sakazaki, the game introduces a new hero: a young Japanese martial artist named Kyo Kusanagi, who serves as the lead character in the early KOF games. In KOF '95, Rugal, having survived the previous tournament, host a new one with the intentions of seeking revenge against his adversaries. KOF '95 introduced Kyo's rival Iori Yagami to the series and was the first game to mention the presence of the Orochi clan, which would serve as the central plot element in the following two games in the series. The tournament in KOF '96 and KOF '97 are hosted by a woman named Chizuru Kagura, who seeks to recruit allies (particularly Kyo and Iori, who are descended from the Three Divine Vessels along with Kagura herself) to fight against the Orochi clan. The Orochi storyline concludes in KOF '97, while the following game in the series, KOF '98, is a "Special Edition" with no plot development.
KOF '99 introduces a new story arc involving a mysterious corporation known as NESTS, which seeks to create an army of genetically altered fighters. The game would introduce a new lead character named K′: a fugitive from NESTS who was genetically enhanced with Kyo's DNA. The two following games in the series, KOF 2000 and KOF 2001, continue the NESTS storyline, with each game further unraveling the mystery of the organization. KOF 2002, like KOF '98 before it, is a "Special Edition" of the series with no particular plot.
KOF 2003 begins a new storyline focusing on another new lead character named Ash Crimson, a young man who seeks to possess the powers of the Three Divine Vessels for his own unknown agenda. The tournaments from KOF 2003 and KOF XI were hosted by "Those From the Past", an organization of inhuman warriors who try to break the Orochi seal to take its powers so that they can give it to their shrouded master. While KOF XII does not have a story, KOF XIII follows another tournament hosted by Those From the Past with Ash eventually confronting their superior despite him being Ash's ancestor.
KOF XIV gets another storyline, involving a new lead character named Shun'ei. | murder, violence, flashback, psychedelic, revenge, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0036104 | The Leopard Man | The story, set in New Mexico, begins as Jerry Manning hires a leopard as a publicity stunt for his night-club performing girlfriend, Kiki. Her rival at the club, Clo-Clo, not wanting to be upstaged, startles the animal and it escapes the club into the dark night. The owner of the leopard, a solo sideshow performer named Charlie How-Come—billed as "The Leopard Man"—begins pestering Manning for money for replacement of the leopard.
Soon a girl is found mauled to death, and Manning and Kiki feel remorse for having unleashed the monster. After attending the girl's funeral, Manning joins a posse that seeks to hunt down the giant cat. Presently another young woman is killed, and Manning begins to suspect that the latest killing is the work of a man who has made the death look like a leopard attack. The leopard's owner, who admits to spells of drunkenness, is unnerved by Manning's theory and begins to doubt his own sanity. He asks the police to lock him up, but while he is in jail another killing occurs: the victim this time is Clo-Clo. Afterward, the leopard is found dead in the countryside, and is judged to have died before at least one of the recent killings. When the human murderer in finally found, he confesses that his compulsion to kill was excited by the first leopard attack. | cult, mystery, murder | train | wikipedia | 'I Walked With a Zombie' was confined to a tropical island setting, while 'The Leopard Man' takes place in a New Mexico border town, on the edge of town, so that we travel along the desolate and wide open spaces of the sleepy Southwest at nighttime.Early in the film, a young Mexican girl is sent on a late-night errand by her mother to buy some tortilla.
Although not one of producer Val Lewton's better known films, director Tourner endows the story with considerable atmosphere, and the result is a moody and intriguing film that holds it own with the more celebrated CAT PEOPLE and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.Like other Lewton films, THE LEOPARD MAN relies more upon what it suggests than upon what it actually shows.
This film is particularly effective in building suspense in a series of scenes that show various characters walking--a saucy Spanish dancer strolling along the street, a frightened teenager making a night-time trip to the grocer, a young woman rushing through a cemetery at night.
After a few deaths, the cat is blamed...but is there more to this scenario than meets the eye?Just like Val Lewton's earlier and later productions, The Leopard Man is notable for it's breathtaking atmosphere, which is once again up there with the greatest ever seen in cinema.
The use of shadows and lighting is impressive, and when you combine this with Jacques Tourneur's incredible ability to stage a scene amidst this atmosphere; you've got a recipe for a truly great horror movie.
****SPOILERS**** Dark and creepy film based on the Cornell Wollrich novel "Black Alibi" about a leopard on the loose in the desert and towns of New Mexico.
Publicity agent Jerry Manning, Dennis O'Keefe, trying to spice up his client Kiki Walker, Jean Brooks, nightclub act gets her a black leopard from a local carnival to upstage her rival at the club Spanish dancer Clo Clo, Margo.
With the local police as well as the towns people looking for the escaped black leopard it later crosses the path of young Teresa Guadalupe who's outside going to the store to get corn meal for her mother to make dinner.
You just can't wait for the nerve racking scene to finally end where at the same time the director of the movie, Jacques Tourneur, keeps you totally in the dark to what's happening off screen.
Even though "Leopard Man" touched upon a lot of psychological aspects of the human, as well as animal, mind it pre-dates the movie "Spellbound" which many consider the first major Hollywood film about the subject by two years.The films dark and eerie ending in the darkening New Mexican desert amid a black hooded precession to commemorate the 17th century slaughter of the towns original inhabitants, by the Spanish Conquistadors, was one of the most creepiest sights I've ever seen in a movie..
A far better than average early film from the Val Lewton unit, The Leopard Man is as much murder mystery as horror picture.
O' Keefe, James Bell, Margo, Brooks, and the entire cast give credible turns and enforce our ability to accept what is going on.Some scenes are quite memorable: the young girl walking back home from the store is a classic scene of terror, the cemetery scene, and the procession of the monks allowed Tournier to work his magic with the lens.
Horror supreme producer Val Lewton teams up for the third and last time with director Jacques Tourneur to bring us The Leopard Man. Set in New Mexico, the story sees Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hire a black leopard as a publicity stunt for his night-club performing partner, Kiki (Jean Brooks).
However, Manning & Kiki, driven by guilt, join the hunt for the rogue animal; but Manning is starting to believe the killings are not of the animal's doing.....Based on the book "Black Alibi" written by Cornell Woolrich, The Leopard Man's only crime is that it's not as great as its two predecessors, Cat People & I Walked With A Zombie.
The nightclub owner(played by Dennis O'Keefe) tries to find it, but it seems to be responsible for a series of brutal killings(including a young woman on her way home, the best sequence in the film) There is other evidence pointing to another guilty party, proving the Leopard's innocence.
Their solutions proved inspired, resulting in a string of classics The Cat People, The Leopard Man, I Walked With A Zombie that still rank among the moodiest, most memorable fright-films ever made (with different directors, Lewton oversaw The Seventh Victim and other distinctive works in the same vein).
That magic was to suggest rather than to show; to plant seeds in viewers' imaginations and let them grow.In a sleepy New Mexico town that somehow supports a posh night club, publicity man Dennis O'Keefe gets an idea to promote an act by arranging for the star (Jean Brooks) to make a grand entrance with a big black leopard on a leash.
This, of course, is diametrically opposed to the way horror is portrayed in movies nowadays, which is to drench the screen with buckets of blood and gore.This is a Val Lewton low budget picture, Lewton being the man who could produce quality films at bargain prices for RKO.
The Leopard Man is a Tourneur/Lewton collaboration from RKO, adapted from the book Black Alibi by Cornell Woolrich (the most prolifically adapted crime writer of his time).
Apart from its classic murder sequences (particularly the first with its bloody pay-off), this one has an original, audacious structure (criticized at the time because it was not understood) with the narrative following minor characters every once in a while and veering off into seemingly unrelated subplots - a half-century prior to Tarantino's would-be seminal PULP FICTION (1994), but also Luis Bunuel's THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974)!!Dennis O'Keefe is a wonderful lead as the sleuth figure; in fact, the film is actually more of a thriller since the murders do not have a basis in the supernatural (as was the case with the previous two Lewton/Tourneur collaborations).
James Bell underplays his pivotal role as the museum curator/animal expert (which is similar to the brief doctor part he essayed in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE [1943]); also fine is Abner Biberman as the owner of the escaped leopard, who blacks out during his frequent drinking binges and thinks he may be the murderer.The small-town atmosphere is brilliantly captured on a studio set (marred only by some corny elements in the script intended to accentuate the local color, such as the over-use of Margo's castanets - to the point where they even become a motif - or the birthday song delivered to the second victim of the titular creature…but, especially, the infuriatingly stupid mother of the little girl - who bullies her innocent and fearful daughter to an early grave!); the 'outdoor' climax, then, is given an added touch of strangeness by taking place in the midst of a procession headed by a group of caped villagers!Curiously, both the Leslie Halliwell and Leonard Maltin film guides give the running-time as a mere 59 minutes; however, the two times I've watched the film, it's always been by way of the full-length 66-minute version!
It contains two very frightening sequences--one in which a young girl is locked out of her house while the leopard is after her; the other is one of the scariest locked in a cemetary after closing sequences I've ever seen.The movie is short (59 minutes) and interesting and one character (Raoul) has some of the most beautiful face shots at the end--hard to explain, you have to see it.
Despite being 70 minutes long, it has a large ensemble of characters from different areas of a small New Mexico town - English and Spanish, rich and poor, entertainers, police, scientists - all involved in some way in a story about an escaped leopard who may be hunting humans.
"The Leopard Man" is the third and the last horror film made by Jacques Tourner in collaboration with RKO's producer Val Lewton, others being "Cat People" and "I walked with a Zombie".
The Leopard Man is the third in producer Val Lewton's series of psychological horror films made at RKO in the 1940s.
A seemingly tame leopard used for a publicity stunt escapes and kills a young girl, spreading panic throughout a sleepy new Mexico town.Mike Mayo says this film is "cut from the same highly stylized cloth and it isn't derivative of" Cat People.
Jacques Tourneur's menacing low-budget film noir sets a mood which far surpasses the B-movie conventions of its scenario, using a dark, evocative style to convey the claustrophobic nightmare of a small New Mexican desert town held at bay by a marauding escaped leopard.
With the hunt for the leopard on, Manning becomes concerned that the leopard is not the only thing killing in this small border town.I had not seen this film although all I really needed to know was that it was from Lewton and Tourneur and that was enough for me to make a point of watching.
This film is another product of the partnership between producer Val Lewton and director Jacque Tourneur (celebrated for such horror films as "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie").
Based on the novel "Black Alibi" by Cornell Woolrich, the story is set in a small New Mexico border town, the plot involves an escaped leopard and a subsequent series of grisly killings for which the animal is blamed.The film is hampered by its reliance on studio sets and frequently corny dialogue.
By today's standards, the plot is predictable and you'll figure out who the killer is early on, but there is till much to enjoy-great black&white photography, neat camera angles, and at least one chilling scene...the blood of the young girl seeping under the door, while her mother and brother stand by helplessly.
After she dies, the movie has very little to offer.The same should be said about Teresa and Consuela - wonderful, moving characters whose identity is bound up with the landscape and their Hispanic culture.The real horror of this story is seen in the ugly ordinary-ness of the final scenes, dominated by the wooden acting of Dennis O'Keefe and the equally wooden response he elicits from Jean Brooks.
"The Leopard Man" is another little masterpiece produced by the legendary Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur.
In the familiar "film-noire/shadows in the dark" style, Lewton and Tourneur create a terrifying horror film with plenty of shocks and scares.The story opens in a seedy New Mexico nightclub where the competition between a Spanish Dancer, Clo-Clo (Margo) and another entertainer, Kiki Walker (Jean Brooks) is established.
Perhaps no one other than Orson Welles with his radio background, understood the dramatic effect of sound upon the visual medium of film.)The story itself concerns an escaped leopard menacing a small New Mexico town, where a series of mysterious killings may or may not be its work.There are several really riveting scenes in which the black and white photography and fluid camera work of celebrated director Jaques Tourneur achieve a high level of both suspense and genuine artistry.
The basic plot : Killings in a small New Mexico town are originally thought to be the work of an escaped leopard, but then people begin to suspect it's not....The praise: Exceptionable cinematography, classic Lewton ambiguity,cool Black& white,neat plot.Moreover, there is one classic scene : When the girl who goes back from the market,the leopard attacks her,and you see her mother and brother paralyzed with fright as her blood seeps in the crack of the door.
Cornell Woolrich's (William Irish's ) novel was not among his best.The movie highlights its problem :unlike "I married a dead man" or "the bride wore black" there isn't one single really endearing character in it.Jacques Tourneur ,a great horror movies director ("cat people") is to be commended for almost transcending the limitations he's working under.There are strong connections with "cat people".Two scenes are particularly spooky:the first one is the young girl,screaming behind the locked door and the blood stain which appears under it.the second is even stronger:a girl is locked up in the cemetery where the graves ,the statues and the whispering trees become enemies.The ending is not very convincing,and it takes all Tourneur's talent to turn it in an impressive scene ,with an extraordinary use of a procession of penitents..
Leopard Man, The (1943)*** (out of 4) Flawed but still entertaining Val Lewton production about a small New Mexico town being terrorized by an escaped leopard.
Those other names, though, two of them, are strange -- though I have no idea what, if anything, they signify."The Leopard Man" is the closest of any Val Lewton movie to a film noir.
The opening scenes, in which promoter Dennis O'Keefe brings the leopard into a nightclub where his girlfriend is performing looks like a noir.It also makes more sense than some Lewton outings.
In New Mexico, the agent Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires the leopard of the sideshow performer Charlie How-Come (Abner Biberman) as a publicity stunt for his girlfriend Kiki Walker (Isabel Jewell) in her show in a night-club.
When the animal is found murdered in the countryside, Manning is sure that the deaths are the work of a serial-killer."The Leopard Man" is a dramatic and suspenseful low-budget horror movie with a gloomy cinematography and a predictable story.
"The Leopard Man" is an excellent film, one to watch preferably in series with "I walked with a Zombie" and "Curse of the Cat People"..
Through the use of shadows and imagery, Lewton was able to play on the viewers' fear of the unknown and create horror in what one imagines in place of what is actually seen.Perhaps the best example of this is the tortured walk young Teresa Delgado is forced to make to buy cornmeal by her demanding mother.
Then, as the face of the black leopard appears to her, Teresa is overcome with a fear that creates panic, ultimately ending in a scene in which blood is seen oozing underneath the door sill of her home, as she is unable to make her way inside.What bothered me about the story as it unfolded was the lack of concern the authorities might have shown for those who I felt most complicit in the first victim's death.
Two further killings follow, and are blamed on the animal, but a visiting theatrical agent suspects these later deaths may be murder.This is a nifty old RKO B-movie, made by the gifted team responsible for horror classics Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie - director Tourneur, producer Val Lewton, editor Mark Robson and composer Roy Webb.
An atmospheric chiller from the Val Lewton stable, directed by Jacques Tourneur (the man who brought us the truly incredible NIGHT OF THE DEMON), which sadly overdoes the subtlety of the story to the point of boredom; but as with all of the Lewton-produced horrors of the 1940s, this is intelligent and suspenseful entertainment, which displays some excellent use of black and white photography and plenty of creepy moments as damsels in distress encounter malevolent big cats and greater evils in the middle of the night.
That's not the end of things, however, as more unfortunate young women fall victim to what COULD be the leopard, but could also easily be a deranged human.As far as producer Val Lewtons' suggestive, low budget genre films go, this isn't one of the best ones but it definitely has its moments.
This film marked the third collaboration between director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton ("Cat People" and "I Walked With a Zombie" being the previous two) and it is perhaps the weakest of the three.The fear factor here is represented by a black leopard that threatens a small town in New Mexico.
After another person dies under mysterious circumstances, they begin to doubt that the leopard is the one responsible.The movie is well photographed and Tourneur managed to recreate the atmosphere from his previous two films, but one of the main issues here is the way the story unfolds.
A 1943 chiller by director Jacques Tourneur, "The Leopard Man" sees a series of locals killed in small town New Mexico.
This was director Jacques Tourner last collaboration with Lewton and his direction was wonderfully suggestive and atmospheric and it was no wonder that the studio was anxious to put him onto more "important" pictures, although none of his bigger productions have the same reputation as do his films for Lewton.To try and upstage temperamental castanet dancer Clo-Clo (Margo), publicist Jerry Manning (Dennis O'Keefe) hires a leopard for nightclub singer (Jean Brookes) to parade into the club with while Clo-Clo is in the middle of her act.
Technically The Leopard Man is solid & in particular the cinematography by Robert De Grasse is impressive creating a nice atmosphere throughout by making good use of light & shadow which is obviously important in a black & white film.
Because of this, you really can't compare this film to A-pictures, but need to understand that despite the budget, this is an excellent film--though not as eerie or effective as other Val Lewton produced films such as THE CAT PEOPLE or I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.The film starts with a publicity stunt gone awry, as in the process a black leopard escapes and the town is quite naturally scared.
The killings don't look like an animal did it.Starring Dennis O'Keefe, who was a prolific B-movie actor in the 30s and 40s, and Margo, who was in real life married to actor Eddie Albert of "Green Acres" fame and mother of Edward Albert of "Butterflies Are Free", this is another Val Lewton must-see horror film.
THE LEOPARD MAN is an atmospheric little thriller by Tourneur about a series of murders on women in New Mexico.
I'm still excited to look for other films by Tourneur like "I walked with a zombie" and "cat people", two of his classics.THE LEOPARD MAN is good for a lazy Sunday afternoon.. |
tt0106273 | And the Band Played On | In a prologue set in 1976, American epidemiologist Don Francis arrives in a village on the banks of the Ebola River in Zaire and discovers many of the residents and the doctor working with them have died from a mysterious illness later identified as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. It is his first exposure to such an epidemic, and the images of the dead he helps cremate will haunt him when he later becomes involved with HIV/AIDS research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 1981, Francis becomes aware of a growing number of deaths from unexplained sources among gay men in Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, and is prompted to begin an in-depth investigation of the possible causes. Working with no money, limited space, and outdated equipment, he comes in contact with politicians, numerous members of the medical community (many of whom resent his involvement because of their personal agendas), and gay activists. Of the latter, some such as Bill Kraus support him, while others express resentment at what they see as unwanted interference in their lifestyles, especially in his attempts to close the local bathhouses. One day, when exercising at a local gym, Kraus notices a spot at the base of his leg, worrying that it might be Kaposi's sarcoma. After a series of blood tests, Kraus is horrified that his worst fears have been confirmed when he learns that he has been diagnosed with AIDS. While Francis pursues his theory that AIDS is caused by a sexually transmitted virus on the model of feline leukemia, he finds his efforts are stonewalled by the CDC, which is unwilling to prove the disease is transmitted through blood, and competing French and American scientists, particularly Dr. Robert Gallo. These medical researchers squabble about who should receive credit for discovering the virus. Meanwhile, the death toll climbs rapidly. | tragedy, historical, queer | train | wikipedia | I thought that Sir Ian McKellan and Richard Gere represented respectfully the signs of strength and fear.I was also disheartened to learn that throughout this tragedy, there were individuals who might have been more concerned with helping and protecting their own reputation and agenda as well as accepting the credit for their work in breaking down point by point the disease known as AIDS.
The movie gave a great time-line of the virus.It is so terrifying to think AIDS has actually been around since probably 1959 when a blood sample from a man from the Congo had died of a mysterious illness, and tests run on the blood sample today showed he did indeed have AIDS.
I lived in San Francisco when the epidemic began and had a first hand view of the fear, paranoia, and grief.The movie brings back memories of worrying about my gay child and many of my friends.
I view it more these days since I've had many friends die of "red tape" of AIDS.According to this film based in Randy's book, what bothers me the most was the opportunities that existed by several people to catch this disease at various stages and it just wasn't done.
However, it is sequenced well, and acted so well, that you sit there in astonishment that this could happen in a world full of otherwise brilliant people.I don't know what it will take to remove political considerations from life-and-death struggles...How about we work at saving lives, and worry about who gets credit later?
The purpose of the movie was precisely to show how the AIDS epidemics reached the stages that it did before anything was done, and how the Doctors, researchers and even the federal government and the CDC contributed as much to the progression of the disease as they did to discovering it.
A real-life story about the discovery and destructive nature of AIDS, And the Band Played On is a gripping drama that not only takes you to the front line and behind the scenes of the HIV virus.
And the band played is really the history of how the Aids Virus managed to spread throughout the world like few illnesses have.
He dies from the disease, but you get a real sense of his tragedy and it is easy to love this character.Lilly Tomlin, B.D. Wong, Glenne Headley and Steve Martin all play smaller roles and it always seems interesting to me that certain actors and actresses seem to appear together time and again.
American doctors from the under-funded Center for Disease Control scramble to figure out the origin of--and the causes behind--the alarming rate of homosexual male deaths in the early 1980s; as a fatal strain of pneumonia and hepatitis B cases begin appearing, as Reagan-era Washington apparently vetoes the mysterious disease as non-newsworthy, and as the gay community (shown as not one radically adept at helping their own cause) label the early cases as products of the Gay Cancer, the CDC battles with the Blood Industry in coming up with an inexpensive way of filtering out contaminated blood.
Alan Alda positively revels in the opportunity to play sniveling medical scientist Dr. Robert Gallo, who felt usurped when French scientists initially gained prestige for isolating the virus; as Dr. Mary Guinan, Glenne Headly does some of the best work of her career (while interviewing a sexually promiscuous airline steward, one of the earliest men to fall prey to the disease, Headly is remarkably natural and charming); and Saul Rubinek as Dr. Curran, who initiates the investigation and helps sort out all the jargon, is in masterful form.
AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (MADE FOR CABLE TV/HBO-1993) ***1/2 Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Lily Tomlin, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Masur, Saul Rubinek, Richard Gere, Ian McKellen, Anjelica Huston, Swoosie Kurtz, Steve Martin, Phil Collins.
I can't help wonder what personal agendas are being followed when a prominent 'real-life' scientist like Dr. Robert Gallo (Alan Alda) is portrayed in such a shallow way.
I thought that Alan Alda's portrayal of Dr. Robert Gallo was a great departure from his normal "MASH" fare, I found a new respect for Matthew Modine after seeing his portrayal in this movie.
The movie star Matthew Modine and Alan Alda in main roles, and brilliant cameo/guest star appearances by Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Anjelica Houston and Phil Collins, among others, Worth taking a look at.
Cameos And Political Correctness Get In The Way. This is a movie based upon the late Randy Shilts book AND THE BAND PLAYED ON , a book that I have never read but know has been critically acclaimed and praised for its readability since it is very similar in structure to a detective novel as scientists try to track down and identify a virus that is killing gay men .
If the story about the nationalistic rivalries and plain old fashioned egotism ( A Nobel prize to the first person to identify this illness is a certainty here ) of the scientific community had been the main focus this would have been superb drama but ironically because of a need to make the drama more human we're introduced to far too many characters so that the story soon descends into mawkish melodrama and yes I did notice something of an agenda in here Take the bath house sequences for example where gay men congregate for casual sex and a character points out to Dr Harold Jaffe ( In reality it's being pointed out to a mainstream audience ) about how a hetrosexual equivalent would be somewhere a man would be able to meet lots of beautiful women for meaningless but great sex .
It should be pointed out that Phil Collins is laughable in the role of Papasano Phil Collins isn't the only inapprotiate cameo in this television movie , the whole TVM drowns in them , it's even more distracting than THE LONGEST DAY with big name or familiar face actor appearing in the shortest scenes: Alan Alda , Richard Gere , Anjelica Houston , Steve Martin , Ian Mckellan and Saul Rubinek to name but some all make appearances which seems more like a parade of Hollywood liberals and makes you realise that you're watching a TVM .
Like the story the familiar faces should have only been confined to the scientists working on the case rather have appear in pointless cameos AND THE BAND PLAYED ON ends with a poignant epilogue made even more poignant when one of those featured is Elisabeth Glaser who died on December the 3rd 1994 , the day after this TVM received its British network premier.
That it became what it is today is also the result of society's and physicians' disbelief.The movie is great in portraying the scientific research in a way laymen can understand, and at the same time the struggle real people went through.
At the same time, it correctly points out that AIDS has a long incubation period - meaning that people had been transmitting HIV to each other for years before patients even turned up with symptoms.
Of course, the film and the book from which it was extrapolated could be criticized as an over-simplified exercise in finger-pointing directed towards everybody from sexually promiscuous gay men to Ronald Reagan to callous blood banks to glory-hungry medical researchers.
Unfortunately it came out in the same year as the Tom Hanks vehicle, Philadelphia, which overshadowed any other film on the same subject, but arguably this film is also not only more important, but I would suggest more informative and ultimately more tragic and far more moving than the sentimental yet worthy Hanks/Washington effort.At the time with its chronological depiction of the unfolding of the AIDS crisis in America in the early 1980s this film received Luke warm reviews and a limited cinema release in the UK in 1993, but following the death of my cousin in 1991, I was keen to see it, and made the effort.
The story switches successfully between the small group of Doctors at the CDC working to combat the virus from day one in appalling conditions with little or no help from an uncaring Reagen era Adminstration who showed disgusting indifference at the events that were unfolding before them - and the group of Gay Activists that began to form in San Francisco who were having their own troubles convincing the gay community to unite under one banner against a disease that no one wanted to admit might be advancing rapidly in their own community through promiscuity.
The subplot involving Doctor Gallo (Alan Alda) who tried to sideline the French and claim discovery of the virus gives real insight into the disgusting level of politics that went on even among health professionals during this critical time.This is a movie that every teenager in every school should be made to see, not only for the benefit of their own sexual health, but to honour those like Bobbi Campbell (Played by the brilliant Donal Logue) who stood up to be counted in their battle against the virus.
It gives a brilliant overview of what happened back in the 1980s and the film has aged well and still stands up today, making it one of the most important films about the AIDS virus ever made.Prehaps it is time for a bigger budget mini-series which could cover the Eastern Coast perspective of the book, so as to not repeat all the same characters and material.For anyone with the slightest interest in this subject, this film is a must watch but I would go one stage further and say, that it is a film everyone should see in their life time, even if its not going to be the easiest two hours of your life..
And the Band Played On thought me the history of HIV and AIDS and how important it is to know the facts.
There is a popular urban myth which goes along the lines that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease, that heterosexuality provides people with immunity from infection.
This made for HBO movie is a little heavy handed and hard to stomach at times; but if you've ever known anyone with AIDS, or lost someone to this terrible disease, then you will probably share my feelings that this film was long overdue and very important.
This is a HBO movie about the first few years of the AIDS epidemic in America.
Matthew Modine as Dr. Don Francis is the nominal star, but also appearing are Alan Alda, Phil Collins, Bud Cort, Richard Gere, Glenne Headly, Anjelica Huston, Steve Martin, Ian McKellen, and Lily Tomlin, to name a few.Maybe they felt that they had to make this movie do to the fact that gays were portrayed so negatively in movies for so many years (see "The Celluloid Closet").
Although now a dozen years old, it stands as an authoritative visual history of the early period of the health crisis.Roger Spottiswoode's direction is commendably consistent in style, especially considering its large cast, with star cameos that are smoothly integrated, never calling undue attention to themselves.We gain an understanding of personal, group, professional perspectives as events unfold themselves in a unique socio-political-medical situation that is history-making."And the Band Played On" is a made-for-TV movie that's done with great care, taking its multi-leveled subject and treating it clearly from all aspects.
It follows Matthew Modine as a doctor trying to find a cure for it in the face of homophobia and government bureaucracy.It's very well-done, has a great cast (except for Alan Alda who's really bad) and does a very good job of adapting a difficult book...but it lacks any real power.
"And the Band Played On" vibrantly illustrated the original outbreak of HIV and AIDS across the world, with an A-list cast and great storyline depiction of a true historical event that significantly affected the world in the 1980s.
True to life the film delivers knock out performances by Ian McKellian, Alan Alda, Matthew Modine, Lilly Tomlin, Richard Gere, Anjelica Houstan, Phila Collins and well the lists goes on.I applaud every one who made this movie.
A determined but very small group of scientists are trying to find out, but are faced with strong opposition from the homosexual community, the medical community, the scientific community, the government and from religious leaders such as Jerry Falwell who is shown in the film.What I personally found most interesting is that, according to this movie, the HIV Virus was not discovered by Dr. Robert Gallo at all.
This was a very enjoyable film, and much better than you would expect a TV movie to be with great acting from a number of good character actors and top performers.
The good part of the movie is that it shows part of the trouble that AIDS researchers had in the early stages of identifying and treating the disease, and that it was initially considered strictly a gay disease, therefore, in-depth work and effort on finding a cause and cure was inconsequential within the bureaucratic infrastructure and the heads of the blood supply, which is the main reason AIDS has become so widespread today.But the basic premise presented by the author of the film, that AIDS was introduced in the USA by one man, "Patient #1" (the part of Gaetan Dugas), is not only a Typhoid-Mary-inspired myth, it's also ridiculous.
It's ironic that Dr. Don Francis, played by Matthew Modine, actually was a part of the S.F. vaccine operations at that time.By the way, I'm not gay, so don't think this is a diatribe by a person sympathetic to homosexuality.
Matthew Modine was intriguing as Don Francis, as HBO shows the struggle that one man put up for the safety of the country.The story will break your heart as it shows how Don Francis and the CDC fight to show the country the danger of the then unknown virus, AIDS.It's a positively gripping movie, even if it had a little "tinkering".
I lived and worked in Atlanta and have been to the CDC, and I can assure you no Georgians talk like the characters in this movie (mostly badly cast New York actors, with people like Richard Gere and Steve Martin brought in to do cameos).
An all star cast headed by Matthew Modine, Alan Alda, Ian McKellen, Lily Tomlin, Glenne Headly, Richard Masur and Saul Rubinek along with several star cameos give outstanding performances in this story about the rise and investigation of a formerly unnamed virus that was killing off people who were homosexuals.
At the same time, it catches the atmosphere of the 1980s, the paranoia, the general fear and confusion that marked the first appearance of AIDS.There have been arguments whether the movie is too "pro"- or "anti-homosexuals" but I tend to think that it handles the story pretty neutral and hence can be enjoyed by people who themselves are neutral on the issue.
There's often a fine chemistry among the cast, especially the research team around Don Francis (Matthew Modine) – on other times, the chemistry seems forced, not quiet natural (for example, we are never explained why there should be such a deep bond between Francis and Bill Kraus (Ian McKellen)).In essence, though many criticisms are true – especially that too many story lines are cramped into a mere two hours (the rather lengthy book by Randy Shilts would probably have been better served by a mini-series) and that the film is a virtual star-sighting tour (some of the cameos lasting merely a few seconds) – it doesn't make it a bad movie.
And the Band Played On is a television film docudrama that includes an all-star cast that includes Lily Tomlin as San Francisco health official Selma Dritz, Matthew Modine as Centers for Disease Control researcher Don Francis, Alan Alda as NIH official Robert Gallo, Ian McKellan as gay activist Bill Kraus together with Glenne Headley, Steve Martin and Anjelica Huston in cameo roles.It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
The teleplay by Arnold Schulman is based on the best-selling non-fiction book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts.In 1981, researchers begin discerning a mysterious new disease that apparently affects only homosexual males.
Meanwhile, the death toll climbs rapidly.This was a pretty powerful TV film about the AIDS epidemic and government inaction.It also shows the ignorance of people back then and how politics and discrimination against homosexuals stonewalled the immediate discovery of a cure that could have alleviate the newly discovered disease.It is also worth to commend the all-star cast on their commitment in re-creating the events the surrounds the early days of the discovery of AIDS.This was definitely one of the best TV movies ever made!!!!.
And the Band Played On. Document of the tragic beginnings of AIDS from when it was considered "gay cancer" and started to spread throughout the gay community (it was reputed to be especially set off in bathhouses where sexual transmission between numerous partners was the norm) killing at an alarming rate but not recognized by our government or provided proper funding for scientific research, even though it was clearly an epidemic deserving of attention.
There's an emphasis on the frustrations of those working at the CDC in Atlanta (Matthew Modine, Saul Rubinek, Glenn Headly) and how a French lab is at odds with a renowned scientist's (Alan Alda; this actor is always good at playing snobbish, condescending assholes with a superiority complex) over who can "name" the AIDS virus as their own discovery (although you wouldn't think they were rivals if Alda's Dr. Gallo's "we are all getting along swell" behavior in front of the media was any indication).
I began watching this movie not knowing if this would be a fiction drama or a documentary involving everything that happened with AIDS in the nineties.
This movie tells a remarkable story about the beginnings of the war on AIDS. |
tt0362771 | Ishq Vishk | Rajiv (Shahid Kapoor) wants to be one of the popular kids of his college. However, due to the lack of a girlfriend, Danny (Shabhi) and Javed (Kapil Jhaveri) mock him. He decides to ask Payal (Amrita Rao), his childhood friend to become his girlfriend and tells her that he's in love with her. Payal returns her "feelings" and agrees, as she has been in love with him since their school days. Both of them accompany Danny, Javed and their girlfriends to a midnight picnic; however, Rajiv's drink is laced by Danny and, being intoxicated, he behaves badly with Payal. After the midnight picnic incident,Danny and Javed's girlfriends tries to clear misunderstanding by making Payal understand that Danny was the reason for Rajiv's misbehavior at drunken state,so Rajiv wasn't at fault. But they are not able to make up and their relationship falls apart. Rajiv's best friend Mambo(Vishal Malhotra),who was in support of Rajiv and Payal's friendly relation, does not like this and insists that he gets back with Payal.
Soon after, Alisha Sahay (Shenaz Treasurywala), a stylish and beautiful girl, starts at Spencer College. Rajiv is smitten by her and manages to woo her with the help of his friend Love Guru (Yash Tonk). Meanwhile, Mambo and Payal become close, but Payal still cares a lot for Rajiv and is silently hurt at seeing Alisha and Rajiv together. Nevertheless, she continues to talk to him and wish him a happy birthday. Rajiv is taken aback by the fact that it was Payal and not Alisha who bothered to wish him first, as Alisha is busy with her modelling shoot. At his birthday party, Mambo and Rajiv come to blows because of Payal, and Alisha slowly starts disliking Payal. The final straw is when Alisha sees Rajiv and Payal talking, and she learns that they were together before she entered the college. She confronts Payal, behaves rudely with her, and accuses her of stealing her boyfriend. Mambo tried to defend Payal, and Alisha puts him off, which infuriates him. Rajiv and Mambo get into a fist fight. At Alisha's flat, Rajiv is unable to think of anything else but how Payal loved him and he let her go, and how after their break up, she still cared for him, and the recent fight. But when Alisha hugs Rajiv, he imagines Alisha to be Payal, and accidentally says 'I love you, Payal.'
At the last day of the college party, Rajiv apologizes to Mambo with a thought that Mambo was planning to propose to Payal. He then realizes his mistake as Payal still loves him. Rajiv takes the mike and publicly apologizes to Payal. He tells her he loves her a lot, even though she might not believe him. Payal is still angry with him and tells him that despite doing a drama in front of everyone and proclaiming his love is not going to make her relent. Rajiv stands before her and gazes pleadingly into her eyes. Payal is convinced that Rajiv does love her and embraces him. Alisha hugs Rajeev but only to wish the couple well. The movie ends with a happy Rajiv and Payal – and Alisha coming over to wish Rajiv all the best for his life. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1587707 | Exit Through the Gift Shop | Thierry Guetta is a French immigrant living in Los Angeles who runs a vintage clothing shop. He also has an obsession with carrying a camera everywhere and constantly filming his surroundings. On a holiday in France, he discovers his cousin is Invader, an internationally known street artist. Thierry finds this fascinating, and accompanies Invader and his friends, including the artists Monsieur André and Zevs on their nocturnal adventures, documenting their activities. A few months later, Invader visits Thierry in LA, and arranges a meeting with Shepard Fairey. Thierry continues filming Fairey's activities even after Invader has returned home to France. While Fairey is confused by Thierry's enthusiasm, Thierry states that he wishes to make a complete documentary about street art, and the two cross the nation, filming other artists at work, including Poster Boy, Seizer, Neck Face, Sweet Toof, Cyclops, Ron English, Dotmasters, Swoon, Azil, Borf and Buffmonster. What Guetta fails to tell Fairey is that he has no plan to compile his footage into an actual film, and never looks at his footage.
Guetta continues to hear more about Banksy – a prominent and particularly secretive artist. His attempts to contact Banksy are unsuccessful, until one day Banksy visits LA without his usual accomplice, who is refused entry to the US. Stuck in LA without a guide, Banksy contacts Fairey, who calls Guetta. Guetta becomes Banksy's guide in LA, later following him back to England, winning the privilege to film Banksy on his home turf – a feat that confuses Banksy's crew. Banksy, however, sees the opportunity to document street art, which he recognizes as having a "short life span", and after Guetta aids him in recording both production, deployment and crowd reactions to his "Murdered Phone-box" piece, asks him to film the preparations for his "Barely Legal" show. The two become friends, as Guetta provides Banksy with some relief from his anonymity. Returning to LA, Guetta becomes bored, and eventually produced his own stickers and decals, putting them up in the city.
Banksy's show is being prepared in Skid Row, Los Angeles, and while in LA, Banksy decides deploying a Guantanamo Bay detainee doll in Disneyland. He visits the location and places the doll while Guetta films it. A short while later, however, the rides stop, and the park's security catch Guetta, who is taken to an interrogation room, while Banksy switches clothes and blends into the crowd. During interrogation, Guetta refuses to admit any wrongdoing, and when allowed a phone call, covertly alerts Banksy to his situation. When confronted by security personnel, he destroys the evidence in his stills camera, but stashes the videotape in his sock and is eventually let go, much to the amazement of Banksy who then says he trusts him implicitly because of the incident.
A few days later, "Barely Legal" opens, and becomes an overnight success. Street art prices begin to rocket in auction houses. Banksy is stunned by the sudden hype surrounding street art, and urges Guetta to finish his supposed documentary. Guetta begins to edit together the several thousand hours of footage, and produces a film titled Life Remote Control. The result is 90 minutes of distorted fast cutting about random themes. Banksy questions Guetta's ability as a filmmaker, deeming his product "unwatchable", but realizes the street art footage itself is valuable. Banksy decides to try producing a film himself. To ensure that Guetta remains occupied, Banksy suggests he makes his own art show.
Guetta accepts the assignment, adopting the name "Mr. Brainwash", putting up street art in the city and six months later, re-mortgaging his business to afford renting copious equipment and a complete production team to create pieces of art under his supervision. He rents a former CBS studio to prepare his first show, "Life Is Beautiful", and scales up his production to something much larger than Banksy suggested, but with little focus. When Guetta breaks his foot after falling off a ladder, Banksy realises that the show may become a trainwreck, and sends a few professionals to help Guetta out. While the producers take care of the practical side of the show, Guetta spends his time on more publicity, asking support from both Fairey and Banksy, eventually taping up huge billboards with their quotes, and ultimately ending up on the cover of L. A. Weekly. Preparation is seriously behind schedule, and Guetta's production team insists that he must make decisions—yet Guetta spends his time hyping up and marketing his work for tens of thousands of dollars. Eight hours before the opening, paintings are still missing from the walls, and since Guetta is busy giving interviews, the eventual layout of the show is decided by the crew itself.
Despite all this, however, the show becomes a raging success with the crowd, and after the first week of the show, Guetta sells almost a million dollars worth of art, with his pieces showing in galleries all around the world, to the utter confusion of both Fairey and Banksy. In an ending montage, Guetta insists that time will tell whether he is a real artist or not. | entertaining, satire, alternate history, prank | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0035856 | The Falcon in Danger | At a New York airport, a passenger aircraft coming in from Washington D.C., crash-lands at a crowded airport, however nobody is on board the jet. The aircraft had been hijacked at its previous stop with all but the pilot and two leading industrialists left behind. In addition to the three men, $100,000 worth of securities is also missing.
Although he promised his "fiancée" from Texas, Bonnie Caldwell (Amelita Ward), that he will give up solving crime, Tom Lawrence (Tom Conway), aka The Falcon, can't resist the lure of a fresh mystery. When she receives a ransom note, Nancy Palmer (Elaine Shepard) asks for his help in locating her father (Clarence Kolb), one of the missing industrialists. One of the Falcon's prime suspects is Nancy's jealous cousin Iris (Jean Brooks).
Police Inspector Timothy Donovan (Cliff Clark) and his assistant, Bates (Edward Gargan), are called to investigate the mystery. Later, all the passengers, except for Nancy's father, Stanley Harris Palmer, and his assistant, Wally Fairchild (Robert Emmett Keane), are found stranded at a rest stop. Nancy is told to leave $25,000 at a drinking fountain on Park Road, while Iris tells Tom that she suspects Nancy's fiancé, Ken Gibson (Richard Davies), told the kidnappers that Fairchild was carrying $100,000 in securities.
Tom accompanies Iris and Nancy to the Palmer's house and later sees Nancy leave a box by the drinking fountain. When two men collect the box, Tom follows their car on horseback and finds it belongs to an antique store owned by George Morley (Richard Martin). Donovan announces that Palmer has returned home alive; he and Fairchild stayed on the aircraft but strangers robbed Palmer at gunpoint, ordered him to parachute from the aircraft while the pilot set the controls on autopilot. More clues to the mystery appear, Tom finds a piece of junk that appears to be part of the aircraft and the missing securities which he turns over to Donovan.
Donovan suspects Fairchild but state troopers report the missing pilot and Fairchild have been found dead in a field. Morley becomes the next likely culprit but disappears. As he unravels the mystery, Tom reconstructs the second part of the flight. With other passengers gone, Palmer killed Fairchild who had proof of Palmer's cheating the government, then after take off, had also killed the pilot and dumped the bodies.
Palmer's dog attacks Morley in the antique store. Just then, Donovan arrives in time to see Tom shoot and kill Palmer in self-defense. Later at the airport, Bonnie tells Tom she is going home to Texas by herself. Dejected, Tom declares that he is forsaking all women, until a pretty co-ed approaches him, asking for his help. | mystery, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | In this film, the humour is largely abandoned except for a few gags, and concentration is given instead to producing a good straight mystery thriller.
There is no espionage in this story.) The film opens with a wonderful scene where a plane crash-lands at an airfield and is found to be empty of both pilots and passengers (reminiscent of the initial scene of the film 'Mr. Arkadin' by Orson Welles).
Plenty of colour is added to the film by the Falcon's current 'fiancee', played by Amelita Ward with an authentic (rather than phoney) Texas accent as a loud and blundering Southern belle who constantly wants to ride her horse but rides the Falcon instead, relentlessly, until at the end he gets rid of her by sending her a false telegram in which her old boy friend asks her to marry him instead.
Yes, the plot was a little "messier" - as well as the print in this entry in the Falcon series [#6/13], but in spite of all that still very enjoyable.
The gang was all there Lawrence, Clark and Gargan, plus regular Falconite Jean Brooks, the RKO staircase from Ambersons/Cat People was seen to good advantage in Clarence Kolb's house - no Goldie however.Passenger plane crash lands at airport at the beginning of the film and is found to be literally running on empty a wealthy industrialist who was on board is presumed kidnapped, especially when ransom notes are left for his daughter.
The Falcon is asked to help solve the mystery by 2 beautiful women.
The only thing that really grated was the Falcon's girlfriend played by Amelita Ward laid her jealousy on with a trowel, and from being amusing at first got irritating there was a seriousness there I never liked!
Favourite bit: Carefree Gargan helping himself to beer and sandwiches at the gambling den and continually interrupting his boss Clark.Not the best Falcon film but not too bad, anyway well worth watching for fans and well worth avoiding for enemies..
I like Tom Conway as The Falcon, and this was a very good mystery.
What was annoying was the presence of The Falcon's southern fiancée, who never shut up through the whole picture, even during crucial moments.
Hard to believe that such a sophisticated character as the Falcon would have put up with her for more than five minutes.The rest of the movie is actually quite good and a neat mystery about money and people disappearing out of a flying plane.
There's a very funny roller-skating scene, funny because of the way it was filmed.
When the daughter of one of the men (Nancy Palmer) gets a ransom note she goes to Tom Lawrence for help much to the annoyance of Tom's newest and suspicious fiancé Bonnie Caldwell.
Tom takes the case anyway and arranges the drop off of the ransom money to be a sting operation it fails but he gets a number plate that starts him on the trail of the kidnappers and the truth about how passengers and crew seemed to vanish in mid-air.Having taken the reigns from his half-brother George, Tom Conway continues as the new Falcon with this intriguing and rather enjoyable little film that only suffers from not being as clear as it really could have been.
The film opens with a plane landing empty with the crew and passengers missing; it is an interesting opening that is not reduced by the poor effects on the plane.From here on the simple premise gets a bit more confused as it brings in various threads; it is still interesting but it isn't as gripping as it could have been for much of the middle section but it gets better towards the end as things get clearer.
It isn't anything special but the story does compare to the other Falcon stories.Where it doesn't compare is in the cast, which has seen a lot of changes over the past few films.
With Sanders gone, Conway struggles and he really can't fill the shoes of the Falcon.
Ward fills the usual 'fiancé in tow' role but she is annoying and unnecessary.
A wise choice was to drop the comedy sidekick to the Falcon, meaning that the story doesn't need a side issue for him (Goldy) to do.
None of them really make an impression even if they are all OK meaning that there isn't really anyone holding the attention of stealing scenes, giving the material an average feel at times.Overall this is an OK entry in the series in terms of story but it is a poor one in regards total value.
The delivery is a bit messy and the characters are all just the formula rolled out again but, with no really good performances they stand out as just that formula.
The sixth Falcon movie (third starring Conway) has Tom Lawrence investigating how two industrialists disappeared from a plane mid-flight.
The opening crash landing of the plane is pretty cool.
Falcon has a Southern belle fiancée now?
Amelita Ward, who plays the fiancée, would return in the next picture playing a different role.
Elaine Shepard and Jean Brooks play the other two pretty women the Falcon flirts with.
Pretty good mystery this time around.
Watch Tom Conway "Crack the Whip".
Second in the Tom Conway Falcon series.
Amelita Ward as the Falcon's female sidekick from Texas is simply too annoying and thankfully is shipped off to her former fiancé Buck Thompson at the end of the movie never to be seen again in the series.
One of them, Jean Brooks, makes appearances in multiple Falcon movies but never again as part of a "crack the whip" at a roller rink.
Clarence Kolb does a good job as the missing wealthy industrialist.
I like old B-detective films and have seen dozens.
And of all these series films, the Falcon films are among my favorites--even the later Tom Conway versions (that were slightly less enjoyable than his brother's Falcon films).
It has the usual amiable performance by Conway and a decent script (without the usual bumbling cops--here they actually weren't totally stupid) but is totally destroyed by one of the most awful and annoying characters I have seen in this type of film.
In other words, an exceptional film is undone by one major weak link--this time in the form of Amelita Ward as Tom Lawrence's totally obnoxious fiancée.
I simply wanted this loud-mouthed and ditsy dame to die and die soon--and hopefully painfully.You can't blame all of this on Ward, as I suppose she was just being the sort of wretched character the writers and director envisioned.
For example, could Ward have have held incriminating photos that forced RKO to put her in the film or perhaps the writers wanted the public to totally hate her?
As far as the plot goes, it's pretty interesting and is all wrapped up nicely, but because Ward is so terrible and so grating, I don't recommend this film to anyone but those determined to see every film from the series.
The Falcon films, both with George Sanders and Tom Conway in the lead role, are on the most part very enjoyable.
There are some very good ones like the first two Sanders Falcon films and 'The Falcon Strikes Back'.
At the same time there are a few lacklustre ones, with 'The Falcon in Danger' being one of the biggest examples.Not unwatchable certainly.
Tom Conway continues to thrive and enjoy himself as the title character, everything that Sanders brought to the role are also present in Conway's performance and with full impact.
Cliff Clark is much better here than in his previous two Falcon films, where he suffered from poor writing that made his character a mugging buffoon and that James Gleason was (still is admittedly) sorely missed, here he's amusing at being befuddled and indignant.It starts off well too, with a tense opening (pretty poor effects aside) that makes one wish that the rest of 'The Falcon in Danger' was just as good.
The roller-skating scene is funny, Elaine Shepherd is alluring and fits well enough and Edward Gargan boasts the best comic moments.On the other hand, any sense of danger and suspense is lost after the opening.
The running time is too short, which has not always been a problem in a film series with short durations but it was less forgivable with so much crammed in and paced so frantically here.
'The Falcon in Danger' does suffer from trying to cram in and tell too much in a short space of time, which makes a lot of the mystery underdeveloped and confused, with almost all of it a long way from suspenseful, and a few scenes and transitions rushed.
A contender for the worst thing about 'The Falcon in Danger' is the exceedingly annoying performance of Amelita Ward, if there was an award for the worst or most annoying performance in a Falcon film Ward's a very strong contender.Summing up, starts off well and definitely watchable, but the rest of the film doesn't match up to the promising standard of the opening, being rushed, over-stuffed and confused and Ward really grates.
5/10 Bethany Cox. Conway makes an acceptable Falcon but script is too busy....
A plane lands with nobody aboard, making a crash landing on automatic pilot.
The police come to The Falcon (TOM CONWAY) for assistance in the mystery of the vanishing crew but he's reluctant to help them.
That is, until a pretty girl tells him her father was aboard the plane and wants him to help her.
His girlfriend, a Southern gal played by AMELITA WARD, persuades the Falcon to take the case.The plot thickens when another damsel in distress shows up, the niece of a wealthy man who needs to find her uncle and reveals a blackmail plot over missing securities that makes her afraid there's been a kidnapping.
All of this happens within the first fifteen minutes, so you can see how crammed with events the plot gets in a very short time.Despite all the red herrings, I did manage to put my finger on the right suspect long before the end.
Too much plotting spoils enjoyment of this one with too much cramming of plots and sub-plots in brief running time.Trivia note: AMELITA WARD, who plays the annoying and whining Southern woman that Conway manages to get rid of, was the body double for Olivia de Havilland's twin sister in THE DARK MIRROR ('46)..
The plane crash with no one aboard makes a good opening grabber.
And are we really supposed to believe the super-refined Falcon would choose her as a fiancé!
Also, it looks like director Clemens simply filmed the script without style or mood.What the film does have are a couple of engaging scenes.
There's the crowded roller-skating rink using 'crack the whip' that sends the ultra-dignified Falcon flying, a humorous touch from a by-gone era.
Then too, the Falcon playing Gene Autry on a run-away horse gave a stunt double, I expect, a good payday.
Look for minor notables among the supporting cast—Richard Martin (George Morley) who later played Tim Holt's sidekick Chito Rafferty from that cowboy series; Erford Gage (Evan Morley) from the Val Lewton horror series and one of the few actors killed in action in WWII; and the distinctive but uncredited Ian Wolfe (butler) from hundreds of RKO productions of the time.All in all, it's a routine programmer that could have used a slimmed down narrative and cast to better fit the slender 65-minute runtime..
This entry in the Falcon series (or was it a serial?) begins almost in the middle of a cliffhanger, with an unmanned plane managing to land itself on almost exactly the right runway (with the help of some pre-Thunderbirds model work) what happened to the passengers and crew?
The police is baffled, so they raid an illegal gambling den, just to find Tom Conway, The Second Falcon, in his third adventure and second solo case.
Unfortunately, this drop off/pick up/ransom money exchange happens to coincide with Tom's girl Friday's horse riding plans.
The crooks get away while our hero almost runs over a nanny with a pram (how positively incorrect of him).Some evidence is pointing to one of the girls fiancées being a suspects (engagements are never a good sign where the Falcon is around).
During a confusing mish mash of a skirmish, The Falcon gets shot at close range, but after a single scene in the hospital he's back on the case (where was his old assistant Goldie to catch the bullet?).
This film may only run for an hour and a bit, but there sure is a whole lot crammed into it (current filmmakers should take not of this).
Falcon in Danger, The (1943) ** (out of 4) Sixth film in the series has The Falcon (Tom Conway) investigation a mysterious plane that lands without a pilot, crew or passengers.
That storyline is actually very interesting and highly entertaining but the film makes the mistake of telling the secret behind it at the twenty-minute mark.
Conway is on par with his two previous films and the supporting cast is entertaining enough, if not exactly good.
Each of these films have had The Falcon followed around by his "fiance" and this plot joke is certainly wearing thin by now.
The Falcon works on his own this time out so there's not too much humor in the film.
The film picks up somewhat during the final act but even so it's not enough to make this one of the better films in the series..
Tom Conway (the Falcon), Jean Brooks (Iris Fairchild), Cliff Clark (Inspector Timothy Donovan), Elaine Shepard (Nancy Palmer), Amelita Ward (Bonnie Caldwell), Ed Gargan (Bates), Clarence Kolb (Stanley Harris Palmer), Felix Basch (Morley), Richard Davies (Ken Gibson), Richard Martin (Georgie Morley), Erford Gage (Evan Morley), Eddie Dunn (Grimes), Russell Wade (bit), Bruce Edwards (mechanic), Joan Barclay (hysterical girl), Jack Mulhall (manager of casino), Ian Wolfe (butler), Charles Trowbridge (doctor), Selmer Jackson (airport official), Robert Emmett Keane (Fairchild).Director: WILLIAM CLEMENS.
71 minutes.NOTES: Number seven of the sixteen "Falcon" pictures.
"The Gay Falcon" (sic) was number one.COMMENT: Although competently directed and acted, this entry doesn't measure up the standard Clemens achieved in "The Falcon and the Co- Eds", which was made AFTER, but actually released BEFORE this one.
Although the scriptwriters commendably dispense with the Falcon's "comic" sidekick, they saddle him with a talkative female, Amelita Ward, instead.
The sixth film in the Falcon series.
Directed by William Clemens, with a screenplay co-written by Fred Niblo Jr, this is Tom Conway's second film in titled role, aka Tom Lawrence.
In lieu of the more typical male sidekick this time, he's got a fiancée Bonnie Caldwell (Amelita Ward), a Texas girl who seems to get him into, instead of "out of", trouble.
Cliff Clark and Edward Gargan reprise their roles as Inspector Donovan and Detective Bates, respectively, as does Eddie Dunn as Detective Grimes.
Those familiar with the series will also recognize Jean Brooks, who plays another prominent role in this film.An airplane crash lands with no passengers nor pilot aboard; Selmer Jackson appears, uncredited, as an official at the airport.
The police are baffled, so naturally, Inspector Donovan, with Detectives Bates & Grimes in tow, seeks the assistance of the Falcon.
However, Lawrence's Southern accented fiancée Bonnie had made him promise not to get involved in any more cases given their pending nuptials.
As the police are exiting, in walks a beautiful blonde who turns out to be Nancy Palmer (Elaine Shepard, who had a short-lived career as an actress for good reason), the daughter of one of the two important passengers, along with the pilot, who are still missing from the mystery plane.
The Falcon is drawn to her and reads the ransom note she carries which warns of police involvement, but coyly defers to Bonnie who insists that he help the poor heiress in locating her father.
The three of them go to inspect the plane, where they run into Donovan, Bates, and Grimes, who has a box of items that includes half of a small padlock that the Falcon surreptitiously confiscates.
While exiting the plane, the Falcon meets the daughter of the other missing man; her name is Iris Fairchild (Brooks).
She too has a similar ransom note, warning against contacting the police, which asks for $25,000 to be delivered to a specific time & place.Because of his fiancée's misinterpretation of the situation, the Falcon almost fails to get the license plate of the men who pick up the ransom.
It turns out Morley is owed a considerable amount of money by Nancy Palmer's fiancé, Kenneth Gibson (Richard Davies), who works, worked?, for her father.
However, Mr. Palmer (the recognizable Clarence Kolb) shows up at home, unharmed, and he relates a story of the events; his doctor is played by Charles Trowbridge, uncredited, according to IMDb.com.
Though she initially insists that her fiancé remain in the hospital, when Bonnie discovers his nurse is pretty (Rosemary La Planche, a former Miss America and veteran of several Falcon films herself), she allows him to continue to pursue the mystery.Suspicion is then cast on Iris herself, her father having been cheated by Palmer and "forced" to work as his assistant for $10,000/year.
A couple of equally useless scenes at Palmer's place of business, whose purpose seems to be to give the clueless police some screen-time, follows before the story returns again to Morley's, and then continues at the Palmer home.
Now all the suspects are under the same roof, including Morley, who Iris and the Falcon followed to the Palmers, where he met Gibson, and the others as well as Nancy's big dog.
Miraculously, the Falcon seems to have suspected the culprit in the kidnapping all along, and the whole thing unravels with, as usual, the guilty party being killed.The film ends typically, with an hysterical woman beckoning the Falcon to yet another case. |
tt0197569 | L'humanité | In the far north of France, filmed in Bailleul, a girl of 11 is raped and murdered as she walked to her parents' remote farm from the school bus. Called onto the case, Inspector Pharaon de Winter feels extreme revulsion. After losing his wife and child in an accident, he now lives quietly with his widowed mother.
At the weekend his neighbour Domino, who is sympathetic to his shocked state, asks him to join her and her lover Joseph, a bus driver. They go to the seaside and to a restaurant, but the reserved Pharaon finds Joseph ignorant and coarse.
The police investigation moves slowly, with Pharaon looking into possibilities such as whether the murderer was a bus driver or a psychiatric patient. Noting that the murder site could be seen from Eurostar trains, he goes to London to interview passengers. But with no firm lead, the case is taken over by the Lille police.
The factory where Domino works goes on strike and the police, led by Pharaon, have to quell a demonstration. Though outwardly angry, in fact Domino admires his quiet determination and offers herself to him. But he is not ready for such a relationship, and his mother warns her off.
Then the Lille police arrest Joseph. When Pharaon gets to the police station, he finds him beaten up and weeping. Being a man of deep feeling, he comforts him. When he goes home, his mother is out and Domino is at the kitchen table weeping. He comforts her. The final shot shows Pharaon sitting in a chair in his office at the police station, staring out the window, with handcuffs visibly shackling his wrists. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | L'HUMANITE is the kind of movie that, while you're watching it, you feel can drive you crazy in places, but which you know you'll live with and re-play in your head for the rest of your life.
Although many people find themselves puzzled by the characters (virtually everyone in the show i attended came out of the cinema looking almost personally insulted by the film) i think that if you know and love Dostoevsky's books you won't find them so hard to understand.
"The power of cinema lies in the return of man to the body, to the heart, to truth" - Bruno DumontIn L'Humanite, by Bruno Dumont (La Vie de Jesus), Pharaon de Winter (Emmanuel Schotte) is a Police Superintendent called upon to investigate the murder and rape of an 11-year old girl.
Dumont devotes long stretches of the film to simply observing Pharaon going about his life: eating an apple, tending his garden, watching a soccer game on television, interacting with his mother, or being a friend to his neighbor Domino (Severine Caneele), a rugged factory worker and her obnoxious bus-driver boyfriend Joseph (Philippe Tullier).
That took about 20 minutes, and once I'd finished the film I re-watched those first 20 minutes again.A policeman investigates the brutal murder of a young girl in a French town and that's pretty much it.
It will polarise opinion like few other films I've seen so I can't recommend it to everyone (and there are some very graphic sex scenes), but I thought it was amazing..
On the surface, L'Humanite is about a detective, Pharaon, dealing with his hyper sensitive nature to a rape/murder of a young girl he is investigating, but especially for his unrequited love to his neighbor, Domino.
No-one smiles at all during the film (neither would I if I had their lives), and although Domino seems to have a healthy sexual appetite she doesn't seem to enjoy sex at all.The whole experience is depressing and ponderous, the director lingering over each scene in a way that drove me crazy rather than striking me with the beauty of his technique.Too many questions were left in my mind: why does he sniff the Algerian man's head?
In fact it just became more and more frustrating - especially at the end with the levitating, the kiss and Phaeron's handcuffs - why why why?!The film went back and forth between utter torturous boredom (don't get me wrong - I don't mind a slowly developing story but there wasn't even that!) and shocking close ups of monotonous sex scenes..
Do not wear a watch when seeing this film, as you will be astonished at how little is explained or learned over huge stretches of time.This is the story of a "police superintendent" who is deeply troubled by the brutal murder of a little girl, though actually he seems troubled before then.
Here we have another study by the director of the Life of Jesus (which incidentally is about a small town too)which shows, from the surface, how a Police Superintendant copes with the brutal rape and murder of a young girl.
Occasionally, these very long slow sequences are interrupted by shocking stills, such as a close up of female genitalia, shown for one full minute of film time (audience crowd laughing in the last 20 seconds, as to say, "what's the message?").
How they ever solved a crime is beyond me.Obligatory sex scenes are awful, and gratitious.Eventual villain of the piece (he raped and killed an 11 year old girl) is signposted very early and no surprise unless your are similarly dimwitted.Uninspiring camera work.The director was there saying that it is up to the audience to provide their own interpretation on the proceedings.
L'Humanite is pseudo-intellectual trash designed to be anti-Hollywood so that the Cannes judges could assert their independence from the Oscars.The IMDb reviewer states: "Unlike Hollywood movies - which usually force the audience into overdrive - this forces the audience to slow down and look at some of life's tiniest and most mundane features in great detail." You would have to be catatonic to stare at some of these images this long and move as slowly at these characters.
I watched this movie last year at the French Film Festival which is held every June in Yokohama, where I live.
It is competent, straightforward, unstylized, perhaps even dull; in other words, the cinematography serves the story perfectly.The sedate pacing might not be a problem with different cinematography, which would affect the story for the better: the film is a psychological exploration, yet the people we're meant to sympathize with are typically shown in long shots or in closeup but with largely unchanging expressions.
This French film is supposedly about a creepy, dim-witted cop who investigates the rape and murder of a young girl in a small town.
I will never watch another movie from Bruno Dumont for the rest of my life, and I will never get back the 148 minutes that he stole from me through Humanite..
In France, in the small-town of Bailleul , the weird, melancholy, lonely and widow police superintendent Pharaon De Winter (Emmanuel Schotté) is investigating the brutal murder of an eleven years old girl, who was raped while returning from school.
The trauma with the character of Pharaon, being consumed by his grieving for the death of wife and daughter, by his repressed love for Domino, by the scene of the brutal death of the child and by the pressure of the command of the police, is amazingly performed by Emmanuel Schotté.
By film's end, you will realize how human these people really are, because their secrets are no different than ours, and their struggles reflect our struggles, despite the fact they live in a place where nothing ever happens.
Unfairly maligned (although admittedly slow-moving and taxing) French film about a small-town police superintendent investigating a brutal rape and murder.
Bruno Dumont's 'Humanity' (L'Humanite´) is a film that easily invites controversy(though such a choice situation musn't already alarm film people--spectators and creators alike--for there has always been and will always be films that arouse controversy, whether intended or not, from Luis Bunuel's short 'Un Chien Andalou' and Orson Welles' legendary 'Citizen Kane', to the almost-obscure 'Deep Crimson' by Arturo Ripstein and 'The Piano Teacher' by Michael Haneke).When the film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Cannes International Film Festival, the director had to suffer the humiliation of being loudly jeered upon reaching the stage by "some people" present during the rites.I have no idea though if Emmanuel Schotte and Severine Caneele had to go through the same ordeal when they were awarded the Best Actor and Best Actress awards, respectively, for the film(though that's not an unlikely possibility, specially if one learns that both were non-professionals performing their very first lead roles in the film).After seeing 'Humanity' myself recently, I was quite amused at how easily I made "enemies" with a few acquaintances(who saw the film, too) when I unhesitatingly told them that it's a good film, even being brave enough to point out that it's one of the best, daring and original works in recent years.Even if I would be put in a quixotic position for championing the film, I would not in the least be bothered, for I honestly believe in my conviction(anyway, I only have the Cannes jurors, headed at the time by David Cronenberg, to back me up).The general hostility toward 'Humanity' converges upon the assertion that the film is nothing but a "pointless", "senseless", and "self-indulgent" piece of cinematic "trash." I can't and won't blame them;rather, I appreciate these people for always having a ready, but not-so-novel, tirade against a film that doesn't readily lend itself to general viewership and appreciation and exactly conform to the accepted "entertainment" standards of movie fare(Bunuel's 'Viridiana', Antonioni's 'Blowup' and Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' were among the classic casualties).What's wrong with 'Humanity'?
As it appears, some people can't see the point in why a film that's supposed to center on a police investigator's hunt for the culprit in a gruesome rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl would eventually delve, for the entire 148 minutes, into "nothing"--into "inactivity" and "complacency" that have completely "nothing to do" with the basic plot.Sad to say, the film is not the average edge-of-your-seat, popcorn-munching manhunt thriller with you-already-know-what-happens-next twists and turns--and it doesn't intend to be one.Said differently, 'Humanity' is not an easy fare--in the sense that it painstakingly brings the viewers into an intense and intimate contact with the subterranean layers and subconscious motives--with what really lies beneath--of human behavior and relationships.The film becomes a device for a psychoanalytic coming-to-terms with our own humanity.Maybe that scared off--subconsciously--those who decry the film, as a Freudian analysis is likely to result in.However, Bruno Dumont doesn't profess to give the answers, but to simply describe, a kind of scientific documentation.This can be seen in the manner in which the filmmaker narrates the film--and this is where the issue comes from.Being a specimen of what can be termed as Cinema of Naturalism(Erick Zonca's 'Dreamlife of Angels' and the Dardenne brothers' 'La Promesse' and 'Rosetta' fall under this;even Dumont's introductory film, 'Life of Jesus'), Dumont does away with the professional maneuverings of acting and scene construction.Instead, in a modernist interpretation of the Dziga Vertov-principle "life caught unawares", every moment is presented without the principal figures having to be "aware" that they're making a film;everyone behaves intuitively and instinctively, as if in complete "disobedience" of any filmic instruction.And the result is a naturalism that is brutally, graphically raw and inherently incendiary.The incapacity--due to a deeply-harbored personal trauma--of the police investigator (Schotte) to pursue the culprit and thus serve due justice is carefully and uncompromisingly reflected in his fractured day-to-day interaction with other people(his mother, the lovers next door, his superior), where emotions are kept unexpressed and any chance for bonding and intimacy is kept at bay.Even the persons surrounding the troubled and stoic policeman are not without their inner ailments, mainly repressed but now-and-then provoked by the sporadic violence and tension that erupt within their remote and quiet provincial town, otherwise a wonderland of lust and idleness.
The film certainly is one that either you will love or hate judging by the previous reviews - check out "What the hell is this?", "150 minutes of suffering, only for stubborn art movie fans with a high boredom threshold level" and "Is life really this boring?".
Also, like his contemporaries Gaspar Noé and Carlos Reygadas, it could be argued that Dumont makes films that challenge the viewer to engage with a story that will undoubtedly take us to some very dark and often shockingly immoral places; giving us characters that are morally ambiguous, often loathsome and, in the case of our central protagonist here, almost pitiful.
There aren't many filmmakers who would choose as their hero of a bleak detective thriller an innocent man-child who seems to be as socially inept and emotionally damaged as a person could possibly be, and yet, with Police Chief Pharaon De Winter, that is exactly what we get.Dumont makes his bleak, desolate vision obvious right from the start, with the horrendous discovery of a murdered and mutilated child left naked and bleeding in a stark, autumnal field.
It's an image that both establishes and surmises the film as a thematic whole; the loss of innocence being central both with the murder of the child and with the character of Pharaon himself.
It is the idea of back-story and the fragile demeanour of Pharaon - and to an extent the evocative performance of non-professional actor Emmanuel Schotte - which anchors the film, giving the audience an emotional spectator.
After the aforementioned discovery there are no macho heroics; Pharaon reacts on an emotional level unseen in films of this nature, running back to his car, tears streaming down his face, lost in a kind of detached melancholy that continues throughout the film.Over the course of the film, the narrative continues to unfold at a slow and deliberate pace, though we quickly realise that the real detective story at hand is not necessarily about the murder of the child, but more importantly, what has happened to make Pharaon the way he is.
This gives the film a greater degree of realism, though may be a little tiresome for viewers weaned on a more westernised approach to cinema, with one hypnotic scene in particular finding our central protagonist tending his allotment for what seems like the best part of fifteen minutes.As the film continues to unfold, and the clues begin to add up, we realise that this isn't going to have a clear-cut, moralistic ending akin to a routine police/crime thriller.
With L'Humanité (1999), Dumont has attempted to create a stripped down, bare-naked form of ambient cinema, in which it is the little character details and passages of silence, broken only by shocking violence and mechanical sex, that go towards creating the story.The ending of the film continues in this same vein and acts as a sort of shocking epiphany, in which every action and subtle line of dialog that has occurred during the epic running time is suddenly given a whole new meaning.
This film is a challenging experience, and if you are used to the rhythms of television, to being stimulated by action and spectacle or you spend a good deal of time with video games, this film will drive you crazy; it's slow, sometimes maddeningly tedious, and the main character is far from heroic, in the usual sense.This is a film about people trapped by their own situation, by their experiences, by their environment, by their weaknesses--these are the folks you often see on the streets and wonder what their lives might be like; Director Dumont is not interested in entertaining you, but, I think, wants you to think about your own values, about how you react to other people.Insensitive viewers who are after the usual action popcorn movie, or with little empathetic response will probably dislike this film, as it is about the inner self, or the lack of it; moviegoers who want a challenge, a film unlike any other, might find this journey fascinating--but it does demand that you put aside your previous cinematic expectations..
At a time when most films are content with simply bullying a reaction out of the viewer, along comes Bruno Dumont's 'L' Humanité', an unrelentingly grim detective story that has the rare power to get right under the viewer's skin from almost the first frame, engrossing the audience in a plot that is both repulsive, yet dangerously enthralling.
Omitting the usual genre clichés, 'L' Humanité' instead chooses to look at the ideas of loss, self-loathing, obsession and forgiveness, viewed through the eyes of a central character who would seem to be an almost inept amalgamation of contradictionsFrom the outset Pharaon De Winter (Emmanuel Schotte) seems to us, almost childlike, and certainly not somebody who should be in charge of a serious murder investigation.
It is the same with the other cast members, they don't seem like they're playing a part but actually living it.This of course gives the film a realism that makes the proceedings at times hard to watch.
The atmosphere of misery and pain amongst these characters sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of the viewing, and Dumont's use of uncompromising sexual imagery means that 'L' Humanité' is a film a lot of people will have a problem with.
"the Life of Jesus" (1997), Bruno Dumont's previous movie ended with the murder of an Arab teenager.
"Humanity" (1999) starts where "the Life of Jesus" ended: with the rape and the murder of a little girl in the same small town: Bailleul.
Then, to plunge more on the contents of the film and for a better understanding of it, let's write Dumont's words about the main reason which incited him to shot this gem: "I wanted to make a movie that would deal with the love of humanity while bearing in mind the reality which is grievous".
The main character, Pharaon, has suffered a loss of his wife and child in the pre-film past.
His best friends Joseph and Domino are not much more, their relationship based on sex (this film perhaps gives new meaning to the phrase "gratuitous sex"); Domino and Pharaon's mother are the two characters who display some emotion, but not much.
His name is Detective Pharaon de Winter, and he has a job to do.In this opening sequence, director Bruno Dumont sets up a dichotomy which runs throughout "Le Humanite": that of a character seeking to latch onto some modicum of humanity, of divinity, of spiritual uplift, whilst being continuously pulled back down by the material weight of the world.
The film's single moment of hope.9/10 - Like Robert Bresson, Dumont uses non-professional actors, and captures a kind of matter-of-fact transcendentality within our ordinary material world.
The story revolves around the murder of a young girl, and the main character, Pharaon De Winter, is a policeman investigating the killing, but L'Humanité is no murder mystery.
There isn't much happening in this film; it consists mainly of shots where the three main characters do boring things in a boring little French town.
This is the true strength of the film: it's ability to show us the feelings and emotions hiding beneath the most mundane of situations.Another strength of L'Humanité is the character of Pharaon.
Pharaon is present in almost every scene of the film, and although this makes us get quite bored of him, when the movie ends we still kind of miss him because we have grown so used to his persona and his mannerisms.
Its basic plot, the investigation into the rape and murder of a young girl, would suggest it is a thriller but this film is about it's characters first and foremost.Our hero Pharon is a policeman who lives at home with his mother He has suffered the loss of his wife and child, how we never find out. |
tt0493404 | Brotherhood of Blood | Claustrophobic thriller about a team of vampire hunters who infiltrate a nest of undead to rescue one of their own.
Carrie Rieger tugs at her bonds. The young vampire huntress has to free herself. Guarded by vampires, chained in a dark cellar by the mighty vampire King Pashek, her time is running out. She knows an even greater threat than the vampires is coming relentlessly closer. Everything will be decided tonight.
Carrie has crossed a dangerous trail: Back from a faraway journey, a man slowly transforms into a vampire. And he transforms further - into something that even the vampires fear; the mighty vampire demon Vlad Kossel.
The vampire sovereigns killed Kossel many hundreds of years ago, but now he has seemingly returned. In his new body, he will take revenge and destroy everything in his way. There is only one hunter who can stop him... | flashback | train | wikipedia | Subtlety is a very important thing in any good horror movie.
Not only does subtlety reduce the ridiculous amount of "in-your-face-quality" that today's horror movies seem to love, which effectively makes then just plain old action movies, subtlety shows that a film has respect for its audience.
In "Brotherhood of Blood" the directors cleverly combines the 'vampire' genre and the 'mystery thrillers' sub-genre in an art-house context.
The curious thing about "Brotherhood of Blood" is that this film is the most realistic and human vampire film that I have seen.
It is so much better to watch the movie all the way through the first time, plot unknown, to watch how it unfolds.
That's what makes the film noir movies so great for watching and re watching.
Where most movies can get boring after a viewing or two, I've seen many of my film noir movies quite a large number of times.The beauty of Brotherhood Of Blood is the cast involved - Every one of these actors does a god job.
Some may find that unnerving, but it is very well written.I recommend this film for anyone who likes mysteries or intelligent horror stories.
Besides its plot, Brotherhood has good performances to keep you entertained and some great dialogs.
You don't see many low budget movies these days that make you feel that way..
You are just thrown into the plot head-on and then given little chance to breathe as the movie takes you deep into a story so rich with characters.
For a budget of $500K the talents of Victoria Pratt, Jason Connery and Coolio can be shown off to advantage by keeping down the number of locations and sets, minimising expensive FX and spending time (the least expensive component before the cameras start rolling) on sorting out the structure, characterisation and story of your script.
Shoot direct on High Definition video, with rented quality lenses and then edit with a feel for rhythm and pace and you'll (maybe) produce something as good as this horror-flick.
Instead I got to see an exciting movie featuring outstanding acting and a plot twist that caught me by surprise.Typically movies of this kind rely upon blood, gore or left-field plot twists to get the job done.
"Brotherhood of Blood" relies on an excellent script, good direction and wonderful acting from people who might not necessarily be household names.
Look at this cast- Sid Haig, Kenn Foree, Victoria Pratt, Jason Connery.
Meanwhile, the vampires themselves are hunting the same brother to prevent the resurrection of "Vlad Bossei" a super-vampire who lived in the 12th century.There film is definitely nonlinear as we jump from today, where Carrie (Pratt) is a captive of Pashek (Haig) and Fork (Wes Ramsey); to yesterday, where they are trying to get information out of Stanis (Ken Foree - Rob Zombie's Halloween, The Devil's Rejects); to last week to get the full story.Victoria Pratt ("Mutant X", Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep) is the leader of the vampire hunters, and does a very good job in this film.
Seriously, it seems that anyone with a bottle of catsup and a pair of wax fangs thinks he can make a vampire movie, which is why most of them are so bad.This movie was better than most in terms of plot and storytelling.
Meanwhile, the vampires themselves are hunting the same brother to prevent the resurrection of "Vlad Bossei" a super-vampire who lived in the 12th century.There are all sorts of twists, turns, double-takes, and some of them don't really make sense, but the movie is fun for what it is, and the actors actually look like they are trying..
Well, at least the young directors showed precocious talent: *brotherhood of blood* cost a mere $100,000 to make but looks like it cost 5-times that figure.
I was happy to see Victoria Pratt in this movie, because I think the is a good, if not merely decent, actress with actual emotion behind her lines, which is lacking in a lot of horror.
good cast, bad movie.
Sid Haig is pretty creepy and Ken Foree is fun, but the movie really blows.
Charles Band made a bunch of excellent movies, but this resembles one of his quickie made turkeys.I have met Sid Haig and Ken Foree at several horror conventions and they are lots of fun and nice guys.
You ever watch a movie with horrible dialogue and horrible acting, hoping at some point it would get better?
But since the first reviews I encountered were hugely positive and since I'm still a big fan of former horror icons Sid Haig and Ken Foree, I decided to give the rental copy a chance anyway.
"Brotherhood of Blood" is definitely better than first anticipated but, in the end, nonetheless remains a disappointing and unmemorable film.
The script is definitely better written and more original than most nowadays B-movies, but the main problem actually becomes that it is too ambitious (on the verge of pretentious, actually) and wannabe convoluted for its own good.There are certainly some ingenious elements to find here.
Carrie Rieger works for a professional agency of vampire hunters and, at the moment, she's occupied with the protection of a wealthy businessman named Thomas, whose brother is likely to become the reincarnation of the most feared vampire of all times; Vlad Kossei.
Three weeks ago, Thomas' brother got infected with Vlad's blood in Romania, last night Carrie and her team were torturing a random vampire (Ken Foree) in order to obtain information and today they're all trapped and imprisoned in the vampires' underground lair.
Read stuff like "Art house Horror" or "Brotherhood of Blood is a good example of counter-cinematic art." Oh, man...I laughed so hard when I read that!!
Make up: Over sized fangs that made it difficult for the "actors" to talk.In Brotherhood of Blood, from the opening scene-- to the final frame, was nothing more than a grossly amateurish, poorly written, acted, directed, edited, miked, shot movie.
Next, we'll see him in a high school version of "Cats."Everyone involved in making this movie should chip in, take out a billboard on Sunset Blvd and apologize to anyone who took the time to actually watch Brotherhood--it's that bad!!
Once again, the budget was blown on good DVD cover art and not the movie itself.
I must admit upfront that seeing that sometime cohorts of Uwe Boll (Micheal Roesch & Peter Scheerer) wrote and directed this film did fill me with some dread, but I also resigned myself to watching all of the films in the "Ghost House Underground" set, so with great reluctance & extremely low expectations I popped it into the DVD player.
It turns out that lowering my expectations was the right move on my part as the film was dreadfully bad and I started to even feel sorry for Sid Haig and Ken Foree, two horror film icons who truly deserve better.
More of a character piece than a vampire tale, but all the characters are bland and lifeless (no pun intended) Maybe it's time someone put a stake in the vampire sub-genre as it's done.My Grade: DDVD Extras: a short 5 minute behind the scenes featurette; interviews with actors Victoria Pratt, Sid Haig, & Ken Foree; storyboard to screen comparison; trailer for this movie; and trailers for "Dance of the Dead", "No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker", "the Substitute", "Dark Floors", "Trackman" "Room 205", & "the last House in the Woods".
With a cast including the likes of horror vets Foree, Haig, Bond-son and bangin' hard body Pratt, I so wanted to like this movie yet honestly, I fell asleep three times in the first hour and I started watching it at 8 in the evening.
Here's another memorable and interesting vampire movie, but one that left a little bit a bad taste in my mouth - because it was so low budget.
Horror movies seem to bring out the best in the FX department.BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD had the potential of being a great film, but it's a mishmash of interesting vampire or goth concepts with an art house touch.
A great ensemble cast of actors: Sid Haig, Ken Foree, Jason Connery, William Snow and especially Victoria Pratt and Wes Ramsey who make a great young couple - he vampire, she the hunter.
The best scene in the movie is when they pull the teeth of the captured vampire.
-. First of all don't be fooled by the Foree or sid Haig being in this movie as they must have just wanted some paychecks real bad.
I don't know if it was the writer, the director, or producer but it ended up coming together as a second rate attempt at a Vampire film.
On my constant search of occult joys (like for example,Subject Two) in the world of low-budget horror cinema,I find very frequently very bad movies (like Dark Corners and Five Across the Eyes);unfortunately,I am very accustomed to that.But I think the most painful thing is to find a movie with great potential which was destroyed by some element of its production;it can be on a narrative,technical or creative level.Brotherhood of Blood is one of that movies which could have been much better if it was not for a fatal weakness : the disastrous direction.The main concept from the screenplay is good and pretty original.But,that good potential is completely destroyed because of Michael Roesch's and Peter Scheerer's extremely bad direction.As screenwriters,they showed some ingenious things on the screenplay which would have made of this an interesting movie.But their work as directors completely ruins this film making it very mediocre when it could have been good.Their directing is bad because of the badly illuminated cinematography,horribly structured scenes,uncomfortable close-ups and specially,because of the horrendous edition with continuity problems and with sudden changes of rhythm and tone.That lack of a global vision and of a correct structure of scenes and the weakness of keeping the flow of the narrative totally destroy this film,making bad what could have been a good film with a better directing.By the way,during the final credits of the movie,the first person listed on the section "special thanks" is "director" Uwe Boll.Speechless...I suppose that even the slight influence of this pathetic director has the power of ruining other movies like this one.The bad directing is also seen on the performances,which result very amateur,in spite of having some veterans of fantastic cinema.I do not wanna attack the actors...they have made solid works on other occasions (for example,Sid Haig,Victoria Pratt and Ken Foree).I think the fault is from Roesch and Scheerer,who clearly need a lesson on how to direct a movie.The only positive elements are on the screenplay,specially on the main concept,which is very good.But the pathetic direction ruins that good potential.Brotherhood of Blood is one of that movies which make me angry,because they represent wasted potential.I think that with another director/s,the result would have been a solid film.But,like this,I do not recommend Brotherhood of Blood because it is a very mediocre horror film.I think this movie will be useful to show film students how NOT to direct a movie..
Just now I watched this film, & I think my bad luck isn't going to go away anytime soon.
Like, d'uh.The film starred unknown actors & actresses, and even though Victoria Pratt acted convincingly, the others failed miserably.
"Brotherhood of Blood" is an excellent example of why films deserve to be written about, rather than simply awarded a star or number, since it is, at times, both appalling and incredibly effective and even disturbing.I thought this was a very good movie.
The actors in this movie worked good together.
the lead Carrie, the old vampire (Sid Haig), the captured vampire (Ken Foree), and the young Vampire all seem like real people with complex personalities and back stories.
As a team of vampire hunters tries to find the hideout of a deadly clan, a member joins forces with a kidnapped victim's brother to rescue him from their clutches before he's turned into one of them in order to lead them to a sacred talisman their leader desires.Frankly, this one should've been far better than it was, but instead is reduced to a humongous pile of plot confusion and far too much time spent on story lines that have either nothing to do with the main plot or are featured for no reason other than to build up the cast of genre veterans.
There's some good gore in here, though, with the deaths being inflicted coming off as pretty gruesome and the action scenes are far more entertaining than they should be, with stand-outs including a frenetic shootout through the main lair as well as the ambush on the hunter's hideout that results in the trapping of one of the main vampires and the subsequent torture for information that's far more brutal than it should be in such an effort, but it's a little confusing and far too much built-for-star-power than it should be.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language..
Roesch & Scheerer's Brotherhood of Blood is quite a claustrophobic little vampire film, mostly taking place within the congested confines of rooms within a warehouse as vampire Pashek(Sid Haig) fears his powerful brother Vlad Kossei(..for whom he burnt alive many years ago for this vampire's blood-thirst was so intense he wiped out villages in short order)has been resurrected by an artist perhaps having found his remains in a church in Transylvania.
A small vampire hunting unit, led by Keaton(Jason Connery)and Carrie(Victoria Pratt, another in the long line of female bad-asses, with a very athletic figure, often grimacing, dead-serious demeanor, with no fear at all as danger presents itself)find themselves almost nearly wiped out by Vlad Kossei it appears.
Cult star Ken Foree has a lucrative role as vampire Stanis who is tortured by Keaton and Carrie in acknowledging who Kossei is and what he's up to.Very low budget, and given some extra mythology, but overall still follows many of the same vampire customs(..vampire bite turns you into one of them, sunlight burns their flesh when introduced, they crave human blood for survival).
Pashek admits that vampires and humans came together in unison to stop Vlad Kossei and that this would be the only way to stop him once again.
I found the confinements of the action in small, singular locations rather tiring..the film is very dialogue driven, with Haig given ample screen time devoted to telling us about his people's history, specifically about Kossei and his reign of terror.
Low budget Vampire horror that tries to be clever..
The only way to stop this great evil is for Vampires & humans to work together but can an alliance be formed in time before the ancient prophecy is fulfilled?Written & directed by Michael Roesch & Peter Scheerer this low budget indie Vampire film tries to be a clever horror reworking of the seminal classic The Usual Suspects (1995) with it's interchanging time lines & the mysterious ultra bad guy Vlad Kossei whose identity & the way it is revealed is very similar to The Usual Suspects, in fact I'm not trying to boast or anything but I guessed the twist ending fairly early on & all in all thought it was quite predictable.
The script which takes itself very seriously is passable for what it is (not much), it tries to big the mysterious Vlad Kossei character up so when his identity is revealed it's meant to have some great meaning but did anyone else think that during the final shot of Vlad Kossei walking towards the camera he looked like a dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator (1984)?
The character's are forgettable, no-one is that likable or particularly stands out & why didn't that Vampire played by Ken Foree not tell Carrie & her people what he knew straight away rather than wait, get tortured & let the big bad Vlad Kossei complete his plan?Obviously filmed on a low budget Brotherhood of Blood doesn't look the best with cheap sets, locations & effects work.
I guess the makers wanted to rely on it's story but having ripped the whole tone & feel from The Usual Suspects without being anywhere near as good I found it hard to like Brotherhood of Blood.Filmed in Los Angeles in California on a supposed budget of about $500,000 Brotherhood of Blood is pretty rough round the edges & looks low budget.
The acting is OK, Jason Connery happens to be the son of former James Bond actor Sean Connery while genre regulars Sid Haig & Ken Foree have small roles as Vampires.Brotherhood of Blood is a low budget indie Vampire horror film that tries to be clever but anyone with any intelligence or has already seen The usual Suspects will not be impressed by it's twist.
All though the story has ambition and tries hard, this movie proves to be unsuccessful due to its limit of budget and some campy performances.
Vampires Pashek (Sid Haig) and Stanis (Ken Foree) know that the ultimate evil is about to be reborn.
She must unite with the vampires to stop this ultimate evil, before its too late.The greatest thing about this film is the reunion between Haig and Foree, two of horror movie's most fantastic talents.
And we'll have it start towards the end and jump all over the timeline" "Sounds good, but why is it going to jump timelines?" "Cuz I like Quentin Tarantino and he does it all the time" "Cool.
Seriously they could have just blown half their money on a digital camera and it would have looked better.Brotherhood of Blood supports a decent cast of B actors you'll recognize from The Lost World, Cleopatra 2525, and Mutant X.
I enjoyed this movie, the character actors are well used.
It was interesting enough to want to follow the story.Ultimately this movie comes off as a low budget Usual Suspects, even pays tribute to it with the last camera shot. |
tt0278501 | In Harihar Nagar | Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindan Kutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadish) and Thomas Kutty (Ashokan) are four young men who live in the housing colony named 'Harihar Nagar.' The movie starts with an incident that takes place in Bombay, where a murder takes place for the possession of a briefcase. In the next scene the four young men make appearance with their tricks to impress young girls. A girl, "Maya" (Geetha Vijayan), along with her grandparents relocate to Harihar Nagar and happen to be Mahadevan's new neighbors. The four try to impress her on many occasions. One day they find her her posting a letter. They bribe the postman and manage to get hold of that letter. On reading the contents of the letter, they come to know that Maya has come to Harihar Nagar to learn about the death of her brother - Sethu Madhavan (Suresh Gopi).
Maya visits the house of Andrews (Saikumar), a friend of Sethu Madhavan. She requests Andrew's mother, called Ammachi by him and his friends (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) to contact her if she gets any information about her brother. The four men meet Ammachi as Sethu's friends. They manage to get Sethu's photo by telling that they want it for the colony's sports club. Maya gets this information from Ammachi and meets the four guys. She believes them to be Sethu's friends after seeing his photo at their house. The four cook up a story about an affair Sethu had with a girl.
Hearing the news that four are the friends of Sethu Madhavan, they are kidnapped by John Honai, who wants the briefcase shown in the beginning of the movie. Maya was in search of her brother's girlfriend and she finds details of Annie Philip (Rekha), who was close to her brother from the library. Annie is now a nun in a church and adopted the name Sister Josephine. Josephine narrates about her history with Sethu when questioned by Maya. Andrew's father was a businessman who was killed by John Honai's father and he built a business empire with the money taken from Andrew's father. Andrews creates trouble in that business to take revenge. Honai's father then sells all his assets and tries to run away with that money in the briefcase, but gets killed on the way. At the beginning of the movie, they show Andrews as the murderer. Andrews hands over the briefcase to Sethu since he is being followed. Andrews is killed soon after.
Sethu comes to Harihar Nagar to give this money to Ammachi but when he gets to know that Ammachi is ignorant of Andrew's death and is still waiting for him, he gives it to Annie, who is Andrew's girlfriend. After returning to Bombay, Sethu is also killed by Honai.
The four men who were under captive by John Honai manage to escape and are on a run. Soon after Maya and her grandparents are then caught by Honai but the four rescue them. Ammachi comes to know about Andrew's death from Sister Josephine who gives her the briefcase. While Ammachi was cooking dinner, Honai comes to her house to get the briefcase. Ammachi removes the fuse and the lights go off. After a short game of "hide-and-seek," John lights a lighter. He goes in flames since the cooking gas was left open by Ammachi before he had entered the house.
Maya is packing her bags to leave Harihar nagar. She meets the four before leaving and hands them the briefcase as a gift. When her car leaves, the briefcase opens and the money, jewelry, everything falls out. She shouts from the car that it is for them. The film ends here. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0182958 | Dead Girls | === Road to Nowhere ===
Ignatz Zwakh, former escort of assassin Primavera Bobinski, is tracked down in Thailand by the half-robotic Pikadon Twins, with a demand from Primavera's half-robot boss Madame Kito that Ignatz return to the Big Weird to work with Primavera. Primavera is a Lilim - a vampiric living dead girl.
=== Wine and Roses ===
Ignatz returns to Nana, Bangkok, and is reunited with Primavera. They go to a restaurant that uses gynoids to mimic the English vogue of killing Lilim. The Cartier automata were invented by a Dr Toxicophilous with robotic consciousness that harnessed 'quantum magic', and this quantum-mechanical seat of consciousness is situated in the womb of their descendents, the Lilim. The pair are in the restaurant on a job from Madame Kito, but while Primavera is engaged in assassinating one of Kito's rivals Ignatz is rendered unconscious.
=== Beata Beatrix ===
Ignatz and Primavera, now captured and rendered unconscious with a special girdle around her umbilicus, are taken by Jack Morgenstern to the American Embassy, where they are locked up.
=== Black Spring ===
Jack Morgenstern reveals that the British government want Primavera and Ignatz returned to them, and Kito has betrayed them to the Americans. Morgenstern questions Ignatz regarding the amount of Lilim escapees from the supposedly quarantined London, but gets no response to his theory that one of the surviving original Cartier dolls called Titania is organising the breakouts. Primavera uses her quantum magic to telepathically induce her guard to release her from her umbilicus girdle, then physically smashes through the wall of her prison, allowing herself and Ignatz to escape by jumping into the river below. Due to the umbilical girdle Primavera's quantum matrix has been infected by hostile nanobots which are inhibiting her full use of quantum magic and are slowly destroying her. Primavera believes that Kito has been blackmailed into betraying them. Primavera and Ignatz leave Nana by boat.
Ignatz apologises for running away from Primavera. Ignatz and Primavera make love, Ignatz requiring medical attention for blood loss afterwards. Primavera determines to confront Kito in order to be cured of the nanovirus. Primavera orders new clothes for herself and Ignatz made from living dermaplastic.
=== Going to a Go-Go ===
Primavera and Ignatz return to Nana, gaining entrance to Kito's penthouse in the Grace Hotel, only to be captured by Kito and her robot guards. Primavera begs Kito to remove the nanovirus that is killing her. She reveals that her telepathic dreams while captured told her that Kito is being blackmailed by Jack Morgenstern: years ago during a trade war Cartier infected Kito's fake dolls with an impotence STD and in response Kito sent her own virus to infect the genuine Cartier dolls in Paris - a virus that Morgenstern thinks responsible for the doll plague. Primavera says she can disprove this by telling Kito of Titania and how she and Ignatz escaped England...
=== Westward Ho ===
Vlad Constantinescu and the Human Front win the British election, and the systematic execution of Lilim by impalement through the umbilicus begins. Primavera and Ignatz decide to runaway together, and flee through the flooded London Underground tunnels to hide in the West End. The pair are captured by a group of doll-killer paramedics, but are rescued by a pair of Lilim. Primavera and Ignatz are taken to meet Titania - the last of the original infected Cartier dolls and Queen of the Lilim - at her hideout under a Whitechapel warehouse.
=== A Fairy Queen ===
While telling her story Primavera passes out, and Kito has her resident research and development technician Spalanzani examine her. The 'magic dust' virus consists of nanomachines that are transforming the Ylem at the heart of her being from a quantum mechanical state to a classical mechanical state, which will render her quantum 'magic' inert. Kito agrees to allow Spalanzani to remove the nanomachines on the condition that Ignatz continues his story...
Primavera and Ignatz are led into The Seven Stars - Tatiana's underground palace, where they meet Tatiana and her human consort Peter Gunn. At Tatiana's prompting, Peter tells Primavera and Ignatz their story...
=== The Lilim ===
Peter's father (Dr. Toxicophilous) was a quantum engineer, a toy maker who built dolls for Cartier, though with the outbreak of doll plague his services are no longer in demand. Titania, his last and greatest creation, acts as a housemaid at the Gunn family home. Peter and Titania visit The Seven Stars that they are constructing as a private playground and Peter unlocks her matrix with his father's key, but infected with a sickness Titania stays there, and cocoons herself as she begins to transform. Peter's father tells him that the rumor that the doll plague was started by a rivals from the East was a lie, and that it is the result of his own dark childhood dreams subconsciously infecting the quantum structure of the dolls when he created them.
=== Unreal City ===
Jack Morgenstern and the Pikadon Twins enter Spalanzani's workshop: having bugged it Morgenstern has heard the whole story. Morgenstern has bought enough shares to depose Kito from her company and place the Pikadon Twins in her place. Morgenstern instructs his men to take Primavera but a green light explodes from her umbilicus and Morgenstern, his men, Ignatz, Kito and Spalanzani are sucked inside Primavera's quantum matrix.
Inside the matrix they find themselves in a dream world that is geographically a collision of London and the Big Weird, complete with another copy of Primavera. Primavera is unable to wake herself up and return them to reality, so accompanied by Ignatz and Morgenstern she tries to find Dr Toxicophilous: according to Primavera Toxicophilous is present in all dolls and represents the programme that controls their files - he also has the key to her matrix that can wake her up. Morgenstern tries to convince Primavera that he is actually working with Titania, not against her. The dream city is filled with clones of Primavera, with the nanovirus represented by Jack the Ripper-style figures. Unable to find Dr Toxicophilous Primavera realises she needs to look deeper inside herself: she gazes into her own umbilicus and is sucked through, followed by Ignatz and Morgentren.
=== Psychic Surgery ===
Primavera, Ignatz and Morgenstern confront Dr Toxicophilous. Toxicophilous tells Primavera that Titania had betrayed her: thanks to his subconscious corruption of Titania's quantum consciousness he had created a living being with a death wish, and Titania has the ability to instil this death wish in Lilim at will. Titania had been negotiating with Morgenstern over using the Lilim as instruments of US foreign policy to infect and destabilise hostile foreign countries, then cauterize the infection by use of the death wish. Dr. Toxicophilous gives Ignatz the key to Primavera's matrix, he inserts it into her umbilical and the dreamers are returned to the reality of Spalanzani's workshop.
Spalanzani is killed when he tries to stop Morgenstern shooting Primavera. Due to them waking up at different times Kito gets a head start on her enemies and traps the Pikadon Twins, while Morgenstern is shot and rendered unconscious. Kito re-hires Primavera and Ignatz to work for her.
=== Desperadoes ===
Kito, Primavera and Ignatz find themselves on the run from the Pikadon Twins and Jack Morgenstern. Kito says she can get help from a friend called Mosquito.
Having been taken in by Titania Primavera and Ignatz spend time at The Seven Stars, chaperoned by a Lilim called Josephene . Ignatz asks for a view of England beyond that of the quarantined London and Josephene shows him via the visual circuits of a shop-window dummy in Manchester, revealing a nightmare world where the Human Front have replaced the dolls with re-animated human corpses, 'Mememoids' whose brains have been taken over by replicating information patterns transmitted via a comic strip called Cruel Britannia, and castrated policemen with guns as phallic replacements. Following the completion of her transformation and indoctrination Primavera is sent out of England to spread the doll plague through Europe. Together with Ignatz she is led through The Seven Stars to a service tunnel in the Channel Tunnel.
Kito takes Primavera and Ignatz to meet Mosquito, an old employee who she had previously used to attempt to spread her virus to the Cartier dolls, to ask for money. Back on the road Ignatz and Primavera are attacked by the Pikadon Twins, and though they manage to kill them they lose Kito in the process.
=== Dead Girls ===
Ignatz and Primavera try to escape down the Mekong river, but Primavera collapses as she gives in to Titania's death wish. A hologram of Titania appears and explains to Ignatz that the only way the Lilim can survive is by keeping their numbers under control by culling themselves. Primavera dies. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1914829 | Gakuen Alice | Mikan Sakura grew up with her grandfather in the Japanese countryside. When her best friend, Hotaru, transfers to a prestigious school in Tokyo, Mikan follows her. The school is actually an elite Academy for gifted people with "Alices," an ability that is unique depending on the individual being. Once Mikan arrives at the gates of the school, she encounters an Alice teacher named Narumi, gets enrolled due to a series of events, and is told that she possesses a rare Alice. Despite her initial view of the so-called greatness to the school, Mikan slowly discovers that beneath the grand facade of the Academy, there is a never-ending stream of lies and buried secrets. The school's increasingly manipulative and sinister actions towards her make it a dangerous place to be. Little does Mikan know that her enrollment in Alice Academy set the gears in motion to an even greater tragedy. As she discovers the reality of the "Alices", she also unfolds her heritage and how it is connected to the academy. As the mystery of the academy draws her into an endless pit of misery and series of trials to survive, she also discovers the how the strength of friendship is important to her and guides her to her destiny.
=== Differences between manga and anime ===
The anime episodes are similar to the first 28 manga chapters, but some events are changed or combined. There are events after the Alice Festival added in that did not occur in the manga. The manga's darker tones (graphic violence, blood scenes, and the deaths of certain characters) are left out in the anime to suit younger viewers. Characters in the anime may have different hair and eye color than their manga counterparts. The anime series leaves the love triangle between Mikan, Ruka, and Natsume unresolved; Mikan remains oblivious to their feelings. The mystery of Mikan's parents and family history, along with others' past, remains unrevealed. In the first episode, she catches a taxi to Alice Academy and no one knows about Alices in the anime. The anime has Reo as the antagonist while the manga has the Elementary School Principal. The anime does not reveal the intents of the Elementary School Principal or other antagonists. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0289719 | Incubus | In a lake at a rock quarry, a young woman named Mandy and her boyfriend, Ray, are swimming. The two spend the night at the lake camping, but are attacked by an unseen figure; Ray is killed, and Mandy is taken to the hospital with a ruptured uterus and serious trauma. As the attack occurs, teenager Tim Galen experiences a recurring nightmare he has in which a woman is tortured by a monstrous figure; his grandmother, Agatha Galen, tries to dissuade him of his suspicions about the premonitory dream. At the hospital, Mandy is treated by Sam Cordell (John Cassavetes), a surgeon and physician in the small community of Galen.
Sam's teenaged daughter, Jenny, is dating Tim, but he disapproves of their relationship. At the hospital, Sheriff Hank Walden (John Ireland) questions Sam about Mandy's injuries, and a nosy local reporter, Laura Kincaid, arrives to question Walden, who forces her to leave. That night at the local library and museum, a librarian named Carolyn Davies is brutally raped and murdered while closing the building. During her autopsy, Sam finds she suffered similar wounds as Mandy, and finds an inexplicable amount of semen in her vagina.
Attempts to question the comatose Mandy about her attacker are futile. Sam shows Laura pictures of his deceased 2nd wife and their amazing resemblance to each other. The following day, local farmer Ernie Barnes and his two daughters are brutally slain at their farmhouse. Tim again is tormented by his vision, and runs into a local movie theater in an attempt to distract himself. While there, a young woman is raped and murdered in the downstairs bathroom of the theater, and the metal stall door is found nearly bent in half. Sheriff Walden and Sam arrive at the crime scene shortly before Laura, who insists she may be able to help the investigation. She confides in Sam that she discovered historical records detailing Satanism and similar crimes occurring throughout the town's history.
Tim confronts Jenny at her home, hysterical, and says he believes his dreams are responsible for the crimes. Sam gets a sample of Tim's semen to compare against that which was found inside the victims, but they do not match. Tim and Agatha meet with Sam, Jenny, Laura, and Sheriff Walden at the library that night, where Laura reads a passage from a book detailing the shapeshifter known as the incubus, which manifests through dreams and can appear in human form. Agatha reveals that Tim's mother had died before his birth and had been accused of witchcraft due to psychic powers she possessed; Agatha claims that the Galen family has a legacy of witch hunters, and that his dreams are a result of this.
Laura and Tim return with Sam and Jenny to their home. As Laura takes Jenny upstairs to go to bed, Sam attempts to induce Tim's dream to prove its connection to the murders. Tim goes into a seizure-like state and runs upstairs into Jenny's room where he tries to attack Laura with a dagger given to him by Agatha, but Sam intervenes and stabs him to death. Laura then approaches Sam, and her face briefly shifts into that of the monstrous incubus; it is revealed that Laura has in fact been the incubus all along, manifesting in female form. As Laura embraces Sam, he looks over her shoulder to see Jenny's dead body lying on her bed, blood pouring out from between her legs. | pornographic, flashback | train | wikipedia | Very Poor.
Incubus (2002) 1/2 (out of 4) Jess Franco remakes his very own Lorna, The Exorcist with horrid results, which is the case with the recent Franco/One Shot productions.
Twenty years earlier a father made a deal with an incubus that she gives his fame and wealth in return for his daughter on her 20th birthday.
The original film is one of my favorite Euro Horrors but this thing here is just downright awful from the poor script to the poor acting to the horrid direction.
Franco's "talents" can be debated but this recent stuff is just incredibly bad.
I did give the film half a star due to the music score by Daniel White but this was just lifted from Franco's The Perverse Countess..
Lina Romay Naked High Point Of Movie!!.
Let's face it.
Jess Franco has not yet made a good movie.
One would think, given his experience and the fact that he worked under Orson Welles and Jean-Luc Goddard, you'd think he could stumble once and make one but the fact is he hasn't.
Franco, despite the cult that has arose around him, is a sleaze director, not a criticism mind you.
However, In recent years, Franco has not even made a decent crap film.
Ones like Mari- Cookie, Lust For Frankenstein, and Incubus and been pure waste of film stock, well almost.
Gone is the atmosphere of Franco's 70's and 80's trash film and now it is replaced by totally incomprehensible story lines, which is a feat given they were never Franco's strong points, and digital camera work which makes his recent film look even sleazy, in a bad way!
Incubus does not have all that much going for it.
Save for Lina Romay, you'd rather all the other actresses keep their clothes on, which none do.
The high point of the story is Ms. Romay totally naked arguing with her husband in the bedroom, which given the seemingly none existant storyline, may have been what this film was about.
To prove a point, Franco's Ilsa movie had more of a plot than Incubus.
Save your money and time.
Leave this film alone..
A Wonderful Example Of Digital Filmaking.
With Franco making a plethora of films in the new millennium on the digital stock that is flooding the market it is nice to see a bizarre film like INCUBUS leap from the director's fertile mind.
a pleasure to have a film that you must watch, pay attention to and interpret what it means to you.
Franco is the master of tangent film making.
Lina Romay is still gorgeous after all these years and it's a pleasure to see such a lovely lady still gracing her lovers film.
Sure, some of his recent work seems a bit...rushed, but INCUBUS is good stuff.
It is time for all the Franco naysayers to just leave the man alone.
If you don't like it, don't watch.
No matter what you say the true Franco fans will be here to watch every frame that the madman genius of cinema creates..
A complete load of rubbish!.
I watched an English dub of this film, which, though it's hard to believe such a thing is possible, made a dreadful movie even worse.
The plot was infantile, the 'eroticism' was about as non-erotic as it is possible to get and the actors, of both genders, were hardly blood tingling!
I think the actors who read the dubbed script, particularly the male lead, learned the fine nuances of delivery from reading the warnings on the back of cigarette packets.I have tried, as I do when writing reviews for the I.M.D.B, to find a single redeeming thing about the film but I am defeated.
The film was a failure on almost every front - as a horror movie it was laughable, as an erotic film it was a bore and the story line was, I'm sure written by a couple of seven-year-olds!Altogether a complete waste of 90 minutes.
Mr Franco will never be a Martin Scorsese or even a Tinto Brass but this is awful even by his standards!.
Dreadful!!.
If this piece of garbage was good enough to be considered an actual "movie" then it could easily be the worst movie ever made.
It is so appalling from start to finish, with absolutely no redeeming features, that it is an insult to all of those people who make a serious effort to create real movies.All aspects of the production of this "thing" are simply dreadful.
The camera work is terrible, with neither technical nor artistic talent in evidence.
No effort appeared to be made to add interesting lighting or even fill in the shadows.
The sound track was downright annoying at times.
And the staff, not good enough to be called a "cast", showed no ability to act.What could have been an interesting plot was completely lost in the dreadful script.
What could have been interesting erotica was reduced to a few shots of shaven pubic hair.
And considering the staff were naked for much of the time, no effort appeared to be made to add make-up to a group of people who were not physically attractive enough for me to actually want to see them naked.I must admit I watched the whole thing.
I just couldn't believe someone would waste this much plastic to put it on a DVD. |
tt0100604 | Short Time | Seattle detective Burt Simpson (Coleman) is a man who is so concerned about planning for the future that he cannot enjoy the present. This strains his relationship with his wife Carolyn (Teri Garr) and young son Dougie. However, this is to change when a mix-up at the hospital (caused by a bus driver who is trying to hide his recent use of marijuana) makes him believe that he has two weeks to live. Finding out that his family will only receive a small amount of money if he dies of natural causes, but will receive hundreds of thousands if he is killed in the line of duty, he determines to find a way to make that happen.
Simpson's first effort centers around a domestic disturbance call. Aware that such affairs routinely turn violent, he eagerly responds, but it turns out to be an elderly couple. One of them misheard the other because they were deaf, and a kind remark was mistaken for an insult. When the error is revealed, the two happily reconcile. A more promising situation follows, when Simpson is involved in a car chase with some fleeing suspects who happen to be gun smuggler Carl Stark's two right-hand men. Simpson's vehicle and their car wind up demolished, but no lives are lost. Simpson is awarded a medal for his bravery.
Simpson then intervenes in a hostage situation involving a crazed man with a bomb where, due largely to his newfound realization of the importance of life, he is able to convince the bomber to give himself up. Accidentally forgetting to retrieve the bomb, however, the building is blown up and he is awarded another medal.
Between these events, Simpson spends what he believes are his final days, starting to live in the here and now. He buys a red sports car, spends time with his son and reconciles with his wife. He also reveals to his partner (Matt Frewer) his genuine respect and affection for him. The latter, mystified at this strange behavior, does an investigation of his own and soon finds out what has happened, but by this time Simpson has gotten involved in a running shootout with the heavily armed Stark (Xander Berkeley). The chase ends with both of them balanced on a window washer's scaffold, high on a skyscraper. Simpson's partner reveals to him that he is not going to die, but it is apparently too late: Stark falls to his death and Simpson falls after him.
The final scene occurs at the funeral for the bus driver, who has died of his condition. Simpson is suddenly revealed as attending - out of respect for the man who "gave me back my life". A photo in his partner's possession shows what had really happened: although Simpson did fall from the scaffold, his leg became entangled in some ropes and he wound up dangling upside-down. | violence | train | wikipedia | a fun movie.
This movie is plain, simple, fun.
It doesn't leave you breathless with suspense, or on the edge of your seat with your heart pounding.
But for those who don't enjoy all the smut, violence, and potty mouth movies we've been inundated with in the past several years, its a winner.
Dabney Coleman plays the part well.
First, he is soon to retire from police work, and understandably doesn't want to risk his neck and lose it just before he retires.
However, this all changes when he is told he has just a short time to live.
Wanting nothing more than to leave his family some security, he begins his unsuccessful quest to get himself killed on the job, only to find out its harder than he thought it would be.
This is a movie that does not require anyone to swim through the gray area of a controversial issue.
A Better movie than you'd think.
Dabney Coleman plays a cop getting into his "short time" just before retirement.
Knowing what we do about police movies, we understand why he's careful and plays it safe.
During a routine blood test, he finds out he has a terminal disease and his insurance will only pay out to his estranged wife and son if he dies in the line of duty.
From that setup, we get a marvelous performance by Coleman.
Matt Frewer as his new partner is wonderful as well.
Everyone gives a solid performance here, even Coleman's unmarked cruiser in a amazing chase sequence.
I think you'll like it..
Great Movie.
This is truly one of the funniest movies, I've seen.
I used to watch it several times a week.
I highly recommend this one if you like offbeat comedies.
One of the funniest things was something I didn't even notice the first three times I saw it...What you ask?
The names of the main characters...Burt and Ernie.
It's not easy getting yourself killed.
A police detective learns he is dying from a disease and decides to get himself killed in the line of duty so his wife and son can receive a handsome sum of money upon his demise.
But getting himself killed is way harder than he thought.
Although the film slows way too much down in the second half and gets overly sentimental there's more than a fair share of laughs to compensate.
Dabney Coleman is terrific as usual and the rest of the cast support him well.
I first saw this movie First Choice (at the time Canada's HBO) in the early 90's and immediately fell in love with it.
I am very happy as I understand that it is a hard to find DVD and I stumbled across it on amazon one day.If you are lucky enough to be able to view this movie on DVD or on cable or whatever, have a look.
I think just about anybody could enjoy this film as it is able to be very entertaining without being overly vulgar or violent.This is a funny story about a cop who's physical results are mixed up with another patient and he is told that he is going to die in a short time.
He then finds out that his life insurance only pays out if he dies on the job.
This movie is funny from start to finish and is worth a look from any movie fan..
This is a 1990 film that stands up well even today, in fact I'm surprised it has never been remade by the likes of Stallone or Willis.
It's a genuinely funny movie with quite a straight forward story line.
No bad languages or unnecessary nudety, just well written and brilliantly acted comic situations that support the movies main premise.
Hard to find but really worth watching, a must see..
Quality Coleman.
As another user has said, this is some of Coleman's best work.
An overlooked film for a bland plot and story, this film gives Coleman a place to shine.
To be sure, the acting of the others is very good, as well, and they deserve credit for a job well done, but this is obviously his film.
I spotted this film on network television and I usually avoid films with commercial interruptions, but I like DC and gave it a shot for him.
He pulls this film up by it's bootstraps from a two to a six.
Blakespot Reviews: Short Time.
Short Time, 5/10, 23rd best movie of 1990, 332nd of the 1990s, 842nd all time I had actually really wanted to see this movie for a long time.
I had seen a preview for it when I watched some movie in high school and thought it was a good idea for a movie.
But while I was looking for something to watch at my girlfriends the other day I saw it was on show time.
It's about a Cop who finds out he has a terminal desiease.
He can collect insurance in the amount of 250,000 dollars for his family, but the thing is, he has to die on the job.
Thus he starts taking ridiculous chances on the job, but keeps accidentally succeding, and getting all these commendations for bravery when all he wants to do is get killed.
Now I thought this sounded like a very funny idea for a movie.
And while I still feel the premise was very good, the movie isn't really done very well.
There is one ridiculously funny 10 minute car chase scene which I feel shows exactly how good this movie could have been, and single-handedly bumped this movie up from a low four to a low five.
But other than that I think this movie is mostly a lot of lost potential..
With only eight days left before his retirement, Seattle police detective Burt Simpson (Dabney Coleman) is risk averse to the dismay of his partner Ernie Dills (Matt Frewer).
Their captain (Barry Corbin) isn't happy either.
Burt's blood test for his life insurance gets switched and he's told that he has only two and a half weeks to live.
His police life insurance is only good for getting killed in the line of duty.
He needs to leave money for his wife Carolyn (Teri Garr) and his young son.
He takes on the riskiest calls to get himself killed in his last week on the job.This wants to be funny with action.
With a great comedic actor in Coleman and an intriguing concept, this has good potential.
There is plenty of action but the comedy never quite gets to be funny.
Coleman is bitter for most of the movie.
The constant joke of him failing to get himself killed is limited in its effect.
Old Diplomats never die they just become bumper cars..
Great tounge-in-cheek cliche of the old cop that's about to retire and die.
It takes a beating and keeps on ticking like a combination of a Timex, the Enegizer Bunny and the Mustang from gone in 60 Seconds.
Oh And throw in a little bit of the Blues Brothers Dodge for good measure.
If you like to see old police cars get put through the ringer and come out the other side no worst for wear also check out, Gator, Greased Lighting and Ripper.
A complete waste of time.
I did not enjoy this film at all.
Usually I like Dabney Coleman and I saw this movie for sale for only $3.99.
The premise is good, but the movie did not follow through.
I watched this movie with three other people and nobody enjoyed it at all.
It was not funny (as the cover of the movie box implies), nor heartwarming.
As Homer Simpson would say, "BO-RING!" Don't waste your time with this dull film..
It's hard to start a comedy with a violent scene involving robbery and aggravated assault, and then pepper the film with killings and violent car chases.
It's also questionable that a main plot point involves allowing someone who has only a few days to live to go without any knowledge and counseling.
If you can put all that aside, this is a funny and heart-warming film with great acting from everyone.
A little time spent taking the edge off the violence would have made this really good..
Dabney Coleman is good at lots of things, but this isn't one of them.
"Short Time" has an interesting premise but could have gotten played out better.
Dabney Coleman (the boss in "9 to 5" and the computer scientist in "WarGames") plays a Seattle detective who tries to commit suicide so that his family can collect the indemnity.
When I saw it, what caught my eye was that his character's name sounded like Bart Simpson.
A better Seattle-set comedy from 1990 was Lawrence Kasdan's "I Love You to Death", in which the wife (Tracey Ullman) of a philandering pizzeria owner (Kevin Kline) keeps trying to kill him.Also starring Teri Garr (Inga in "Young Frankenstein"), Matt Frewer (Russell Sr. in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"), Barry Corbin (the general in "WarGames") and Joe Pantoliano (Cypher in "The Matrix")..
Let me start out by repeating what has been stated before, it is very much Dabney Coleman who single handedly saves this film from mediocrity.
He is truly an actor to pay attention to whenever he utters anything in his films, no matter what it is he's saying, you care.
He's a decent, morally strong gentleman, and that's rare, folks.Here, he plays laid back and up-tight police detective Burt Simpson, only days away from retiring.
He's paranoid about taking risks and doing anything to risk being killed.
When he goes to the doctor for a routine examination, a complication arises that leads him to believe he only has about 2 or 3 weeks to live.
Then, as he's getting his final affairs in order, he finds out that his wife (Terry Garr) and young son can only collect on his insurance if he gets killed in the line of duty.He hasn't got much time to waste, so Burt requests double duty in the worst part of the city, much to the dismay of his wiseass partner Ernie (pitch-perfectly played by Matt Frewer) who doesn't know what the hell is going on with his partner.
Burt spends the next few days acting like a supercop, trying desperately to get killed by any means necessary!
The show stopper, hands down, is an extended car chase through Seattle with Burt in relentless hot pursuit of another car carrying a couple of real scumbags.
Burt comes after them with the determination of Robocop, and what ensues is the fastest, funniest and most frantic car chase ever captured on film!
Indeed, when it's all over, their is nothing left of Burt's car but four wheels, a steering column, the engine and a seat!
And of course, Burt himself with only a few minor scratches, why?
Now, this isn't to say that the film is all fun and games, their are a few very poignant scenes with Burt that might bring a tear to your eye, especially the confessions he makes to his estranged wife about how he feels about her.
Another is a scene in a convenience store where a man has taken hostages, Burt strolls in wearing only his boxer shorts and t-shirt and proceeds to have a truly moving heart to heart chat with the disturbed gunman.Deftly mixing action, humor, drama and a serious message about taking stock in one's life before it's to late, Short Time delivers.
It's a simple little film that got no attention, but in my experience, those often are the one's that stay with you.
See it.And BTW, where the hell is this film on DVD!?.
Dark Humor Has Some Good Moments.
I found this to be a very entertaining comedy-suspense film with some wild action.Until the movie "Ronin" came out in the late '90s, the car-chase scene in this movie was the best I had ever seen on film.
It still may be the best - you have to see it to believe it!Basically, this is simply a dark humor film in which a cop, "Burt Simpson" (Coleman) deals with real - or imaginary - imminent death.Thinking he's dying, he takes ridiculous chances, actually hoping he gets killed so his kid gets insurance.
This movie needs to be out on DVD!.
funny movie.
i thought this was a great movie.
i am not a big dabney coleman fan but he was funny in this.the idea of the movie is that dabney coleman is a cop who is getting close to retirement.
he is very careful, doesn't swear, eats healthy food and doesn't like to chase criminals if it puts himself in danger at all, especially now that he is so close to retirement.but then he has a regular checkup with his doctor and discovers that he has a rare disease that can't be cured.
he worries about his ex-wife and child so he checks out his insurance and finds out that they only get a huge payout on his life insurance if he dies on the job.
so obviously he ends up all of a sudden taking huge risks like getting into car chases, fighting on the side of a building, confronting a maniac with a bomb, etc.his partner is very funny too.
this is a great comedy..
Very funny at times, still good even when it isn't funny.
Burt Simpson is an uptight, practical Seattle detective with just over a week before retirement.
He expects his son Dougie (who lives with mother Carolyn) to go to Harvard.
His partner Ernie is more easygoing and carefree and wants to go into the hot tub business.Not wanting anything to happen in his last week on the job, Burt refuses to take risks, and he lets a suspect get away--a man whose face appeared on a wanted poster he was looking at just seconds before spotting him, and a man connected with Carl Stark, whose gang hijacked a shipment of military weapons.
While he is getting tests at the doctor, Burt's blood sample is switched with that of a bus driver who smoked a joint and doesn't want to get caught.
The bus driver, as it turns out, has a terminal illness.
Burt wants to make sure his son is provided for (especially after a dream he has where the son gets into Harvard but his mother has no money to pay for it), but the only life insurance he has is a $350,000 policy that pays off only if he is killed in the line of duty.
So Burt volunteers for the most dangerous duty and takes lots of risks.
He also learns what is important in life.This movie was very funny, when it was funny.
At first it didn't seem as good in the dramatic scenes, but Dabney Coleman did so well in them that even those were good.
Matt Frewer, on the other hand, didn't give a strong enough performance as Burt's partner.
Barry Corbin made an impression as the captain.One of the biggest highlights of the entire movie was an exciting and hilarious car chase involving Carl Stark's gang.
Burt had nothing to lose, and the criminals thought he was insane.
Later, Burt's new outlook on life proved quite valuable in another risky assignment, in a well-done dramatic scene.There was some violence, but I guess no more than in a typical cop movie.
I was glad I saw a version where they cleaned up the language.This movie was a real winner.********************SPOILERS********************Burt defused a hostage situation, but he forgot to defuse the bomb!Near the end, Burt went to the hospital and found the men whose car was demolished in that car chase, and tortured them until they told him Carl Stark's whereabouts.
What followed was an edge-of-your-seat adventure involving the cop and the criminal hanging off the side of a building.
And Burt was assured, from a helicopter, that the doctor made a mistake--he's not going to die!
(Oh, yeah?) Oh, yes, we do see what happens when the bus driver starts to feel the effects of his illness.
*************************************** *************************************** SPOILERS YOU DON"T DARE READ UNLESS YOU REALLY REALLY WANT TO*************************************** ***************************************It's a touching funeral ceremony after Burt falls off that building.
But Burt is on crutches.
His son can't understand why that bus driver was so important..
Good action movie, interesting script.
A cops wants to die but can't succeed.
Original script, the movie follows well the idea.
Although not as packed with action as a Die Hard movie, this movie has the best car chase scene perhaps in the whole movie era from 70's to 90's.
It is really a stunning car chase scene, much better than the other classics.There is no way this movie be rated so low on other review sites.
It has some humor such as the dialogue between the good and the bad guys, but by no means is this a comedy as described on some sites.
Surely Die Hard writers got inspired from this movie at some point..
Short Time.
Was hoping for an easy watching, amusing film to pass the time but got something so dull it was painful.How this falls into the comedy genre I have no idea.
Dull characters and story..
Good Action-Comedy!.
Dabney Coleman, Matt Frewer, Xander Berkeley and Teri Garr star in this 1990 action-comedy.
Coleman (9 to 5) plays Burt Simpson (No, not Bart Simpson), a veteran cop who gets misinformed that he's dying, so he tries
getting himself killed on the job to collect on insurance for his family.
Frewer plays Burt's partner, Ernie (Ha, Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street) and Garr (Dumb & Dumber) plays Burt's ex-wife, Carolyn.
Berkeley (Terminator 2) plays dangerous criminal, Stark and Joe Pantoliano (The Goonies) & Barry Corbin (Wargames) also appear.
I've always liked this film, Coleman is great in it and he & Frewer are good together.
I recommend this good
action-comedy. |
tt0069611 | Moonbase 3 | The TARDIS makes a bumpy landing on the Moon in the year 2070 and, dressed in spacesuits, the Second Doctor and his companions Jamie, Polly and Ben venture outside and enjoy the low-gravity environment. Jamie is injured while they fool around.
The only building on that part of the moon’s surface is the Moonbase, a weather tracking and managing station staffed by an international crew managed by the bullish Hobson. They are using a gravity machine called the Gravitron to control the Earth’s weather. When the time travellers arrive, the Doctor ingratiates them and does detective work because some of the crew have been collapsing in comas with a strange virus. International Space Control responds to the crisis by quarantining the Moonbase. The station doctor, Evans, was the first one to get the disease, and in a delirium talks of a silver hand but immediately dies of the disease.
Another of the Moonbase crew, Ralph, has disappeared in the food stores, and the Moonbase radio transmissions are being monitored from somewhere else on the moon. Jamie has been placed in the sickbay where, feverish and delirious, he begins mumbling about a "Phantom Piper", a figure which Jamie believes appears to a McCrimmon before he dies. While attending to Jamie, Polly sees a large figure leave through the door. When Hobson, the Doctor, Ben, John and Nils arrive to collect Evans' body, it has disappeared. They then leave to investigate where this 'piper' is. Polly goes to get water, and Jamie wakes up to see the 'piper' advancing on him.
The 'piper' ignores Jamie, as he doesn't have the disease, so he steals another patient and leaves. Polly comes back in just as the figure is leaving and recognises it as a Cyberman, and the Doctor realises their old enemies are stalking the Moonbase and taking the patients' bodies. Hobson brushes away the cyber-story, believing they died out years ago. He gives the Doctor 24 hours to discover the cause of the virus, or else he and his companions must leave the moon.
While Hobson deals with the Gravitron, which is becoming difficult to control with fewer staff, the Doctor focuses on the cause of the viral disease. In the sickbay, Polly and Jamie are attacked by a Cyberman, which stuns them with electricity from his hand and leaves with another patient's body.
The Gravitron isn't working because some antennae on the Moon's surface are broken. Jules and Franz go out to fix them but are ambushed by two Cybermen and beaten to death. The Doctor can't work out the cause of the disease and is ordered to leave by Hobson. Polly makes some coffee and another crew member gets infected. The Doctor works out that the neurotropic virus has been spread through infected sugar from the food stores and is an organised scheme to destabilise the crew. A Cyberman who had been posing as a patient in bed reveals himself and aims his gun at them.
Another Cyberman emerges and kills Bob when he tries to attack the other with a metal bar. The Cybermen recognise the Doctor and use their weapons to take control of the central control centre of the Moonbase while confining Polly and Ben to the sickbay. The Cybermen reveal that they want to use the Gravitron to destroy all life on Earth by altering the weather.
On board the cyber-ship Evans, Jules and Ralph are conditioned to obey the Cybermen like zombie slaves. They are taken to the base and are sent into the heart of the Gravitron to subvert the machine. The Cybermen have been entering and leaving the base using a tunnel that goes into the food stores, explaining the drops in air pressure.
Using fire extinguishers, nail varnish remover and other objects that dissolve plastic, Ben, Polly and a recovered Jamie lead a fightback from their incarceration in the medical wing. The three Cybermen in the initial attack force are destroyed.
Benoit goes outside to see what happened to Jules and Franz. He only finds their spacesuits, and is chased by a Cyberman. Ben puts some of the solvent in a bottle and goes out. He then throws the bottle at the Cyberman's chest unit, killing it and saving Benoit. The crew block off the hole in the food stores to prevent more Cybermen entering. The cybership is located, but a large squad of Cybermen start advancing on the Moonbase.
They advance on the Moonbase through the vacuum of the Moon’s surface. Two Cybermen on the surface damage the aerial, preventing the Moonbase from contacting Earth; however, a relief ship is on the way. The Cybermen use radio beams to reactivate their zombies inside the base, who infiltrate the Gravitron and use it to deflect a relief ship sent by Earth into the sun. A hole is blasted in the wall, which depressurises the base, but Hobson and Benoit use a coffee tray to plug the leak. The depressurisation deactivates Evans and the other zombies.
Two more cyberships arrive. The Cybermen already on the surface erect a large laser cannon and threaten to blow the base open unless the entry port is opened within 10 seconds. They fire, but the beam is deflected by the Gravitron, so the Cybermen pack the cannon away. Another large squad from one of the other cyberships take up positions around the base. With the help of Hobson, Polly and Benoit, the Doctor points the Gravitron at the lunar surface, which blasts the Cybermen and their ships into space.
As Hobson and his team reorient the Gravitron to its proper use, the Doctor and his companions slip away. Back in the TARDIS, they dematerialise and then activate the rarely used time scanner to reveal a monstrous claw waving around. | sci-fi | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0130348 | Vinashak - Destroyer | Police Inspector Arjun Singh (Sunil Shetty) is a brave and honest police inspector stationed in Khandala. He uses harsh ways against all the criminals. He is a very strict Police Officer. His colleague and friend is Inspector Khan (Om Puri) who always supports him. Arjun is in love with Kaajal (Raveena Tandon) who is the daughter of a senior police officer, A.C.P. Amar Agnihotri. Arjun's own father does not agree with the harsh ways he uses against the criminals. Arjun is always supported by his sister.
Near Mumbai, in the Central Jail, Jailer Lankeshwar (Danny Denzongpa) is the prison warden uses his jail as a trade center for weapons. Moreover, he allows some of his prisoners to go out as hitmen, do their job, and come back. A.C.P Amar is suspicious of Lankeshwar's actions. He requests the higher authorities to let a police inspector go into the jail and gather evidence about Lankeshwar's evil deeds. Arjun Singh is selected for the job. The plan is that Arjun will fire a blank bullet on A.C.P Amar. Arjun pleads guilty in court and is sentenced to jail. In jail Arjun comes to know that arms, drugs and explosives are smuggled from the jail. He reports it secretly to the Home Minister and the Police Commissioner. They decide to raid the jail but on the raid day the Home Minister, Police Commissioner and Lankeshwar shock Arjun telling him that though he fired fake bullet on his senior but on the way inside the ambulance they really killed A.C.P Agnihotri with real bullets. They then beat Arjun until he faints. Additionally Arjun's sister and father are killed, leaving him heartbroken.
Inspector Khan comes to know of Arjun's plight and decides to help him. He sneaks into the jail and breaks Arjun's chains. Arjun says "Khan, main inka vinash kar doonga." which means "Khan, I shall destroy them." (thus the title of this film). Arjun arms himself and wages a one-man war against the jail guards. He destroys the jail's office and watchtowers then sets fire to the godown in which the illegal drugs and weapons are kept. Khan and Arjun escape in a jeep. They are chased by the police. Arjun destroys the police jeeps which are chasing them by using hand grenades. As they cross a bridge Arjun destroys that too so that they are not chased. However Khan dies as a bullet fired by the police hits him. Arjun then buries him single handedly. Soon Arjun approaches Kaajal who is furious with him for killing her father, however after hearing the whole story she forgives him and decides to help him.
Arjun decides to take his revenge in a systematic way. He becomes a one-man army and kills many of Lankeshwar's henchmen. Lankeshwar, Home Minister and Police Commissioner are afraid as Arjun has set upon a killing spree. Arjun kills the Police Commissioner with a car bomb. The Home Minister is on a cruise when Arjun follows him as a driver and drives him away from his defences. After gathering evidence which would prove him innocent he kills the Home Minister. In fright Lankeshwar pleads guilty in court and is sentenced to be a prisoner in his own jail. Arjun sensing his motive also pleads guilty and is sentenced to the same jail. However Lankeshwar, along with his fellow officers, decides to escape and become terrorists. On the escape day Arjun starts a killing spree. He kills more of Lankeshwar's men. Lankeshwar and Arjun have one last showdown in the jail. Arjun beats Lankeshwar, smashing his ribs and legs. The prisoners feel a sense of patriotism arising in their hearts and take over the jail by killing the guards. Arjun keeps on beating Lankeshwar till he is half dead. Arjun then drags Lankeshwar to the gallows and hangs him. The film ends with Arjun clad in a police uniform saluting with Kaajal and the Indian flag in the background. | revenge | train | wikipedia | Entertainer. Vinashak is a bollywood action thriller. As a Sunil Shetty starrer, Vinashak goes beyond the expectations of those who are prejudiced towards him,I must say. The film,in general is about an honest cop's battle against the corrupt law,after losing his near and dear ones in fighting the wicked.This may sound similar to many films,but this one has good dialogs and excellent action sequences unlike the fake ones in the other films,and the plot is good. Music is average,choreography unremarkable. Sunil Shetty and Om Puri act their roles well,Danny is OK as the villain. You can watch this.It's not a waste of time.But don't be prejudiced. Another remarkable film of Sunil Shetty that I would recommend is Red Alert:The war within. Average. Suneil Shetty kept doing nonsense action films in the 90's after BALWAAN(1992) but post 1994 he kept getting flops BORDER(1997) was a godsend as it was a blockbuster and won him rave reviews and also his work started improvingStill he kept doing action films where he needs to fight mainlyVINASHAK too falls in the bracket though it's a decent film The film however has a good plot but it's handling is typicalThe film has the typical 90's situations like the honest cop is blamed and then how he takes revenge The film has some good scenes and writing by RKS is better then his most films but still it isn't anything novelDirection by Ravi Dewan is good in parts Music is okaySuneil tries hard though his role is similar to his debut BALWAAN yet he has improved a lot, though he still had rough edges those days Raveena is as usual Amongst rest The villains Danny, Tinnu Anand,Mukesh Rishi,Alok Nath are all as usual while Mohan Joshi is adequate Harish Patel is okay, Shivaji Satham leaves a mark in a small role. "Vinashak Aataa Hai!!". That song alone makes this movie about 8 out of 10. This is an excellent action movie that I've seen at least 20 times. The cast is one of the reasons why the film is so good. The good guys are all suited perfectly for their roles while the bad guys are the same way. The 3 main bad guys and their hired helping hand, Ashghar, are a batch of many types. They form a potent team that is hard to beat. The good guys are slightly fewer in number but able to make up for it by being formidable themselves. The songs are excellent throughout, the music is great, and the action is fast yet the plot relaxes here and there to make the movie go at a good pace. I highly suggest this movie to anyone who likes Indian action films. The movie "Om" was very good too and Vinashak is in that flavour!!!. one of 1998's well handled action films. Sunil Shetty started improving ever since 1997 and post Border(1997), he gave several hits. Despite this success, his old and delayed films like Kala Samrajya(1999) released and ruined his successful streak. What really got him appreciation was his critically acclaimed hits like Border, Hu Tu Tu(1999), and other films like Jungle(2000). More delayed films like Officer(2001) came and flopped because of the negative word of mouth. However, the successful tag stayed because some of his typical action potboilers like Vinashak(1997) became hits at the box office.Vinashak tells the story of a sincere cop who fights against corruption. When he is too much of a trouble for his enemies, he gets framed for a fake murder and sent to the villain's jail. There, he witnesses the illegal activities taking place and he decides to stop this problem. Not only does he fall in more trouble, his informer gets murdered for a corrupt prisoner. After much physical torture, he is able to escape and revenge his family by murdering the villains one by one. He not only avenges his family but saves the lives of million innocents.The story is typical but the handling is extremely good. If a few rough edges had been patched, the handled would've been even better. The biggest flaw of the film is the forced comedy track and the unconvincing romance. These are stereotypical elements in an Indian film so these can't be removed. What works the most in the film is Shetty's action and the wonderful dialogs which act as crow pullers. Another advantage is the tittle track which successfully outlines the hero and his situation as the true destroyer(Vinashak).Direction by Ravi Dewan is surprisingly good, he handles many scenes well. If only he handled some post interval portions better, the pace would've been maintained and the film would've been closer to fantastic. Action is superbly directed by Ravi Dewan, Sunil's films always had Dewan as the action director and surprisingly, this is one action director who succeeds as the main director as well. Writing by Raj Kumar Santoshi is a major advantage as well, the story despite being typical works well because of good moments in the film.Sunil Shetty does a good job as the typical cop who takes his revenge. He not only excels in stunts but acts properly, there is no shrieking of any kind and he doesn't overact. He has definitely improved and hats off to Mr. Ravi Dewan for helping Sunil become a good actor. Raveena Tandon had only come back to films because Sunil Shetty motivated him to come back, she acts decent and her pairing with Shetty works. However, their chemistry is missing and that ruins some of the first parts of the film. Danny is superb as the sinister villain, he acts well and his expressions are good too. Mukesh Rishi has the well maintained physique of a tough side villain but his acting is wooden as usual, he overacts terribly in parts. Mohan Joshi is wasted in a short villain's role, Alok Nath and Tinnu Anand don't have much to do. However, their death scene is lifted off an English action film. The rest provide decent support.Music is decent but only one songs leaves a huge mark and that is the catchy title song. If there was a dance sequence for "Vinashak aata hai" then the film would've been slightly better. However, the song is used in Sunil's entry and the credits where a successful Sunil is accepting medals for his successful task. The song is superb and it ties into the movie because it explains the whole situation of the movie. On the whole, Vinashak is one of Shetty's better action films from the huge list of films he had in the 90s. This time, it's not hit music and poor story, it's hit music and decent story which makes a hit film(in this case Vinashak). |
tt0104403 | Hedd Wyn | As the camera pans over the intricate carving on the infamous "Black Chair", the voice of the Archdruid Dyfed is heard vainly summoning the poet who signs his work with the nom de plume "Fleur-de-lis" to stand and be chaired. The film then flashes back to 1913.
As a farmer's son in the village of Trawsfynydd, Ellis Humphrey Evans composes poetry for local eisteddfodau under the bardic name Hedd Wyn ("Blessed Peace"). A friend and student minister, William Morris (Arwel Gruffydd), advises Ellis that his verse possesses a passion which better educated poets lack. Therefore, with more work and less womanizing, Ellis could win the National Eisteddfod. Ellis smiles and quips, "Where do you think all that passion comes from?" Meanwhile, international tensions rise and the British Army installs an artillery range on a local hillside, much to Ellis' annoyance.
In August 1914, Britain declares war on the German Empire. Soon afterwards, at a gathering in the village street, an Anglican minister gives a rousing sermon which demands immediate enlistment. Disgusted, William Morris calls the Anglican minister "a disgrace to his calling", and tells those nearby not to be deceived. In spite of this, several young men from Trawsfynydd join the British Army, including Ellis' friend Griff Jones (Gruffudd Aled).
Despite mounting pressure, Ellis refuses to enlist and says that he doesn't think he can kill anyone. As a result, Ellis' fiancée, Lizzie Roberts (Sue Roderick), accuses him of being "afraid of becoming a man". At a fair, Ellis attempts to mend his relationship with Lizzie, only to find that she has taken up with an English soldier. "It is nothing personal," she says coldly, "I just don't like your clothes." Later, in the village pub, Ellis and Moi Davies (Emlyn Gomer) are giving Griff, who is now in uniform, a send-off. As fellow villagers sing the recruiting song "Your King and Country Want You" in their honor, Lizzie appears in the pub's doorway. Ellis spots her and begins to loudly sing "Myfanwy", a song with implications of female betrayal. Sensing Lizzie's distress, her new beau punches Ellis in the face, screaming, "You're upsetting the lady! Welsh bastard!"
On a train, Ellis encounters Jini Owen (Judith Humphreys), a young woman who admires his poetry. Noticing her interest in him, Ellis asks for Jini's address and sends her a letter. Soon the two are deeply in love. Simultaneously, Ellis develops a close friendship with Mary Catherine Hughes (Nia Dryhurst), the young woman who is his sister's teacher. He explains to her that, whenever a poem is lacking, he will cast it into the river, and that it will always return to him stronger. On a railway journey with Jini, Ellis encounters two hideously disfigured war veterans. Despite his sympathy for their plight, the soldiers accuse Ellis of cowardice for remaining a civilian. As he and Jini depart, they threaten to mail him a white feather. Ellis quips, "You don't have any wings, let alone feathers."
Ultimately, Lizzie returns to the village with tuberculosis. After a church service, she informs Ellis that he was right about the war, which is a curse. Later, as Lizzie lies dying, Ellis visits her sickbed and promises to bring her to the National Eisteddfod. Soon afterwards, an official of the draft board arrives at the family farm and takes down the names of Ellis and his brother Bob (Ceri Cunnington), despite the resistance of Ellis' mother (Catrin Fychan). As a result, the Crown informs the Evans family that one of their sons must join the British Army.
Although 17-year-old Bob longs to enlist instead, Ellis refuses to permit this. Horrified of losing him, Jini pleads with Ellis to let Bob enlist in his place. Enraged, Ellis says that, if Bob were injured or killed, he could never live with himself. With Jini seeing him off, Ellis departs by train to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Liverpool. Despite the insults showered on them by their English-speaking drill sergeant, Ellis and his fellow Fusiliers continue their training in good spirits and are sent to France. Facing what may be his last chance to win the Eisteddfod, Ellis pleads with his platoon commander to send his awdl Yr Arwr (The Hero) via the Army Postal Service. The young officer, who is unable to read Welsh, at first refuses, suspecting the poem to be a coded message to the Germans. Eventually he relents, mails Ellis' submission, and praises him as "The Armageddon Poet".
On 31 July 1917, the Fusiliers go over the top and into the Battle of Passchendaele. Crawling through swampy shell holes filled with corpses, Ellis witnesses his fellow soldiers being shot and blown to pieces around him. At last, he is wounded by shrapnel and crumples to the ground. After hours of lying in no man's land, Ellis is evacuated to an aid post, where he succumbs from his injuries. His devastated parents receive a telegram with news of Ellis' death. Jini weeps inconsolably as she reads Ellis' last letter, in which her beloved proposed marriage in a poem. Mary Catherine, in a last tribute to her friend, casts the manuscript of Ellis' poem Rhyfel (War) into the river.
The Evans family receives another telegram which announces that Ellis' submission has won the National Eisteddfod. To the sound of R. Williams Parry's Englynion coffa Hedd Wyn (Englynion in memory of Hedd Wyn), the chair which Ellis has dreamed of all his life is delivered to his parents' farmhouse, robed in black. | anti war, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | The valiant preservation of Welsh language and culture.
The Welsh have been valiantly preserving and promoting their beleaguered language and culture.
In recent years, the Welsh film industry blossomed, with such inventive slices-of-life as LEAVING LENIN (1993), which was filmed in St. Petersburg, shown at international film festivals and garnered considerable interest and accolades.
It showed to the world that the Welsh language is very much alive.HEDD WYN is another example, as it depicts the life and death of one of Wales' greatest poets.
Ellis Evans (Huw Garmon), under the pen name ÒHedd WynÓ writes thoughtful, spare verse which wins kudos from his countrymen.
The son of a farmer, he isn't as educated as some bards, but his kind and genuine nature fuels his talent.The film evinces his pastoral existence in his native village, his richly nuanced relationships with three different women, his reluctant transformation into a soldier, and his eventual sacrifice in World War I.
More a biopic than an exploration of poetic inspiration, the film nonetheless has its lyrical moments, and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar..
Welsh magic.
This Welsh-language film directed by Paul Turner is based on the true story of Ellis Evans - a young poet living in North Wales at the start of WW1.
Huw Garmon is excellent as Evans - the young lover; the poet; the farm boy and, ultimately, as a young soldier sent to his death at the Somme.
Evans competes in the National Eisteddfod - a cultural competition which includes the awarding of a Bardic chair to the winner of the poetry competition but, before the winner is announced Evans, whose bardic name was Hedd Wyn, is sent to the front.
This film captures perfectly the Welsh traditions bound up with the Chapel and the family.
It also shows vividly the young lives wasted in the conflict.
The countryside of North Wales is shown in glorious colour,contrasting with the grey mud of the trenches.
There is one scene where the Major is leading his troops down a country road.
As they approach the camera the scene shifts to the side of the road and one sees the faces of these boys who are marching off to what we now know was almost certain death.
The troops were played by young army cadets and it helps us to remember that few of those who died were old men - they were young boys - "they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old".
The final scene where the Bardic chair is brought, swathed in black, to the Evans' farmhouse is so moving.
The parents, grieving for their lost son, accept it with dignity knowing that he will never see his prize.
A beautifully acted, directed and photographed film worthy of its Oscar nomination..
What a fantastic film.....
As someone who lives only some 10 miles away, and known the story so well, it was such a pleasure to watch the film.It showed how pointless war is.
I think that what Ellis did, go and join up, so to save his younger brother from doing so, is so brave.
Such acts you wouldn't expect to see today in society.I have seen this film many times and it's just as good each time around.
It will make any person cry at the end.One interesting thing, in the film Huw Garmon (Ellis Evans) courts Sue Rodderick (Lizzie Robers), but in a soap shown here in Wales, Sue plays Huw's his mother!!!.
mae hyn yn drawiadol*.
Wales is the part of the United Kingdom about which we don't hear much, and that's what makes Paul Turner's "Hedd Wyn" all the more enjoyable.
I had never heard of the title poet until watching it.
Ellis Evans proudly wrote in his native language and took as his pseudonym Hedd Wyn, the Welsh words for "blessed peace".
But with the arrival of World War I, the English drafted him and sent him to his doom.The movie is both an indictment of war and of England's domination of Wales.
There can be no doubt that the English looked down on the Welsh just as they did the Scots and the Irish, and therefore had no qualms about sending them into harm's way.
Evans was disgusted with the jingoism pushed by London, but even he got thrown into the war.The movie's most impressive quality is of course its use of Welsh.
For all that I know, it might be the only movie filmed mainly in Welsh, a language that has some of the most interesting spellings of all.
It's just a really good movie.
Rwy'n argymell y ffilm (Welsh for "I recommend the movie").*That's Welsh for "this is impressive"..
Truly a lovely film!.
This story about the tragic life of the beloved Welsh poet Ellis Evans compares favourably with "All Quiet on the Western Front".
One comes away from this film convinced of the hopelessness of war and yet, bolstered by the knowledge that for all our general savagery we humans can now and again produce poetry of sublime proportions..
Sentimental in the grand old Welsh tradition.
My mother and I sobbed all the way through the second half of this film.
To be fair, it can only be properly appreciated if you speak Welsh; the poetry loses everything in translation.
It does become pretty mawkish at times but as a true Welsh woman I'm a no-holds-barred sentimentalist and I fell for it hook line and sinker..
Sadness and beauty combined.
I have given this film a 9.
Being a Welshman I already knew the story of Hedd Wyn and I was very impressed with how this piece of Welsh history was put to film.Although the film does loose something in translation, overall I was quite impressed at the skill of the translators in managing to convey at least a little bit of this man's brilliance as a bard.The sense of loss that this film conveys is very strong and when watching this film and pondering over the life of Hedd Wyn, I can't help thinking that somewhere in the world today many more valuable lives are being lost due to needless conflict..
You don't have to be Welsh to appreciate this film....
I'm not Welsh, although my father is, and I don't speak the language.
It doesn't matter.
The thrust of this film is that the hero sacrifices himself, both for his brother, and for his country, to go and fight, despite stating that he doesn't think that he can kill his fellow men.
Along the way he comes across bigotry and prejudice; the persecution of his Welshness in the film is just as relevant to our society now, regardless of what culture or language is being mocked and derided.
It seems that in early C.20 Britain we were suspicious of a man because he spoke a different language, so he might be a spy.
Now we think he might be a terrorist.
I guess we don't learn a lot.The unity and bonding of the young soldiers being sent to fight in what we all know was a horrendous and particularly pointless war is touching, and the pointlessness of the millions of deaths of young men is made abundantly clear.
A superb film.
I watched it with my mother, and we cried too..
the pub scenes.
the pub scenes were filmed in a former mental hospital outside Ruthin in north wales i was an extra for the two days the crew were there.
the first day i was a soldier playing cards behind the star and his friend and the next day i was a "civvie"in a grey tweed jacket.
the beer was real on both days but the "whisky" was ginger beer,one soldiers glass had a hole in the bottom so his drink went down quicker than it should i don,t think it shows on screen.when the scene starts the words "jammie bastard" are heard this refers to me winning the cards the sound man queried the remark but the director said it was OK,the soldier who said it really had a better hand than me |
tt0081433 | Roadie | Travis W. Redfish (Meat Loaf) is a beer-drinking, bar-brawling, fun-loving distributor of Shiner beer. He also helps his father, Corpus C. Redfish (Art Carney) with the family salvage company, whose motto is "Everything will work if you let it!" B.B. Muldoon (Gailard Sartain) is both his best friend and business partner.
In the opening scene, B.B., driving their Shiner beer truck, arrives at the Redfish family home and business to pick Travis up for work. A short time later, after embarking on their daily delivery route, they notice an RV that has broken down on the side of the road. At first, they laugh at the thought of helping the stranded motorists. Until, that is, Travis sees wannabee groupie Lola Bouliabaise (Kaki Hunter) smile at him through the rear window of the RV. Redfish slams on the brakes and decides to help, hoping to get a closer look at Lola. Lola is a big Alice Cooper fan and Travis has never heard of "her". 'Ace' (Joe Spano), a road manager, and his assistant George, try to talk Travis into driving them to Austin for a show to be played by Hank Williams Jr. and put on by music mogul Mohammed Johnson. He meets Bird Lockhart, a hippie and lifelong roadie in the music business. After repairing the RV Lola is able to talk Travis into coming along where he ends up becoming the "greatest roadie that ever lived" with his unusual techniques on fixing things.
On the road, Redfish gets into a bar fight with "Tiny" Thompson after Lola accidentally ruins his little sister's hair by dumping beer on it in an attempt to meet Roy Orbison. After knocking heads, Travis ends up with "Brain-Lock" that he developed in the war and only a pitcher of beer will cure him. | cult | train | wikipedia | This was a great movie and if you're into American pop music culture and history I think you would enjoy this movie greatly.Meatloaf stars as Travis W.
He ends up in this situation when the bus carrying groupie Lola Bouilliabase breaks down on a stretch of road near Travis' home town.Art Carney is wonderful as Travis' father and junkyard owner and the movie is full of cameo appearances by the likes of Debbie Harry, Roy Orbison, Alice Cooper (who Lola is in love with) and has music from a wide variety of 80's artists.I was so impressed when I saw this movie I went out and bought the soundtrack, which is a double fold out album with pictures and some background information.I also liked the movie slogan "The Bands make it rock, but the Roadies make it roll"I think "Roadie" is deserving of cult-classic status, but unfortunately I don't think very many people saw it.
Roadie is a fun movie with a chance to see some rock and rollers on the screen.
Meatloaf stars and plays a roadie (big stretch there) who is great at fixing stuff and inventing things.
Well Meatloaf hits the road and helps the likes of Debbie Harry and her band Blondie, Alice Cooper, Hank Williams Jr among others.
The film is a bonafide B-movie cult classic.
People who don't understand Austin (or Texas) won't get the film, and probably won't like it.High points of the film include a Hank Williams Jr./Roy Orbison duet singing "The Eyes of Texas" (the school song of the University of Texas at Austin) to break up a bar brawl; a high-speed chase through downtown Austin involving Austin police, a Lone Star Beer truck, and a limousine; and an outdoor rock concert, the "Rock N Roll Circus", featuring Blondie singing a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire".
As an "old guy" with a nervous disposition who has enough trouble sitting through many movies once, the ultimate tribute I can give this great "on the road" rock'n'roll saga is that I watched it numerous times when it was on cable in 1981, I have watched it several dozens of times on VHS, and now that it's on DVD, I have watched it several times again.
The film has a rock'n'roll backdropa backdrop we rarely see from the workingman's eye the way we do here.
The movie gives us what amounts to real-world views of several 70's favorites (Meatloaf, Alice Cooper, Blondie, etc.).
But what keeps me watching the film is that it is really funny in an honest, straight-forward way that we have enjoyed far too seldom since Hollywood started grinding out its cookie-cutter farces in the wake of "Airplane." The dual surprises of the film are the really solid performances put in by Alice Cooper and Meatloaf in their respective roles as rock star and roadie.
This is a "cult" movie in the most real sense of the word and anyone who is made nervous by rock music, farce that is outside of the "Scary Movie" mainstream, or three-hundred pound leading men (Meatloaf) should avoid this movie at all costs.
The soundtrack was worth having simply for the long and messy "Brainlock" which plays during one of the few really funny car chases in the history of film..
Rock and roll cult movie.
This movie, in my opinion has many of the features of a cult classic.The acting is uneven, the comedy is uneven, and the plot is a cliché.But the movie is worth watching (as a cult movie,) for a number of reasons.1) Ecletic and enjoyable sound track including a fun cover of Ring of Fire (and you can't experience too many covers of Ring of Fire.) 2) A mix of different comic elements such as an amusing car chase, and Forest Gump like moments where Redfish is simply in the right place at the right time 3) Great rock and roll cameos 4) Occasional surreal moments, if you like that kind of thingAnother part I found refreshing was doing a rock and roll movie involving a groupie with no gratuitous sex or nudity.
Now as a band cameo movie it isn't that great but Meatloaf in brainlock is worth watching just to hear what he says.It's a classic in my opinion..
Love finding these DVD's of movies we haven't seen in years.
We found it on DVD last month and we laughed and sometimes said oh--didn't Blondie look really good then, and Hank Williams Jr. was kinda tame.
Some times it is over the top, but most times is kinda sweet and the music is not bad, except the title version of Everything Works if you Let It (there is another version which is not so bad in the movie) by Cheap Trick.
Alice Cooper is fun to watch, but not as much fun as Meatloaf, and luckily they got Art Carney to play Dad..
I'm also a fan of Meatloaf; for about the same amount of time; so I was surprised to find this on the shelves of my local video store.The story is simple, a handyman meets the woman of his dreams who just so happens to be in love with Alice Cooper.
Meatloaf is very convincing as the country hick (yes COUNTRY HICK) engineering genius named Redfish and while Kaki Hunter tries to pull off the excited groupie routine, she's mostly annoying.For those of you who didn't know it, Art Carney is in this movie as Redfish's father, Corpus Redfish.
He is, as always, excellent in his role as a grouchy junk yard owner.The movie has many memorable (and unfortunately, period) cameos in it by Blondie, Roy Orbison and, of course, Alice Cooper.
Cooper actually shines as a rock star and has a very interesting manner; half manager/half psycho.I recommend this movie simply because it's a total shock.
Roadie (1980) ** (out of 4) Travis Redfish (Meat Loaf) is a man who can fix anything so he's hired by a promoter to become a roadie and make sure a rock and roll show keeps going without issues.
Lola (Kaki Hunter) is a virgin groupie who wants to land in NYC so that she can give herself to Alice Cooper (who plays himself).
ROADIE was one of many musicals that went down as a major flop back in the day but looking at the picture today you can't help but find it somewhat charming and of course there's all the major talent on display.
This "story" appears to have about four different sides and all of them are fighting against one another and in the end you're really left with a movie that doesn't seem to know what it wants to be.
On one hand, you have a behind the scenes look at a rock show on tour but the thing is so tame that you really do feel as if you're watching something that has been watered down.
On another hand you have a groupie getting used to the road but Meat Loaf's character is so full of holes that you have a hard time making any sense out of him.
Another problem with the story is that Loaf's character goes "crazy" at times and apparently this is from an earlier UFO abduction but this subplot is just downright annoying.
The story goes off in so many directions that you're head will be hurting by the time it's over or you at least be sitting there wondering why they couldn't have just left the spotlight on some of the music acts.
Hank Williams, Jr., Blondie, Asleep at the Wheel, Roy Orbison, Jack Elliott and The Pleasant Valley Boys are just a few of the acts that appear and most of them give good performances.
Cooper gets the biggest role of any of the musical acts and he has proved that he can be a very reliable actor and his charm is certain quite high here.
Meat Loaf also delivers a pretty likable performance as he certainly makes you entertained by his character even though it's underwritten.
ROADIE is a pretty bad movie due to its bad screenplay but at the same time fans of the musical acts should be somewhat entertained with the music alone.
one of the few great rock 'n' roll movies.
It is a very fun movie, filled with the rebellious spirit of rock & roll.
'Roadie' is an absolutely awful and unfunny road movie about a country hick (Meatloaf) who inadvertently becomes "the world's best roadie" while pursuing a wanna-be groupie (Kaki Hunter) whose ambition is to lose her virginity to shock rock legend Alice Cooper.
Cooper plays himself and performs, as do Hank Williams, Jr, Blondie and Roy Orbison.
The rest of the very odd cast includes 'The Honeymooners' Art Carney (as Meatloaf's Dad), Joe Spano ('Hill Street Blues') as a clueless road manager, and 'Soul Train's Don Cornelius as a flamboyant promoter to name just a few familiar faces.
Most movie goers will find 'Roadie' a pointless exercise, but obsessive musical nerd record collector types (like me) will be entertained.
What can be said about a movie where Meat Loaf plays the most intelligent and sanest character?
The characters here are totally unappealing and Meat Loaf doesn't even sing (except for one brief moment for a characteristic "duel" with the female lead, which is the high point of the movie).
The rock star cameos--Roy Orbison, Hank Williams Jr., Alice Cooper, Blondie--look uninspired, as if Rudolph had no idea what to do with them.
I have nothing against the "free form" style that Rudolph appeared to be aiming for--a movie with a real "rock and roll" spirit.
But Rock and Roll High School (which came out one year before this) and Almost Famous (which came out 20 years later) did this much better mainly because the characters were interesting and likeable and we really cared about what happened to them.
The final shot of the film sheds some light on the strange 90 minutes that preceded it, and Meat Loaf manages some inspired moments.
"Roadie" is a frat-boy fracas complete with barroom brawls, horny harpies, Art Carney in a souped-up wheelchair...and Meat Loaf at the wheel.
Meat Loaf (playing Travis W.
Redfish!) is actually a rather charming presence on the screen, and perhaps in a smaller role (in a better movie) he might indeed be ingratiating, but Zalman King's script is full of stereotypical redneck humor and helpless Meat Loaf is kept wide-eyed and moronic.
Alice Cooper, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Jr., and Blondie all make appearances--and all look embarrassed.
Roadie is a slow, lackluster experience from an actor who could have the potential to do a very funny slapstick film.
Meat Loaf has the charisma, attitude, appearance, and ability to play a character in a buddy comedy.
And it's not really any movie.The problem is a typical one for comedies in the eighties; they don't know what they want to be.
Roadie could've been one of three things; a musical with performances by many great people like Alice Cooper and Hank Williams Jr., a deep character study into Meat Loaf's Travis W.
Maybe there was a lot of indecisiveness and compromises among them.Starring: Meat Loaf and Kari Hunter.
The first look on the cover of this picture, it looks like a good rock n roll movie.
But don't let the cover fool you, or the fact that Alice Cooper and Blondie is in it.
Plain and simple: BADIt's not a movie about a roadie, its just a thin love story, so awful that you see right through it.
The only good thing about this movie, is the soundtrack.Some good songs, and that is why I give 2 out of 10.
Meat Loaf is a horrible actor(at least he was in 1980), and the girl who plays the groupie isn't even good looking!
This movie was a huge disappointment for me, because it makes a lot of good promises..
How best to describe just how awful this movie is???Let's start with the campy hick humor.
Pity poor Art Carney, who should have known better than to do this movie.And then there is the plot.
That's a sure sign that the movie probably won't be very good.
Sheer, unbridled, let it all hang out somethin' crazy lunacy is the order of the day in this raucous rock'n'roll comedy which features the almighty Meatloaf in a disarmingly sweet and robust performance as Travis W.
Redfish's off-beat initiation into the sprawling fracas of the manic, anything-goes nuttiness and rootlessness of the peripatetic rock'n'roll lifestyle hooks him up with flighty underage aspiring groupie Lola Bouillabaisse (an endearingly daffy'n'dippy portrayal by thin, perky, squeaky-voiced "Porky's" film regular Kaki Hunter), who wants to surrender her virginity to Alice Cooper.
Moreover, there are uniformly outstanding musical appearances by Hank Williams, Jr., Roy Orbison (in one of the movie's funniest moments Roy and Hank pacify a brawling tavern audience by breaking into an impromptu a cappella duet on "The Eyes of Texas"!), Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Asleep at the Wheel, Blondie (who do a great thrashy New Wave rave-up rendition of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire"), and, of course, Alice Cooper.
In short, this gloriously gaga, sometimes downright bizarre, and frequently berserk romp certainly has the correct right-on rambunctious rock'n'roll attitude, thereby making it one of Alan Rudolph's breeziest, more accessible, most unpretentious and hence quite hugely enjoyable pictures that he's ever made..
Meat Loaf is really convincing in all his tribulations, and Kaki Hunter has strong weird charms.
Roy Orbison, Blondie and "you Cooper?" also strongly contributed to this experience, which I for the first time rank as a feel-very-good movie :) I watched it twice the first night, and will often again..
I really loved this movie.It was very refreshing.Meatloaf was hilarious.I loved how he seemed to be out of it but focused all at the same time.He gave the term functioning alcoholic a whole new meaning.My favorite part is when he got out of the car on the plane and looked around like he just realized where he was,then opened the plane's door and saw they were in the air.Hilarious!Perfect!The musical guest stars are surprising and fun to watch,especially Blondie.I would recommend this to anyone.The part where he puts the power station together is inspiring.It auctually is possible.Of course they make it look easy but it makes you think,I could do that.The fact that he didn't even mean to be a roadie,he just sort of fell into it because he liked her is pretty funny and it makes the movie work..
It's not highbrow after all.Here's the skinny...* It's a rock and roll movie (you kind of have to get rock and roll I think) * It's got Blondie (what more do you want?
And the band does a cover of Ring of Fire...what more do you want??) * It's a romance of sorts, intermingled with silly craziness...you sort of have to like silly craziness in movies...
* It's got the makings of a cult classic, IMO; You can revel in it's offbeat characters and plot and thinking is highly discouraged * Meatloaf is really charismatic in it...hard to not fall in love with his innocence and integrity as portrayed * The countless mispronunciations of Redfish by the promoter are great - they bring to mind Guybrush Threepwood in the computer games series Monkey Island...does he EVER pronounce it right?
* What's her name is pretty damn cuteHere's what you won't get - * A coherent plot (like I say, thinking is optional) * Depth of any sort (don't go looking for it, it's a shallow movie, nothing wrong with that) * Mainstream appeal (some people will never like it, it's too offbeat, but fans of offbeat comedies may love it)Anyway, you know who you are.
Some people like offbeat rock and roll comedies and some don't.
Good snapshot of late 70s rock and roll.
Having no expectations, it turns out Roadie is a fun snapshot of late 70s/early 80s rock and roll.Meatloaf is enjoyable to watch as the lovable cowboy, who goes along with a rock show as their go-to fix-it man.
Contrary to the fleshy movie poster, there is nudity in this movie.) Other fun roles are by Art Carney, Don Corlenlous, Joe Spano and of course, all the music stars.
It's always great to see famous musicians in movie roles, where you don't expect them to be great actors, but more of just themselves.
Roy Orbison, Alice Cooper, Debbie Harry and Hank Williams Jr. all seems to be having fun and go along with the breezy plot.The music scene at the time of this movie (1980) was at a crossroads.
But the rest of the music is good enough to forgive some of the silly plot moments and acting.
Does anyone know if a CD was ever released?7 out of 10 stars for a fun trip back in time when rock and roll was a little bit more honest.
Roadie definitely doesn't take itself too seriously, which is what a good rock and roll movie should do..
I've watched it with my sister and my close friend a few times and they both think it's great as well.
They come across a broken down caravan belonging to some band management people and wacky Alice Cooper lovin' groupie, Lola, who Travis just falls for at first sight.
He gets them to Austin where the're supposed to go but get threatened that if they don't set up the band's gear in time Muhumad Johnson-"the ring leader of the rock n' roll circus" will "rape their careers".
All the while he tries to woo Lola but she keeps going on about how much she wants to lose her virginity to Alice Cooper.
What a great musical time piece it turned out to be!
Nonsensical, quirky road movie with Meat Loaf (excellent acting), Blondie and others in a B-movie made for the ages. |
tt0120008 | The Replacement Killers | During an orchestrated drug bust at a marine loading dock, Detective Stan Zedkov (Michael Rooker) kills Triad lieutenant Peter Wei (Yau-Gene Chan). Looking to exact revenge for his son's death, crime boss Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang) sends for professional assassin John Lee (Chow Yun-fat). Paying off an old debt, Lee has already killed two targets for Wei, and the crime boss tells him that this third and final job will settle the obligation. However, Lee's conscience prevents him from completing his final assignment: to murder Zedkov's seven-year-old son Stevie (Andrew J. Marton) before the detective's eyes. Realizing that his actions will result in retaliation against his mother and sister, Lee prepares to return to China, enlisting the help of old friend Alan Chan, a monk in a local Buddhist temple, to make arrangements to have his family moved to a secure location. Infuriated by Lee's disobedience, Wei orders his head lieutenant, Michael Kogan (Jürgen Prochnow), to lead the hunt for Lee, and has his people in China begin the search for Lee's family.
No longer able to use the Triad network to get out of the country, Lee searches for alternative means outside Wei's sphere of influence, and looks to skilled forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) for a new passport. Before she can finish the job, Wei's men storm her office, destroying the computerized tools of her trade in the ensuing shootout. Lee escapes; Coburn is picked up by the police, unsuccessfully interrogated by Zedkov, and released as bait so the detective can see who comes after her. Meanwhile, Wei hires skilled out-of-town replacement killers to take over the hunt for Lee and the Zedkov contract.
Lee finds Coburn when she returns to her destroyed office. Having been made aware that the Triads are involved, Coburn wants out, but Lee forces her to finish her original task of creating a forged passport. Traveling with Coburn, with the two replacement killers, Ryker (Til Schweiger) and Collins (Danny Trejo), in pursuit, Lee gets pictures from a photo booth and phones Alan, who offers the use of his passport. When Lee arrives at the temple, he discovers that Alan has been tortured to the point of death. Alan tells Lee that his family was moved to Canton—but he told his torturers they were in Shanghai. Lee has little more than 24 hours before his family is found. The monk gives Lee his passport before dying in his arms.
Holed up in a hotel, Coburn finishes altering Allan's passport for Lee. The two exchange stories, and Coburn becomes sympathetic to Lee. Feeling compelled to stop the killing of Zedkov's son before leaving the country, Lee forces one of Wei's men to reveal the plan, which is to kill Stevie while he and his father are at a cartoon festival in a movie theater. Lee and Coburn, who insists on helping, arrive barely in time to prevent Ryker and Collins from killing the boy, and Ryker is killed in the subsequent gunfight. Concerned that Lee and Coburn will make their way back to Wei's base of operations, the crime boss makes plans to flee the country and hunt down Lee's mother and sister himself. However, when two guards open the main gate for Wei and his entourage to leave in a limo, Lee is just outside and launches a two-handed handgun assault. Coburn surfaces moments later, driving a truck through the melee, incapacitating Wei's Kogan, and later killing him. When Collins fires from a high perch on Lee and Coburn, Lee soon outflanks him, killing him from behind. Finally, Lee corners Wei on a fire escape platform. Though both men have emptied their guns, Lee is first to reload. Wei promises Lee that the boy and Lee's family will still die, but Lee replies, "Not in your lifetime," and kills him. Though Zedkov arrives before Lee and Coburn can get away, he lets them go, taking only their guns. Coburn reluctantly bids goodbye to Lee at the airport, presenting him with one last gift, passports for his mother and sister. | revenge, cult, neo noir, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | so much of the goodness of this movie relies on Mira Sorvino's screen presence that it plays a bit like a bit music video -- it's just plain fun to see her on screen.
Chow Yun Fat is good, and this American Chinese boy (me) likes seeing a hybrid movie like this...
Every once in a while I wonder how a small time forger learned to fight and shoot like she does, but then I blissfully ignore it and just enjoy the movie.Great action scenes, wonderful relationship development and great acting by Mira and Yun-Fat Chow make this a movie I'm sure I'll see many more times..
His on-screen persona is just the finest and he is one of the best actors out there!But with other HK stars transfers to Hollywood - where the big wigs all claim that they know what is best - I was quite concerned for his debut.Replacement Killers actually plays quite well!Still carrying that 90's look, we are treated to 85 minutes of stylish Hong Kong wanna-be shoot outs and angles that sometimes overdoes the John Woo homages - some of which are pretty good, some that just ended up quite slow.Regardless, it was a great introduction to the US audience for HK's coolest actor, and an enjoyable film nonetheless!.
Wild and absolutely menacing thriller involving Chow Yun-Fat (in his American film debut) as John Lee, a quiet yet resourceful hit-man who along with a sarcastic forger, Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino), become involved when Lee refuses to take out someone close to a cop (Michael Rooker), who shot and killed his mobster boss' drug-dealing son during a drug bust and in the process, Coburn and Lee are also targeted by his superiors.It's a brilliant debut for Yun-Fat and director Antoine Fuqua ("Bait", "Training Day"), both of whom show their skills with such respect.
I think of the movie as "Lethal Weapon" made like in the style of John Woo, who is one of the film's producers."The Replacement Killers" certainly hits the center of the bulls-eye with hair-raising accuracy..
I am a fan of the John Woo type of action movies and I must say that even he was just one of the executive producers, his mark is all over this movie!!!The result is very good : Nicely paced action sequences, more story and emotions than in your average Hong Kong action movie (But not as much story development as in an American production, but in this genre this just isn't needed that much, it would just slow down the pace), well acted , you kinda start feeling sympathetic for the leads and you'll certainly hate these villains.
I liked the way they made Chow Yun-Fats character to be caring person, not someone who goes around killing people for fun.
I'm sure this will be a great film for action fans to watch and also for you Chow Yun-Fat fans.
Even more upset, Wei sends in a duo of ruthless assassins, the replacement killers of the title, to kill both John and carry out his assignment.This is the first feature length film for a successful music video director so it probably doesn't look so hot, but don't be fooled: this is one terrific action movie.
The film's performances are also strong and while the action makes the film exciting, they make the film involving.The film is not to high on the originality scale as Chow Yun-Fat has played the self-conscious hit-man going against a ruthless underworld many times and the screenplay is for the most part predictable, but as an action movie it works very well.
I am a big Chow Yun Fat fan and although this is not on par with some of his HK films, it is better than the debuts of many other HK actors/directors (John Woo and THAT terrible Van Damme film anyone?).
Chow Yun-Fat stars as John Lee an assassin who bulks at killing a kid for a mobster (Kenneth Tsang) who becomes a target when the replacement killers come to finish his job, he teams up with a forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) while they run for their lives in this sub par and empty actioner.
Besides the almost nonstop action, it actually does have a plot with substance, and Fat and Sorvino work well together in adding feeling to the movie.
Those who are fans of Chow-Yun Fat and the Hong Cong action genre will be more than able to enjoy this more than decent American interpretation of the energetic direction of John Woo. However, those not familiar with the genre, (which is considered most people), will have trouble toning in to this action thriller due to the lack of a fully constructed plot.Now that I have written my critic consensus on the movie itself, I will give my personal opinion on this extremely underrated American take on most John Woo Hong Cong Action flicks.
Performance wise, I had never seen Mira Sorvino is any other films, but her performance was satisfactory due to her smart remarks and corniness, she also has great chemistry down the line with Chow-Yun Fat's character.
I also happen to be a fan of Chow-Yun Fat, who in most cases, gives his best performances in Hong Cong action flicks, but this performance is not to be overlooked, as he might not say much, but in this case letting the handgun do most of the talking is just fine with me.
Chow Yun-Fat is another good man I am looking after; he is like a professional in guns and shooting (very talented and skilled).
Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino are also an unlikely match, but their combined presence makes this an enjoyable film.
Chow Yun-Fat stars as John Lee (Such an original name) as an assassin who fails to carry out a mission that mobster Kenneth Tsang orders him to carry out, seems Lee doesn't want to kill a police officer's son and so he trades gunfire with the replacement killers sent in to kill him and the police officer's son.
He also finds welcome help from a document forger (Played by Mira Sorvino) in this stylish yet ultimately shallow and dull actioner which fails to live up to the expectations set by CYF's Hong Kong standards, in fact The Replacement Killers fails to live up to even Van Damme's standards.
THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS Aspect ratio: 2.39:1Sound formats: Dolby Digital / SDDS-8John Woo (who else?) co-produced this debut US vehicle for Asian superstar Chow Yun-fat (or 'Mr. Fat', as he's known to some careless movie fans), in which Chow plays a hired killer pursued by ruthless gangster Kenneth Tsang Kong (BISHONEN) after refusing to assassinate the family of a cop (Michael Rooker) who killed Tsang's son during a drugs bust.
For all its flashy visuals and explosive soundtrack, Antoine Fuqua's derivative film ploughs a well-worn furrow, slavishly imitating the Hong Kong action-thrillers which first brought Chow to Hollywood's attention, whilst completely disregarding the emotional/thematic resonance that distinguishes Asian cinema from its western counterparts.
Junk like 'The Replacement Killers' is one of many low-level thugs that get blown away by the heroes in their battle of wits/survival/pure fun.Compare Antoine Fuqua's MTV-style with John Woo's.
Chow Yun-Fat has the silky charm and coiled rage of a tiger, and Mira Sorvino has great legs, but they are both wasted in this dull, Hong Kong action flick-wannabe.
Flashy and colourful, noisy and shallow, "The Replacement Killers" is never as cool or as exciting as it could have been.There's one great sequence - a shoot-out in a car wash - and any film with Michael Rooker in it isn't completely worthless.
Having never seen an actual Hong Kong action movie, I can only guess they're better than "The Replacement Killers." In any case, you'd be better off renting one of those..
i feel like the story did not end yet, i remember watching this when i was 23 and i'm now 42, this movie alone awakens a lot of sweet memories when i was in Russia and watched with my Russian classmates, no doubt an excellent masterpiece, i really hope the director could consider a second part or at least four parts, the only thing is are people have no good taste, they think the movie is boring, well, they only wanna watch a movie with sex shots i believe ..
If they made Mia Sorvino a hooker with a heart of gold to go along with CYF's killer with a conscience, then at least it would have been a unique combination of 2 totally recycled movie stereotypes.I wish they had spent even an ounce of effort on crafting a somewhat compelling setup/ plot, as it would have likely redeemed the movie as a slick, enjoyable actioner (which is exactly what I wanted to see.) I don't need life-changing character moments or Oscar-worthy roles, but throw me something!
Chow Yun Fat, in his first US role, plays a contract killer with a conscience (don't they all?) who goes on the run with Mira Sorvino after failing his mob boss.
Essentially, it's a long sequence of bullet-ridden action scenes in a style similar to John Woo's superior "Hard Boiled".Clearly hoping that US production values would improve the fast-paced martial arts movie, the director forgot one key ingredient: martial arts.
Those who focus on the violence and "character development" aspects of this movie miss what I consider to be the central strength and intent of "Replacement Killers" - its style and artistic ex- pression.I usually pass on what I consider to be violent action flicks, but this one made me stop and look past the violence to the contextual richness of the way in which this one was filmed.I'd like to see more from this director..
Replacement Killers is an attempt to bring the successful and more realistic action genre pioneered in Hong Kong to the mainstream movies of Hollywood.
After he betrays Mr. Wei, the ruthless crime boss who hired him to avenge his son's death, professional killer John Lee (Chow yun-fat) goes on the run.
International superstar CHOW YUN-FAT(John Woo´s Hard-Boiled & The Killer) makes his Hollywood debut with Oscar winner MIRA SORVINO(1995 best supporting actress for Mighty Aphrodite) in THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS, fierce and explosive action thriller from director ANTOINE FUQUA(Coolio´s gangsters paradise video).
This is not as good as Chow Yun-Fat´s The Killer, A Better Tomorrow and Hard-Boiled(all movies directed by John Woo) but it´s a good fast-paced, action-packed movie..
The Replacement Killers is not only the US debut of Chow Yun Fat, but also the first film project for director Antoine Fuqua.
Chow Yun Fat, Mira Sorvino, Michael Rooker, Jurgen Prochnow, Kenneth Tsang and Danny Trejo all give incredible performances that elevate the material beyond that of standard action fare.
Chow Yun-Fat plays John Lee, a contract killer working for Terence Wei, a ruthless Chinese mafia boss.
I'm not really a fan of Chow Yun-Fat but his performance in this film was pretty good, but i wish he had more dialogue..
While Chan's movies tend to be comic-action, Yun-Fat's films are dramatic action (The Killer, Hard Boiled to name a couple).
He only learned English a couple years ago, so when he speaks, it's a little hard to understand at times, but you understand what he's trying to get across.Yun-Fat plays John Lee, a hired assassin, who is hired to kill a cop's son.
Chow Yun-Fat dancing and rolling "en ralenti" with 2 guns in his hands is not enough to make a John Woo's movie.
Yes, there is some good action, good choreography, but at the end Fuqua is not Woo, Mira Sorvino is not credible and everything sounds like useless: even if Chow Yun-Fat is always a great actor, you can wash your face with this cold water, but soon it will be dried.
With good performances by both leads, stylish directing, cool action scene, and the sexy Miss Sorvino, The Replacement Killers is one cool flick..
I hoped to find an hidden gem,but all I got was a stylish shooter largely influenced by movies like HARD BOILED (John Woo is in fact one of the producers of TRP, and we have Mr.Cool himself, Chow Jun-Fat as the lead).
After viewing it again recently, my perception of the film remains unchanged.Even though John Woo gets a production credit, this film lacks the overall input of the HK action flick king.True to form, Chow Yun-Fat looks cool.
I'm not entirely sure what some people out there were expecting from a film called The Replacement Killers, but if you can spot the cunning suggestion of an hour and a half of manic gunfire and ridiculous slo-mo death scenes in place of a coherent plot up ahead then you're in for a treat.Basically it's just Mira Sorvino standing around looking gorgeous while Chow Yun-Fat spins all over the place pulling an endless succession of guns from his magic crotch holster, filling the bad guys with at least five times as many bullets as necessary, and it's great fun.
John Lee (Yun-Fat Chow) is a skilled killer.
John is in the wind and Wei brings in other professionals, the Replacement Killers.It's a very superficial action movie in the HongKong style.
It feels very much like a transplanted movie especially with Chow Yun-Fat's Chinese accent.
The stakes are upped when replacement hitmen are brought in to kill Meg, Zedkov's son and Lee.Already a global star due to the iconic films and choreographed violence of John Woo films, Chow Yun Fat came to America, had English lessons and was put in a film that copies the formulae that had made him a huge success.
No, it is just quite average for anyone who has seen any of the Woo/Fat collaborations from HK although for an American action film this is pretty good value for 85 minutes..
I like John Woo films, but there reaches a point where fantasy action scenes aren't enough.
Chow Yun-Fat is of course pretty fair as the family man blackmailed into a life of hired killing, Mira Sorvino's OK too as his sexy forger assistant, but the story is a little limp and the action clunks along somewhat.
The Replacement Killers is an average action movie.
I happened to like it a lot, but upon reflection, it is not the movie, but the stars, Chow Yun-Fat and Mira Sorvino, that make this movie so likeable.
I will see his other films (John Woo's "The Killer" is next on my list), but if nothing else, The Replacement Killers has introduced Chow to moviegoers, like myself, that have yet to see him act.
Mira Sorvino and Chow Yun-Fat are great.
The Replacement Killers is the American debut for the international action star Chow Yun-Fat.
I was a bit sceptical about Chow making ultra-violent action in America, but the movie turned out to be excellent.Chow Yun-Fat plays John Lee, a deadly assassin, who is pursuaded by a ruthless gangster boss, to do some killings for him.
But putting Mira Sorvino in the film was a misstep.She is NOT, nor ever will be an action star.My Grade: C DVD Extras: Commentary by Antoine Fuqua; Making-of featurette; Chow Yun Fat goes Hollywood featurette;4 extended scenes; 1 deleted scene; Alternate ending; Filmographies; Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for "the One" (so bad), and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (good).
The Replacement Killers is the first American movie of Hong-Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat.
Lee is unable to pull the trigger, and must therefore run away from the killers sent by Wei. Chow Yun-Fat demonstrates what he does best in this movie, he kicks a#¤.
Cool new wave action extravaganza, you can wonderfully wile your 87 minutes away, easily, sees Asian superstar, Chow Yun Fat, (and this guy can act) break into the Hollywood market, but this movie doesn't do it for him, thanks to a not so original story.
In walking away from this job, he brings a whole ton load of trouble on himself, when the boss's associates come after him, weapons blazing, which makes for great action sequences, with Chow Yun Fat setting a new standard in coolness.
Chow-Yun Fat has made Movies, with John Woo, that are Classics.
One of Chow Yun-Fat's best and his first Hollywood movie.
I have seen many of Chow's movies, and I consider this one to be one of his best, so if you like John Woo Hong Kong action movies you need to watch this one and watch the sparks fly..
While I am not a huge fan of Anton Fuqua, I do believe he made a great feature with Chow Yun Fat's North American movie debut.
I was just watching the movie and was hoping to give it a second chance since I really love the action films directed by John Woo and enjoyed the works of chow yun fat.
Another faulty problem is the action scenes are really dull and boring compared to the rapid style like violence we see in John Woo's other films.
it's actually one of the movies that you can own, and watch over and over again when there is nothing on TV, which is actually almost always the case ?!.The acting is excellent, the chemistry between Yun-fat and Sorvino worked 100%.
A cool, Violent, bloody Action film with Chow Yun fat, this i one of my personal favorite films..
The story is exactly what you expect from an fast-paced action movie: 'good' killer vs.
I rented this film because I like Chow Yun Fat and other Asian action stars.
In the film, Chow Yun Fat plays an assassin.
This movie is full of shootouts and excellent action scenes, which are probably the best that I have ever seen in a film.
This was a great action movie w/ Chow Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino(who is pretty damn sexy when she acts bad-ass).
Place top stars like Chow-Yun Fat and Mira Sorvino and you have a major hit on the big screen. |
tt2248028 | Thattathin Marayathu | The story starts with a flashback in which two school boys, Vinod Nair and his friend, are at the Thalassery pier. Vinod sees a Muslim girl who he finds attractive and he prays to God to make her his wife in the future.
After the roll of starting credits, the movie shifts focus to the present, in which Vinod, hailing a middle class Hindu Nair family, is jailed for trespassing the property of a rich Muslim politician, Abdul Khader. Realizing that he went there to meet the Muslim girl, Aisha, the politician's niece with whom he's madly in love, Sub-inspector Prem Kumar and his men request him to tell his love story.
From here, the movie goes back in time by a few months, when Vinod first saw Aisha while attending his friend's marriage. He accidentally collides with her while running along a corridor and she falls down a staircase, ending up unconscious in a hospital. Vinod goes to the hospital and finds a little girl besides Aisha's bed. With her help, he leaves a 'sorry' letter to Aisha, written using a stencil. But just watching her beautiful face sleep in peace is enough to fuel the love within Vinod and along with his close friends Abdu and Mustafa, Vinod tries to win Aisha's heart.
To get a chance to talk to Aisha, Vinod next tries to participate in a Daffmuttu competition in Kannur University Cultural Festival in which Aisha also is participating. He goes to a trainer Najaf. But Vinod and Najaf have a history of bitterness when during his 12th grade, the duo had a tiff. The storyline goes into further flashback mode, to a few years prior.
Vinod along with his friends back then, Nijad and Majid had a gang, named Smartboyz. Majid was in love with Fatima, the daughter of the local shrimp merchant. But Fatima was in love with Najaf. Thus the trio decide to take on Najaf and beat him by covering faces. After beating Najaf, in an act of heroism Majid accidentally threw away his driving license along with some money. The driving license gives his credentials away, and the next day all three are beaten up by Najaf's friends.
Despite this history, Najaf who is now married to his new lover Khadeeja, accepts to teach him Daffmuttu. During the cultural festival, Vinod meets Aisha and wishes her a happy birthday. He is won over by her radiance and cannot keep the feelings hidden inside him anymore. After the festival is over, Vinod goes to Aisha's house late at night and confesses his feelings. There is no reply from Aisha, but after a few days Aisha reciprocates his feelings by writing a letter. Then one night, when he believes that no one is at her home, he tries to meet her. Only to be caught and sent to police custody. With this Vinod winds up his story.
Listening to this with full attention, S.I Premkumar lends his full support to Vinod and promises to help him unite with Aisha. Vinod tries to find a way of reaching out to Aisha by exchanging letters with her. He finds Hamza, Aisha's tutor, a friend of Abdu. Hamza is in love with Vinod's sister and he agrees to help Vinod. To make money Vinod opens a Purdah shop with the help of Sub-inspector Premkumar and asks Aisha to inaugurate the shop. She agrees to come on Friday afternoon, when she's alone in her house. Aisha inaugurates the shop and meets Vinod's parents. While returning, they are blocked by some men who are enraged to Aisha in the car with two men. After reaching home, Aisha is put into house-arrest by her father's elder brother, Abdul Khader. An accident happens in Khader's factory, which leads to a communal riot leading to which Aisha's father Abdul Rahman gets attacked. While in hospital, Khader informs his brother that they are shifting to Trivandrum the next day to prevet any untoward incidents further. Abdul Rahman agrees and Aisha sees Vinod one last time in the night. The next day, Abdul Rahman realises that he should allow Aisha to live with the one she loves. Khader departs and Aisha calls Vinod, but finds that Vinod's phone is switched off and he is nowhere to be seen.
Finally with the help of SI Premkumar, they find him in sitting by the sea bridge and Aisha proposes him to marry her. Vinod asks to kiss her which she agrees. The scene shifts back to the first scene at the same sea-bridge where Vinod prays to God to get that beautiful girl he saw and as he leaves, a woman calls out to the little girl as 'Aisha'.
The film ends on the note that "God is quite a person; even if we forget some of our wishes, he never does." | romantic | train | wikipedia | A youthful love story that crosses communal boundaries....
8.5/10 At heart, director Vineet Sreenivasan is a musician first and like his soft songs, every scene and line in the movie is rendered with a youthful symphony pleasing to the soul.
Perhaps even more praiseworthy is the way he has brought out the best in everyone including the child artists.Protagonist Nivin Pauly has delivered a good performance and his compatriots in the movie fit well into their characters.
Isha Talwar is beautiful and has the makings of a future Katrina Kaif...
And that means exactly what u think it does :) She has few scenes where any acting is warranted and even fewer lines, perhaps because her lip movements are out of sync with the Malayalam lines, to do justice -a language that is foreign to her.The music is wonderful, but you probably already new that.
The story delivers its message subtly without compromising on entertainment.Its been a while since I have seen a good portrayal of young love in Malayalam cinema...
clichéd yet refreshing love story!.
Thattathin Mareyath is a simple yet engaging movie with a plot so clichéd yet so refreshing.
Now thats the magic of a writter cum director, here we have Vineeth Sreenivasan who makes a giant leap from "Malarvadi".Breaking all my presumptions, Nivin pauly does it in style as the bloody blushing lover boy and as for the lady love, her looks were more than enough.
The co-cast all supportive and hilarious, we get some good laughs when they all fit in.
How i loved the romantic scenes, the surreal textures, the background scores which all reminded me of my lovelife!
A good watch.
Ideally, one should have no perception of the movie before starting off watching it.
But I held one - this movie is made by a very young director Vineeth Sreenivasan and hence the movie would reflect inexperience.
It was better than the anticipation.The best part of the movie was Ayesha and her beauty.
Nivin pauly has acted well and has captured the head-over-heels-in-love endearingly.The movie is sprinkled with songs all along and that adds to the general feel-good of the movie.In fact, movie is all feel-goods and not much of a story.There were some good humor scenes too.
Abdu as Vinod's friend has done a good job.
The audience shared good laughs through out the movie.However, I am not sure how to explain such huge success that the movie has claimed.
It is a soother and a nice one - good job Vineeth..
Another Typical Love Story!
So, I was overwhelmed by the response of this movie and decided to watch it.
I usually don't watch Romantic movies and this one reminded me why.Well, the plot is typical.
You add an inter-caste factor and publish the story in a 21st century where the girl and boy both don't own a mobile phone.
This type of movie can only gain success to people who have not watched epics from Hollywood & Bollywood.
Or French cinema, for that matter!Vineet Srinivasan is very clever at grabbing the attention of cinema- goers who are bored by the usual remakes and boring slapstick.Bottom line, this movie does not have much to offer with sporadic jokes and lack of panache!I rate it 5 for the comedy part and Nivin Pauly's performance.
I went for this movie watching the superb ads, songs and high rating in IMDb. No doubt the songs are good, the beautiful actress is just as the hero explains in trailer!!
Shymala etc) movies are good.
But Vineeth's inexperience in direction is quite evident.If you have seen the ads and the songs, then you have seen the entire movie.
An example where a movie can gather crowds just with good songs and stunning actress (Isha Talwar).There is nothing in this movie other than a straight forward love story which ends in marriage.
Story, direction, sets are all plain simple.
Jayan's artificial Trivandrum accent is just awful, (he shouldn't have attempted Venjaramoodu)..:( Not sure why people gave high rating for this movie in IMDb(likely the producer itself..:).
Simple and Adorable movie.......
Vineeth Sreenivasan has once again came up with a beautiful cinematic experience.
It's a simple movie without any unconventional plots or twists, no any high profile song sequences, null amount of high dose action scenes.
It tells the story of Vinod(Nivin Pauly) a simple guy from Telicherry town who adores a Muslim girl Aisha(Isha Talwar)of a wealthy family.
The crux of the movie lies in the efforts made by Vinod & his friends to approach Aisha and thereafter make her fall for her.
Vineeth has once again impressed with a well written script and equally good direction, which was well supported by DOP Jomon and all other crew members.
Nivin has been impressive in his role and the new face Isha has caught every eyes with her stunning beauty.
On the whole a good movie, which you would like to see again and again.
Good Love Story.
TATTATTHIN MARAYATHU REVIEW At last Malayali's have learned to 'tolerate' a love story.Vineeth promised just a nice feel after leaving the theater.Yes he has given that feel.This film doesn't comes under epic romance movies like 'Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal', 'Sallapam','Azhakiya Ravanan' or even 'Niram'.Still it gives us that feel.
SCRIPT:Story is a predictable ,simple love story.,yet we will feel some suspenses.Dialogues are well written.The author communicated his views through some striking dialogs.,like.Love is always Painkili.,Vineeth tried hard to keep up the standard.,as we all know Malayalam is a bad language for love.Talassery slang is heard first time in ,alayalam films,Its happy to hear something Malabari.The biggest gift of Vineeth is his sense of humor.He sees humor in a different way.Entry of Kurudi really rocked.Script has some flaws,some unwanted scenes like the one in hospital and party office.
DIRECTION:Vineeth has improved very much.He has become a class director now.Some scenes are out of the world.Waiting for Aisha near Che Guevara poster is the best scene.,i will say.
ACTING:Outstanding acting by Nivin Pauly.Mollywood has got a new talent.'Marich Abhinayikkika Ennoke Kettitte Ullu'.80% of the film is his scenes,It would have been a disaster if doomed it.Isha didn't had anything to do., But she stunned us with her ravishing beauty.Aju,Bagath,and Santhosh did well.
TECHNICAL:I got the front raw seat.Couldn't able to visualize the movie.I think camera was good.However Joemon captured Isha Talwar's beauty.
SONGS AND BGM:Vineeth should use a good music director for songs and stop writing songs himself.All sons except Muthichippi bored me.BGM was cool.
Its not a must watch movie.,but If u wanna feel the love for 2 hours.,It will be a nice experience RATING:7.5/10.
Simple, cute inter-religion love story; but nothing special.
Hindu youth Vinod has a chance encounter with Aisha, niece of a powerful Muslim political leader, Abdul Khader, and falls in love.
The movie starts mid-story, with the hero being jailed for trespassing into Abdul Khader's property to see Aisha.
The story unfolds as narrated by Vinod to the Sub Inspector.
The soul of the movie is how Vinod explores his feelings for Aisha, and tries to see how she would fit into his life.
The style of narration is the revised, youth-centered, casual form that is becoming increasingly popular in Malayalam movies; it's the shifting of gear to a new era.However, as far as the plot goes, it is simple, cute, and pleasant, but not novel.
There is absolutely nothing new in the story.
I have been getting rave reviews about the movie, and went in expecting something fresh.
The script was good with the first half aimed at comedy and the second half having a mix of both humor and emotion.
Though the script was medium and normal, the way the movie has been executed is worth saying.
Nivin Pauly was the highlight of this film.
Aju Varghese excels in his role as Nivin's first mate and has hit a funny bone in the movie whenever needed.
Each and every cast member like Sreenivasan, Kurudi had their own roles executed perfectly.
Though, Isha Talwar had no role compared to the others, her beauty and her presence has given it a sparkling touch.
Great work by Shaan Rahman and Vineeth on the music of this film.
Every song excels in its timing and the background music is worth saying.
The film stands upon its description as a musical romance and the script, cast and crew have just given a very supportive hand in it.
2 hours of ultimate fun, emotion and music, that's what i can guarantee in this film.
'Thattathin Marayath' is Romantic, Youthful and musical....
'Thattathin Marayath' is Romantic, Youthful and musical...We might had n number of romantic movies of boy and girl from different religion loving each other.
Script and direction of the movie will give you a pleasant, youthful, romantic and musical experience.
Movie has hero, but all the character is well blended.
Good BGM music.
Esp those which means 'Ayisha as a girl will come with you, but not ayisha as a Muslim' & 'Black clothes should cover women pureness not her dreams' Recommended for those who are young at heart..
Romance at it's best ....you'll watch it with a smile on your face throughout!.
I am a Malayalee but I very rarely watch Malayalam movies as I tend to find them too serious and depressing most of the time.I went to see this movie in the cinema when it released and I just loved it.
I found myself watching the story unfold on screen with a smile on my face throughout.
The acting, the music and the background score were all excellent.Don't get me wrong, this movie is not a "Oru Vadakkan Veerakatha " or a "Bharatham" but just like those movies and for better or for worse Thattathin Marayathu is surely a sign of things to come with a fresh youthful take on some of the usual story lines that repeatedly form the plots of most South Indian movies A light, frothy romantic film with new young actors that really hits the spot.I rewatched this movie last night more than 2 years after its cinematic release and I still enjoyed it.
You have the usual hindu boy meets Muslim girl story that you have seen a 100 times before but Nivin Pauly in the lead role pulls you in and you begin to root for him instantly.
A lot of heroes in Indian movies resort to blatant stalking to get their girl and for some reason we tend to accept this behaviour as normal but its not.
Nivin Pauly's easy likability and earnest smile is one of the key factors in how well audiences reacted to this movie and it is no surprise that 3 years later Nivin Pauly is one of the most bankable stars in Malayalam Cinema.
I feel Thattathin Marayathu was absolutely vital in securing him this status.Isha Talwar has little to do other than look pretty and ethereal on screen and she does it with aplomb.
She too comes across as likable and the sort of person you could easily fall in love with from afar.
The supporting case of Manoj K Jayan, Aju Varghese and others do a good job as well.As a Malayalee with extremely poor language skills, even I loved the songs in this movie and found myself humming them for days after watching the movie.In addition to Nivin Pauly, Vineeth Sreenivasan, a 2nd Generation member of the Malayalam film industry, deserves the major credit for the success of the movie as he wrote, directed and even sang a couple of the superhit songs.
I became a fan of Nivin Pauly after seeing this move and really enjoy watching his movies that released after this!.
I can't imagine how can one write such a lame story and most surprisingly how people like it.
Poor attempt from Vineeth who took far too much freedom in writing/making this story/movie.Navin's performance was below par, Isha's even worse.To summarize in one line " Routine, boring and unconvincing"PS: My friend (santosh) who likes a Muslim girl (Sameera-95% relevance) suggested me to watch this movie.
But the fact that it elucidates the innocence concealed in an intercast love story and crafts it with a simple storyline depicting the nuances of conventional characters is purely magical.
The movie gently floats from a light hearted youthfulness to unperturbed romantic shores with ease and panache.
Nevertheless, the absence of a terrific storyline is often understated as it glides through the luminous performance by the entire cast, tactical and exuberant narration, Brilliant cinematography reinforced with some soul stirring scores by Shaan.
Full credits to Vineeth for presenting viewers with a narrative that is not just refreshing but brimming with life.
A Well-Executed love story 9/10.
Complete with a well written script,good performances and great music and humour this one is a must watch!!
The story is nothing new about a Hindu boy falling in love with a Muslim girl.But what keeps you in hold is the way in which it has been presented with all the right elements in perfect proportion.
Special mention required for Aju Varghese for a stand-out performance as the hero's best buddy.
Such a beautiful, simple romantic film.
The film deviates from the regular love stories at the beginning when Vinod narrates his story.
While boring films show the actor and actress meeting, this shows what actually happens in reality.
The film was absolutely brilliant because it didn't show the hot college basketball player finding a girl, but showed a shy, normal guy like Vinod who anyone can relate to.
Fantastic romantic songs.
If you have a small spark of love in you, this film is bound to make it into a raging fire.
Love Story.
This is a cute and very interesting love story between a Hindu boy (Vinod) and a Muslim girl (Ayesha).The film starts with a flashback,inside a Police Station Vinod explains his love story to the Inspector who is very curious about love matters and marriages.He promises Vinod,if his love is true,then he'll give all the help to make them one.Vinod tells his story to the officers.Then the romantic love story begins..As usual stuffs,the crew behind the film doesn't try to explain about Hindu- Muslim conflicts.
The film makes us curious about the story.The film doesn't deals with any boring contents.The film expresses all the feelings that a boy/girl have.This romantic movie is written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan who is a leading playback singer,actor in Malyalam Film Industry(Mollywood,India).He's son of a leading actor and scriptwriter Sreenivasan..
A Perfect Romantic Movie.
Although The theme or story of the movie is simple it is right to say it has excelled in its simplicity..Vineeth has managed to give us a nice romantic piece without much of a fuss and the script was superb.It did have the essential comedy .Honestly I thought without much action sequence and stunts the movie would be boring but that was not to be..IT has managed to get the user busy for the full movie..The movie also excels in the beautiful songs which is apt for the movie..Jomon T.
John Has yet again showed his talent with another superbly shot movie..MUST WATCH.....
its the time of new generation films with new directors with fresh faces.
positive points 1-awesome direction,vineeth sreenevasan has all credit 2-nivin Pauly acts as a experienced one,perfect man for the character 3-the beauty of isha talwar makes the film beautiful 4-the outstanding music of shaan rahmannegative points 1-predictable story lineas a whole it is a excellent movie and a great rebirth to romantic films in Malayalam industry.vineeth srinivasan and nivin Pauly will have a great future and it is the best blockbusterit is sure that this film will be the biggest blockbuster of the year.it will create wave among the youth generation.nivin pauly will have a huge fans following after this movie.
"Thattathin Marayathu" directed by Vineet Srinivasan has a very simple storyline but bowl the viewers over by its simplicity, heart & emotions.
It once again proves that simplicity is the best even when it comes to movies.Movie traces the love life of the protagonist who falls in love with a girl of different faith & class.
Though the storyline has all the clichés of the love stories of the yore, it is the treatment by Vineet that makes it work big time.
The freshness of the narrative supported by intelligent yet funny & sometimes hard-hitting dialogs and fine performance by the actors concerned has ensured that "Thattathin Marayathu" is easily one of the finest movies of the year.The screenplay moves at a brisk pace interlaced with adequate doses of romance , humor , politics & sentiments.
Brilliantly written one-liners laced with humor , politics & the current happenings without any restrain makes one say kudos to the writer.
Hence the mushy & tacky romantic dialogs can be excused.Though it is a oft-repeated story Vineet has not tried to be politically correct with respect to issues concerning religions.
The dialogs in the end mouthed by Srinivasan are brilliantly said without being preachy.Coming onto the acting part , Nivin Pauly has done a stupendous job as the protagonist Vinod.
Though Srinivasan comes in a very brief role , he makes a lasting impact in the end.
Rest of the cast have done their jobs adequately.Shaan Rahman , the music director of the movie is another star.
The background score blends well with the narrative & rings in the ears even long after the movie is over.
Songs are definite pillars of strength for this movie.Technically also the movie is brilliant.
His camera has shot the natural beauty of Thallasery & Kannur is a splendid manner.Only negative point that one can think of is that movie is almost like a fairytale with everything falling in place without much struggle.
One does get jealous of the ridiculous ease with which the protagonist achieves everything in this movie.On the whole, "Thattathin Marayathu" is a beautiful love story that will sure make you smile at the end.Bottomline: Beautiful |
tt3303020 | A Better Place | Barret Michaelson is an unwelcome newcomer in a public high school, often bullied by his new classmates. He has no friends until another misfit with a bad reputation, Ryan, saves him from a beating in the men's locker room. Ryan is a misanthropic existentialist with violent tendencies and a dark past. It is revealed that Ryan's father murdered his mother and then committed suicide in front of Ryan when he was only ten years old.
The two become fast friends who spend much of their time together engaged in philosophical conversation, but their friendship comes to an abrupt halt when the two are involved in an incident with a local landowner who claims they are trespassing on his land. Ryan throws a rock at the man, causing him to fall and break his neck on a rock. The two manage to successfully make it look like an accident, but the incident forces Barret to pull away from his friendship with Ryan. This causes Ryan to become very emotional, and to purchase a black market gun. Barret soon agrees that they should put the incident behind them and continue to be friends, but Ryan becomes increasingly morose and attached to Barret.
When Ryan suffers a brutal beating at the hands of the bully against whom Ryan had originally defended Barret, he is consumed by a will for revenge, and makes it clear to Barret that he intends to shoot the bully to death. Barret tries as hard as he can to dissuade Ryan, but Ryan says it's his "destiny" and insists that there is nothing Barret can do to stop him. As the moment of truth approaches, Ryan forces Barret at gun point to accompany him to the would-be crime scene. Ryan finds his enemy in a secluded area, smoking what is probably a joint (marijuana cigarette). Barret tries to warn him, but it is to no avail, and Ryan kills him. After the killing, Barret tries to incapacitate Ryan by hitting on the head with a rock, but it doesn't work. In a struggle, the gun goes off, claiming Ryan's life. Barret then shoots him once again, and tries to turn the gun on himself, but by that time the gun is out of bullets. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Quite possibly the worst film you will ever see.
I am a nice person.
I am kind.
I do not like to criticize because I know that when people create things, they put their energy, their creativity, and their time, money, and wishes into them.
But this movie is so terrible I must criticize it.
My apologies to the gods of film review kindness.It starts with a fantastic story idea.
I love the story idea and somehow I had it in my head that this would be like one of those wonderful Stephen King stories that are about kindness and the good things in mankind that contrast with the bad things.
I think this story idea had that same sort of thing in mind, but the screenplay was so terrible, I sat here thinking it is quite possible that my cat could've written a better screenplay.
She is a smart cat, although I have never seen her writing.I utterly despise soap operas and have never made it through one episode of one though I gave it a valiant effort.
I would rather watch a soap opera than a movie like this.
The story was probably at the level of a fourth or fifth grader.
I am not making a joke.
It was incredibly juvenile with the characters completely flat and one-dimensional.
There was not a molecule of good or of inner conflict in any of the truly evil characters.
And the good characters were saintly.
There was no real motivation for all of the horrible things the evil characters did.
The motivation that the story did provide would've been carried out very different ways.
The actions of the antagonists in this story were ridiculously evil at a level that you just don't see in real life.
No adults would take in this story and say, "yes, those bad guys really need to be stopped!" Indeed, what an adult would wonder about is exactly what kind of brain injury the antagonists in the story had sustained to cause them to be so simpleminded and illogical in their evil doings.
And there were so many of those characters.
A small town with some incredibly evil people.
Nonsensically evil.I have no idea if the actors have any skill, but it is impossible for me to believe that they had anything to do with how bad this film is.
It is simply statistical nonsense to suggest that every actor in this ghastly thing is a terrible actor.
They would have, by sheer chance, found one or two good actors for the film if they had actually been looking for bad actors.
You cannot make a Rolex watch from a few pieces of wire and gears that you found in an auto salvage yard.
I think the screenplay is of such low quality that the finest actors in the world would've looked terrible in this film.I cannot tell if the direction was good or not, but I suspect it was not very good.
I wrote a few screenplays in my past and you always include a few instructions for direction in them.
But the director has some freedom, of course.
There were some very weird instances in this film where the timing did not make any sense or times where a character had no awareness of what was going on just a few feet from him.
Also, characters did not look at or intervene in situations.
The dance between directing and screenplay is a complicated one that I know very little about.
And I don't know how much freedom the director had, but if it was a skilled director, it must've been terrible for him to direct this awful thing.
Just as terrible as it was for the actors, no doubt.
I am pretty sure my six-year-old granddaughter could have written more realistic dialogue.
I cannot get my time back, but in an effort to be a positive force in humanity I must humbly suggest to any reader here that instead of putting time and a few dollars into watching this film, you get out all your sweaters, sit down, and pluck those little lint balls off them.
There will be four advantages to this activity.
Your sweaters will look pristine, you will be much richer with three or four dollars you don't spend renting this film, you won't lose that little bit of IQ that surely dissolves from taking in such a bad story, and you will be much more amused by the plucking of lint than watching this film..
Understanding purpose and effects on others lives.
So apparently I'm one of few that actually like this movie....
I don't find that odd as I'm normally the only one I know who like certain movies....
While I would consider this a B movie, I wouldn't see how this is a horrible movie.
I'm sure it could have been done slightly better....
I'm sure we can all relate to at least one character personally and know quite a few of the other characters in their circle....
This is the type of story that can happen in any town in any country....
while the "superpower" or "gift" of Jeremy's may not be for real, the message behind it is real....
What you do to the least of people you do to the most loved of people....
Everyone places value on relationships at different levels....
Your mom may be the best relationship you ever have....
your spouse may be the 2nd....
a bully negative value....
but what about the people you don't interact with on a regular basis but see or notice....
like the homeless man or the drug addict....
most people think they can get away with treating them badly because who cares about them?
they are just trash....
In this town that was Jeremy....
and if you are willing to physically hurt someone because of a perception, then you are probably hurting the person closest to you just as bad but in a different way....
When movies aren't BLOCKBUSTERS they have to be appreciated in a different way....
If I could have his "gift" I would probably understand why at times I feel I'm mistreated....
the majority of the time it is misguided emotion.....
Your one stop chop and slop.
If you like terrible movies, this is an elegant masterpiece on par with the 2016 presidential race.
Perhaps they couldn't have done it without them.
I first infected my television and my dear girlfriend's mind when we were looking for something to watch, anything.
We opened the preview and although skeptical, I was intrigued.
We gave it a shot, just jumped on in there with cold coffee and no popcorn at all.
Had I known the ride I was in for, I would have done it all differently by repeatedly bashing my head into the front door until the brain trauma had finally leaked in.
The outright rudeness of the opening characters was splendid.
It seemed that at every turn, any individual might walk in off the street with a raging case of hemorrhoids and sit on a gallon of fresh vanilla ice cream like it was no big deal to absolutely no reaction of the cast of background mutes.
I wondered to myself, what kind of town is this?
Intrigued further, I continued to watch.
I knew what I was in for, but I was completely unaware that some people have a completely different interpretation of a super power than the rest of the world, and some of these people have begun to infiltrate some of my favorite film genres.
But can you blame me for continuing?
I was thrown off my guard.
I haven't seen movie making this bad since Kurt Russell wore and eye patch and Dolph Lundgren had baby smooth skin.
To be fair, When a movie opens up with forgettable 80's street thugs dressed all cloak and dagger like in Walmart shopping outfits pulling pranks on the local diner's lifer waitress, you just get pulled in somehow.
It wasn't too long before I reasoned that this movie was clearly a joke and nothing more.Now, if for some reason, you went the full mile like me and mine, I do recommend pulling out the sweaters as suggested by dbh850, because you are in for the flat tire of your life.
I was shocked by the terrible service you get at the grocery store when your card is shut down, the overwhelming cunning of the local sheriff, and I may forever wonder just how many envelopes Sam Abram carries with him into church.
Tireless hours were spent on thinking of the most immediate and abrasive reaction one might have to anything that put them at any sort of disadvantage or just simply didn't work out the way they were supposed to.
I for one am glad that I won't get this hour of my life back, because it was bound to happen, and I am grateful I will never have to relive the experience of seeing this movie again.
Not an ounce of curiosity was left unspent, and I will sleep soundly knowing I have finally seen the worst movie possible.
Putting it at the top of my list of poovies..
A small town boy with a strange gift.
I really don't know why so many people dislike this movie.
It was perfectly acted and the actors where great for their roles.
This movie exploits all bad behavior people do on basic and some more.
The corruption and the things that we are willing to sacrifice to help others who don't deserve it for better off all.
This movie even if its a wishful dream, is done nicely and touch u deep inside.
I recommend to people who have at least some good in them to watch this.
Its B movie, but a good one.
Low budget used spot on..
This could have been a better film in better hands.
I wanted to like this film and a tolerated the fact that it was underfunded and that with the exception of the two leads most of the characters were poorly-acted cartoon villains, but just as it looked like it was going to go somewhere it ducked into a building and ended stupidly, in a way that didn't make any sense at all.
Then to underscore how badly the ending failed, they tacked on another ending, apparently made when one of the leads was unavailable for reshoots.
And the second ending didn't make any more sense or answer any of the questions left by the first ending, so all in all a disappointment of a film..
I've Just Wasted Almost 2 Hrs of My Life!.
When God allowed man to create technology, specifically visual media, I am under the firm belief that he did not foresee the future and realize that a group of people with apparently a lot of resources to waste would come together and create this "disasterpiece" of a cinematic trainwreck titled "A Better Place".
Would I have chosen this to watch if more options were available?
No. But unfortunately for me, I chose to wake up and start my day by taking a chance on watching a movie that was unheard of and unknown to me in any way.
I wish God would have had mercy on my soul.
First off the lead role is acted out by this idiot we're supposed to take seriously as an adult who was sheltered and locked away by his mother to protect him.
However, the acting is soooooo bad that we find the lead character's personality similar to Todd Cleary, who is the confused, withdrawn and possibly gay son of the Senator in the movie Wedding Crashers (2005).
I'm not going to give away any spoilers but just remember what I told you about the amount of time you've wasted away from your life the moment you get to the part in the movie where the bright golden spotlight shines on the lead character and the special effects start dancing on your screen.
You have been warned.
Look, if you're dead set on committing Movie Suicide believe me there are wayy lest painful ways to do so.
Consider jumping off of a high building, landing head first onto a crowded downtown street and almost instantly being pummeled by multiple cabs and Uber drivers who didn't notice your pancake shaped torso awkwardly blending in with the rest of the trash and discoloration on the street.
I promise you that would be less painful.
This is not a movie.
This is not a movie.
This is the perfect way to kill your enemy and get away with it.
So buy as many copies as you need and get to mailing them out.
Your life will be better 2 hours after they receive it.
#justbobbysopinion.
It's a condition.
Jeremy (Stephen Todt) is special.
When his mother passes, he finds himself very alone and socially dysfunctional with a "condition" that is shorty explored.
He must endure a bully in a crooked town.
He makes a friend in Jess (Mary Ann Raemisch) who is a prisoner in her life.The film is mostly a drama, except for the "condition." The ending of the film hints at non-specific religious overtures that were not hinted at during the rest of the film.
The acting wasn't that great and perhaps some of that had to do with the dysfunctional characters.
The idea was unique enough to keep you engaged, but the execution had issues.Guide: No swearing or nudity.
Implied sex.
Tonya Kay provides eye candy. |
tt0053729 | Comanche Station | Jefferson Cody (Randolph Scott), whose wife was captured by Comanches, frees another man's wife and is taking her home. Three outlaws, led by the charming but malevolent Ben Lane (Claude Akins), reveal that the woman's husband has offered a $5,000 reward, making the woman, Lordsburg resident Mrs. Lowe (Nancy Gates), suspicious of Cody's motives in coming to her rescue.
Lane is known to Cody, who helped court-martial him from the army for killing "tame" Indians. The Comanche in the area, on the warpath due to recent Comanche scalpings, kill Frank (Skip Homeier), one of Lane's men, and make repeated attempts to kill the rest of the party. Lane attaches himself to Cody, intending to make it look like the Comanches killed Cody and to take the reward for himself.
Although her husband did not try to find her himself, the reward for the return of Mrs. Lowe is "dead or alive," so Lane prefers dead so she won't be able to testify against him. He tries to ambush her and Cody, and when partner Dobie (Richard Rust) refuses to help, Lane shoots him.
In a showdown in the hills, Cody gets the better of Lane. He escorts the woman back home, discovering that her husband is blind. Before he can be paid the $5,000, Cody rides away.
The town of Lordsburg is mentioned some 20 times in the movie, but not visited once. | violence | train | wikipedia | With Commanche Station, Budd Boetticher showed that he knew how to distill a great story (with many elements of a Greek tragedy) to its most basic human elements - Obsession, Greed, Loyalty, Irony, and above all, Honor.Not only did Boetticher direct a great film, Burt Kennedy (later to become a fair director himself) constructed a great script.
The last of the seven Scott/Boetticher collaborations and although it's not one of my favorites {THE TALL T (1957) and RIDE LONESOME (1959) come out ahead}, it's still worth owning on DVD if Columbia/Tristar ever sees fit to release it.Randolph Scott plays a rancher named Jefferson Cody who's wife was kidnapped by the Comanches a few years before.
When he hears that the Comanches are holding a white woman, he goes to them for a trade and winds up with another man's wife named Mrs. Lowe (Nancy Gates).As they head back, they stop at Comanche Station in order to water their horses and get fresh supplies.
Comanche Station is the last of several films Randolph Scott made for Budd Boetticher with Columbia pictures.
Unfortunately the two have need of each other in hostile Indian territory.Randolph Scott's western heroes usually have an edge to them, they are not pure heroes as Joel McCrea's are.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a medieval origin to the plot of Comanche Territory.Had Scott not come back to do Ride the High Country, Comanche Station would have been a good film to go out on..
Comanche Station is produced and directed by Budd Boetticher and stars Randolph Scott, Claude Akins, Nancy Gates, Skip Homeier & Richard Rust.
Stating that the Comanches are on their trail and speaking about a reward being offered for Nancy, relations start to disintegrate by the hour.This was to be the last of seven collaborations between director Budd Boetticher and Western legend Randolph Scott, and it's a most fitting sign off from the duo.
Here in this fine picture we find Scott's Cody in a complete state of loneliness, but outside of the pain the character clearly carries with him, Cody is a classic Western hero, courage and integrity are fortitude's by which he lives his life.As this tale unfolds it's evident that Boetticher isn't prepared to offer up conventional Western standards, this, like many of Boetticher's other Westerns, is not a standard Oater, a good versus evil fable, it's a cunningly intelligent picture that's both sad in texture, and also in heart.
The film is boosted by Charles Lawton Jr's camera work as he captures some stunning outdoor scenery, the rugged rocks and dusky land creates some striking compositions around the troubled characters.See this if you are one of those people who thinks Westerns were merely an excuse for Cowboys and Indians high jinx.
He doesn't talk much (I bet there also was not much talk needed between Boettcher and Scott, since this was unfortunately their last collaboration and each one must have known the other inside out), he does acting minimal style (perfect for the role), he IS the American western loner in search for his wife (like Wayne in THE SEACHERS, which is admittedly the better of the 2, but THE SEARCHES is more existentialistic, at which COMANCHE STATION is not aiming).
Comanche Station is the story of a man, Randolph Scott obsessed with the idea of finding his missing wife, captured by the Indians.
To him money does not matter at all, he is the opposite of Claude Akins who will do anything to get the 5000 dollars offered to deliver the woman Scott rescued from the Comanches to her husband.
An excellent story, which is a quality of every "Ranown" film, Randolph Scott at his best and the unique direction of Boetticher make "Comanche Station" a film not to be missed..
Third, the film had a really nice ending--quite the twist.You can't do a lot better than a Scott/Boetticher western.
Beautiful, crafted piece has Scott rescuing a woman abducted by Comanche -- not from the Camanche (they're willing to trade her for some rugs) but from Akins and his friends, who plan to return the woman dead to her husband to get the reward.
Not the Best Ranown, but It'll Sure Do. Comanche Station is the last of the brilliant Boetticher-Scott-Kennedy (Ranown) collaboration, and it's probably just as well.
The familiar figure of a loner (Scott) rescues a married woman (Gates) from Indians, but must get past bounty hunter (Aikens), his two youthful gunmen, and the now hostile Comanche.Again writer Kennedy gets a lot of mileage out of shades of gray.
The hard part is getting her back home with his sleazy former subordinate Claude Akins and Akins' dim-witted partners tagging along, especially since they know what the woman's husband is willing to pay for her return, or that of her body!Another great film directed by Bud Boetticher, what strikes me most about this and others by Boetticher is the wonderful use of the widescreen image.
This low-key film makes a fitting conclusion to the fine series of Boetticher-Scott westerns.
I have really enjoyed Randolph Scott's presence in films at both both bookends of his career, having previously seen him in the pre-Code 'Hot Saturday' (1932) and his last film, Sam Peckinpah's first great film, 'Ride the High Country' (1962), as well as a few in between ('Pittsburgh', 'Virginia City' and 'My Favorite Wife' most readily come to mind), so I thought it was high time to visit some of his most influential films, the Western collaborations with Budd Boetticher.Scott has a really unique presence in these films.
Though not quite as good as its predecessor, 'Ride Lonesome', I still didn't have the heart to give it a lower rating.I know the Western genre as a whole tends to get short shrift these days, but when you see the great ones, it makes you really glad somebody made them--and that Boetticher and Scott made a lot more than simply seven together..
But "Comanche Station" is quite a compelling 60s Western film that takes together all the elements you want to see: gunfights, Indian attacks, villains, and a dispute over money, a very valuable thing in the Old West.
It's all been done before and was done after "Comanche Station", but here, it works out excellently.Aside from Randolph Scott, the film stars Nancy Gates in her last screen performance before she retired from acting to spend more time with her family.
Yet, his good side isn't overpowering the other side that makes it okay for his fate to unravel as it always does to villains in Westerns."Comanche Station" is short, which is appropriate seeing as how it's not developed or characterized enough to keep the audience interested for any longer.
Solid, well done western, with an elegiac, muted, deliberately paced feel, despite the tense plot.A cowboy (Randolph Scott) 'buys back' a stolen white woman from the Comanche's.
"Comanche Station" was just one of a handful of truly great westerns that Randolph Scott made with director Budd Boetticher over a five year period between 1956 and 1960.
There was usually a journey involved and a woman, more often than not in need of Scott's protection, and several villains, so beautifully drawn in the scripts of Burt Kennedy that they usually transcended the caricatured villainy of western bad guys to emerge as altogether more complex characters.In "Comanche Station" Scott finds himself rescuing white woman Nancy Gates from the Comanches and escorting her back to her husband.
There's two ways you can look at COMANCHE STATION, the last of the Ranown westerns Boetticher did with Randolph Scott.
Scott has rescued a white woman by trade from the Indians, he meets up with Akins and his two young acolytes at Comanche Station, where they learn that scalp hunters have been at work nearby and set the Indians on the warpath.
Cowboy Jefferson Cody (Scott) trades a woman (Gates) captured by the Comanche for $5 dollars worth of trinkets and a rifle.
'Comanche Station' is the final collaboration of the seven films director Budd Boetticher and lead actor Randolph Scott did together in the late 50s.
By all means 'Comanche Station' is not their best pairing (perhaps towards the lesser end, which is not a knock as this merely means it's only because the best of them are so great), but one can totally see the appeal of their collaborations and both Boetticher and Scott are well served, the film being a good representation of both.
Makes no sense why anyone would film a western called Comanche Station and use Indian hairdos that
After Comanches took his wife away years ago, Randolph Scott's character spends his time tracking down stories of white women abducted by Comanches in hopes of rescuing his wife from captivity.
Scott and Gates travel to a stage coach stop known as Comanche Station where Claude Akins and two young associates, Richard Rust and Skip Homier, await the stage coach's arrival to rob it.
There is excellent acting along the journey, thanks to a stand out script by Burt Kennedy and direction by Scott's famous partner in westerns Budd Boetticher..
Mysterious westerner Randolph Scott (as Jefferson Cody) arrives in Comanche Territory (in or around Texas) to exchange goods for beautiful brunette Nancy Gates (as Nancy Lowe), who was abducted and turned into a White squaw (sex partner) for someone in the tribe.
She and Mr. Scott quickly become involved in a Comanche attack on fellow bounty hunter Claude Akins (as Ben Lane) and his two young guns, Richard Rust (as Dobie) and Skip Homeier (as Frank).
However, it soon becomes clear Mr. Akins plans to violently take out Scott and collect the $5,000 reward for himself..."Comanche Territory" was the last of several fine westerns from director Budd Boetticher and his team.
Although we sometimes lose track of Scott's story, a powerful ending brings it all back home.******** Comanche Station (3/1/60) Budd Boetticher ~ Randolph Scott, Nancy Gates, Richard Rust, Claude Akins.
Story details by other reviewers of Commanche Station are well written; I would like to look at details of this side-lined Western.To fully understand the nature of Randolph Scott Westerns you have to think the 1950's; I can because I was there, watching every ' cowboy film ' that came out.
I remember at the age of 8-10 riding around my home town on an imaginary horse; we even formed imaginary posses!.....and Westerns were being shown at local cinemas every week.Randolph Scott played other parts in his long career but achieved a curious fame as a man-of-few-words cowboy.
It's a face that no other western hero has, making Scott a magnet on screen......in the light of this,his acting ability was not in question.Comanche Station also has a surprisingly good performance from Claude Akins; in fact, stealing a few scenes from Scott.
One long observation his character made concerning Nancy's return to her husband was loaded with cynicism and spite....perfect.In the action scenes he showed himself also to be a fine horseman.....if that really was him firing a rifle on horseback!Nancy Gates cruised thru her role with little impact; but what western girl didn't?......in the hard, troubled world of the 1950's clearly defined male cowboy, there was little room for strong females.Commanche Station is a great Western because of it's love affair with the very nature of the genre; tall enigmatic men, the outback, the wide open spaces, the tumbled rocks that threaten to hide hoards of Indians, and the ever-present but unloved horses, surely the most unsung animal of all time.You'll remember this film because of these things; but mostly because here, encapsulated in 70 minutes, are all of the elements and nuances that all great westerns have or should have.What more do you want?!.
In this picture Jefferson Cody, (Randy Scott) plays the role of a man who tries to help white women who have been captured by the Comanche Indians and barters with all kinds of goods for their release and then returns them to their respective families.
This ending will be very interesting to everyone and this is truly a great Randolph Scott Western from 1960..
Comanche Station (1960) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Randolph Scott saves a woman (Nancy Gates) who was captured by Indians.
It is perhaps appropriate that "Comanche Station" marks the end of the run of westerns Randolph Scott made with director Budd Boetticher.
Lean and pure, it embodies the overarching thematic and moral concerns that make their films so lasting.We open on Jefferson Cody (Scott) riding alone through the grim dry hills of a western landscape.
But Lane has two companions with guns, and Cody must allow Lane to ride with him and the woman, even though Lane makes clear he has a hankering for the $5,000 bounty the woman's husband put on her return, dead or alive."You got a worth," Lane tells the woman with a nasty grin.So does "Comanche Station," a worth hard to explain.
You have to view it a few times to pick up on the many subtleties, like how Cody quietly works the gaps he discovers between Lane and one of his subordinates, Dobie (Richard Rust), in order to work out a method for staying alive.Boetticher westerns often rely on the strength of its bad guys for dramatic interest; here it's Dobie that draws us in.
The deterministic quality of the plot and its characters here can be a weight when you've seen the other films, most notably "Seven Men From Now," which had a similar plot, and "Ride Lonesome," which had the same ambiguities.But taken as a variation on a theme, and its culmination, "Comanche Station" is terrific entertainment, something to be savored as well as enjoyed.
Good Boetticher/Scott Western..
Something seemed to come together on the half dozen or so cheap Westerns that Oscar "Bud" Boetticher made with Randolph Scott and writer Burt Kennedy, and shot mostly among the stucco crags at Movie Flats, California.
The blanket it again offered, this time with the Winchester rifle the man - Randolph Scott, as Jefferson Cody (how iconic is that for a western hero's name?) had put away in the first scene; and a beautiful young woman is thrown out of a tent.
This opening is justly famed - beautifully composed and strikingly photographed, with only a few words of dialogue in the first ten minutes - it feels, after you've seen the rest of the Ranown films, almost like a textbook example of the Randolph Scott character at work, doing one of the things he's there to do (saving a woman) while necessarily avoiding the other (gunfighting).
Dobie makes his choice, and pays for it; and in this case, unlike the finale of Ride Lonesome, there is no second villain behind the story who is the real reason for Scott's character's actions - Ben is the sole obstacle to be overcome, and a showdown is necessary.
Though it is closest overall to Ride Lonesome among the four Kennedy-scripted films, there are specific elements that call to mind the first two films as well - Akins' dialogue about a man losing his woman to another white man is reminiscent of Marvin's little story in Seven Men from Now; Homeier was in The Tall T - and as in that film it's clear that the outlaws value money over a woman's life..
COMANCHE STATION begins and ends with the same shot (reversed for the ending) and the trick Randolph Scott's character uses against Claude Akins (having a woman distract him by firing a six-shooter until it's empty, while Scott gets into position) is a rehash from an earlier Boetticher film, but it's the subtle and sometimes downright striking cinematography that makes this one worth watching.
"Comanche Station" rides into "The Searchers" territory, but also feels a little like the funky television westerns of the 1960's such as Steve McQueen's "Wanted Dead or Alive" or Nick Adams "The Rebel".When Jefferson Cody (Randolph Scott) rescues Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) from the Comanche their troubles are just starting when they meet up with a trio of outlaws led by Ben Lane (Claude Atkins).
Director Bud Boetticher's westerns with Randolph Scott have been reappraised over the last couple of decades, especially this one, the last they made together.The film looks terrific.
This time, it's the woman who has a reward($5000.) for her return(dead or alive!!), rather than a man, as in "Ride Lonesome".
Cody's and Mrs. Lowes's big secrets aren't revealed until rather late in the film.As usual, the lead woman wants Scott's character to continue to show up periodically in her life, but he politely rides off into the sunset as a perpetual wandering soul, still tortured by the distant loss of his cherished wife..
It was the Randolph Scott of "Comanche Station" they were memorializing, the stoic Western cowboy trying to do the right thing in a lawless land.
Cody's (Scott) response to Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates) when she questions him about her fate with the Comanches show him to be a man of principle and integrity, well before we learn of his true quest.Even the film's outlaws maintain a certain respect for Cody, with Ben Lane (Claude Akins) sharing a tarnished past with his former military officer.
NOTES: Filmed entirely at Lone Pine, California, this is the last of the Scott-Boetticher westerns.
Budd Boetticher's "Comanche Station" isn't as entertaining as "Ride Lonesome." Randolph Scott's stalwart hero rescues the wife of a white man, Nancy Lowe (Nancy Gates of "Hitler's Children"), abducted by Indians.
Later, Ben Lane (Claude Atkins of "Rio Bravo") and two younger gunslingers, Frank (Skip Homeier of "Day of the Badman") and Dobie (Richard Rust of "The Great Gundown"), ride along with Jefferson Cody (Randolph Scott) as he escorts the woman back to her husband.
This is the third Boetticher/Scott Western I've seen, "Ride Lonesome" and "The Tall T" are the others.
Upon hearing that a white woman has been captured by the Comanches, "Jefferson Cody" (Randolph Scott) rides to their camp with the hope of trading some goods for her release. |
tt4940456 | Mirzya | Based on two different generations Mirzya replicates the story of two lovebirds who were never meant to be together. Monish a.k.a Adil (Harshvardhan Kapoor) is a horse groomsman who reconnects with his childhood friend Suchitra (Saiyami Kher), a soon to be princess.
Mohnish and Suchitra are classmates at Gowardhan High School in Jodhpur. They are inseperable. Mohnish carries Suchi's school bag for her everyday to school and she in turn covers up for him in school. He even takes on bicycle rides up and down the forts of Jodhpur. One day Mohnish uses Suchitra's notebook because he has not done his own homework. When the Master realises that Suchi has not done her homework, he canes her. Mohnish cannot bear the sight of his classmate getting caned. He cares so deeply for Suchi that the sight of her bruised palms makes him wince. The same night, Mohnish sneaks into Suchi's home and steals her father, Art Malik's(a Policeman) gun. Next day he shoots the school teacher who caned Suchi before others get to school.The boy is sent to a juvenile correction facility. When he is inside, Suchitra's father sends her away to London for higher studies. After a short stay at the correction home, Mohnish escapes. Years later, Suchitra returns to India and is now on the verge of getting engaged to Prince Karan(Anuj). Her father is happy with her new relationship. Suchitra wants to learn riding. When Karan introduces her to his horses, including a white steed called Safedi, he also instructs the stable hand Aadil to teach her riding. Suchitra gets a feeling of deja vu when she is around Aadil. She asks him if he ever went to Jodhpur. He denies it. But Suchitra doesn't give up. When the words Gowardhan School accidentally slip out of his mouth, Suchi realises that Aadil is her childhood friend, Mohnish, who she affectionately called Mohnisha. The two of them kiss and canoodle. After that these two are inseparable. Suchi tells Aadil to go and confess to her father that he is ready to surrender and seek due punishment for the murder he committed in his childhood. However just a few days after this, on Guru Purnima day, when Karan, Aadil and Suchi go on a shikar, there is an accident. A lion attacks Suchi. Karan tries to save her but ultimately it is Aadil who saves her and Karan. When Karan recovers, Aadil tries to tell Suchi's father that he is the boy who committed the crime in Jodhpur, Suchi's father is unforgiving. Aadil says he wants to make amends for his wrongdoing as a child. He tells Suchi's dad that he wants to marry Suchi. But instead the Policeman and the Prince hatch a plot to get rid of Aadil. Karan takes Aadil on a late night shikar and attempts to shoot him. Aadil is injured, he falls down and hurts his head on a stone but he doesn't die. Spoiler alert: Suchitra cannot find Aadil for a long time again. She even goes to one of his friends in the Lohar gulli looking for him. However when she cannot find him, she agrees to marry Karan. On the wedding day, Aadil's friend, a Muslim girl comes to Suchi's rescue. The friend comes dressed in a burkha. Suchi is dressed in a red lahenga and around her neck she wears a pendant that is carrying sindoor on top and poison at the bottom. Aadil's friend also lends Suchi her burkha. And she ensures Suchi and Aadil escape on his bike. The friends stays back in Suchi's room while the two lovers elope. Aadil and Suchi share a few moments of love and freedom on their desert ride. However, when the bike runs out of petrol, they are chased down by the police, Suchi's father and Prince Karan. In the palace, Karan's relatives discover that Suchi has escaped. Aadil's lady friend who has rescued Suchi slits her wrists and dies because she knows that if she gets caught, she will have to reveal her friends' whereabouts. In her bid to protect them, she chooses death over life, making the extreme sacrifice for love. Back in the desert another tragedy awaits the lovers. When they are barely 25 kilometres away from the Rajasthan border, Aadil is shot; Suchi swallows poison and they both die in one another's arms in the desert. | romantic | train | wikipedia | I would have given this movie 0 stars but it is not possible in this rating system and the only way I can justify the compulsory 1 star is the opening sequence, but then it is done over and over and over and over so many bloody times that I wish I wouldn't have thought that that was a good scene.Well, everybody knows the story of Mirza-Sahiban but truly speaking I didn't and before getting into the theater I read about it a bit or else the flashback/lore sequence would have seemed even more vague.
The whole movie is interjected with Daler Mehndi shrieking Mirzya and those irritating and even more pretentious and vague dance sequences.
The cinematography looked like a recycled version of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.Now to Anil Kapoor's son and Tanvi Azmi's niece.
You might be wondering why I am not taking their names because they were taken due to above mentioned Bollywood background that they have inherited and anybody saying otherwise is lying through their teeth and that goes for Rakesh Omprakash Mehra.
I know many of you are a fan of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra or Gulzar and the girls might have a fondness for Junior Anil Kapoor but it isn't worth spending your money on.
Mirzya has everything that's required for a musical romance based on a popular Punjabi folktale: a pair of fresh faces (Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher) with great Bollywood genes, a strong supporting cast, and lilting music.Outside Punjab, the story of Mirza-Sahiba may not be as well-known as the other folktales about star-crossed young love such as Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal, but it has an equally strong core of emotion.
And there's no one better than Gulzar to be able to translate the story into a film, keeping the feelings and idiom intact.
A touch of 'Romeo-Juliet' is stirred in to emphasise just how hard the lovers have to fight, and just how much our hearts have to go out to them.But right from the get-go, Mirzya tells us it's going to be more about setting the scene, as it cross-cuts in time — some sequences are as spectacular as anything we've seen recently — than giving us characters that will instantly grab us, and keep us with them.
This problem plagues this lush, good-looking production right through, and makes it much less of a film than it could have been.Transplanting the tale to Rajasthan allows for locations that can take your breath away, despite their overuse in Bollywood.
Grand forts, picturesque hamlets, glittering deserts and undulating dunes, and 'rajwadaas' with all their grand costumes and liveried retainers: Mirzya is all eye candy.There's also something sweet and engaging about an initial segment which shows Suchi and Mohnish as childhood sweethearts very attached to each other, who part and meet again in very different circumstances.The film starts to slide when we meet these two as young adults, Suchi (Saiyami Kher) as a curly-haired miss engaged to Prince Karan (Anuj Choudhry) who bumps into Adil-Mohnish (Harshvardhan Kapoor), and re-kindles old embers.
The film, much too intent on creating prettiness, gives us no answers: Suchi and Adil-Mohnish come and go minus impact.And that's down to the fact that the lovers do not set the screen on fire.
Flashback to his father Anil and his first film, you will instantly see the difference between an actor being groomed and an actor who is a complete natural, and who makes us look.
So, may be you can find it bias.The legend of Mirza-Sahiban was the concept which Rakesh had to filmed.
And the team leaves you to think and find out whatever answer you would like to keep.Anil Kapoor's son Harshvardhan Kapoor is here as Mirza.
All the other actors, like Om Puri, Art Malik and Anuj Chaudhary are good in their respective roles.
These little elements make this film a worthy watch.Otherwise, as far as story is concern, the question of broken arrows is good, but what else we want from the tale?
And I'm not talking about only this year, I don't remember when did last time I hear these type of purity in Indian movie music.
Every single picture or shot is 100% perfect or even above that in the part of Ladakh.Director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra had given films like Rang De Basanti and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
The things will be remembered, are the visuals, the unusual film-making, the cultural music with great lyrics, the beauty of Ladakh & the answer of those broken arrows.Some people don't make films for money, or to be famous, they just make what they want to.
Film will remain in my heart forever like one line of the title track speaks, 'Marta nahi hai Ishq O Mirza, Sadiyon Saahiban rahti hai'!Dare to love.
No masala and to the point, that might not appeal to a lot of people but that is pure justice to film- making which is the exact point the director is trying to make.
I will not be surprised if a lot of people end up not liking the film because of this, but the music and the cinematography of the film make it worth a watch on the big screen.
See this film for the portrayal of a 'timeless love story' along with the visuals, music and the song 'aave re hichki' which has been shot flawlessly.P.S. Do make yourself acquainted with the story of Mirza-Sahiban before seeing the film as it will give more context..
Movie is really good but people will take time to understand it.
Director Mr. Rakesh Omprakash Mehara work as a technician is good but as a creative person notably bad.
Film goes into flashback from present frequently, whenever an emotional scene comes, an intense song but difficult to understand the lyrics takes over with some good visuals.
Film starts with some high octane action with support of VFX but you don't feel anything because it was not cleared that what is happening and why, actually it was just for the sake of introducing the male lead.
New actors Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher portrayed a good body language, despite having nothing much to showcase.
Anjali Patil held her character well and was good in her little stint.Storyline Rating: 2 Content: 3 Commercialization: 3 Entertainment: 2Acting Rating: 2 Harshvardhan Kapoor: 2 Saiyami Kher: 2 Anjali Patil: 3 Anuj Choudhry: 3Direction Rating: 2Music Rating: 2Cinematography: 4Editing: 2.
Definitely don't deserve the 4.7 stars but sadly Indian viewers are not mature enough to understand this piece of Art. Best cenamatography, awesome direction, beautiful screen play, amazing background music, equally amazing songs, meaningful lyrics (hats off for writing "ek Nadi thi") and wonderful no nonsense acting by all the actors...
Must watch for all who can understand what art of movie-making is.....
The guy who made Rang De Basanti and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag made this letdown.Mirzya is an adapted folktale directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra and written by Gulzar based on the Mirza-Sahiban story starring Harshvardhan Kapoor, Saiyami Kher, Om Puri, Art Malik, and Anuj Choudhury.
Honestly, I was pretty eager to watch this movie because of its songs and its trailer which were highly anticipating and beautiful.
But the movie itself went drastically wrong with 3 important aspects which are the story, screenplay, and acting in some way.
Harshvardhan Kapoor had the potential but he did drag on in some parts during the movie especially when it came to emotional scenes which weren't tear jerking.
Saiyami Kher acts like the way Mandy does in the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy because of showing only one expression when she shows different kinds of emotions like when you're happy or sad.
Gulzar wrote this movie like he was about to get a heart attack in terms of rushing.
The pacing was atrocious and this movie almost turned out to be a snooze fest and did put me to sleep at times.The only positives in the film are Cinematography and Music.
The music did match the story in a good way although the movie contained a very generic story.
The Dop was pretty decent and shot the locations very beautifully but the editing was less crisp and loose.Overall, this movie wasted potential with mediocre direction and poor writing and could've been one of the best movies out this year but landed up being a snooze fest which is why Mirzya is worth watching but on TV or Netflix.
Rakesh Omprakash Mehra for the first time screwed up as director.
Rakesh Omprakash Mehra is back with some artistic poetry of love saga from different ages.
As Rakesh Omprakash Mehra's film career is full of Sine Curve( consecutive Hit and Flop movies).
His debut movie Aks was flop then Rang De Basanti was Hit. After that Delhi 6 was flop on box office then Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was Hit. As trend suggest, Mirzya will surely flop on box office..
Mireya could have been much better if they could have focused on performances and story execution , it's a boring and a major let down Movie !.
It is that poignant story that this movie set out to deliver with parallel drawn to a modern romance between two young people from Jodhpur.
Not sure why Mr Mehra made this movie, I would have given -ve score if IMDb allowed to do so.
Inspired by the Punjabi folklore of Mirza Sahiban, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's 'Mirzya' is a visual dazzler, that lacks soul.
'Mirzya' Synopsis: Two Star Crossed Lovers face tragic ends, in both, ancient times & in the modern era.'Mirzya' is a visual marvel.
Performance-Wise: Debutants Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher, deliver well.
Of the supporting cast, Anuj Choudhry is notable, while Om Puri is wasted.On the whole, 'Mirzya' is a body beautiful, minus soul..
Pathetic movie, Poor direction, Wrong casting, No story, Waste of money / timeSeriously guys, don't even watch this on television, its total crap.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was a great film to watch but this (mirzya) is awful.
Had no great expectations from the film but only it was Mr Mehras movie, I decided to watch but was highly disappointed.
First time in a theater I was talking rather than watching the movie.
Love interest, village people dancing in every God damn song like they were there just for that very reason.
Absolutely!!Change the director and actors the screenplay, and the script and you got yourself a movie..
The movie begins with some competition taking place at a stunning location of Leh. From the first frame audience are left clueless as when the action just kicks off the other modern tale begins where two school kids in Jodhpur begins the story.
The boy Munish played by Harshvardhan Kapoor falls in love with a police officers daughter Suchi played by Saiyami Kher, a tragic incident takes place which falls them apart.
Then starts the love triangle between the lovers and the prince Karan played by Anuj Choudhary.In between the modern day story comes the story about legendary lovers Mirza-Sahiban.
The historic love story has not even a single dialogue which not only make the audience confused but also irritates the people .
People are left confused whether the movie is about Reincarnation or its the two different story played.
Music of the movie is decent but the direction, Narration and the tragic let down screenplay makes the audience question about the real content.
On top 135 minutes will make you feel like the movie is almost 270 minutes.Both the new-comers Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami Kher does a decent job since there were not much dialogues and screen time given to prove there worth.
Overall go for the movie if you want to witness some beautiful locations and tragic love story but don't expect the magic by the director as he has made some tremendous movies in the past..
The director has a sterling reputation for putting out great movies; however, he failed miserably with Mirzya.
The story-line, based on a Punjabi folktale, was poorly written and confusing; the scenes and the flashbacks were monotonous and meaningless, the main actors were awful: their faces were for the most part expressionless, and in Harsha's case, he seemed to be unable to deliver his lines with conviction.
Musical-Visual-Poetic treat for cinema lovers who wants some decent movie.
same happened with Mirzya as people doesn't understand even not bothered to watch it once (As people like to watch the gisi piti movies like Raaz reboot).It's not easy to tell any well known story with such a poetic way.
From trailer to it's songs movie shaken the movie buffs like me for it's different approach and after watching movie also the effect remained same.Loved idea of showing the well known tell with touch of Shakespeare and specially Presentation of Mirza-Sahiban saga without unnecessary dialogues.
There were many moments in movie to cherish like, 1.Close up scene of Monish-Suchi lying on sand watching each other, 2.
Mirza watching Sahiban with question in his eyes for broken arrows 4.
Each frame of Mirza-sahiban storyalthough by putting more emotions or keeping climax more intriguing like Rang de basanti, movie would have been become classic tale.Hats off to Gulzar Saab for fantastic screenplay-story-lyrics, Rakeysh omprakash mehra for wonderful direction, Cinematographer for such decent picturization, Harshvardhan kapoor his hard work and performance, Sayami kher for her fascinating look and SEL for marvelous BGM & Music..
In spite of Mirzya being poetic, visually spectacular, a beautiful lyrical art in itself, the arrow misses the target..
Mirzya, a much-awaited film by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, is inspired from the famous Punjabi folklore of a tragic love story of Mirza- Sahiban.
This film is also the launchpad for Harshvardhan Kapoor (Anil Kapoor's son) and Saiyami Kher (Niece of Shabana and Tanvi Azmi).
Expectations roar high, when the film is written by a living legend Gulzar and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash.
Mirzya is not able to evoke the pathos of such a powerful love story, not soul-stirring.
The film shows the much famous folklore in two eras, visuals interspersed with Daler Mehndi's powerful voice in the background.
When the story of Mohnish / Adil Mirza (Harshvardhan Kapoor) and Suchitra (Saiyami Kher) is conveyed, parallels are drawn with the scenes of Mirza-Sahiban story too.Om Puri, a blacksmith, is shown working and saying that there would always be some fire in the streets of blacksmiths.
Clubbed with this is that of Sahiban (Saiyami Kher of the old era) watching a group of horse riders galloping and her eyes full of appreciation for Mirza (Harshvardhan with the get up of an old era), a scruffy warrior winning archery competition against others.
Throughout the film, relevant scenes from either of the timelines are blended and shown parallelly.Mohnish and Suchitra are great friends as children, and both go to school together.
Unaware of Adil's actual identity, Suchitra's and Adil's paths cross.Although the folklore is familiar to us, it is interesting to watch, how the parallels are drawn between Adil-Suchitra and Mirza- Sahiban's stories.
Is the fate of Adil and Suchitra the same as that of Mirza-Sahiban ?The film had tremendous potential.
In fact, the lyrical way of storytelling by blending two timelines that of Mirza-Sahiban and Mohnish/Adil –Suchitra's stories with songs also is brilliant.
But, efforts are not taken to show / justify the love story or strong bond between Adil-Suchitra.
It doesn't touch one's heart.Harshvardhan, Saiyami and Anuj are very good, but the lack of intensity in the script brings their intensity quotient down.
Art Malik (A British Actor) and KK Raina who essayed Suchitra and Karan's father respectively are also good.The dialogues are less in the film, rather the story is intertwined with the dance sequences.
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Daler have given good folk songs.Cinematography needs special mention, kudos to Polish cinematographer Pawel Dyllus.Mirzya is poetic, painted beautifully on a huge canvas, visually spectacular.
Expectations roar high, when the film is written by Gulzar and directed by Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, but the arrow misses the target.
The film is not able to evoke the pathos of such a powerful love story, not soul-stirring.
Please watch Magadheera, you will feel far better.The most funny part of this movie was that the past story of Mirza sahab, everyone was mute and dumb.
And same scene is repeated almost n number of times to make you feel irritated and predict the present story.
I've given the movie a 4 just because it has Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's name in it.
What I think the director wanted to do was to show two love stories, in two different timelines having the same consequences.
It's not reincarnation of lovers movie like our favorite "Magadheera".
Anyone who knows the legend of MIrza-Sahiban would say in hands of a great director, this story had the potential to become a blockbuster.Harshvardhan Kapoor, bro you tried hard, but not too hard to act as a stable boy in this movie.
These two can act in a movie depicting City life of Mumbai or Delhi, maybe Harsh acting as a struggling fashion model and Saiyami as one of the top models in the business and show their love story or such.
This would have a great movie only if the story would have been as better as the screenplay!
Such a poor story line was definitely not what is expected from Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra.
The teasers in itself were not that immersive, but still I had thought that it might be a good once since it was none other than Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra!!!
But I was wrong...weak story line, no synchronization and bad acting are some of the reasons that makes this film clumsy.
But, yes the songs, lyrics and the cinematic effect of the movie is what is quite good.
It was alot like the stupid song that they played when the young child shoots his teacher "hota hai hota hai" meaning "Oh it happens"...
Or when the young, beautiful, poor widow who kills herself leaving behinde her little son the song plays again "Hota hai hota hai..." "It happens". |
tt0085204 | BMX Bandits | After a successful Sydney bank robbery, with the robbers wearing pig masks and brandishing shotguns, the man in charge, The Boss (Bryan Marshall), plans a further and larger payroll robbery for two days later worth at least $1.5 million, hoping that he can trust his less-than-competent gang headed by Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley) to do the job properly, with anyone who doesn't answering to him.
Two young BMX experts, P.J. (Angelo D'Angelo) and Goose (James Lugton), meet Judy (Nicole Kidman), who is working as a trolley collector at the Warringah Mall during the school holidays in order to be able to buy her own BMX bike, and accidentally get Judy fired from her job when they crash into trolleys pushed away by the local "Creep" (Brian Sloman). The three go out in Goose's dad's runabout on the harbour searching for cockles to sell in order to fix their own crashed bikes, as well as getting Judy her own, and stumble onto and steal a box of police-band walkie talkies that the bank robbers were hoping to use to monitor on police traffic. Ironically, after stealing the box, the kids pass Whitey and Moustache who are on their way in their high-powered motorboat to pick it up.
Judy, P.J. and Goose sell the walkie-talkies to other kids in the area. The Bayside Police are able to hear the kids using the walkie talkies. Judy, P.J. and Goose are also unaware that the robbers know who stole the box. After they are spotted and chased late at night through a cemetery by Whitey and Moustache wearing monster masks (going formal, according to Whitey), they manage to escape. The next day, P.J. and Goose pick up their newly repaired bikes whilst Judy buys her bike. Judy is caught the next day by Whitey and Moustache while getting a second walkie talkie for The Creep, but escapes with the help of P.J. and Goose. The goons chase the Bandits in a cartoonish chase across opportunistic sites around Sydney, including a memorable escape down the Manly Waterworks water slides, complete with BMX bikes.
The trio are finally arrested but escape police custody and, with the help of the local kids, launch their own plan to foil the planned payroll robbery. Using the walkie-talkies, the Bandits pinpoint the meeting place for the robbers, then proceed to ambush and apprehend the robbers. The Boss, Whitey and Moustache escape in a removal truck with Judy as a hostage, with P.J. and Goose taking chase. They cause the truck to crash, with police soon arriving to arrest The Boss, Whitey and Moustache.
The police build a BMX track as thanks for the capture. In its opening meeting, the BMX Bandits sweep the main awards. | storytelling | train | wikipedia | We were mostly BMX fanatics and figured we'd be running out of the cinema pulling pretend stunts on our handy imaginary bikes but alas we'd kinda just wheeled out, a little let down.
I was too harsh on the pic as a kid coz i thought it pandered to a younger audience but now looking back on my days as a kid it's got some innocent magic like those british children's film foundation pics.
Nicole Kidman is a star and her fellow BMX bandits form a fun team but it's the pursuing criminals that steal the show with their manic and obviously improvised actions and dialogue.
I'm sure that there have probably been a lot more adventure films centered around BMXing than just BMX Bandits or Rad, but those are all that I have seen as of this writing.
And while I thought 'Rad' was far too embarrassingly cheesy and was initially skeptical when I picked up BMX Bandits, BMX Bandits blew 'Rad' right out the water as far as acting, story, humor, and even action sequences.BMX Bandits is something like an Australian version of the Hardy Boys (plus one girl) mystery on wheels.
A case full of sophisticated walkie talkies which yield not only a pretty penny as they sell them to the neighborhood kids, but also a lot of trouble as they are chased by their skilled, gangster owners who wish to retrieve their finds and punish the kids for taking them, as well as the cops who think something much more is going on when their radio frequencies are interrupted with the conversations of the three teens on their walkie talkies.Despite the family film theme, the movie lacks much of the corniness common to the genre, the decade, or the BMX theme.
The filmmakers were willing to be a little more daring with the dialog and the story, probably trying to appeal to audiences older than just the pre-teen market and do so in an often humorous manner, thanks mostly to the witty retort of Goose (James Lugton), one of the three main teens.
I have similar feelings about this movie as a lot of the other reviewers.As kids, my friends and I used to rent it at all opportunities.
Of course having Nicole Kidman in one of her first movies ever is also great fun to watch.
I would reply, "Show me BMX Bandits, one last time." Obviously, this will never happen, as I have no loved ones, and in fact will probably die alone.
But enough about me.BMX Bandits is an unparalleled achievement in cinema history, ranking right up there with, "Out of the Body" and "Birth of a Nation." It basically features a nubile NIcole Kidman (in tight BMX pants ;-) ) and her band of mates, Goose, and P.J. Confused?
Look for a wizend David Argue (remember his role in Gallipoli?) as the colorful crook, "Whitey." Watch as him and his partner-in-crime, John Ley (Mustache) are unable to kill three kids on bikes.
Nicole Kidman stars as one of the teenage BMX bandits and a check-out chick at the local supermarket.
And the goons'"scary" halloween masks!80's children classic!A total stinker - but in the "it's so bad it's good" category.Plus a must see for all those Nicole fans out there..
I and my brother rented this movie for our birthdays for, I don't know, something like five years in a row.
OK, I'm 54 years old and what am I doing watching a movie like this...
Remember how as a kid you liked to watch more adult-themed movies so you could fantasize about what it would be like when you grew up?
Fortunately this movie didn't have too much of that, it was just fun.The BMX sport which later became a craze was just getting started when I was in high school, and it was interesting to watch here.
It's Nicole Kidman!" Her presence made me keep watching to see how she handled her earliest film role.The criminals in the movie start off as real badasses, with ominous music playing in the background (which later becomes amusing).
Most of the movie was filmed in Manly, NSW, Australia which is a coastal town not far from Sydney.
A ferry ride across sydney harbour away, in fact.The BMX track at the end of the movie, just before the credits roll is actually Hickeys Lane BMX track which was located in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.Penrith is a city west of Sydney and I lived there from 1984 to 1989.
I have fond memories of riding my BMX at Hickeys Lane and it's great to actually see it in a movie.If you play the BMX track part of the movie slowly, you can see the Blue Mountains in the background behind the park.In the end credits there is a thank you message to Western Sydney BMX Club.
This is the point where the plot just steps out of the way for the real purpose of the movie: exhibiting "rad" BMX stunts (most of which are just jumping off conveniently placed ramps around the city).So, these criminals chase these three kids all over the city, basically destroying their own car in the process, to get these radios back; I guess it would be too much trouble to just buy new radios.
This ends up being one of the longest chase scenes in cinematic history.With all that being said, the movie has great entertainment value because its just so damn cheesy.
This family film involves three juveniles (including a very tall, very lovely, Nicole Kidman), wacky criminals, and even wackier cops.
Kids of course would not last long against guns, but movies are about living out our fantasies.
What better fantasy than fighting crime on BMX while checking out the lovely scenery and lovely Nicole Kidman?.
Since watching this I have seen a mature guy, maybe in his twenties, with a pedal bike that seemed to have motor bike wheels and that seems a big step up to my city cycling tyred ATB, but maybe not for the stunt cycling that is in this film.
Even though there was little bmx'ing going on, it was still more than any film at the time.
- Check.The story in "BMX Bandits" is very simplistic and thus requires very little from the audience in order to keep up to speed.
And this time they do it on BMX bikes!The acting was as to be expected for a movie and script such as this.
But it was funny to watch a very young Nicole Kidman in a movie such as this, of course.Everything here just reeked to high heaven of the 1980s, and with good reason.This movie would indeed have been enjoyable back in the 1980s when BMX bikes were hot and in, but not so much today..
Maybe that's why this movie leaves stronger impression on me than it should, or maybe it's because of 16 years old Nicole Kidman.
Plus, the sixteen year-old Nicole Kidman (in her Big Screen Debut, no less) is terrific.
(Angelo D'Angelo) are two bike riding buddies who wreck their prized vehicles, after which they encounter young supermarket employee Judy (Nicole Kidman).
Soon two of the baddies, a bumbling duo named Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley) are hot on the kids' trail."BMX Bandits", as directed by the ever reliable Brian Trenchard-Smith, never pretends to be anything other than what it is: carefree escapism for the younger crowd.
The reasonably funny script by Patrick Edgeworth (based on a screenplay by Russell Hagg) has a decent payoff when the kids go on about horror films they've seen and the head villain (Bryan Marshall) expresses disdain for the kind of thing that youngsters watch for entertainment!The pop score is irresistible, and Trenchard-Smith did a fine job of putting a smile on this viewers' face and keeping it there, right through the end credits.Eight out of 10..
Who would have thought that Australia, and the king of ozploitation cinema Brian Trenchard-Smith, would produce the movie to capture the zeitgeist of the colourful bicycles.
(Angelo D'Angelo), and Judy (Nicole Kidman), spend their summer holidays riding around on their bikes, attempting to get into mischief.
Once the criminals (crims to use the colloquial term) discover that these pesky kids have "stolen" the items, a hapless pair (Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley)), chase the trio around the seaside town, with comic effect.Of course this is a silly film, it is completely unadulterated fun, and doesn't have the ubiquitous saccharine kids of an American "kids" film, and do not fall prey to the kind of posh-kids found in Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories.
I'm going to end on an appeal: Parents out there, let your kids run free, let them get into trouble whilst cycling with friends in a summer sense of autonomy - if you don't believe me when I state that this will enrich your children, then watch this film and see what happens.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com.
"BMX Bandits" has built up somewhat of a cult over the years, the obvious reason being that it involves BMX enthusiasts, as well as the fact that a pre-fame Nicole Kidman is one of the stars.
There is also a bit less BMX racing than you might think - after a few minutes of it at the beginning of the movie, there is no more for the next half hour.
Kids will probably like this movie a lot more than I did, though I think even they will find the movie has more than its share of slow spots..
Decent for What It Is. BMX Bandits (1983) ** (out of 4) This Australian kids film turned a good profit when it was first released and gathered a small cult following but the majority of people are mainly going to know it for featuring a very young Nicole Kidman in one of her earliest roles.
In the film, BMX riders (David Argue, John Ley) and their new friend (Kidman) get caught up with a bunch of bad guys who mean them harm and of course the police are too stupid to figure things out.
There's really not much plot to BMX BANDITS but I'm sure fans of the bike will enjoy this little adventure fantasy a lot more than your average viewer.
In America we got films like THE GOONIES so I think we got the better end of the stick.
Plus, today you get the charm of seeing an Oscar-winner in such an early role and this adds more fun to it than I'm sure the film had when it was originally released.
I'm sure young kids will have fun with the bikes and the adventure but everyone else should probably just stay away..
(That is, unless you're aged about 12 and like seeing kids on BMX bikes foiling dastardly villains.) If you're a fan of Ms Kidman, it will be fascinating to see her at the age of around 15 acting her socks off in a pretty basic kids' movie.
'If we'd grown up in Australia, BMX Bandits would have been our version of The Goonies' quote, fame director Quentin Tarantino.
"BMX Bandit' was a movie that really try to capitalize on the Australians' BMX craze which took off in the early 1980s.
'BMX Bandits' is a 1983 kid film that, probably most famous now, as one of the films that a young Nicole Kidman, starred in, before her big breakthrough role, in 1989's 'Dead Calm'.
Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, the film tells the story of three young BMX riders, P.J.
(Angelo D'Angelo), Goose (James Lugton), and Judy (Nicole Kidman), being entangled with a group of bank robbers, when they stole a carton of stolen police walkie-talkies, the gangsters were using to loot.
Without spoiling the movie, too much, the first thing, I notice about this film is the really bad pacing issues.
Most of the other parts of the film, has the teens doing a lot of illegal acts like stealing fish traps, vandalism, and other crimes to try to get money to get their bikes, fix, after a clichés obligatory nasty, nameless fat bully (Brian Sloman), cause them to wreck, their bikes with shopping carts, yet not their bodies.
Second off, the movie has, this, long pointless really, out of place, horror scene, where the bad guys are chasing the teenagers, through a dark cemetery with scary looking masks.
It's like this movie didn't really had some sort of a identify, during the writing period, until they decided to go with the BMX theme, late in production.
After all, most of the film, has them, playing with the walkie talkies than riding their bikes.
The police in this film, are absolutely useless, and really doesn't do much, besides, play background chitchat and the rolling shenanigans of the Freddy Mercury and Billy Idol, knock offs, bad guys, Whitey (David Argue) and Moustache (John Ley), during the second and third parts of the film, really doesn't match up with the intense opening part of the film, which makes them, looking like a seriously threat.
It get weirder for them, as the film had a memorable moment, where the BMX bikers, escape down the Manly Waterworks water slides, complete with BMX bikes, with the villains, coming after them.
The film had a lot of great one-liners from the three appealing young leads, even if their thick Australian accent, was hard to hear, at times.
Indeed, most the movie's music choices, don't really match, the tone of the film, at all.
Overall: While, BMX Bandits offers an amusing good times to '80s freestyle bike culture with some bawdy humor and adventure.
This movie is incredibly inferior to the 1986's film, 'Rad' in every way.
Nicole Kidman is perfect as the BMX riding tomboy, and her two male friends make great comic relief as one is an optimist, and the other is a pessimist.
Whether you're 8 or 88, BMX Bandits is a fun movie to watch.
A trio of teen BMXers(including a young Nicole Kidman)find walkie talkies left underwater by two crooks(David Argue and John Ley)and decide to sell them in the hopes of getting new bikes and body gear.
Communicating on a forbidden wavelength picked up by the police who must apprehend them, the trio might have a chance to get a new BMX rider park if they can help the cops capture the criminals wanted for the robbery seen at the beginning of the film.
Most of the movie has Kidman and male teen pals, Lugton and D'Angelo evading Argue and Ley who pursue them in a car and by foot to no avail.
Director Brian Trenchard-Smith(Dead End Drive-In)gets a lot of mileage out of beautiful Sidney, Australia, shooting all over(and through)the city using all sorts of flashy camera angles to depict bike riding in an alluring manner.
If you are a fan of bike stunts, there are many to salivate over, including a very lengthly race through the city where the teens find constant ways to avoid Argue and Ley who pretend to be detectives(which doesn't fool Kidman, who they actually have cornered and eventually kidnap not once but twice).
Like "The Goonies" after this, "BMX Bandits" features teen kids outsmarting bumbling criminals who aren't very bright and look foolish often.
Would go nicely in a double feature with "Rad", except "BMX Bandits" is a bit more exciting since Trenchard-Smith is allowed to shoot anywhere he wants to in a massive city and does so with a lot of flair.
The storyline is fluff, all the fuss over a cache of walkie talkies, but this isn't some sort of serious crime drama about stolen drugs stashed away, recovered by kids who are in turn chased by a gang of ruthless hoods, it's a teen adventure, mere whimsy/escapism..
We were obsessed with BMX bikes and building fancy bike tracks on our farm as kids and I swear it was because of this movie!!!!!
We totally enjoyed watching this piece of Aussie cinematic history again!!!OK, true, the acting isn't that great, although you can see even here Nicole Kidman has 'it'.
It's a complete laugh these days seeing what scrapes our BMXers get up to as they run from dodgy stupid robbers (it IS a kids movie) who, predictably, stuff up so bad u can only ROFL from laughing.
BMX/car chases, foam, flour fights, hilarious walkie talkie conversations, dumb cops, cool BMX kids and riding and stunts (that my brother perfected)...
Probably the best vintage fiction BMX film.
Nicole Kidman shows her early magical acting skills and the two young lead actors are equally engaging.The story follows Two teenage boys and one young girl (Kidman) trying to get enough money by any crazy scheme to fund their BMX passion.
(the engaging Angelo D'Angelo), and pessimistic mope Goose (an equally likable turn by James Lugton) are a trio of ace BMX bicycle riders who stumble across a carton of walkie-talkies.
Terribly bland, predictable kids flick about a trio of bmx teens who stumble across a stolen stash and have a run-in with crooks and cops as a result.Produced solely to cash in on the bicycle moto-cross craze that swept the world in the early eighties, script is silly and corny throughout and will entertain only very young bmx enthusiasts.
Of course for them there is plenty to look at, with the main chase sequence taking up what seems to be half of the film.Apart form the bmx action attraction there is nothing else on show.
It was just that vile.Not many weeks before, we screened the film "Rad" and were mystified by its pure, unalloyed cinematography and tremendous BMX stunts.
Some users compared "BMX Bandits" to the "Goonies." We all laughed and celebrated the scenes of our young heroes braving the copious traps set forth before them and relished in the memorable characters and musical compositions that would leave us singing these songs for days
wait, sorry, it didn't have any of that.When the credits finally completed rolling across the screen, I rose from my chair and gently flicked the switch to the lights above. |
tt0056279 | Night of the Eagle | Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) is a psychology professor lecturing about belief systems and superstition. After a scene in which his wife searches frantically and finds a poppet left by a jealous work rival, he discovers that his wife, Tansy (Janet Blair), is practising obeah, referred to in the film as "conjure magic," which she learned in Jamaica. She insists that her charms have been responsible for his rapid advancement in his academic career and for his general well-being. A firm rationalist, Norman is angered by her acceptance of superstition. He forces her to burn all of her magical paraphernalia.
Almost immediately, things start to go wrong: a female student (Judith Stott) accuses Norman of rape, her boyfriend (Bill Mitchell) threatens him with violence, and someone tries to break into the Taylors' home during a thunderstorm. Tansy, willing to sacrifice her life for her husband's safety, almost drowns herself and is only saved at the last minute by Norman giving in to the practices he despises.
Tansy attacks him with a knife while in a trance, but Norman disarms her and locks her in her room. Her limping walk during the attack gives Norman a clue to the person responsible for his ill luck: university secretary Flora Carr (Margaret Johnston), the wife of Lindsay whose career had stalled in favour of Norman's. Flora uses witchcraft to set fire to the Taylor home with Tansy trapped inside.
Using a form of auditory hypnosis over a loudspeaker system, Flora convinces Norman that a giant stone eagle from atop the university chapel has come to life to attack him. Lindsay arrives at the office and turns off the loudspeaker, and the illusory eagle vanishes. Tansy escapes her burning home and rejoins her no longer skeptical husband. On their way out of the campus, Lindsay sees the chapel's heavy doors are ajar (left thus by Norman in his "escape" from the eagle), and insists upon securing them despite Flora's protests. As she waits for him, the eagle statue falls from the roof and kills her. | paranormal | train | wikipedia | But it turns out that the director was Sidney Hayers, who also directed Circus of Horrors, before he went on to direct a lot of television, including The A Team, The New Avengers and Manimal (does anyone remember that?).The plot is a little haywire, but this is a great film.
It's got some great visuals, partly due to the very dark black and white photography, it has genuine moments of suspense and the special effects are incredible for a film of its age and low budget.
A lot of its force--notwithstanding the good solid script and direction--is due to Peter Wyngarde's performance as the husband of the title witch.
As the story progresses, Wyngarde shows us, one unnerving step at a time, the man's loss of his lack of faith, to the point of absolute belief (which the film points up with an obvious, but very satisfying, joke) and absolute terror.
After a Friday night bridge party at the Taylor home Norman discovers that Tansy has a bunch of charms and totems hidden all over the house that she uses to cast spells on and for persons that she knows including himself.
Shocked to find out that Tansy is practicing Witchcraft Norman has her burn all the artifacts, involving that ancient superstition, and put the thought of casting spells and bringing good or bad luck to people that she knows in the fireplace together with them.
Norman is now so possessed by what has been happening to him since that night of revelations about the powers of Witchcraft that he actually makes some kind of ceremony, with a photo of Tansy and candles, to break the deadly spell that he unleashed on her as well as himself and amazingly it works.
You never really know if what was happening to Norman and Tansy is real or just their imagination but that's exactly what made the movie "Burn Whitch Burn" or "Night of the Eagle" work so well.
Like the great Lawton/Tourneur film-noir horror movies of the 1940's "Burn Whitch Burn" lets your mind,not the special effects, do the thinking and thus literally scares the hell out of you..
This is far and away my very favorite horror movie -- not only is it truly scary, it is extremely well-acted, has a very intelligent script, great direction, super photography.
What's most unusual about it is the relationship among the Professor Taylor (the devastatingly yummy Peter Wyngarde)and his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) -- these two have amazing chemistry and along with the horror, you get a very realistic story of a married couple very much in love, who struggle with the wife's admission of being a witch.Much of the horror here is simply implied, making it that much scarier, but what is shown is truly chilling.
If you've never seen a believable performance in a horror movie, check out Wyngarde in this --his final scene should be shown in every drama school -- his fear is that palpable..
A college professor in England named Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) and his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) seem to live a charmed life.
Trust me, I'm not giving anything away--you'll know who the evil witch is within the first 10 minutes.A well-made, frightening horror film.
Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) is a successful young professor, married with Tansy Taylor (Janet Blair).
The film's basic premise concerns this man's wife, Tansy, helping him rise - or at least believing to help him rise - in his department amidst other forces that wish to see his downfall.
Great performances are delivered by the entire cast, particularly Peter Wyngarde as the man trapped between what he sees as logical and reasonable and what his wife believes is responsible for his success.
Sidney Hayers directed this British adaptation of the Fritz Leiber novel(previously filmed as "Weird Woman" with Lon Chaney Jr.) that stars Peter Wyngarde as a skeptical college professor who is disdainful of anything supernatural or magic, who is shocked to learn that his wife Tansy(played by Janet Blair) is a practicing witch!
There are manyBrian De Palma-esque moments of domestic absurdity, accompanied by a brilliant swelling score.The movie deals unblushingly with perversion, and adult sexuality,though where George Romero used the witch story to describe anaspect of housewife sexuality (in Jack's Wife), this film focuses onthe male variety.
Director Sidney Hayers had come from TV, where he seems mostly stayed thereafter - a pity, as he clearly rose to the challenge of this material.Best of all are the two excellent performances by Janet Blair and Margaret Johnston.
The Jacques Tourneur movie is more satisfying because of the tautness of its screenplay, but in every other way NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (aka BURN, WITCH, BURN) is as good.
I was taking a literary class in college which covered books that were turned into films and the professor was using Fritz Leiber's "Conjure Wife" as part of the curriculum.
The Brits had really started producing some superior horror films in the early 1960's and this one holds its own with any of them.B-W-B's screenplay was by the the brilliant Charles Beaumont which accounts for much of it's superiority and was directed by Sidney Hayers who seemed to have a flair with these kinds of chillers.
However, what really makes the film work is Peter Wyngarde's performance as professor Norman Taylor.
Well the right Peter was chosen, because I can't imagine anyone else could have given a better performance as Norman Taylor.American actress Janet Blair was chosen to portray Tansy Taylor.
Night of the Eagle (AKA: Burn, Witch, Burn!) is directed by Sidney Hayers and adapted to screenplay by Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson and George Baxt from the novel "Conjure Wife" written by Fritz Leiber.
Music is by William Alwyn and cinematography by Reginald Wyer.Psychologist Norman Taylor (Wyngarde) is rocked when he discovers that his wife Tansy has been dabbling in witchcraft.
Lurking underneath is a veritable hot-bed of spitefulness, jealousies and bitter rivalries that come to the fore once the black magic forces of evil gather to destroy the Taylors.I do (not) believe.It builds with ambiguity lurking overhead, ensuring the belief system of Norman Taylor and the audience is constantly tested, and then the coiled spring is unleashed.
A skeptical college professor (Peter Wyngarde) discovers that his wife (Janet Blair) has been practicing magic for years.
Like the learned, rational fellow he is, he forces her to destroy all her magical charms and protective devices, and stop that foolishness.Prom producer Sam Arkoff (American International Pictures) and writers Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson (Matheson a frequent AIP contributor and both veterans of "Twilight Zone") comes this tale that I had never heard of before catching it in October 2011 in Chicago.
BURN, WITCH, BURN is the story of Norman and Tansy Taylor (Peter Wyngard and Janet Blair).
Burn, Witch Burn!Being cursed by a witch is the best excuse one could have for getting out of work.Unfortunately, the academic in this psychological thriller actually enjoys lecturing.When psych professor Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) learns his wife (Janet Blair) has been dabbling in the dark arts since returning from the West Indies, he orders her to cease.
Unaware her charms have been helping his career, he is left defenceless against another witch (Margaret Johnston) out for revenge.Through auditory hypnosis, this mysterious sorceress convinces the skeptical scholar a giant stone eagle statue has come to life and is now stalking him.Known across the pond as Night of the Eagle, this British/American co-production of pulp novelist Fritz Leiber's seminal work is a well-crafted and moody depiction of witchcraft on campus featuring some impressive special effects and unnerving performances.
The second film version of Fritz Leibers' story "Conjure Wife" (after "Weird Woman" in the 1940s), "Burn Witch Burn" is an engaging shocker with first rate performances and atmosphere.
Scripted by Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, it spins the yarn of a young couple, Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) and Tansy Taylor (Janet Blair).
Then things *really* start getting weird.Directed by Sidney Hayers, this definitely lives up to its original title, "Night of the Eagle", with avian imagery prominent throughout.
An uncredited Paul Frees does the opening narration, setting us up for the horror to come by letting us know that the practice of black magic and witchcraft is a real thing, and by chanting an incantation that will supposedly keep us safe!Leibers' story would again be filmed, this time for laughs, in the 1980 comedy "Witches Brew".Eight out of 10..
The pacing is swift and rarely becomes English stodgy and it all builds to an ambiguous analysis with some shutters along the way.The weakness in this obscure Movie is the middle section as it leaves the confines of Academia and its surrounding Homelife to venture into some wide open scenes of Beaches and Highways, where it loses a bit of the more effective confined confrontations of Evil and the Story becomes a tad confusing.
In this understated and superbly atmospheric adaptation of Fritz Leiber's short novel "Conjure Wife", Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) lectures on the psychology of superstition at a small English medical college.
A rising star of the faculty, he's admired by his students and the envy of his peers.A dyed-in-the-wool skeptic in matters supernatural, Norman is shocked and angered by the accidental discovery that his beautiful wife Tansy (Janet Blair) is a witch.
Despite her pleading, he forces Tansy to burn all her protective charms.It doesn't take long for Norman to realize he's made a really bad move.If this movie has one clear antecedent, it's Jacques Tourneur's 1957 "Night of the Demon".
There's a wonderful sardonic humor in the way Leiber takes the normal jealousies, frustrations and backbiting of the academic life, then kicks it up a whole bunch of notches by adding black magic to the mix.Wyngarde and Blair give strong performances; so does Margaret Johnston as the antagonist, Flora Carr.
Malice simmers just below the surface in her character, and she's quite believably evil when she finally drops the mask entirely."Night of the Eagle" (aka "Burn, Witch, Burn!") is proof that with the right story and some capable people, a low budget isn't necessarily a major handicap.
This begins well as Peter Wyngarde's character begins to become aware that some of his recent good fortune may have come as a result of his wife's witchcraft.
The book is rather deeper and more involved in the psychology of the characters than is possible in the movie, but they have made a good, honest attempt to translate that to the screen, and certainly achieved a nice spooky atmosphere in the process.
Norman lectures his students about the preposterousness of supernatural believes, but soon after he discovers that his own beloved wife Tansy has been practicing witchcraft ever since they went to Jamaica for their honeymoon.
Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) *** 1/2 (out of 4) A college professor (Peter Wyngarde) who doesn't believe in witchcraft is outraged when he discovers that his wife (Janet Blair) is practicing it.
BURN, WITCH, BURN, also known as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE, is without question one of the best films of its type and it would make a great double feature with another British classic from this era, THE CITY OF THE DEAD.
Horror film fans who love creepiness at its low key but effective best will find this movie a jewel.
Peter Wyngarde, who played the ultra creepy ghost in "The Innocents", does an excellent job as the psychology professor who learns that his wife has been practicing black magic.
By today's standards what may be the worst part of "Night of the Eagle" is the special effects, but on the positive side you have tension built from almost nothing (as in the scene Blair searches for a little doll after a bridge session), effective editing, a good score, fine performances, a sexual undercurrent all through the movie that today would be explicit, and raw sensuality from leading actor Peter Wyngarde, who had previously been cast as the servant who supposedly had involved children Flora and Miles in sexual activity in "The Innocents".
There's even a homo-erotic feeling in the way his body is displayed (I have no idea if director Sidney Hayers or Wyngarde were homosexuals, or if they did it on purpose; this is just an impression I had, but it seemed logic to me since the man is accused of raping a student, and all women in the university should envy Blair, with those senior husbands of theirs.) Sometimes things seem illogic, like Wyngarde entering a cemetery, but as he has read in his wife's notes, that is a perfect place to perform a rite, what in fact he is going to do.
Night of the Eagle is a creepy and effective little thriller that benefits from a chilling atmosphere, some good scenes of suspense and some great acting and direction; but doesn't quite make up for a lack of scope and ambition.
The film is based on a novel by Fritz Leiber Jr and is directed by Sidney Hayers, the British director behind the excellent Circus of Horrors in 1960.
Despite her pleading that his rivals at the college are also practicing witchcraft against him, he forces his wife to get rid of her charms...The style of the film is one of its strongest elements and the black and white picture helps to create a very foreboding atmosphere that bodes very well with the supernatural themes of the plot.
The plot is always at least interesting and Peter Wyngarde and Janet Blair are both excellent in the lead roles and provide engaging characters for the audience to bond with.
The basic plot: A rigid and scientific college professor, Norman Taylor, learns that his wife is a witch and burns all her witch's tools, but, once he forces her to give up protection, the dark forces against them are exposed.....The praise: Great.
Good performances by Janet Blair, Peter Wyngarde, Margaret Johnston.
Attempting to get through to his hysterical wife that her use of charms and trinkets protecting against witchcraft are ludicrous, a man's life changes for the dreadful when he finds himself at the center of a series of strange supernatural hauntings after their destruction.This one turned out to be quite enjoyable for the most part, even though there's some pretty big flaws to this one.
If your looking for a good horror film to view on a rainy night than you definitely want to check this out.
Story is about a college professor named Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) who's career and life couldn't be better or happier but one day he discovers that his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) is a practicing witch.
Norman then understands that fellow colleague Flora (Margaret Johnston) is behind the evil curses as she is jealous of his professional standing at the college.This film is directed by Sidney Hayers who would go on to be one of the most popular and reliable television directors that Hollywood ever used.
The acting is very good and Blair is solid as the wife trying to convince her husband that black magic does exist.
Some fine acting from the distinguished cast help to make us care for the characters and believe the events that play out.The film kicks off happily enough, with teacher Norman Taylor, a resolute non-believer in the supernatural, lecturing his students on superstition and the like.
The supporting cast are fine, with Margaret Johnston as a creepy, limping fellow teacher who has a few secrets to hide.Probably the best-remembered part of this film is the ending, which sees Wyngarde trying to save his wife from their burning home.
I can see why they call this one "Night of the Eagle" as well as "Burn Witch Burn" both titles fit the film.
But I really wish they would have left out the eagle bit because it would have been a more believable witchcraft film - it should look like a series of coincidences and accidents - well, from my stand point of view.
Nobody will mourn the truly wicked in this delicious supernatural thriller of a devoted wife (Janet Blair) who knows that something wicked this way comes as she casts spells to protect husband Peter Wyngard.
It is quickly proven that true evil comes from forces you cannot see or often control as Wyngard opens his eyes to what is really going on and must take steps to stop it before both his and his wife's lives are taken from this great force from beyond hell itself.Incredible acting from the two stars makes this psychological horror film one of the best of its genre's.
87 minutes in the U.K. 90 minutes in the U.S.A. U.S. release title: Burn, Witch, Burn.SYNOPSIS: Tansy Taylor, the wife of an English university professor, secretly practices witchcraft to further her husband Norman's career.
Night of The Eagle (based on Fritz Leiber's splendid novel Conjure Wife) would have been a classic with just a little more restraint; as such its last hour is almost a total pitch into non-stop horror, to the extent that it becomes a little overbearing and almost spoils the many superb horror set-pieces.Peter Wyngarde (yayy - it's Jason King!!!) plays a lecturer at a small town college whose relentless dismissal of the supernatural - even scrawling "I Do Not Believe" on the blackboard during one of his lectures - comes to seem extremely foolish after he burns all his wife's voodoo protections.
On some subconscious level Tansy has come to suspect her husband is in danger, and of course, she is right.This is a movie that can be viewed as a close companion to Night Of The Demon, in that both films show a rigidly disbelieving academic forced to confront the idea that there ARE more things on earth than are dreamt of in their philosophies.
His wife tells him that she has been practicing witchcraft for years, as this was the most effective way of protecting him against the evil which surrounds him...A good horror movie with an eerie, almost surreal atmosphere. |
tt0032818 | The Mummy's Hand | The film begins with the Egyptian Andoheb (George Zucco) traveling to the Hill of the Seven Jackals in answer to the royal summons of the High Priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli). The dying priest of the sect explains the story of Kharis (Tom Tyler) to his follower. The tale closely parallels that of the original film, except that Kharis steals the sacred tana leaves in the hope of restoring life to the dead Princess Ananka. His penalty upon being discovered is to be buried alive, without a tongue, and the tana leaves are buried with him.
The leaves are the secret to Kharis' continued existence. During the cycle of the full moon, the fluid from the brew of three tana leaves is to be administered to the creature to keep him alive. Should despoilers enter the tomb of the Princess, a fluid of nine leaves will restore movement to the monster.
Meanwhile, down on his luck archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his sidekick, Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford), discover the remnants of a broken vase in a Cairo bazaar. Banning is convinced it is an authentic ancient Egyptian relic, and his interpretation of the hieroglyphics on the piece lead him to believe it contains clues to the location of the Princess Ananka's tomb.
With the support of the eminent Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge) of the Cairo Museum, but against the wishes of Andoheb, who is also employed by the museum, Banning seeks funds for his expedition. Banning and Jenson meet an American magician, Solvani (Cecil Kellaway), who agrees to fund their quest. His daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) is not so easily swayed, thanks to a prior visit from Andoheb, who brands the two young archeologists as frauds.
The expedition departs in search of the Hill of the Seven Jackals, with the Solvanis tagging along. In their explorations, they stumble upon the tomb of Kharis, finding the mummy along with the tana leaves, but find nothing to indicate the existence of Ananka's tomb.
Andoheb appears to Dr. Petrie in the mummy's cave and has the surprised scientist feel the creature's pulse. After administering the tana brew from nine leaves, the monster quickly dispatches Petrie and escapes with Andoheb, through a secret passageway, to the temple on the other side of the mountain.
The creature continues his periodic marauding about the camp, killing an Egyptian overseer and eventually attacking Solvani and kidnapping Marta. Banning and Jenson set out to track Kharis down, with Jenson going around the mountain and Banning attempting to follow the secret passage they have discovered inside the tomb.
Andoheb has plans of his own. Enthralled by Marta's beauty, he plans to inject himself and his captive with tana fluid, making them both immortal. Jenson arrives in the nick of time, and guns down Andoheb outside of the temple, while Banning attempts to rescue the girl. However, Kharis appears on the scene and Banning's bullets have no effect on the immortal being. Marta overheard Adoheb tell the secret of the tana fluid and tells Banning and Jenson that Kharis must not be allowed to drink any more of the serum. When the creature raises the tana serum to his lips, Jenson shoots the container from his grasp. Dropping to the floor, Kharis attempts to ingest the spilled life-giving liquid. Banning seizes the opportunity to overturn a brazier onto the monster, engulfing it in flames. The ending has the members of the expedition heading happily back to the United States with the mummy of Ananka, and the spoils of her tomb. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | Not a sequel to Boris Karloff's THE MUMMY (1932), but the start of an entirely different series of unrelated films featuring a new mummified prince called Kharis.
While not a great Universal horror movie by any means (one critique would be the re-usage of the same exact shot again and again of Kharis shambling about in the wilderness) this was the first and best of four Universal films featuring the mummy Kharis.
One of a long long list of remakes of the original The Mummy (1932) and the first of 4 movies within the first Mummy franchise.Now what struck me immediatly was the fact that the production values and general appearance of the movie are considerably weaker than the original which you wouldn't expect since it was made almost a decade later.Second though advertised as a horror it most certainly isn't, this is closer to a comedy by far especially since our two leads crack wise from start to finish and much of it is really quite ahead of its time.Once again we see an expedition go terribly wrong as a mummy rises from the dead and.........you know the rest.Though it all looks pretty terrible the acting and writing is better than the original and though I'd certainly not say The Mummy's Hand is a good film I can definetly see the appeal.The Good:Some great charactersSome great writing and great comedyHas a real charmThe Bad:Looks even more dated than the 1932 originalFall apart in the final actThings I Learnt From This Movie:Even our comedic leads were more convincing than Tom Cruise in the 2017 remake.
This movie marked the beginning of a new series of Mummy films from Universal Studios--seven years after the original Boris Karloff classic, THE MUMMY.
MORD39 RATING: *** (of ****)THE MUMMY'S HAND is my favorite mummy film and easily the best in the Universal "Kharis" saga.Dick Foran, Wallace Ford, Cecil Kellaway, and Peggy Moran make a very pleasant group of amateur explorers as they search out the tomb of Princess Ananka in Egypt.
What they stumble upon instead was the first (in a now played-out) deadly mistake: a living mummy.Kharis is a bandaged monstrosity kept alive by a high priest (George Zucco in his most sinister role) and is a protector for his long-lost love.
When Zucco feeds him a fluid brewed from nine tana leaves, Kharis is kept stalking and dealing death to those who dared enter his lair.Tom Tyler is for my money the best choice to portray the mummy.
Christy Cabanne directed this loose remake of the Karloff classic(also produced by Universal Studios) Here, Dick Foran and Wallace Ford play Steve Manning and Babe Jenson, two unemployed archaeologists who get a magician named Solvani(played by Cecil Kellaway) to fund an expedition to excavate the Egyptian tomb of princess Ananka.
While in essence no more than a B-film, it's solidly made on all fronts: the plot, unlike that of its sequels, is fresh and exciting and it boasts four likable protagonists, as well as a wonderful trio of 'villains' - Eduardo Ciannelli (appearing briefly as the dying High Priest), George Zucco (as his evil successor, in one of his finest performances) and Tom Tyler (as the maimed but relentless revenge-seeking Mummy, who's as good in the role as Boris Karloff had been earlier and Christopher Lee would be in the 1959 Hammer remake, of this one more than the original).
Peggy Moran is cute as the romantic interest of Dick Foran, Cecil Kellaway plays his part well as the jovial magician who backs the Americans venture, and George Zucco is pleasantly evil as the Egyptian priest who schemes to bring Kharis back to life.
The build-up takes up about 25 minutes or more but still good.George Zucco - excellent as villains - is on good form as the evil Egyptian High Priest who plans the destruction of the people who desecrate the tomb of an Egyptian princess.Tom Tyler is OK in the title character (now called Kharis).Released in 1940, "The Mummy's Hand" was one of the earliest horror films from the second cycle from "Universal" studios..
The other three Universal Kharis films succeeding were pretty uninspired and uneven, though not without their good parts, however The Mummy's Hand while less than perfect and not exactly great is actually rather decent.
Universal are nowhere near at their best here and The Mummy with Boris Karloff also from Universal from eight years earlier is the better film, but of the four Universal Kharis films The Mummy's Hand is easily the best of the four and the only one to come close to a good film.It does start off rather sluggishly and takes too long to get going, it's all relevant but one does wish that the film got to the point quicker than it did.
And I do have to agree about some of the comedy, some of it is witty and amusing but too much of it was intrusive and unnecessary so it felt more annoying than funny.Visually however The Mummy's Hand is a solidly made film, the best-looking of the four Universal Kharis films most certainly, everything's professionally shot, moodily(appropriately) lit and crisply edited, the sets are suitably atmospheric and it's clear what the time and place is meant to be.
Dick Foran is amiable and Peggy Moran brings charm and spunk to her role.Overall, a decent if not great film and easily the best of the Universal Kharis films.
Andoheb, secret High Priest of Karnak, whose duty is to protect the resting place of the Princess Ananka by maintaining the existence of the 3000 year old mummy Kharis, through a serum brewed with a specific amount of now extinct tana leaves.
There are two basic reasons why none of the sequels measured up, first that this title was set in Egypt, utilizing stock footage from the 1932 original (which only reappears in the last, "The Mummy's Curse"), and second that Tom Tyler's mummy is actually scary, his eyes and mouth effectively blacked out in chilling closeups (poor Lon Chaney always wore a mask).
With all the mayhem, the upbeat spirit never flags, with Dick Foran and Wallace Ford repeating their roles in the direct sequel "The Mummy's Tomb," set 30 years later.
An adventurous group of archaeologists (led by Dick Foran and Wallace Ford), while searching for the hidden tomb of the Princess Ananka accidentally stumble into the tomb of the mummy Kharis, who was buried alive 3,000 years prior as punishment for trying to revive the deceased princess.
Of all the early horror films that Universal Studios specialized in, my favorite was always the original The Mummy that starred Boris Karloff.
We still have an ancient Egyptian prince cursed in being buried alive for stealing the secrets of eternal life from the Gods.In the original film Karloff was very much his own resurrected man, but in this one Prince Kharis is both worshiped but also used as a killing machine by his followers who are led first by Eduardo Ciannelli and then by George Zucco who also deify Princess Ananka whose tomb Kharis guards and whom he died for the love of 3000 years before.A couple of itinerant stranded archaeologists played by Dick Foran and Wallace Ford come across some ancient pottery in a bazaar and take it to Dr. Charles Trowbridge at the museum in Cairo.
Dick Foran (also a veteran of ridin' the range) as an out of work archaeologist and Wallace Ford as his partner (and comic relief) set out to finance an expedition to find the lost tomb of an ancient Egyptian princess and all the riches therein.
The most recent high priest, Andoheb (Zucco), also works at the Cairo Museum, giving him an excellent means of knowing what archaeologists are up to.Archaeologist Steve Banning (Foran) and his companion Babe Jenson (Ford) come across evidence that might lead them to Ananka's tomb, but lack funding.
The very welcome presence of veteran actors Cecil Kellaway and George Zucco makes this film even better and it is certainly required viewing for fans of Universal horror.
Its sequel, "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942), brought back Foran and Ford in the same roles though the film was set in the United States some three decades later.For those interested in seeing the entire 1940s Universal mummy series (all involving the mummy Kharis), they should be viewed in the following order: "The Mummy's Hand" (1940), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942), "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944), and "The Mummy's Curse" (1944).As a side note for those who are particular about their Egyptology, there was no god named Karnak though in Egypt there is a very famous temple of Karnak.
Supposedly his right arm was also useless, yet it never hampered him when it came to the task of scooping up some nubile woman--clad in a form-fitting white gown--in his arms.A secret order known as the "Priests of Karnak", keep the mummy alive by feeding him a brew made from the ancient tana leaves during the cycle of the full moon so that he may bring death to any infidel who dares to violate the tomb of Princess Ananka.
Unfortunately, this potential plot-twist never goes anywhere in 'Hand' or the subsequent sequels.To my surprise, the first Kharis outing is able to overcome the woefully unfunny antics of Joe Pesci look-alike Wallace Ford and the standard dry-as-toast performance from the male lead & be an entertaining 67 minutes of classic B-horror.
Kharis is revived by an evil high priest (George Zucco) to kill the desecrater's of her tomb...Good mixture of humor (some of it actually funny) and horror.
Worth a peep and see.Ensemble cast include: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Cecil Kellaway, George Zucco, Wallace Ford and Tom Tyler..
Fortunately, The Mummy's Hand (not sure about the relevance of the title, since the whole mummy appears in the film, not just his hand) is just as focussed on delivering chuckles as it is chills, meaning that the whole thing is still quite a bit of fun despite the somewhat tepid thrills.The film opens in ancient times, detailing how the unfortunate Kharis came to be a mummy; the action then switches to modern day Egypt, where archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his sidekick Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) discover the location of the secret tomb of princess Ananka.With the promise of fame and fortune, the pair convince a travelling magician, Mr. Solvani (Cecil Kellaway) to fund an expedition; concerned about her father trekking into the unknown with two strangers, Solvani's beautiful daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) also tags along.
Unfortunately for the group of plucky adventurers, Egyptian high priest Andoheb (George Zucco) has sworn to protect the princess's tomb, and reanimates Kharis (Tom Tyler), sending him on a mission to kill.Its plot is hoary old horror hokum that holds few surprises, but to its credit The Mummy's Hand moves at a reasonable pace (unlike its musty old monster), delivers enjoyable characters (even Lou Costello-style comic relief Ford is bearable), and rounds things off with an exciting finale that sees Kharis carry Marta off to the hidden tomb, where Andoheb intends to turn her into his immortal high priestess.6/10.
The opening of the film however is a kind of throwback or reminder of Karloff's Mummy film but this film and the Kharis series has no direct relation to the original Universal film.The Mummy's Hand is not a comedy-horror but there is plenty of comedy in the film to have you giggling quite a bit.The story is fine, acting good, sets are great.
An ancient mummy (Tom Tyler) is revived to destroy those that would invade the 3,000 year old tomb of an Egyptian princess.Pretty much the only notable name involved with this picture was Jack Pierce, whose mummy effects may even surpass the original film.
The first sequel to the 1932 the mummy is solid adventure and some horror.it has a totally different premise then the earlier film,this time the mummy is called kharis(this time played by cowboy star tom Tyler)and needs something called Tana leaves to give him power.there's two comical archaeologists(dick foran and Wallace ford)A woman(peggy Moran)her father a magician(Cecil kelliway)and a mad Egyptian(George zucco)who wants the mummy kharis to kill them all for defiling the sacred tomb.after this there was 3 more sequels all with Lon Chaney Jr playing the mummy.its a fun movie even if its not as good as the Boris Karloff original.7 out of 10..
"The Mummy's Hand" (1940) isn't bad either, but it is the only sequel film with watching.Obviously, the film is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it is kind of fun for old movie enthusiasts and classic movie buffs in particular.
After that there's an extended period of what came across more as a comedy than a horror movie, revolving around the two main characters of Steve and Babe (Dick Foran and Wallace Ford) - a couple of out of work archaeologists who stumble upon a treasure.
Here, the mummy is a mummy - and therefore more of a quintessential "monster." Once he starts to play his role (unfortunately, perhaps, restricted largely to the last 20 minutes or so) the nature of this monster adds a horror-type creepiness to this movie (the scene in which his shadow creeps along outside Marta's tent comes to mind.) The climax to this was also pretty good.There were a lot of plot holes that puzzled me throughout; too many to really go into in detail but I found myself scratching my head too often trying to figure out this or that turn the story took.
The plot is about a couple of archaeologists (Dick Foran and comic relief Wallace Ford) teaming with a magician and his daughter (Cecil Kellaway, Peggy Moran) to search for the tomb of the Egyptian princess Ananka.
Also, now instead of the mummy himself being in control of his actions, he's now controlled by George Zucco through use of tana leaves.The cast is great, with Foran and Ford surprisingly likable heroes.
And KILL anyone who dares top it with anchovies."THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940) The most promising of the bunch, it featured Cecil Kellaway, George Zucco, Wallace Ford, and as our stout-hearted hero -- Dick Foran.
An American archaeologist, Dick Foran, and his comic relief pal, Wallace Ford, try to find the tomb of Egyptian princess Ananka, which is protected by the high priests of Karnak and their living mummy Kharis.
THE MUMMY'S HAND (Universal, 1940), directed by Christy Cabanne, is not really sequel to the 1932 classic, THE MUMMY, starring Boris Karloff as Imhotep, but more or less a revival of another mummy whose life and death situation in being buried alive for the sake of his beloved princess, parallels that with the original, with a few alterations, in fact a creature in bandages instead of a living dead assuming another identity, stalking the living and attempting in bringing back to life his former love of centuries ago.
Because Steve is denied financial assistance for the expedition from the head of the Cairo Museum, who turns out to be Professor Andoheb, he and his partner succeed in getting the support from Americans Tom Sullivan, a magician professionally known as The Great Solvani (Cecil Kellaway), who, along with his beautiful but skeptical daughter, Marta (Peggy Moran), and Doctor Petrie (Charles Trowbridge), to accompany them to the temple where they encounter the tomb of Kharis in the Hills of the Jackel.
After the creature goes through the motions, he is soon taken under the guide of Andohep and offers him the helping hand by killing off the archaeologists, one by one, for their attempts to unearth the grave of Princess Ananka as well as digging up a well kept secret.Kharis, played by Tom Tyler, mostly associated in westerns, turns out to be an interesting yet unlikely choice for the role as the living mummy.
This time out, Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his buddy Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) lead an expedition in search of the tomb to an Egyptian princess but instead they find the body of the mummy Kharis (Tom Tyler).
Cecil Kellaway is also nice in his bit and there's no question that Zucco owned his role.THE MUMMY'S HAND kick-started the series and while future films were entertaining, there's no question that they dropped a bit into "B" movies.
The Mummy does not come across as scary, in fact rather silly, especially when you see him dropping to the floor to drink his "fluid of life."Dick Foran plays Steve Banning, and is good in the role, as are the rest of the cast, Wallace Ford as his bumbling assistant, Cecil Kellaway as a magician who is financing the expedition, and Peggy Moran as his daughter.
George Zucco as Professor Andoheb is entrusted with the secret formula that will bring the dead back to life, but it must be strictly followed, or the result will be uncontrollable power in the Mummy so revived.Not one, but two veteran B Western stars are brought aboard for this erzats followup to "The Mummy" - Tom Tyler as the bandaged one, and Dick Foran as the central hero Steve Banning, leading an expedition into the Egyptian desert to locate the lost tomb of Princess Ananka.
The name Ali must have been on Dick Foran's mind, because he calls Marta "Molly".Have fun with "The Mummy's Hand", along with the other Universal "sequels", but don't expect any to come close to the mood, atmosphere, or conviction of the original.
This B Universal horror film is pretty forgettable, in fact so much that when they did a sequel ("The Mummy's Tomb"), they had to give a prologue to indicate what had happened in the previous film to the characters played by Dick Foran, Peggy Moran and Wallace Ford.
But the whole film is done on the cheap, barely above the action serials produced at the time.Dick FOran and Wallace Ford are a great pairing as the heroes (and are cheaply killed off in the sequel, for no good reason.). |
tt0050097 | Across the Bridge | Carl Schaffner (Steiger) is a crooked English (previously German) businessman who flees to Mexico after stealing company funds. While travelling by train, Schaffner decides to evade authorities. He drugs and switches identities with fellow train passenger Paul Scarff, who looks like him and has a Mexican passport. He throws Paul Scarff off the train, injuring Scarff. Carl later discovers that Scarff is wanted in Mexico as a political assassin. Carl then tracks down Scarff, who is resting from his injuries, to get back his original passport. Carl arrives in Mexico and is captured by the local police, who mistake him for Scarff. Carl then fights to show his true identity to the local police. The plan seems foolproof until he is forced to care for the dog of Scarff. The local police chief and Scotland Yard inspector Hadden conspire to keep him trapped in the Mexican border town of Katrina in an effort to get him to cross the bridge back into the U.S. and face justice. The misanthropic Schaffner has grown attached to Scarff's pet spaniel and is tricked into going across the dividing line of the bridge to get the dog. He is accidentally killed trying to escape the authorities. The final irony is that the discovery of his own humanity has cost the cynical, friendless Schaffner his life. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt4375662 | Life Is Strange | Life Is Strange is set in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay, Oregon, and is told from the perspective of Maxine "Max" Caulfield (Hannah Telle), a twelfth grade student of Blackwell Academy, during the week of 7 October 2013. During photography class with her teacher Mark Jefferson (Derek Phillips), Max experiences a vision of a lighthouse being destroyed by a swelling tornado. Leaving for the restroom to regain her composure, she witnesses classmate Nathan Prescott (Nik Shriner) accidentally murder a girl. In a single, sudden effort, she develops the ability to rewind time and rescues the girl; her childhood friend Chloe Price (Ashly Burch). The two reunite and go for a walk at the lighthouse, where Max reveals to Chloe her capacity to travel back in time. It is established that the vision is rather the reckoning of a future event: a storm approaching the town. The next day, Max observes fellow student Kate Marsh (Dayeanne Hutton) being bullied for a viral video depicting her kissing several students at a party. It is implied that she was drugged, and Max suspects Nathan as the perpetrator. Meeting Chloe at the diner where her mother Joyce (Cissy Jones) works, they decide to experiment with Max's power at Chloe's secret scrapyard hideout. However, strain causes Max to have a nosebleed and faint. Chloe takes her back to Blackwell, but class is halted when everyone is called out to the courtyard. Kate commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the girls' dorm. Max manages to rewind and time stops unexpectedly as she reaches Kate, giving Max the opportunity to convince her to come down. Max ultimately resolves to uncover what happened to Kate and Chloe's missing friend Rachel Amber.
Max and Chloe break into the principal's office that night to investigate and enter the pool for a swim before evading David Madsen (Don McManus), head of security at Blackwell and Chloe's stepfather, and fleeing back to Chloe's place. The next morning, they sneak into the motorhome of Frank Bowers (Daniel Bonjour), drug dealer and friend of Rachel, and learn that Rachel was in a relationship with Frank and lied to Chloe about it, causing Chloe to storm off feeling betrayed. Max returns to her dormitory and examines a childhood photo of her and Chloe, but is suddenly transported to the day the picture was taken. Max prevents Chloe's father William (Joe Ochman) from dying in a traffic collision, which inadvertently creates an alternative reality where William is alive but Chloe has been paralysed from the neck down as a result of a collision in her own car. Max uses the photo to undo her decision and return to the present day, restoring Chloe's health. Continuing their investigation, Max and Chloe obtain clues leading them to an abandoned barn owned by the influential Prescott family. They discover a hidden bunker containing pictures of Kate and Rachel tied up and intoxicated, with Rachel being buried at Chloe's secret hideout. They hurry back to the scrapyard and find Rachel's grave, much to Chloe's despair. Max follows Chloe at the school party to confront Nathan, believing he will target fellow student Victoria Chase (Dani Knights). They receive a text from Nathan threatening to destroy the evidence, returning them to the scrapyard. All of a sudden, the two are ambushed by Jefferson, who anaesthetises Max and kills Chloe with a shot to the head. Max is kidnapped and held captive in the "Dark Room", a place Jefferson has been drugging and photographing young girls to capture their innocence. Max escapes into a photograph and emerges back at the beginning in Jefferson's class. She alerts David, getting Jefferson arrested. Max is given the opportunity to go to San Francisco and have one of her photos displayed in an art gallery. She calls Chloe from the event, realising that, for all her effort, the storm has reached Arcadia Bay. Max teleports to the time she took the gallery photo, which eventually leads her to sojourn alternative realities as they devolve into a dreamscape nightmare. Max and Chloe finally return to the lighthouse and confront the fact that Max brought the storm into existence by availing herself of the time travel abilities in the first place. The only way to prevent it is for Max to go back to the beginning and allow Chloe to be killed by Nathan. Max must make a choice: sacrifice Chloe's life to save Arcadia Bay, or sacrifice Arcadia Bay in order to spare Chloe. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | Life is Strange is a great game for people who like a good story .
So its refreshing and a familiar sight for you American folks out there :-).Is it worth buying ?I think this would be a great time to buy the game as all episodes are out and you can enjoy the whole story Will it run on my computer ?Aha !
I'm a big fan of choice-making games, so that's one of the reasons why I played this.
I love the character development, especially for Max and Chloe, I love the relationship between the two and the relationship they have with everyone else around them.The acting is good as well as the writing.
There are times, however, where the writing can be a bit bland, including when Max is talking to herself or Chloe.
When she moves it, she says "Begone foul soft drink," which I feel was a bit dull and would of been better if she didn't say anything.However, there are times when the writing is strong and exciting, especially during the finale of Episode 2, 3 & 4.
The writing and gameplay in Episode 5 was the best, it was exciting, intense and quite creepy, especially during the nightmare sequence.I love exploring the places Max visits from her dorm to Chloe's house.The trophies (for the PlayStation) aren't that challenging, they're basically just bronze trophies for taking optional photos, one gold for completing episode five and a platinum for earning all the trophies.Overall, I think this is a great game that you should take a look at, especially if your into choice-making games.
I played the first episode for free as a trial,after i finished i didn't hesitate to buy the entire game.
the graphics aren't like for example gta 5 graphics but honestly that's okay,it gives the game charm.the scenery is just so beautiful,words can't describe it.life is strange also has an amazing soundtrackthe story is so amazing with so many twists and unexpected turns,it has everything,action,romance,comedy,etc.
this game really does something to you,it gives you so many feelings that i can't even put into words,i finished playing it and immediately started again because its so damn addictive,this game really gets to you.
(This review is after playing the first episode, I don't know how the rest will play out) I don't play many games, mostly because I'm only interested in the ones that tell genuine stories (if not they better be fun as hell).
It can be a pretty fast paced game if you don't slow down and actually engage in the story, which is what makes it so great in the first place.For those looking for a lot of gameplay, turn back because this isn't for you.
The levels are beautifully crafted so it doesn't really get boring.The central story is very heartfelt and feels like it was written for a movie rather than a game, which should be taken as a compliment to the writers.
It's great to see such human characters in a game where they aren't running around with a gun killing people...or things.Overall, I have to say I'm impressed and have already recommended this to multiple friends; it's clear that a lot of care went into making this game.
There are so many great games like Skyrim, Mass Effect 2 or GTAV, but none of them can be so delicate and touchy like Life Is Strange does.
You rated this game 10!?"Yes I did, And here's why....If there's an area where Square Enix shine it's their ability to tell an incredible story.
I bring it up as that decade closed off with The Longest Journey (10/10) which is regarded as one of the best games of all time and Life Is Strange feels like a spiritual sequel that is better than its 2 sequels.
After finishing all 5 episodes i can safely say - this has to be one of the most unforgettable experiences I've ever had while playing video games.
"Life Is Strange" is an amazing experience.The story here in a first place is nothing short like amazing.
While playing this game i felt like i was watching a great movie in which i could make a decisions.
The story itself was so amazing, so involving that i kinda needed to play next episodes ASAP after finishing previous.
Graphics were very good and controls were superb as well, although this is a heavy story based game so there isn't really A LOT of game play, but there is more then enough.Overall, i can't praise this game enough.
Life is Strange is a graphic adventure video game split into five episodes.
However, she soon realizes that her actions create a dangerous rift in the space-time continuum which leads to showdown when Maxine must take the most difficult decision ever.This game convinces on many different levels.
Finally, the story reminding of television series like Portlandia and Twin Peaks is addicting from start to finish and gets particularly sinister during the last two episodes.Life is Strange is not only a great game for teenage girls but for anyone who cares about artistics designs, mysterious plots and profound characters and doesn't mind a game that takes its time to unfold.
Life is strange is probably one of the best games I've ever played 10/10 must get.
It's an emotionally moving game just full of heart, though also at the same time one of the saddest video games I've ever played.The graphical presentation is great, from the background, to the character animation.
I really love the music in the game there are a lot of memorable tracks, it would be awesome to download those tracks to an iPod or even play on a vinal record.I really love the story which is original and full of heart, yeah sure it's the typical time travel premise but it's the execution that makes it stand out.
Despite a revolving mystery throughout the game, it's more concerned about the character drama the friendship between both Maxine and Chloe.The characters are great, their all surprisingly relatable or people we may know or have known whether you a teenager or we're that age, it really gives that sense of familiarity to the game making it more engaging and touching.
It seems like with this she has been given a certain amount of freedom to do whatever it is she need or wants to do without many to any consequences, like playing certain pranks, retrieving certain information, asking anyone out without risking embarrassment, just anything.But as she's about to learn the hard way with great power comes great responsibility as we discover her use of the power there are not just consequences socially but also in the whole of time and reality itself.
Which in a way made me concerned for the protagonist's life as using it hurts her sometimes but also shows this power has limitations and that despite what she can do she's not invincible.Chloe is just a beautiful character, she very much reminds me of my wife when she was that age.
He's not too smooth like with Max he's a little on the shy side but not short of courage as he really does hold his own against danger and isn't afraid to stand up for his best friend/would be girlfriend Maxine but most importantly doesn't take crap from anyone.I really love the chemistry between both Maxine and him which I thought was sweet though I'll admit is the only bad thing about the game I wish there were more scenes between the two let alone he's not in it much.
Maybe if they decide to make another spin off game where he's the main character, may 'be we will.Oh well, I can't really complain too much since this game is really focused and about the friendship between both and Chloe.
I honestly found myself truly caring for both characters, the way their handled and the relatability I mentioned they feel almost like people that can exist in real life.
As I play the game more and more I'm hopping that somehow it will all turn out alright in the end for both but like in time and life itself there are no guarantees.As usual with the adventure games it's like with any of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books where each decision effects the outcome of the game so chose carefully.
The revolving mystery throughout the game is intriguing as one thing leads to another but there is a surprise twist in it which I honestly didn't see a mile away and I like that I don't get that feeling often.
I really like one part of the game which really gave me the experience of being a detective where you have this cork board with lots of photos that are pined up and your have to put them all together to see how the photographs tie in with the hard evidence you gathered, I thought that was interesting because it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.This game has many themes about this game is that deals with issues like the constant conflict of both past and present, how difficult it is to transition with the times, how little we know about our fellow man, how much someone can be different and the same throughout change, how much we struggle to hold on to some remnants of the past so we don't lose ourselves in the every changing present and upcoming future, taking responsibility for decisions we make in the past and present truly affect the future, loss, friendship and the value of it.But most importantly it's also about heroism how it's about, making the hard choices to do what is right for not just yourself but the whole of humanity.
This game had a couple of scenes which I'm not kidding made me break down and cry, I won't say what they are, but they were just an emotional gut punch.Time and distance can never separate friendship, despite how much we may miss them or one they are always in our hearts.Rating: 4 stars.
Life is Strange is a new game that's gotten many positive reviews and praising, but me personally, do not agree.
Life is Strange is definitely a strange game...and not in a good way.
Life is just as strange as this game.
Adventure Games, mainly the TellTale Games, are a hit in the last couple of years and I always loved them, especially because of their way of capturing your mind and feelings.
A beautiful and poignant story elevates "Life is Strange" far beyond its minor faults..
They've crafted what is arguably one of the best episodic graphic-adventure titles of the past decade with their 2015 release "Life is Strange," and they did it in a very unique and often- entertaining way.
With a story-line and characters that can only be described as "Juno meets Donnie Darko", and a fantastic game-play style that very pleasantly reminded me of the excellent interactive- horror- movie "Until Dawn", "Life is Strange" is certainly one of the more intriguing and fascinating games in recent memory.
As the story begins, Max discovers that she somehow has the mysterious ability to rewind time for brief instances, allowing her to correct mistakes or change choices she has recently made.
And she must use this gift and curse in an increasingly intricate story-line that unfolds over the course of a week, as she re-unites with her troubled and sometimes self-destructive childhood friend Chloe Price, tries to solve the mystery of a local missing girl and attempts to avert disaster as she begins to experience cryptic visions that suggest a tornado will destroy Arcadia Bay in only a few days time...To get it out of the way, I do think there is one pretty moderate flaw to the game that should be addressed up front.
Thankfully, the game quickly corrects this "eccentricity" over the second and third chapters, but it still might be a bit much for some.The storytelling is generally top-notch, and like many other games of this style, there's a lot of room for replays as your choices impact the narrative.
So each time you start the game again, you'll be getting a fresh, new experience based on the choices you make.
The main game-play mechanic that sets the game apart is most definitely the "Time Rewind" feature, which can generally be used at any time, save for a small handful of key sequences in which Max briefly loses the ability.
It can be used to do something as simple as manipulate a short conversation to attain a different result, or to do something as significant as gleaning enough information in the future that you can go back a few minutes and use it to do something that will alter the entire story or even save a life.
It's brilliant, really.The artistic style and music are also fantastic, environmental design is quite good, the voice-over performances are exquisite and generally all other aspects of the production are top- of-the-line, especially for an episodic downloadable adventure game.
I recalled to have had read about "Life is Strange" in a newspaper, when I was offered to play the first episode for free on Steam; unclear what to expect.
I went through each episode in one go (around 3 hours each), spread out over two weeks.I wouldn't consider this title a game in the traditional sense, but more of an interactive story.
Would have made more sense plot- and character-wise, as Max always tries to make it right for each and every one (even if you do not play her that way, you will hear her inner dialogue accordingly).
At one point I even got tired of all the time traveling and almost hoped for a bad end, but then again I was only 80 minutes or so into this act, so I knew it's not going to end just now.Furthermore I felt the romance between the two main characters – although the player can choose if to pursue - a bit forced, almost slightly on the salacious side of things.
I also purchased the prequel, Before The Storm, as well, but that's another review for another time.The game follows a high school photography student named Maxine "Max" Caulfield, who attends Blackwell University in Arcadia Bay. During a lecture from Mr. Jefferson, her teacher, she discovers that she has the power to rewind time.
You'll have to play to find out.Much of the game is influenced by what decisions you make and what you say in the game, and you can always rewind to change the outcome of what happens.
Life is Pointless...much like this game..
Life is Strange is not a game and it doesn't matter how much you claim it is.
What is that?By far, the most insulting thing about the story is its climax: Have Chloe die like in the beginning of the game to save Arcadia Bay or let the lives of everyone you know perish to keep Chloe alive.
I thought that we will have to decide which one is the best and which one we want to use to win the photo contest or something, but they just didn't affect the play-through in ANY way.
And it did happen also because of Chloe's carelessness, which we see so many times throughout the game.
And Max was already somehow "prepared" for Chloe's death, because she had already let her die in the alternative reality (euthanasia) and she had also seen her die a couple of times during the game, not being sure whether she will be able to "resurrect" her or not.
If you save Chloe, then you condemn both Max and Chloe to suffer to the end of their days of being responsible of killing thousands of people (let alone tell you that if anybody would know you would get 100 x lifetime sentence).
And you decide to condemn everyone in Arcadia Bay, either by killing him or letting him suffer for the rest of his life because of his lost kith and kin.You can't even be sure that you will be with Chloe in the future.
They may land in different places to live their life and so on.I know that the game shows you the six days during which you mainly hang out with Chloe.
yeah, I know this is just a game and it's more "romantic" to always back your closest friend / love, but you really should think about yourselves and rethink your philosophy of life..
The decision in the end to Kill Chloe or keep Arcadia Bay was so easy, and it would have been harder if the writers actually tried to make the characters feel real!!!!
Were FireWatch excels in building characters Life Is Strange fails.
For me story is a huge part of everything Movies,Games I love story based games and this is not a good one And for me the ending felt like a big middle finger to me because I chose to have Chloe get killed and felt nothing other than THANK GOD I BOUGHT THIS ON THE SUMMER SALE And the fact that the game feels like a waste of time when the game Forces you to to make a choice that obviously is better than the other!
And a question is If the game doesn't make you feel for Chloe than what would be the point of the twist of you need her to die.
I feel like it ripped off Steins Gate a great game that is worth the money with the whole she Dies No Matter What I Do Scenario and it kinda turns out the same as in which you can get the ending were she dies or you can get the ending were she doesn't...
All and All This game suffers from - Ametur Writing -A Predictable Story -Character's that didn't feel real - Bugs -Ametur Lip Syncing -Felt like a waste of time -Lack Of Creativity 3/10 |
tt0120747 | Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence | Fed up with her dead-end job with a Minneapolis car rental agency, Martha quits, cashes her final paycheck, and uses the money to purchase an airline ticket to the least expensive international destination she can find - London. At the airport, she meets Daniel, a successful music label executive, who covertly arranges for her to be upgraded to First Class and seated next to him on the flight. When she sells the ticket to another passenger and Daniel finds his seatmate is an obnoxiously loud woman instead of the girl of his dreams, he moves back to the Economy section and takes the vacant seat next to Martha. Before landing in London, he offers her the use of a deluxe suite in a luxury hotel at his company's expense in exchange for a lunch date the following day.
Through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, we learn Laurence, a former bridge champion who now teaches the game to wealthy women, went to the airport to pick up Daniel but missed him because the flight landed early. Instead, he literally runs into Martha, who hits him with a luggage cart while searching for the exit. She coerces him into taking her into the city and invites him to the suite for dinner. While she is in the bathroom, a bouquet of flowers from Daniel is delivered to the suite, and when Laurence sees the attached card, he departs without explanation.
The following day, Martha meets struggling actor Frank, who has fled an audition in a panic and has gone to the park to console himself with a half-bottle of whiskey. Having heard about her from Daniel, he realizes who she is and calls Laurence to boast that he is about to make her his conquest. He takes her to a nearby art gallery. Martha slips away and heads for the exit, where she reunites with Laurence, who was looking for the pair. He invites her back to his flat and she accepts.
Torn between loyalty to Daniel and love for Martha, Laurence seeks advice from Pederson, a neighbour he mistakenly believes is a psychiatrist, in the early morning hours. In the interim, Martha awakens and seeing a photograph of the three friends, assumes she has been the target of an elaborate practical joke. To get even, she separately invites each of the men to meet her for breakfast and when all three arrive, bearing floral arrangements of varying size, a brawl ensues. Laurence sees Martha running off in the distance but is unable to catch her. Despondent, he goes to a travel agency to purchase a ticket anywhere he can go for £99, which proves to be Reykjavík. At the airport gate, he is told he is being seated in First Class and when he boards the plane, he finds Martha waiting for him. She reveals she was responsible for the upgrade, a trick she learned from Daniel. | romantic, flashback | train | wikipedia | I saw this film with the title "The Very Thought of You" and think that "Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence" is far more apropos and distinctive, although a bit of a mouthful to casually mention the film to friends.
It is artistically directed and edited, intelligently written, and well acted (except when Monica Potter seemed to sound like Julia Roberts -- I can't imagine why she would want to do that).
Interestingly, Joseph Finnes is also outstanding in one of the films that I believe is among the best of the decade: "Shakespeare in Love." I find the implausibility of this is irrelevant -- it's an 83-minute movie that sets out to capture a mood, tell a story, and entertain.
I liked Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare In Love but he's absolutely wonderful here.
I missed the title, but saw "Joesph Fiennes", "Rufus Sewell", and "Ray Winstone" - and decided it was worth a look.Though the beginning was a tad slow (the first five minutes makes you think it's going to be very depressing), this is actually a sweet comedy about love and friendship and the nature of "love at first sight".Joesph Fiennes is heart-stoppingly beautiful, with his lovely puppy-dog eyes put to good use in his character as an overly-sensitive young man wedged between two aggressive friends who are less-than-sensitive.I dislike most "romance" films; yet this one was different, for a reason I can't quite put my finger on.
It tugs at your heart, and for all it's improbable situations (de rigeur in most romantic comedy), it rings true to life.Definitely a good film for watching on a rainy afternoon..
Not only did the film put together such a wonderfully presented cast that went together so realistically, so precise(including the sexy Joseph Fiennes), but it was a fantastic film with an original and laughable plot (which is better than seeing the same story over and over again).
Martha (Monica Potter) is single, sexy and she's so sick of her life she's off to London with the last of her money.Daniel (Tom Hollander) is single, successful and after one look at Martha he thinks he's in love.
Lawrence (Joseph Fiennes) is another of Daniel's friends, and he is always caught between Frank and Daniel as they jostle for supremacy.The casing and script are both strong, and the feel of the movie is nice and original, even with the usual clichés in the romance element.
It's funny, it's romantic and it has sex appeal for both men and ladies, so obviously its worth a watch; if you don't try it, you'll never know.7/10.
And it didn't disapoint me one bit!The plot is basiclly three English friends meet an American girl within three days, at seperate times, and they all fall for her.
And then, despite the ending being pretty predictable, I came to the conclusion that this is definately one of the best Romantic Comedy films I've ever seen.Monica Potter does a great job at Martha, the American girl who's had enough of her life in America so buys the first plane ticket to anywhere for $99, and ends up in London.
There were one liners from Martha that made me laugh so much.Tom Hollander is a great Daniel, the rich and spoilt British guy who's a bit of a ladies man, and just loves to get a rise out of Frank.
Laurence is the romantic and sensitive character, and I can't imagine a better person than Fiennes playing him.Rufus Sewell as Frank steals the show.
If you're not a big fan of Romantic Comedies, this movie is worth watching, just for Sewell.Stars out of 10 : 10.
If you are looking for simplicity with little twists here and there - just enough to make it amusing but not too much to be thought-provoking -then this movie would be a good place to start.It's definitely a low-budget film, you can really tell from the color quality.
Clever, feel-good script - really aims to entertain instead of being profound, although it's probably a good idea to lay off the cheesy, over-used lines like "she's different from any woman I've ever met" and "do you believe that things happenned for a reason?".Good line up of cast.
Tom Hollander and Rufus Sewell really shines as Daniel and Frank, they play off each other beautifully and show a bit of versatility which is nice (both are well known dramatic actors).Joseph Fiennes was okay - Laurence doesn't really provide much.
And how he's occasionally being called "Florence".Monica Potter provides a very Julia Roberts style performance, which isn't saying much of her own quality as an actress.I was watching this movie with a roomate the other day and she said "It's a movie that makes you want to fall in love" - I myself was just looking for a comedy and was getting it just fine from this movie.
So, I tried the unique "watch-able" movie there, the unique romance, the unique that still had some tickets in that competitive world: "Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence".
Monica Potter is a decent actress and what could best be described as goofy in the lead but to make this story of three men instantly captivated by one woman work that woman would have to be entrancing like a young Audrey Hepburn or Margaret Sullavan loaded with gossamer charm which Potter is not and it's a flaw that the movie can't overcome.
I was in full knowledge of it being a self-proclaimed 'British/American romantic comedy with a twist', whatever that means, but I honestly took my seat at the theatre half-expecting to sleep the way through it.Boy was I wrong!?!?This is not a flawless movie, far from it.
On the downside it felt a way bit simple and sometimes dangerously close to becoming a generic movie but it actually did a great job in walking the tightrope.The pacing, it must be said, is brilliant as it does a great job of telling you full four stories and establishing multi-layered relationships between 3 best friends from Britain and a young woman from America with such ease that you feel like you've known them forever.
The acting is spot on, although credit must be given to Rufus Sewell who owns this movie as the unfortunate Frank, whose "like me!
like me!" plea warms my heart every time I see it!The music is great, the lighting is terrific and somehow, over a period of 30 minutes, this movie manages to create and establish a scenario so perfect that every man and woman will emerge from the cinema wishing they were there.
No, it's not the movie to end all movies, nor is it a piece that will change your outlook on life, but for 90 minutes it will make you forget about all your worries and just enjoy yourself: laugh, smile, hold hands, wish you were holding hands, feel loved or love someone or both, and eventually walk out into the real world feeling like you've experienced a piece of bliss that has made your day a good one.Give it a try, it's not big but it might bite you.4/5..
After all, it was labeled a 'romantic comedy' so I was prepared for a light-weight story, and the humour did in fact have meaning with it;
Joseph Fiennes acts unbelievably badly in this movie, it was really painful to watch.
I'm tired of seeing movies that bore me.I'm in the comedy section, I see "The out of towners", "forces of Nature", other crap like that and then I see this film.I know...I know, checl out my other reviews, not my kind of film.
I usually don't go for romantic comedies, but I like Joseph Fiennes, so I did the unthinkable.
And Fiennes, should play this way more often.I feel very priveliged to have seen this great little film.
Which one will she choose?This is a sweet British romantic comedy, told in flashbacks by Laurence, as he confides the tale to a psychiatrist.
Those looking for the best humorous love stories available will find this film does not make the A-list.
One unfortunate aspect of it all is the absolutely terrible title given the film in the US - truly there is no excuse and it belies the mentality in that country.As a romantic comedy - of a sort - it beats anything that ghost town Hollywood be capable of; there are elements here which won't be obvious to you on first viewing and that's to your advantage.Joey Fiennes: he talks like Shakespeare!
The conceit of this film - a girl who has her back to the wall and nowhere to go and simply gets on a plane to go somewhere, anywhere - has very much the feel of other movies in the genre such as French Kiss.
That was the year Fiennes was seen in this semi-charming romantic trifle, the costume epic ELIZABETH (as Robert Dudley with whom the title character had a complex relationship) and as the title character in the rare but deserving comedic Oscar winner, SH*KESPEARE IN LOVE (which also won Oscars for Gweneth Paltrow, his leading lady and Judy Dench as an older Queen Elizabeth - but then "new kid on the block" Fiennes wasn't even nominated).The pace of THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU - or, as it was originally called, "Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence" (which can't quite decide if it's a "buddy film" or a romantic comedy) will drive some viewers up the wall, but those who stick with it for the joy of the contrasting boy/men buddies circling around the charming "Martha" and structure will be rewarded with a pat ending which is the very definition of a sure fire "date movie" - then go back and have a look at the hilarious WHAT'S UP DOC?
"Martha," the film's "McGuffin" around which the thin plot turns is a generic blonde pixie indistinguishable from half a dozen delightful others, in this case Monica Potter, whose only problem is that there are too many other talented actresses just like her.
The three best friends she meets and entrances are, in order, the blond, wealthy but shallow Daniel (Tom Hollander - more people probably saw him that year in support in the gay themed BEDROOMS AND HALLWAYS), author of the grand romantic gesture she will copy before the film's over, the struggling, competitive actor Frank (Rufus Sewell - a Tony nominee on Broadway for Tom Stoppard's ROCK & ROLL, here doing a remarkable imitation of a young Ian McShane!) and the insecure intellectual bridge instructor Lawrence (Fiennes).
You'll know 30 seconds after she meets him who Martha's going to wind up with, but if the ride is worth the trip (the flashback in the psychiatrist's office structure is a television oldie but goodie) the audience will come away happy.Nothing terribly original here, but once it gets rolling the actors are fun to be with.
Avoid this movie it's not very funny and doesn't make any sense.The script from Peter Morgan (The Queen, Last King of Scotland) was weak, the plot feeble and you didn't really care about any of the characters.Martha (Monica Potter)is an American woman on the rebound.
Martha meets Laurence (Joseph Fiennes) and promptly falls in love with him.
I think if the distributors had marketed it for the people who enjoyed "Notting Hill" it could have done well in theaters.The basic plot is of three boyhood friends in London who all meet an American girl.
Eventhough the outcome is fairly predictable, the plot takes several twists to arrive there.If you like romantic comedies, give this one a chance.
With these types of movies, I am often left wondering, "What was so great about her?", but I didn't feel that way about Martha.
this is one of the best modern romantic comedies I've seen in a long time.
It's extremely witty, the acting was great, there was actually chemistry between all of the characters, the storyline is fairly original, Joseph Fiennes is in it, etc.
This is a sweet, charming romantic comedy with a playfully self-referential plot knitted together in flashbacks from different characters' points of view: David Lodge's 'Small World' meets Hal Hartley's 'Flirt'.
But we know that it'll all come out right in the end, because it's that kind of film.Furthermore it has Joseph Fiennes looking soulful, and Rufus Sewell in a part he wanted "because I got to smoke cigarettes and say 'f*ck!' a lot".
Monica Potter is absolutely adorable as Martha, a bored American who flies in to London desperate for a change of luck.
Joseph Fiennes, later to hit it big in 'Shakespeare in Love', is also good.
Funny though to see Ray Winstone, usually known for his abrasive hard man characters in such films as 'Nil By Mouth', 'Face' and 'Scum' in such a cute romantic story!.
There are so many awful romantic comedies out there that I actually ignored this film on that basis alone for years.Then, one particularly uninspiring evening a friend lent a copy of it to me and I skeptically watched it.
This movie is very intelligently written, has sharp, realistic dialogue, and allows you to escape with Marta (Monica Potter) as she searches for a new life in England.She ends up meeting three very different men.You are introduced to a grotesque, and creepy, self-loathing Rufus Sewell, a short,needy, and very badly dressed Tom Hollander.I was wondering what was going to happen if she ended up with either of them.
On the basis of it's stars lack of Hollywood status this film will never reach a full audience, but good word of mouth might get it some due notice.Check it out, I know you won't be disappointed, it's funny..
In fact, anyone could argue that this movie is like any other romantic comedy.
Seeing that these movies were cheap and all, I decided to watch it because it's Monica Potter, and what can I say, no one should turn down any film with Monica Potter in it!
In all my regards, I consider her to be the scene stealer of the film, and I would have liked to see more of her.On the cover of the box, they say that this is a "sexy, romantic comedy." The only problem that leaves an abrupt question mark is, where the hell is the sex?
It's a delightful "romantic comedy" and I strongly recommend for Monica Potter fans and other lovers for a rainy day!9/10 (Or a B average due to the wonderful characters and the crazy storyline.
I remembered Mr. Sewell vaguely from "Hamlet," and have longed to see Mr. Fiennes in a film since "Shakespeare in Love," but never remember seeing Ms. Potter in anything, and I am sure that I never seen Mr. Hollander before.
I remembered Mr. Sewell vaguely from "Hamlet," and have longed to see Mr. Fiennes in a film since "Shakespeare in Love," but never remember seeing Ms. Potter in anything, and I am sure that I never seen Mr. Hollander before.
While I would not lie and say that this is a profound film and that there is anything to be learned from it or much to be thought of after seeing it, it would be only natural to praise it for its pure movie-like, feel-good quality, a small escape from the everyday.
While I would not lie and say that this is a profound film and that there is anything to be learned from it or much to be thought of after seeing it, it would be only natural to praise it for its pure movie-like, feel-good quality, a small escape from the everyday.
Originally released as "Martha Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence" in Britain, this import is not your typical romantic comedy: the storyline is totally implausible, the characters are ridiculous, and the emphasis is on comedy over romance.
Curiously, the three men happen to be best friends...the crux which launches this charming and amusing little romantic comedy.
I had the opportunity to watch this movie by means of a VHS that I have gotten in Spain, and I can really say that I like it a lot, it really entertained very much me.
The movie begins when Lawrence (Joseph Fiennes) takes a psycological session where he talk about he, his two friends and a person that they have in common.
Martha (Monica Potter), an American young girl, travels to London to make her new life.
There, in the same flight, she will know Daniel (Tom Hollander), a young man that will fall in love at first sight of her.
Then, Martha will know in a park to Frank (Rufus Sewell), an actor with bad luck in the love, that also will fall in love of her.
Amusing, pleasant, funny, a great romantic comedy.
I mean Potter looks totally different - she does't look like that in the movie!
An American girl who decides to leave everything behind in Minneapolis for a fresh start in London separately meets three young Britons who happen to be friends and two of them fall desperately in love with her.
I suppose you can give this movie a few points for taking an unconventional approach to romantic comedy.
Can you keep them from getting together until the end of the movie in an entertaining way?These filmmakers never answer those questions in the affirmative, nor do they seem to even understand those questions are being asked in the first place.Martha (Monica Potter) is a Minneapolis girl who flies to London to escape a life of quiet desperation.
In short order she meets Daniel (Tom Hollander), who moons over her; Laurence (Joseph Fiennes), who responds to her overt flirtations with all the energy of a damp sponge; and Frank (Rufus Sewell), a miserable git who wants to bed her out of spite but whose wooing technique is only slightly more advanced than dipping her pigtails in the teacher's inkwell.In truth, you can see the potential for a successful rom-com here.
Monica Potter is more than cute enough and Tom Hollander and Rufus Sewell are appealingly pathetic as the obstacles that get in between Martha and Laurence. |
tt0050490 | Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison | In the South Pacific in 1944, U.S. Marine Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) and his reconnaissance party had been in the process of disembarking from a U.S. Navy submarine when they were discovered and fired upon by the Japanese. The submarine's captain was forced to dive and leave the scouting team behind. Allison got to a rubber raft and after days adrift, reaches an island. He finds an abandoned settlement and a chapel with one occupant: Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), a novice nun who has not yet taken her final vows. She herself has been on the island for only four days; she came with an elderly priest to evacuate another clergyman, only to find the Japanese had arrived first. The frightened natives who had brought them to the island left the pair without warning, and the priest died soon after.
For a while, they have the island to themselves, but then a detachment of Japanese troops arrives to set up a meteorological camp, forcing them to hide in a cave. When Sister Angela is unable to stomach the fish Allison has caught, he sneaks into the Japanese camp for supplies, narrowly avoiding detection. That night, they see flashes from naval guns being fired in a sea battle over the horizon.
The Japanese unexpectedly leave the island, and in both celebration and frustration, Allison gets drunk on some sake left behind. He blurts out that he loves Sister Angela and that he considers her devotion to her vows to be pointless, since they are stuck on the island "like Adam and Eve." She runs out into a tropical rain and falls ill as a result; Allison, now sober and contrite, finds her shivering with chills. He carries her back, but sees that the Japanese have returned, forcing them to retreat to the cave again. Allison sneaks into the Japanese camp to get some blankets for her, but has to kill a soldier who discovers him in the act, which alerts the enemy to his presence. In an effort to force him out into the open, the Japanese set fire to the vegetation.
When a Japanese soldier finds the cave, Allison and Sister Angela are left with two choices: surrender or die from a hand grenade thrown inside. The ensuing explosion is not a grenade, but a bomb; the Americans have begun attacking the island in preparation for a landing. Allison comments that the landing will not be an easy one because when they returned, the Japanese brought with them four artillery pieces whose positions are well-concealed.
In what he attributes to a message from God, Allison comes up with the idea to disable the artillery during the barrage that will precede the American assault, while the Japanese are still in their bunkers. He is wounded, but manages to sabotage all the guns by removing their breechblocks, saving many American lives. After the landing, the Marine officers are puzzled by the lack of breechblocks in the guns.
Allison and Sister Angela say their goodbyes. He has reconciled himself to her dedication to Christ and she reassures him that they will always be close "companions". As Allison is carried down the hill on a stretcher, the film ends without him revealing what he had done to the guns, the implication being that virtue is its own reward. | violence | train | wikipedia | It's always interesting to hear what movie directors think of their own work, and John Huston once made a very insightful comment about this 1957 film which he made for 20th Century Fox:- "Allison is seldom referred to.
One of Huston's buried treasures,this offbeat tale of a nun and a marine stuck on an island.They say it was to be directed by Wyler,but he turned it down and went to make "desperate hours".Deborah Kerr had already played a nun in Powell-Pressburger's excellent "Black narcissus",and the part was tailor-made for her.The same goes for Robert Mitchum as a crude,simple,but with a golden heart marine.People cannot help but be struck with the analogies between "heaven" and "African queen" :both feature an odd couple,in jeopardy;that's why the former is overlooked today which is totally unfair.The two characters are extremely endearing and,when the movie is over,it seems we've always known Sister Angela and Corporal Allison.I dig the line:"it's a gourmet's dish" when the nun is eating turtle soup.I love the way the scenarists show the analogies between a nun's and a marine's lives.The Garden of Eden metaphor is obvious,but the story subtly progresses,and the Snake's temptation happens late in the movie.The cinematography is splendid,with a superb use of cinemascope,and Georges Delerue's score deserves admiration.Yes "heaven knows..." is certainly one of Huston's sleepers.But I wonder what Luis Bunuel would have done with such a screenplay..
In 1944, in South Pacific, the castaway Marine Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) drifts in a raft to the Tuasiva Island, where he meets Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr).
Stranded in the island, but with water, fish and fruits, their paradisiacal life ends when the Japanese arrive to build a base, forcing Allison and the nun to hide in a cave.
The crude marine provides the necessary supply for their survival and falls in love for the nun."Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" is not a masterpiece, but it is one of my favorite movies ever.
The story has war, adventure, romance and drama, and is supported by the awesome direction of John Huston and the stunning performances of Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr in the roles of endearing characters.
The always brilliant Deborah Kerr is here a nun with a very character and humor, always able to understand the behavior of Mr. Allison (Mitchum).
One of the great injustices of Hollywood history is the fact that Deborah Kerr was nominated for Best Actress while Robert Mitchum got nary a mention for Best Actor in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.
The African Queen was in World War I and this film is set on a backwater Pacific island in World War II.Corporal Allison, USMC arrives on a rubber raft after the Japanese opened fire on a submarine he was on.
Since it's a two character film, the director couldn't gamble with any light weight actors and it pays tremendously by the incredible performances Mr. Huston got from them.The story of the nun who is left behind in a Pacific island and the arrival of the shipwrecked Capt.
There aren't any false moments in the film.It is a credit to Mr. Huston the pairing of Deborah Kerr with Robert Mitchum, who are amazing in their roles.
Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr give beautiful performances in this touching study of a Marine and a young nun who find themselves stranded on a Pacific island during WWII.
Mitchum gives one of the finest performances of his career as the proud Marine who finds himself falling in love with his companion, and Deborah Kerr is unaffectedly enchanting as Sister Angela.
The marine and the nun spend a lot of their time in a little cave, trying to steal some food to the Japaneses, and waiting with the hope of the end of the war.I've never heard of this movie before, it seems to be a forgotten classic, it deserve to be shown for a large audience..
Heaven Knows Mr Allison is not really a war film, it is simply an ideal excuse for the age-old story of two people thrown together by circumstance, and finding love in their unlikely situation.And here it really is just a tale of two.
However, under the steady direction of John Huston and supported by two very strong performances from Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, this film more than rises to the surface but does very well in expanding its simple plot.As the story unfolds, we find that the Marine, Corporal Allison, has landed on shore after being stranded from his squad.
Mitchum is very good here as the beaten Marine who feels almost no connection with anyone until he meets this warm and sweet nun, played wonderfully by Deborah Kerr.
Mitchum plays the tuff marine and Kerr a Nun. Both shipwrecked on a Pacific Island in the middle of WW11.This movie was made in the late 50's so you can still tell the good guys from the bad.
Just good acting and a great story line that will hold your attention.Heaven Knows Mr. Allison is a classic movie that till this day, still hold's up well.
ALLISON is essentially a two-actor film and must have looked awfully good on paper whenever ROBERT MITCHUM and DEBORAH KERR read the script.
They knew they had the right attributes to play the leads--a tough U.S. Marine and a ladylike nun stranded on a Pacific isle during World War II, threatened by nearby Japanese invaders--and must have instinctively known that under John Huston's direction they would get good guidance.Well, they did.
ALLISON has an even tighter reign on the two actors as the main focus.Kerr may have deserved her Best Actress Oscar nomination, but why did Hollywood always fail to recognize Robert Mitchum's contribution to a good film?
Although Deborah Kerr received an Oscar nomination for this movie, Robert Mitchum did not.
During World War II, a marine is stranded on a Pacific island with a nun until the Japanese arrive, forcing them to go into hiding.
Despite the limitations of a two-character movie, it never drags, thanks to an engaging script that slowly builds the sexual tension as Mitchum starts to fall in love with Kerr.
John Huston virtually remade "The African Queen" as a two-hander but set during the Second World War and on a Pacific island occupied by the Japanese and on which are hiding an American marine, (Robert Mitchum), and a nun, (Deborah Kerr), the only other sole occupants.
Dextrously moving between scenes of genuine suspense, (will they be discovered), and real intimacy in which the comic as well as the dramatic potentials of the story are beautifully played out by both actors, Huston creates a film that works on a number of levels and shows real flair for the use of the widescreen imposed on him by 20th Century Fox. Indeed Kerr wears her habit as if to the manor born, (she's a much more relaxed nun than her Sister Clodagh in "Black Narcissus"), while Mitchum, with only Kerr to react to, has probably never been better.
I thought that Robert Mitchum is an boring actor.But after this movie I certainly changed my view!Mitchum is great!The way he talks and acts are just great!And the script is quite well also.Well some historical mistakes are in the film, but thats not the point.The point is the relationship between soldier and Nun.Director John Huston great director, just like Capra and Wilder he never makes an bad film.The only downside in this film is Deborah Kerr as Nun.She's not the best actress for that part.So that drops this movie from my Top-ten "All time greatest movies"-list, but certainly a good movie and worth of watching..
Mitchum and Kerr, the marine and the nun, at first alone on an island then visited by Japanese then alone again then visited again, are given scores of great two-person scenes together.
Very good film.A classic with great cinematography,directing,script/screenplay which all make up for the simple story.The editing could have been a tag better.The ending,though abrupt was powerfull for those who believe in an interactive God.The acting here was superb.Only for religion tolerant people,fans of less action WW 2 movies and fans of the lead actors.........
In essence, it is somewhat similar to the same director's THE African QUEEN (1951) occurring a war later and in the Pacific rather than the Congo; the two leading characters are also virtually identical: an illiterate but rugged man-of-action and a religious woman (in this case, a nun as opposed to a missionary).The two leads, Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum, are very well matched and, in fact, they were teamed again in THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) and THE GRASS IS GREENER (1960) plus one other time, much later, for a TV movie.
Kerr who, of course had previously portrayed a nun in The Archers' breathtakingly beautiful BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) was Oscar-nominated for her performance here (as were Huston and John Lee Mahin for their screenplay), but Mitchum's contribution is just as excellent and vital to the success of the film especially one which, for the most part, involves just these two characters!
Combining action, adventure, comedy, drama and suspense, the end result is generally compelling, enjoyable, good-looking, even touching: marine Mitchum, whose past includes spells in an orphanage and a juvenile reformatory, can't understand how a beautiful woman could waste her life away by voluntarily joining a religious order, especially isolated the way they are and, at one point, drunkenly berates her for it which leads to the nun falling seriously ill when his outspokenness drives her into the pouring rain for the night!.
I'll let you watch and see where the film takes it from there.Mitchum and and Kerr (she was nominated for an Oscar) are both excellent and have chemistry, as the film gradually turns into a love story/comedy.
On paper, you would think this teaming would never work - Kerr playing one of her various governess/nun personalities, Mitchum being one of his various hard guy types with a soul, but they play off of each other marvelously and are paired in three more films after this, the last one being in the 1980s.Oswald Morris did the fine cinematography.
Stranded on a Pacific island together, a marine and a nun plan to wait out the end of World War II, but their platonic friendship is tested when forced to hide out in a cave after Japanese soldiers take over the island in this solemn drama starring Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.
They acted together four times, the first of which was in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, a fantastic love story from the 1950s.It takes place during the thick of WWII, and it addresses the age-old fantasy of being trapped on a desert island with one person.
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)John Huston made sure this was a rugged movie despite the fact there were only two characters, a man and a woman, working through themes of intimacy, integrity, and respect.
Robert Mitchum as a U.S. Marine washed ashore a South Pacific atoll, is resourceful but defers to Deborah Kerr as an Irish nun stranded alone there.
When you see that a movie has John Huston as a director, you want to see it.I thought that was true till I saw Heaven knows Mr Allison.
Cpl Allison (Robert Mitchum) washes ashore on an island in the South Pacific inhabited only by Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr).
Robert Mitchum talks like a Marine who just loves being a Marine (irritating) and Deborah Kerr is a nun who, very predictably, has an Irish accent (something she makes a complete mess of).
A Marine and a Nun, The Marine (Robert Mitchum) is shipwrecked on a Pacific Island and the Nun (Deborah Kerr) has been left behind there, they find comfort in one another as the two wait out the war.First, I want to say I think it is a shame that the Japanese actors are uncredited.
He is a WWII soldier stranded on a Pacific island with a Catholic nun, Angela (Deborah Kerr).
One might imagine that a the movie, Directed by John Huston, about a US Marine and Catholic nun marooned together on a South Pacific Island during World War II, to be quite different.
The pairing in this basically two-person movie, with Robert Mitchum (as Mr. Allison) and Deborah Kerr as the nun (Sister Angela), must have seemed as unusual as the pairing of the prim and proper Katherine Hepburn character, (Rose Sayer) with the uncouth African stream boat captain, Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), were in The African Queen (1951).
Robert Mitchum is a cast-away hard-ass marine who lands on an island where a pious nun (Deborah Kerr) has taken up residence during World War II.
"Heaven knows Mr. Allison" is a story of love and war on a South Pacific island swarming with Japanese troops in the second World War
A man and a woman, the only ones to live through a storm, find each other at a deserted church
There were few words when such people met; there was sympathy, but the sympathy was not expressed in words
Together, they share many dangers
Out of their trials grows a love which bring to each a new closeness to God
Robert Mitchum plays a United States Marine in serious trouble
With an ordinary girl or woman, he would have just taken charge of her and he would have begun at once to do what he could for both of them
But a woman in holy orders was a great mystery to him
A nun was something outside his experience
He had believed that nuns were delicate creatures, living far from the roughness of the world
Nuns were strange, mysterious beings, behind the walls of secret, quiet, holy places
But here he was one of them alone in the jungle, in the middle of war and danger
And she apparently believed that he, Private Henry Allison had been brought here by God's hand just for the purpose of helping her
Deborah Kerr plays Sister Angela, the nun who was expecting someone when Mr. Allison came
Her face, almost hidden by the white head-dress, looked surprising young
There were shadows of worry under her eyes, but the eyes themselves were almost like a child's
To her, there was no importance in the fact that Allison was a man
Her faith, her years of religious training, the high purposes of her life, all placed her above and beyond the things of the earth
To Allison she appeared sexless in the sense that she was beyond her sex
To him she was a being who ate and drank and slept and had to be protected
In other ways, she was a complete mystery
The adventure, beautifully filmed in the West Indies, is a touching story of unrequited love and an expert acting duet by two legendary stars.
The script and direction are good, but the success of the movie rests entirely on Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr, who give two of the most beautiful performances I've ever seen.
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison is directed by John Huston and stars Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr.During the Second World War United States Marine, Cpl.Allison(Robert Mitchum)abandons ship during an attack and floats across the pacific in his life raft.He ends up on a small island with a few thatched shacks and a church and soon discovers he's not alone.
Cpl. Allison soon finds himself falling in love with a woman (who for obvious reasons)he can't have.A touching and well made film about survival and love this is well worth watching.There are some similarities to be found in this to The African Queen, with two people thrown together in unusual circumstances who are complete opposites but can work together to get out of or make the best of the situation their in.Mitchum and Kerr are both superb and have beautiful chemistry in this.
I never thought I would ever see a movie where the lovely gracious actress Deborah Kerr (and wasn't she), playing Sister Angela, would team up with the crude outspoken hard drinking U.S. marine soldier Allison (played by Mitchum) in this epic story of two persons, finding themselves stranded together on a lonely Pacific Island during WW2.
"Anastasia", "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness", much of Hitchcock's output, "The Journey" – all great 1950s films."Heaven Knows, Mr Allison" is really all about the interaction, the inner and outer life, between two people who didn't choose to be where they are (stranded on an island in the thick of danger), but make the best of it: Robert Mitchum's marine, Corporal Allison, a practical, man's man, rough and tough but with a good heart; and Deborah Kerr's nun, Sister Angela, whose motivations are more opaque, but who shows nevertheless a soldier's resilience.
A cast of only two, Robert Mitchum as Corporal Allison USMC and Deborah Kerr as Sister Angela are stranded.
You have a pretty good idea where the dynamic between the principals is going shortly after the shipwrecked Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) meets Catholic Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr) on a tropical island somewhere in the Pacific.
Modest Payoff After a Very Slow Build Up. Heaven Knows, Mr. AllisonHeaven Knows, Mr. Allison stars Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum and is directed by the great John Huston in 1957.
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is about a relationship between a nun stranded alone on an island in World War II and the U.S. Marine that washes up on the island shore in a raft.
The very talented Deborah Kerr and the tough guy Robert Mitchum, who is often good in the right role, didn't convince me that their characters were growing close, let alone falling in love.
If you are a Robert Mitchum or Deborah Kerr fan, Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is worth watching out of curiosity.
Limited in plot options, performances, direction and screenplay.Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, 1957, Starring: Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr Directed by John Huston 7/10 (B-)(This is part of an ongoing project to watch and review every John Huston movie. |
tt0119506 | Lawn Dogs | The film focuses on 10-year-old Devon Stockard (Mischa Barton), a precocious and lonely young girl who has recently moved into a gated community called Camelot Gardens in the suburbs of Louisville, KY with her parents, Morton and Clare (Christopher McDonald and Kathleen Quinlan). Recently having recovered from open heart surgery, Devon is encouraged by her parents to make friends, and she is pushed to sell cookies for a charity event for the summer. While selling cookies, Devon leaves the gated community against the instruction of her mother, and meets Trent Burns (Sam Rockwell), a poor man who lives in a trailer in the woods, and who does landscaping work in Camelot Gardens. An imaginative child, Devon imagines her life to be like the fable of Baba Yaga, a fairytale which the film makes parallels to.
Devon, at first an annoyance to Trent, continues to come to his property and slowly befriends him; despite the innocence of their friendship, he insists that she keep it a secret due to their age difference. While working in Camelot Gardens, Trent begins having altercations with two young men who live there; Brett (David Barry Gray), who is having an affair with Devon's mother; and Sean (Eric Mabius), a man with closeted homosexual tendencies who flirts with Trent. During a family barbecue, Devon explores her father's car in their garage. She finds her father's handgun in the glove compartment of his SUV. Brett discovers her and with the gun and attempts to molest Devon in the garage, but she escapes. She tells her parents about the incident, but then insists that Brett was only trying to tickle her. Clare begins to notice Devon's apparent friendship with Trent when he comes to do lawn work at their house, and becomes alarmed. Meanwhile, Brett and Sean terrorize Trent by pouring sugar in the fuel tank of his lawnmower and start a fight with him after they wrongfully believe he stole CDs from Sean's car.
Devon and Trent's friendship continues to grow, and the two go to visit Trent's mother (Beth Grant) and his father (Tom Aldredge), a Korean War veteran who is dying of a lung disease. After leaving Trent's parents' house, Trent and Devon go for a drive in the country. While stopped in a field, Devon insists that since the two are "best friends", she can show him her surgical scar on her chest. She asks him to touch it to his reluctance, and then demands that he show her his abdominal scar which he sustained in a shooting. After showing each other their scars, the two see Sean's dog running through the field, having escaped. While trying to chase the dog down in the truck, they accidentally run him over. Trent kills the badly injured dog in spite of Devon's pleas for him not to, and she runs home in a panic over the incident.
Clare and Morton, concerned over Devon's frantic behavior, ask her what happened, but she refuses to provide details, only saying that Trent killed Sean's dog and mentions that she and Trent took turns showing each other their scars. Assuming that Trent molested her, Morton drives out to Trent's property with Devon, assisted by Sean and an ex-cop who is a security guard in Camelot Gardens. The three men confront Trent while Devon sits in the car.
Morton and Sean take turns beating Trent, and Morton accuses him of raping Devon. Morton attacks Trent with a piece of wood, beating him to the ground, and hands it to Sean; but before Sean can hit him, Devon exits her father's car with his handgun and shoots Sean in the abdomen. As Sean bleeds on the ground, Devon urges Trent to leave, and they say their goodbyes. Armed with her father's gun, Devon orders her dad to lift her up into a tree that she and Trent had decorated with ribbons, and she imagines a river and a forest rising up behind Trent as he drives away, protecting him as he escapes. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | If you like off-beat slices of America with a twisted view, then "Lawn Dogs" is the best movie you'll see in a long time.
As we learn more about his poor, white-trash lawn cutter, we sympathise and begin to realise how easily the reactions of others higher up on the food chain conspire to create chaos for him.I won't give too much about the story away, because it frequently heads off in new, interesting directions, but essentially this is the story of Devon (newcomer child actor Mischa Barton) and the above mentioned Trent (Rockwell) and their relationship.
One is a 10 -year old girl named Devon (Mischa Barton) whose parents want her to be the perfect little daughter.
Trent tries to shoo Devon away at first, but he can't help but be flattered by the young girl's interest.Of course the potential for misunderstanding in this kind of relationship is great and it inevitably happens.
The two build a friendship despite the resentment towards the `white trash' Trent from within the suburb,I didn't know what this film was about before I sat and watched it, reading the plot summary in the tv guide as the title sequence began, I wondered if I would bother, but I'm glad I did.
This part works well as the friendship never seems forced and, although the spectre of sexual tension is there (in Trent occasionally feeling uncomfortable), it is not a strand that is actually part of their relationship.This all works well due (in most part) to two great performances from Barton and Rockwell.
Even more condemning about this depiction is that it never feels like they have been exaggerated or monsterised in any way!The script is well written and certainly makes the actors jobs a lot easier certainly Barton benefits from great dialogue and character development.
This superb film, directed by John Duigan, the gifted director of THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE, is about a friendship between a young girl (Mischa Barton of "The OC") and a free-spirited young, adult man (Sam Rockwell).It's self-aware enough to acknowledge the inherent sensitivity of its subject matter, but it doesn't cave into conservative conclusions about how such a relationship ought to be portrayed.At heart, LAWN DOGS is about trust, not the death of innocence or the festering political correctness all around us that sees danger in every unconventional relationship.
Mischa Barton (THE SIXTH SENSE, TV's "The O.C.") is a lonely 10 year old girl who's been shielded from the world by her wealthy parents following a recent health scare (she has a faulty heart), but she dares to strike up a friendship with Rockwell after stumbling onto his ramshackle home in the woods, a friendship which she pursues against Rockwell's wishes, until their 'secret' is forced into the open and grossly misinterpreted by Barton's vengeful family.While the moneyed set lives in antiseptic splendour and conceals its hypocrisy behind security measures of every description, Rockwell's character enjoys an open life in a beautiful forest environment, like the witch Baba Yaga in Barton's favourite fairy tale.
It's a movie about a slightly sick [in the mental and physical sense] young girl [about 10 or 11 years old?] who befriends one of the guys hired to mow the lawns in her gated community.
It's a film that lazily unravels itself, yet succeeds in impacting like a sledgehammer, and does so in such a perfect, unforced and magical way that the experience of viewing it leaves the movie goer completely fulfilled, perhaps like no other film ever has before it.Even more intriguing is the difficulty one has at distinguishing exactly why it is that this film works so flawlessly and just how such a slow moving film can leave a person so thoroughly energized and rejuvenated.Only a few movies of recent times have even come close to carrying off this irony- think 'Fargo' or better still, 'Love Serenade' (interestingly and perhaps not coincidentally also directed by an Australian).Every single element of 'Lawn Dogs' is magical.
From the direction, cinematography, music and fairytale infused storyline which deals with the universally important issues of friendship, self-identity, family, community and class divisions, to the powerhouse performances from the two lead performers and amazing supporting cast.John Diugan has demonstrated with 'Lawn Dogs' that he is indeed a true alchemist of the film world that can mix and dabble with the elements to produce pure, solid gold..
Like Trent in the film, I am alive with the hope that flight from any kind of poverty, financial or spiritual, is possible.On the surface, the story seems to revolve around the relationship between a young man, Trent, and a little girl, Devon, and between the two struggling economic classes that they come from.
It is also natural for the world to discourage an individual from relating to the power within himself, perhaps represented by said young female, to imagine and pursue a better life for himself, when it means he will flee the status quo that makes the rest of the world comfortable.The setting is a highly artificial, unabashedly bourgeois, gated community in Kentucky, `Camelot Gardens' (see, we're already alluding to fairy tales), and the surrounding countryside, wherein Trent lives in a trailer, making, what can loosely be called, a "living" by mowing the lawns of the rich in Camelot Gardens.
The two heroes first meet when Devon happens upon Trent's trailer while wandering into the woods to sell cookies (her capitalist parents' idea), reciting to herself a version of the Russian fairy-tale about the contest between a little girl, like herself, and the witch named `Baba Yaga.' She continues her relationship with the at-first-reluctant Trent, as he continues to mow her parents' lawn.
Much of the symbolism in the story seems to be lifted directly from classical mythology: From the open nakedness of both heroes in the beginning, a necessary reduction of the self to its bare essentials before it can be remade into something new, Trent holding up traffic to dive naked from a one-lane bridge into the local river, a kind of spectacular baptism into a new beginning, and Devon removing her nightgown to bay from her rooftop, like some essential mythic beast imploring the gods of night; to the adorning, i.e. honoring, of the tree outside the door of Trent's trailer, the Sacred Tree, Ygdrasil, the Tree of Life, so honoring life itself, and the demands that life makes of us; to the maenadic frenzy of the dancing chicken feet, a maddening after-chicken-death/chicken-dinner dithyramb; to Trent's conquest over the infernal hound, a Doberman named `Tracker,' who guards the homes of Camelot Gardens, and perhaps guards as well the path to personal power, the hound who, like Cerberus, turns away all cowards (chickens) from the inner realms; to the magic towel and comb of divine deliverance (more on these two symbols below) at the end; the story is full of age-old symbols that affect us deeply, transforming us or renewing us, without our knowing how.The following passage is taken from Marie-Louise von Franz's `Interpretation of Fairy Tales.' It will help the reader to understand the meaning of the magic comb and towel.
Now let's count the painfully obvious cliché's, shall we?1) guy from wrong side of the tracks as society's scapegoat 2) unlikely relationship between kindred spirits: this usually comes in the form of crossing age, gender, & class differences 3) Projecting a myth/fable/fairy tale/work of literature/history lesson as a conscious allusion to the themes & realities of the film.
I just couldn't take it anymore.Before elaborating on that, though, I found it disturbing that a ten year old girl was in the center of what was a very adult film.Second, I thought the character of Devon was pretty, well, awful.
I know you may think well a movie about a friendship between an upper class little girl and a white trash man isn't much for entertainment but believe me it's more than that!
A very modern tale of innocence and its inherent dangers; watch this film and let a young girl named Devon teach you about life.
It merges a dramatic story with politics or rather the society of America.Either way, this film has great acting, is very quirky, and keeps you satisfied throughout.I hope others will give this film some time.Mischa Barton (The O.C.) and Sam Rockwell (Moon) have both gone on to make names of themselves, but this is surely a film from the past that is a gem..
Barton plays ten-year-old Devon, an odd little girl who befriends the white trash gardener of her housing estate, Camelot Gardens, Trent (Sam Rockwell).
I first saw this movie in 1998, and it had such a powerful impact that when I saw The 6th Sense a year later, I immediately recognized the young Lawn Dogs star Mischa Barton (who played the murdered little girl opposite Haley Joel Osment in that suspense film), who shines with an amazingly convincing performance.
If you've seen The Green Mile, it will probably take you a while to relinquish the fear that Sam Rockwell's character Trent is going to brutally strangle his young friend, but that probably serves to accent the subtle menace that builds up to this film's surreal (but beautifully fitting) closing scene..
With all the naturalness of any eleven-year-old next-door girl, Mischa Barton was carrying out an exercise in interpretation which frankly leaves most of the Hollywood Oscar goddesses pallid, insipid and tasteless
About 15 minutes into the film I realised that this was no US job: it was too subtle, the story was too carefully embroidered with exquisite craftsmanship.
I just saw Lawn Dogs and wasn't that impressed as others who have written in.The two leads in the movie are a twenty-something guy and an eleven year old girl.
I'm personally not a fan of movies with adult themes that star juveniles.I also didn't think it was a good idea to sanctify the idea of the two main characters hanging out with each other away from the girl's home and family.
It was kind of like- what does this guy think is going to happen if he spends a lot of time with this kid?The more interesting elements of the film such as the unsettling neighborhood culture, class inequity, etc.
A talented director of youngsters, Duigan gets an excellent performance out of Mischa Barton in the lead role, while Sam Rockwell holds his own as the lawnmower man.
It is a thought-provoking film as it challenges general preconceptions out there about the inability for an older man to be friends with a younger woman with nothing else going on between them, but it is the hypocrisy of the town that they live in that is most striking here with Rockwell suspected by many of petty thievery simply because he is poor and Barton's father caring nothing about a local teenager fondling her chest because he is the son of a powerful figure in town.
Lawn Dogs tells the story of an intelligent but aloof little girl (Mischa Barton) who finds it hard to make friends...and with her habits of baking gingerbread men with dead flies for buttons, and peeing on the windshield of anyone who upsets her, it's not surprising.Eventually, she does find a sort-of kindred spirit...
By the way females seem to like this movie better than males according to the demographic breakdown but maybe the guys thought this was going to be like Reservoir Dogs, a good film, but not this one..
this is an excellent movie with a brilliant cast sam rockwell plays the brilliant outcast who befriends a 10 year old girl they strike up a unique friendship that if anybody found out it would have devestating consequences it's a weepey film but enjoyable to watch.
Kudos to Devon (Mischa Barton) & Trent (Sam Rockwell) for good acting.
This beautifully photographed movie has a very strong script, a perfect balance between irony and drama, and it sometimes reminded me of 'Happiness' and 'American Beauty', two great movies that got much more attention than 'Lawn Dogs', although they were made later than this film!
Earlier posts have compared Mischa Barton's role and performance to that of Natalie Portman in "The Professional" or Reese Witherspoon in "Man in the Moon." Despite some similarities, this film goes far beyond the others in exploring (and contrasting) the fairy-tale aspects of Trent and Devon's friendship and the lives led by those in Devon's home and neighborhood.
The main character, Trent, a lawn mower for a wealthy gated community, becomes friends with a 10-year-old girl, Devon, the daughter of social-climbing suburbanites.
Even though the end was not what the average viewer would want, it was actually the best solution, and as in Leon, the heroes might be apart in the end, but their spirits and their love seem like being closer than ever.In one of the smartest and most important independent movies of the decade, Mischa Barton showed moments of mature acting and gave a performance similar to the one of Natalie Portman in Leon, or even of Tatoom O' Neal in Paper Moon.
Devon(Mischa Barton)keeps your soul young & heart filled with hope.She gives only wanting friendship in return & eventually sacrifices IT for her 'best friend's' freedom.Trent(Sam Rockwell)is reluctant,but vicariously needy as Devon fearlessly drags him into a fantasy world filled with stark-raving reality!This story has been told many times before('rich meets born on the wrong side of the tracks'),but never like this.Chemistry between two characters(& actors)this believable & off-beat only come around once in a great while.See this FILM!.Sometimes freedom is the only gift left to give..
"Lawn Dogs" presumes that there are people who will make an effort to think about what they see and who are capable of seeing both the realities and the mysteries of existence that film can only hint at.Of special note is eleven year old actress Misha Barton, who here gives the finest performance by a child actress in a very long time, perhaps since Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver"..
John Duigan is a great cinematographic author who has made many admirably charming films such as Wide Saragasso Sea,The year my voice broke etc.Most of his films are about some important issues related to human behavior in our fast changing society and its implications on mankind.Lawn Dogs is a nice tale of inhuman indifference based on class,status which affect the lives of two lonely people:a young drifter and a young girl.These two roles are nicely played by Sam Rockwell and Mischa Barton.Apart from the two main protagonists, remaining characters of this film are absolutely unusual as they are much too protective of their children.It is for this reason that this theme of this film is absolutely novel and not so much is heard about another film handling a theme of child molestation.As the film takes places in a small town full chance is given to viewers to make an assessment of its bored citizens who have some dark secrets hiding with them.There has been no film before Lawn Dogs which has so deftly handled a difficult subject of child molestation..
"Lawn Dogs" shows that that deft artistry of Duigan's which revolutionised Australian film certainly hadn't been lost by 1997 - it just wasn't getting much of a cinematic airing.A lot of talent went into this film - Mischa Barton, who sadly couldn't follow up one of the best child acting performances ever with anything decent ("Tart", anyone?); Sam Rockwell, who everyone knows now for "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and "Matchstick Men"; DOP Elliot Davis, who gives the film an incredibly magical, almost dreamlike feel.
If you want to be touched by one of the most artistically impressive and beautiful films of the 90s, get "Lawn Dogs" out instantly and let Duigan, Barton and Rockwell blow your mind.
Sam Rockwell plays Trent, a white-trash guy who lives in a trailer and mows the lawns of the rich people nearby.
He faces daily prejudice from these people and only the young girl sees him for who he is, rather than what he is.A touching, well made film with outstanding performances from Rockwell and Barton (who plays the 12-year old).
Lawn Dogs is not a political film per se, but there's an honesty here (perhaps because it's made by an Australian director) that challenges the way that the USA usually prefers to think of itself.Sam Rockwell turns in an outstanding performance as a "white trash" outsider in a closeted community lacking not just money, but also any kind of respect.
Unfortunately, her subsequent major roles are hit-and-miss - "Skipped Parts" being a hit, and "Lost and Delirious" is to be avoided at all costs.Sam Rockwell was also excellent as "Trent", the friend of Mischa's character ("Devon").Elsewhere I read the one negative review of this movie by someone who seemed upset over nudity and child pornography.
Devon, a highly imaginative kid who makes up fairy stories, becomes friendly with one of the dogs, Trent (Sam Rockwell), who is in his early 20s.
There is actually so much discrimination in this movie as to be rather frightening in its true-to-life nature.Sam Rockwell plays Trent in his finest performance on-screen to date.
Mischa Barton in a gated community, rich girl + poor boy, and, just like at the end of this movie, at the end of THE O.C.
But it's rather like "Blue Velvet" in that there are a horde of repugnant beetles and ants under all that Kentucky bluegrass that Sam Rockwell, the young and sweaty lawn man mows.The story is told principally from the point of view of ten-year-old Mischa Barton.
Mischa Barton and Sam Rockwell are both equally amazing in this film with great chemistry.
It's obvious that little Devon(Mischa Barton) has an infatuation with the much older Trent(Sam Rockwell). |
tt0142245 | Doragon bôru Z: Tatta hitori no saishû kessen ~Furîza ni idonda Z senshi Son Gokû no chichi~ | Dragon Ball Z picks up five years after the end of the Dragon Ball anime, with Son Goku as a young adult and father to his son Gohan. A humanoid alien named Raditz arrives on Earth in a spacecraft and tracks down Goku, revealing to him that he is his long-lost big brother and that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiya-jin). The Saiyans had sent Goku (originally named "Kakarrot") to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe head injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission, which results in Raditz kidnapping Gohan. Goku decides to team up with his former enemy Piccolo in order to defeat Raditz and save his son, while sacrificing his own life in the process. In the afterlife, Goku trains under Kaiō-sama until he is revived by the Dragon Balls a year later in order to save the Earth from Raditz' comrades; Nappa and the Saiyan prince Vegeta. During the battle Piccolo is killed, along with Goku's allies Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu, and the Dragon Balls cease to exist because of Piccolo's death. Goku arrives at the battlefield late, but avenges his fallen friends by defeating Nappa with his new level of power. Vegeta himself enters into the battle with Goku and after numerous clashes Goku manages to defeat him as well, with the help of Gohan and his best friend Kuririn. At Goku's request, they spare Vegeta's life and allow him to escape Earth. During the battle, Kuririn overhears Vegeta mentioning the original set of Dragon Balls from Piccolo's home planet Namek (ナメック星, Namekku-sei). While Goku recovers from his injuries at the hospital, Gohan, Kuririn and Goku's oldest friend Bulma depart for Namek in order to use these Dragon Balls to revive their dead friends. However, they discover that Vegeta's superior, the galactic tyrant Lord Freeza, is already there, seeking the Dragon Balls to be granted eternal life. A fully healed Vegeta arrives on Namek as well, seeking the Dragon Balls for himself, which leads to several battles between him and Freeza's henchmen. Realizing he is overpowered, Vegeta teams up with Gohan and Kuririn to fight the Ginyu Force, a team of mercenaries summoned by Freeza. After Goku finally arrives on Namek, the epic battle with Freeza himself comes to a close when Goku transforms into a fabled Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人, Sūpā Saiya-jin) and defeats him.
Upon his return to Earth a year later, Goku encounters a time traveler named Trunks, the future son of Bulma and Vegeta, who warns Goku that two Artificial Humans (人造人間, Jinzōningen, lit. "Artificial Humans") will appear three years later, seeking revenge against Goku for destroying the Red Ribbon Army when he was a child. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emerges and after absorbing two of the Artificial Humans to achieve his "perfect form," holds his own fighting tournament to decide the fate of the Earth, called the "Cell Games". After Goku sacrifices his own life a second time, to no avail, Gohan avenges his father by defeating Cell after ascending to the second level of Super Saiyan. Seven years later Goku, who has been briefly revived for one day and meets his youngest son Goten, and his allies are drawn into a fight by the Kaioshin against a magical being named Majin Buu. After numerous battles resulting in the destruction and recreation of the Earth, Goku (whose life is permanently restored by the Elder Kaioshin) destroys Majin Buu with a Genki Dama attack containing the energy of everyone on Earth. Goku makes a wish for Buu to be reincarnated as a good person and ten years later, at another martial arts tournament, Goku meets Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. Leaving the match between them unfinished, Goku departs with Uub to train him to become Earth's new defender. | tragedy, violence | train | wikipedia | Originally broadcast almost 11 yrs ago, this tv special shows how advanced japanese animation is, nowadays people have jumped on the DBZ bandwagon.
Now DBZ is the most popular cartoon out there, and yet it ended almost 6 yrs ago.This special "Story of Bardock" reveals Goku's father and his battle with Freeza, who would be very familiar to DBZ fans.Bardock has dreams of a future son ,Goku who will save the universe from Freeza and all enemies.Bardock at first denies this, thinking he is hallucinating,but when Freeza kills his friends and sets his sight on him, he knows it's more than a dream.Like in the movie Superman, Bardock must send his son Guku, in a space pod so Freeza won't get to him.The final showdown between Bardock and Freeza is memorable along with the action.Goku would later become a great warrior and avenge his father by killing Freeza.Later Freeza's brother, Koola would seek revenge on Goku.As you can see what makes DBZ great are it's complex stories and it always follows up to the events in it.Great DBZ special..
Bardock - you rule, baby!!.
Well, I only saw this two days ago for the first time - and as a newly recruited Dragonball Z fan (that is, a solid fan for the past 2 years), I have to say that this was fantastic.
Bardock was beautiful (and that is a term I only usually use for Piccolo and Vegeta).
I have to say, that at the start, I couldn't see much resemblance between Bardock's personality and Kakarot's (Goku's).
But as the film progresses, you can't help but notice the same self-sacrificing and caring nature they both share although Bardock's was kinda buried.
They are both willing to die for the people and planet that they love.
And Vegeta!
Well, he was beautiful.
Very true to character arrogant and proud.
(I'd like to take a moment here and point out how sorry I feel for Vegeta, named after his father and his planet!).
As was Frieza.
I couldn't help but find myself despising that cold-hearted lizard all over again and I must admit I had a great laugh when he was defeated by Goku on Namek (albeit temporarily) and permanently by Trunks on Earth.
But anyway, all I have to say is that this is a classic piece of Dragonball Z work..
Normally, Dragonball Z movies have weak plots, horrible dubbing, censorship up the wazoo, and pretty useless fighting.
However, this one is an excellent example of what the movies SHOULD have been like.Bardock is a saiyan who, like everyone else on his home planet Vegeta, works for Freeza.
One day, his team of low-level soldiers take out a planet that was giving even Freeza's highest elite teams a run for their money.
However, the last survivor curses Bardock by giving him the power to see the future.Bardock begins to dream about Goku's future back on Vegeta, while the rest of his team is sent to another planet on Freeza's orders.
Bardock dreams that Goku will become a great warrior, but thinks nothing of it.
However, as the plot unfolds, and he learns what Freeza is planning, he realizes that Goku will be the only hope for the universe someday.The stuff I can't give away is what really makes the plot so wonderful.
There are only a few fights, but that's to be expected; the plot is the main focus here.
However, two fights do stand out: a little Vegeta destroys a bunch of Saibamen, and Bardock's final confrontation with Freeza.
Overall, I recommend that any moderate to hardcore DBZ fan get this movie sometime.
Trust me, you won't regret it..
The best Dragon Ball Z Movie There Ever Was..
Bardock the Father of Goku is a great DBZ Movie because you learn everything about what happened before the series and all the secrets of Goku's past.It's a very good movie, I saw this movie with my brother at his dorm at a college campus and I downloaded the movie to on my pc.
The untold story of Goku's dad..
Goku's father, Bardock was a low ranking Saiyan soldier working for Frieza along with the rest of the Saiyan.
His son, Goku was only an infant and is being schedule to be sent to Earth to destroy.
But little did his dad know, is that his son will be a savor for the Earth in years to come.This tells the full story of Bardock, who was only mentioned briefly in the anime.
As well as featuring familiar characters including Nappa, a Young Vegeta, Zarbon, Frieza, and Grandpa Gohan.It's highly recommended for those who want to see what Bardock was really like, and what was his thoughts on the son he hardly seen or knew in person..
Another Great DBZ Special.
Another Great DBZ Special.
Another Great DBZ Special.
Originally broadcast almost 11 years ago, this tv special shows how advanced japanese animation is, nowadays people have jumped on the DBZ bandwagon.This special "Story of Bardack" reveals Goku's father and his battle with Freeza, who would become a familiar character to DBZ fans.Freeza would die and later get resurrected numerous times as well as Goku.The story mainly is about Freeza killing of of Bardack's friends when he finds out Bardack is a super saiyan.
Bardack has dreams that he will have a son who is a mighty warrior.
Soon he realizes this dreams are real when Freeza target s him.
Bardacks knows he has to protect his futher son, and so like in the movie "Superman" Goku is sent in a space pod, to live on Earth and avenge his father Bardack.Great DBZ special..
The Sins of the Saiyans.
Another one of the recently re-released TV DBZ movies, and one of the few 45 minute features with a real story.
This one centers around the back story behind the Frieza's betrayal and untimely genocide of the Saiyans.
The main reason to see this, overall, to see how much of a bad ass Goku's father(Sonny Strait) was!
But on a serious note, this movie is great because it shows the barbarity of the Saiyans without sugar coating it at all.
And yet we still sympathy for them, personified mostly threw Vegeta, who we see as a child here.
Very early on we see the greater evil of Frieza, who is as menacing as ever.Very good voice acting throughout, and a flowing story as well.
The action is brutal, bloody and just plain awesome to boot.
This movie is an essential if you're a fan and for animation and anime fans in general..
Best DBZ Movie Ever!!!.
This story is number one out of all fifteen of them.It tells about Goku's father who was given psychic powers while on a mission.Bardock appears a couple of times in the TV episodes during the frieza saga and this tells all of bardock's story.Now i understand why they showed him in the series and in the beginning of movie number five.I hope everyone else likes it as much as i did.It's better than outlaw star movies.We learn how grandpa gohan found goku and why named him that.A good movie for people of all ages.A great back story like the history of trunks was.Rent or buy it someday.I give it a 10 out of 10.=It's too bad they don't show re-runs every day on toonami like the old days.The plot is great,no sex or curse words.i wish that they would have showed it when i was a kid.better than the gay crap they have on nowadays like Lupin the 3rd ,ben 10,that Yu-Gi-Oh rip-off Duel Masters,Megas XLR or naruto.It's on par with Tenchi Muyo,Yu-Gi-Oh,Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho.Watch when it's on TV again and you m,ight agree with me..
Where it all began.
Can you guess where I'm going with this?
That's right, I'm going to watch the whole "Dragon Ball" anime, that includes "Z", "GT", and "Super".
So I figured I should start where the anime canon begins, with "Father of Goku".
For only being 40-some minutes long, they cram a lot in it.
The story's good, dark, and is a fine note for me to start the series on.
I tried covering a previous anime, "Yu Yu Hakusho", some months ago, but I watched and reviewed it from the perspective of it just being another animated show.
I'll get back to that show soon, but for now, I'll be covering "Dragon Ball" different.
A lot of the episode ratings will be arbitrary, and I won't be posting reviews for many of them.
I might post one at the end of a saga, just to recap, but this'll be a much more passive time for me in terms of reviews.
Every 10 episodes or so I'll take a break and watch a PPV or something unrelated, just so I don't burn myself out.
This is gonna be an adventure to say the least, but with Goku and friends at my side, I'm up for it. |
tt0482857 | Broken Trail | Part 1
In San Francisco in 1898, countless Chinese girls are sold into slavery and brought to the American West to live as prostitutes among the miners and railway workers. Capt. Billy Fender (James Russo) arrives in San Francisco and purchases five Chinese girls to be sold as prostitutes in Idaho.
In southeastern Oregon, Prentice "Prent" Ritter (Robert Duvall), an aging cowboy, arrives at the Gap Ranch to inform his cowboy nephew, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church), that his mother died. Estranged from her son years earlier after he left the family ranch to become a buckaroo, she left behind a brief impersonal note informing her son that she left everything in her will to her brother Prent. Uncomfortable with her unfair decision, and wanting to reconnect with his nephew, Prent tells him about his plan to transport 500 horses from Oregon to Sheridan, Wyoming, where he will sell them to the British Army. He offers Tom 25% of the profits if he joins him in the business venture.
After purchasing 500 horses from various ranches in the region, Prent and Tom head out east with the herd toward the Idaho border. Along the way, Prent sends Tom into a nearby town to purchase supplies. At the local saloon, he purchases three bottles of whiskey. When the bartender attempts to throw out an Irish fiddler named Heck Gilpin (Scott Cooper), Tom intervenes and punches out the bartender. He hires the fiddler to accompany them on their venture.
Back on the trail, they meet Capt. Billy Fender and his five Chinese girls. Fender asks if he can follow along and Prent agrees. That night, Fender offers the cowboys sex with one of the Chinese girls, but they decline. Later, Fender drugs the cowboys' whiskey, and while they sleep, he steals their money and saddled horses and escapes with one of the girls, leaving the other Chinese girls behind. The next morning, the men realize what's happened, and Tom rides off in search of Fender. He finds him in a drunken sleep after he's raped the girl. Tom hangs Fender from a tree and heads back to camp with the girl.
Meanwhile, Prent becomes acquainted with the Chinese girls who are taught to call him "Uncle Prent". Unable to bridge the language gap, Prent assigns numbers to the girls, naming Ghee Moon (Jadyn Wong) #1, Mai Ling (Caroline Chan) #2, Sun Fu (Gwendoline Yeo) #3, Ye Fung (Olivia Cheng) #4, and Ging Wa (Valerie Tian) #5. After Tom returns with #4, the group continues east across Idaho. As the oldest of the girls, #3 explains to the others that these men are good and will protect them. Along the way, Tom teaches #3 how to drive the wagon, and Prent teaches #5 how to ride a horse. One night, #2 develops a tick fever. While Tom watches over her during the night, she dies. The next morning, after they bury her, Prent speaks over the grave: "We're all travelers in this world. From the sweet grass to the packing house, from birth 'til death, we travel between the eternities."
Meanwhile, a hired killer named Ed "Big Ears" Bywaters (Chris Mulkey) rides into the town of Caribou City, Idaho where he meets up with "Big Rump" Kate Becker (Rusty Schwimmer), the woman who runs the city and its illegal activities. Fender was supposed to deliver the five Chinese girls to Kate, who provided him with the money. She offers to pay Ed to bring the girls back to her, but he is more interested in abusing one of Kate's prostitutes, Nola Johns (Greta Scacchi).
Back on the trail, Prent and his outfit meet up with two strangers, one of whom Prent identifies as Smallpox Bob, and proceeds to gun him down. He orders Tom to kill his companion and his horse. Smallpox Bob infected thousands of Indians by selling them smallpox-infected blankets. Afterwards, they burn Bob and his companion and their horses and blankets. As the flames rise, the ghosts of their Indian victims dance over the flames. That night, #3 notices a hole torn in Tom's shirt, and she mends the shirt while he sleeps. A silent attraction has grown between the two.
The next day, Prent orders Tom and Heck to take the girls into the town of Caribou City and find someone who will take care of them. In town, after finding a room for the girls, Tom meets Lung Hay (Donald Fong) who is able to speak with the girls in their native language. Lung Hay explains to Tom that the girls do not want to leave Tom, Prent, and Heck—that they do not feel safe without them. Later at the saloon, Tom and Heck meet "Big Rump" Kate, who offers them one of her whores. After they decline, she demands that they hand over the Chinese girls whom she paid for when she hired Fender.
Back at the girls' room, three men break in and attack the Chinese girls wanting to rape them. Nola Johns hears the nearby screams and rushes in to help them, only to be hit in the face by one of the attackers. Tom and Heck rush in, throw one man out the window and beat up another. They throw the third man to the floor, and Tom shoots both of his thumbs off. Nola begs Tom to take her with them for her protection. As they all prepare to leave town, Kate and her henchmen approach, but Tom draws his weapon and guards his party as they leave. Kate vows to take revenge.
Part 2
Prent and his group recover from their ordeal, as Tom stitches the wound on Lung Hay's head, and Prent treats Nola's broken nose. They decide to spend several days resting the horses by the Snake River. Prent sees two men fly fishing and wishes he could try it someday. At night the men talk about the unfathomable mysteries of women, and they all enjoy listening to Heck's fiddle music. They begin to reveal more about themselves. Lung Hay left his wife in China many years ago to follow the promise of gold in America. Nola turned to prostitution after her husband killed himself. Heck was educated back east, but the prospect of adventure led him out west. Prent and Nola begin spending more time together, but Prent—whose memory of his dead wife and seven-year-old daughter still haunt him—is cautious about his feelings for her. Tom and #3 also spend time with each other, going for long walks together. No one notices #4 growing more depressed and withdrawn. One afternoon on the trail, she steps in front of stampeding horses and is killed.
Prent and his outfit continue east through Wyoming, encountering a band of Crow Indians who demand payment to pass through their land. They demand two horses. Prent insists on only one, but gives the Indians a small carved horse figure he made as the second horse. Further on, Prent and Tom sense that they are being followed. That night, Prent sits alone by the fire while the others hide nearby. Ed and his gang ride into the camp. They were hired by Kate to bring back the Chinese girls and kill the rest. Pretending to be Smallpox Bob, Prent scares them away with the help of Tom and Heck providing cover.
After passing through Cody, Wyoming, Prent decides to head north through the Big Horn Mountains and over a steep pass known as the Whale's Back in order to avoid Ed and his gang. Tom wants to face the horse thieves and kill them, but Prent remains adamant. Although the way is steep, they manage to make it over with the horses safely. Eventually, Prent leads his horses safely into Sheridan, Wyoming, where he closes out the deal with Malcolm, who purchases the horses on behalf of the British Army. Afterwards, Prent and the others relax, bathe, and enjoy a good meal at Malcolm's home. That night, Prent gives Tom his share of the profits so he can start a new life.
The next day, after Tom rides off to gather in the strays, Ed and his gang show up in Sheridan and kill Heck. In the ensuing gun battle, Ed takes Nola, Lung Hay, and the girls hostage, forcing Prent to throw down his rifle. Just as Ed prepares to torture and kill Prent, the aging cowboy yells out a warning to Tom, who has just arrived back at the ranch. Tom rushes to the scene, aims, and shoots the gang members and wounds Ed. As the burly killer takes aim at Tom, Prent takes a heavy mallet and clubs Ed to death.
Sometime later, Nola and the girls prepare to board a stagecoach to San Francisco. Tom says goodbye to #3 as a gentle snow falls over them. She hugs Tom and boards the stage, but at the last minute, overwhelmed by feelings of love for the young cowboy, steps down with her bags. As the stage pulls away, Tom sees her standing there, and he smiles.
In 1912 at Siam Bend on the Snake River in Wyoming, Prent is fly fishing on his ranch when his longtime friend Lung Hay approaches with a letter from Nola, who has been corresponding with him for fourteen years. She writes that the girls are doing fine, and that her love for him has never wavered. In 1913, Heck's parents had his body disinterred and reburied in Richmond, Virginia. Ging Wa (#5) studied medicine at Stanford University and moved to China with Ghee Moon (#1) to start a hospital. They were lost in Mao Zedong's revolution. Tom Harte and Sun Fu married, and their grandchildren still ranch in Wyoming. Nola Johns was buried at Siam Bend on the Snake River. Prent rests at her side. | romantic, murder | train | wikipedia | The film opens in Chinatown San Francisco, 1898 where we five exotic virgins from the Celestial Empire are bought by Captain Billy Fender (James Russo) to be sold as slaves and introduced into the brief and violent life of prostitution
Robert Duvall stars as "Print" Ritter, an old cowhand whose sister left a will inheriting all to him rather than to her own son, Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) who lives in John Day Country Oregon...Print ignores why she has done it, or why was crossed between the two, but his sister done it
Print got the idea to buy a team of tough, high-desert mustangsthree to eight years of ageto take them to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to the British Empire; the money they'll earn will be to increase their capital
And on the shares, Print figures a 25-75 split on profits after expenses and loan repayment to the bank
From this point, Hill's Western becomes a road movie, with all kinds of odd characters, from ugly villains to a friendly musician, but the key to "Broken Trail" is that through a series of circumstances, fate has placed the five Chinese innocent girls in the hands of Tom and his uncle
But the reality is another
Their families sold them to that rat captain heading out to the mining camp, where Kate, an odious saloon owner, bought them from an associate in San Francisco
Our two cowboys save the girls' lives from rape and take them along on their journey
With great photography, gorgeous vistas, perilous ground, sensible brave girls, good and decidedly courageous men, great action when it is necessary, and a big confrontation at the climax of the movie, Hill's Western is a must see film for the fans of the genre.
Rather than rushing story and character development in order to get to the next action scene (so as to appease those with Attention Span Deficit Syndrome), Broken Trail understands that the mark of a really good Western lies with interesting, colorful characters and a storytelling style that convinces you to keep watching.I've always been a fan of Westerns and always will be; that's why it's so disappointing that today's movie/TV landscape doesn't seem to have the time, money, or patience to do the genre right.
And it works well.I was initially curious how captivated I would be by watching two men accompany five Chinese girls across the Western wilderness, but rather than focusing on the concept, this is all about the journey and the adventures and characters that are encountered along the way.
Here's a tip - never doubt a Western that Duvall is attached to.Moving at a smooth, campfire pace, Broken Trail presents characters you'll care about, conflicts you'll want to see resolved, cinematography that will convince you to take a trip out West, and enough Western justice to keep the die-hard fans of action content.
It was an extremely well done film.I got the impression at the end of the film that this was based on real people and their experiences, which I had no idea was the case when I began watching it.Robert Duval as Print Ritter carries the film, although all of the performers did good jobs.The storyline was fresh, original and interesting, something I see so seldom these days, it really made it stand out.
They had values and ethics.The story revolves around Print Ritter (Robert Duval) and his nephew Will, I think was his name, (and sorry but I didn't know who any of the actors were except for Duval)driving a herd of horses north to sell.They end up with people they didn't count on being along for the trip--4 or 5 young Chinese girls, who do not speak a word of English, a fiddle player, and a couple of other people who join the group later in the story.The Chinese girls are very young, the oldest might be 18.
Walter Hill has been investigating this question since his days as a screenwriter, with a couple of stopovers in Dashiell Hammett country (his dauntingly unsuccessful version of Hammet's RED HARVEST, filmed as LAST MAN STANDING), comedies (48 HOURS), but here, in this leisurely western, he has found a perfect vehicle for this problem, and the right actor for the role in the ever-watchable Robert Duvall.
Having seen part 2 last night, I am still reeling from the beauty of the backdrop, the vastness and the loneliness--something I remember from the film, A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, which was also in Wyoming I believe and definitely featured fly fishing but I digress.Robert Duvall said in an interview on CBS' Sunday Morning that BROKEN TRAIL represented the finale to his western trilogy (Lonesome Dove, Open Range and now Broken Trail) and that's sad but what a body of work he's left us and countless generations to enjoy!
I appreciated the fact this wasn't a cast of thousands, although there were suppose to be 500 horses or so...My final comment to all who enjoyed this mini-series and to those who did not know much of the Chinese who came to the 'Golden Mountain' in the 1800's--please look for Ruthanne Lum McCunn's book, "THOUSAND PIECES OF GOLD" which is based on a true story (I'm still not sure if Broken Trail is, although I believe the writer was somewhat influenced by this book since there are common threads i.e. Chinese girls sold into prostitution and setting roots in far flung states--Idaho in the book and Wyoming in the mini-series).
It's hard to beat the scenery in a nicely-filmed western.The words coming out of the two stars of the picture, Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church were extremely believable material.
If you're looking for a good view of the old West, this movie is well worth your time.Great storyline, great acting, and fantastic scenery.Duvall seems to be timeless, as always, this time in a story that's all about time.
Thomas Haden Church adds his best performance ever, showing he's ready for more serious roles.The plot develops with a made-for-TV pace, which on occasion doesn't develop a scene as deeply as it could, but it does not fail to develop the characters to a fine pitch.On balance, it's the characters and the fantastic western setting which make this a western that should stand time.I'll enjoy watching it again in a few years..
"Broken Trail", a dream project for producer/star Robert Duvall, and AMC's first original film, is the spiritual heir to Kevin Costner's 2003 "Open Range" (also starring Duvall), and one of the most moving, involving Westerns of recent years.With a charismatic, extremely effective performance by Thomas Haden Church, as Duvall's long-estranged nephew, the film is one of only a handful of Westerns that combine epic sweep, superb characterization, and an understanding of the 'Real West', without shortchanging decency, or respect of an individual's worth.
Tom Harte (Church), despite some family history problems with his uncle, lives by the same code, and the two men, driving a herd of horses from Oregon to Wyoming to raise cash for a ranch, become the 'saviors' of five young Chinese women, sold into prostitution, who inadvertently fall into their hands.These are good men, in a jaded world, and their journey picks up other 'strays', as well as the women; young Virginian fiddler Heck Gilpin (an engaging Scott Cooper), is rescued by Tom in a saloon; aging Chinese laborer Lung Hay (Donald Fong), and careworn prostitute Nola John (the wonderful Greta Scacchi) join the group after Tom saves the Chinese women from rapists, in a boarding house/bordello.
While neither Ritter and Harte were overjoyed at the strange direction the drive was taking, they would not allow harm to fall on 'innocents', and the group bonds into a warm 'family', with Nola and Ritter finding a mature attraction between each other, and Tom and Sun Foy/#3 (Gwendoline Yeo, who speaks only Mandarin, in the film), gently falling in love.Danger is never far behind them, however, as brutal ex-con 'Big Ears' (Chris Mulkey), with a score to settle with Nola, and a 'contract' to return the Chinese women to whorehouse owner Kate 'Big Rump' Becker (Rusty Schwimmer), trails them, leading a gang of killers...While the film is long (240 minutes), director Walter Hill, an old hand at Westerns (his "The Long Riders" is one of my favorites), keeps the story constantly engrossing, and Duvall and Church have a warmth and authenticity as the characters that will stay with you, long after the movie ends.Shot in the Canadian Rockies, "Broken Trail" combines grandeur and intimacy seamlessly, has moments of great humor to lighten the drama, explosive action, and a bittersweet sense of nostalgia...It is, simply, superb!.
The film starts in 1898 , Ritter (Robert Duvall) a veteran cowboy sees declining the ending days of Wild West era and the transition to a new century .
Ritter along with his estranged nephew Tom (Thomas Haden Church), and another cowboy (Scott Cooper) transport a herd of horses across the northern , when save five Chinese girls kidnapped by a villain (James Russo).
Print Ritter and Harte's attempts to care for the Chinese are complicated by their responsibility to deliver a herd while avoiding a group of enemies intent on kidnapping the girls for their own objectives .This melancholic picture is acclaimed like one of the best Western TV of the last years with several prizes and various nominations for Gloden Globe .
Uncle Print (Robert Duvall) and Nephew Tom (Thomas Haden Church) are not men who talk their way out of difficult situations with clever words, or superheroes who dodge bullets and take out the bad guys with a carefully place sharp-shot.
Fortunately I read reviews - from the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and the Houston Chronicla only after seeing Broken Trail.I am so glad that Robert Duvall re-edited the film to make it more a time/place and character piece than an "action film." Unlike the Washington Post reviewer I think that is the strength of the piece instead of a weakness.Unlike the Boston Globe reviewer I found Thomas Hayden Church's laconic delivery to be exactly suited to his character.I was delighted by Broken Trail, and agree with the Salon reviewer who proclaimed it to be "almost as good as Lonesome Dove...
That mindset is what makes any western great.In the traditional trail drive, non verbal male atmosphere, we have 5 kidnapped Chinese women ( rightfully not dubbed, so seemingly non-verbal as well) and this mix lifts the story far above the ordinary.
Greta Scacchi - looking beautifully her age - later comes in as a woman whose life has let her slip far downhill, and we have a truly great, restrained, mature, romantic scene between Duvall and Scacchi.Through all of this is really beautiful and majestic cinematography, used to to it's best to highlight and magnify the whole story.
This movie is a fitting way for Robert Duvall, one of our most gifted actors, to complete his western trilogy which began with the classic "Lonesome Dove" which yielded Tommy Lee Jone s finest work to date, followed by the memorable "Open Range", with Kevin Costner, and now the "Broken Trail".Thomas Haden Church also provides a dramatic performance of significant depth and force.
I didn't know anything about Broken Trail until I saw that Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church were nominated for Golden Globes for their performances in the film.
I am a real Duvall fan and his performances in all the stages of his life - To Kill A Mockingbird and The Great Santini being two of my all-time favorites - and now comes the pleasure of his performance in Broken Trail.Certainly not to be overlooked is Thomas Haden Church.
It can be added to the lineup of cable networks that provide the outlet for films that would never be produced by the big movie companies, but are able to supply the funds to make the production value of such films a small step up from most independent films created on shoestring budgets.Broken Trail provides the opportunity for a movie lover to sit back, enjoy a good story, and relish in excellent acting talents headed by Duvall and Church.
Take it from an old timer who grew up on a Wyoming ranch, the movie takes a lot of liberties with reality.The story line is that an old cow poke (Robert Duvall) buys up a large herd of horses in Oregon which he intends to drive 700 miles from Oregon to Sheridan, Wyoming to sell to a British agent who is buying them for use in the Boer War in South Africa.
In the scene one horse actually falls during the run.If the drive starts in Oregon, much of eastern Oregon and western Idaho is pretty barren and dry yet the route is covered from beginning to end with grass, which might be true in Canada where the movie was shot.Because at some point in the journey, the drive encounters fishermen on the Snake River, it must be assumed that the route taken was through southern Idaho and then north though Montana.
My husband and I viewed the most recent western featuring Robert Duval in Broken Trail, and we agree with him on the fact that nothing beats a great western movie.
Duvall and the others in Broken Trail, as well as Kevin Costner in Open Range, and others in Lonesome Dove have given us some great viewing on TV.
Especially when these days most of what you see on television or theaters is evil, sex,or violence to such degree that it's no wonder the younger generation is corrupt.We feel that people like Duvall and Costner should continue making westerns and maybe there would be sequels to some already done, i.e. Open Range, Broken Trail.
I sensed in the story both a slavish faithfulness to the Western genre: one good guy gets dispatched (Buck) while all the bad guys meet their maker in various gunfights; while on the other hand accurate historical contexts press in on every side: the Gold Rush, the Chinese immigrations, the Boer War, the Spanish-American War, etc., and provide the real-world engines for all the actions like a great historical novel.
But I certainly agree: Duval and everybody else superb; the story a great morality play of integrity in a world of evil; slow pacing magnificent; script/dialogue/conversations between characters masterful and wonderful.
Despite having all the elements in place for a great Western, (ie: Great cast, good writing, excellent director, brilliant cinematography), I found myself slightly disappointed by Broken Trail's lack of conflict.
Print Ritter (Duvall) and his nephew Tom Harte (Church) take a herd of horses over western lands to be sold to the Army.
Turn of the century cowboys Robert Duvall and nephew Thomas Haden Church literally bet the farm on a herd of horses and a drive from Oregon to Wyoming.
However, they find themselves the protectors of five Chinese girls, slated for prostitution, and pursued by hired killer Chris Mulkey.Broken Trail seems almost like one of Sam Peckinpah's odes to the final days of the old west, with an aging Duvall, who gives (as usual) an exceptional performance, finding himself a man out of place in changing times, with the younger Church not far behind.
Robert Duvall will eventually go down as one of the all time great movie cowboys, even though he starred in only three westerns, and appeared in support in a handful of others.The three that he starred include the greatest western film of all time, Lonesome Dove, and two excellent examples of the genre, Open Range and Broken Trail.
Print(Robert Duvall) is the ideal good man,who sets out to make a business of selling horses with his nephew, Tom (Thomas Haden Church) but will save some Chinese girls, who were bought for prostitution.
I'll take even a sloppy Duvall performance any day and he still has some very nice moments in Broken Trail, particularly with the Chinese girls who get adopted by the the horse drivers.
it's simply that when compared to Lonesome Dove or some other great Duvall films, Broken Arrow comes up pretty short..
Now we have a high quality 3 1/2 hour made-for-TV western from skilled movie-men Robert Duval and Walter Hill.
Robert Duval and Thomas Haden Church are uncle and nephew in this wonderful western tale directed by Walter Hill.
Broken Trail is a film that is reminiscent of Lonesome Dove in so many ways, and since Lonesome Dove is the best western ever made, that is a good thing.
Print Ritter (Robert Duvall) and Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church), Print's nephew, were two horse wranglers driving a herd of 400 mustangs across wild country with gorgeous backdrops from Oregon to Wyoming in 1898.The obstacle the two cowboys faced during their journey was in having to free and then protect five Chinese women from their kidnapper, who was selling them into prostitution.
BROKEN TRAIL, a latter-day Western shot expressly for AMC and directed by the legendary Walter Hill, is a leisurely, four-hour look at a mustang drive from Oregon to Wyoming headed by a crusty old coot (Robert Duvall) and his estranged nephew (Thomas Haden Church).
It's hard to not like anything Western that Duvall stars in, such as "Open Range" and "Lonesome Dove." But this one is maybe the best yet, since it's based on some good historical authenticity, such as the horse drive that was real, "Smallpox Bob," and the lives of many Chinese girls sold into prostitution and slavery back then.
I first must start off by saying that I am not a fan of the "Western" genre; but I have always been a fan of Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, the lead actors in this compelling story-line, the supporting actors, the writing, the cinematography and the direction kept me glued to the screen.
"Academy Award Winner Robert Duvall and Academy Award Nominee Thomas Haden Church star in Broken Trail, an AMC two night original movie event. |
tt0346694 | Captain Barbell | In every version of the story, major changes in the story plot are applied, but the core story remains the same. Enteng, a poor, wimpy and skinny but kindhearted boy always gets bullied by other people because he is undersized and easy to pick on. He tries to practice weight training and exercise to improve his physique, but his poor status prevents him to do it properly. He ends up buying (or finding in other versions) an old, secondhand and rusty barbell for him to practice on. He later discovers that the Barbell contains hidden powers, when he lifts it in one hand and shouts the name "Captain Barbell", he transforms to Captain Barbell, a superhero possessing invulnerability, super strength, x-ray vision, incredible speed and the power of flight. With his newfound powers, he fights evil forces and protects the weak and helpless.
In the 2006 TV series, Captain Barbell is shown to have a weakness: Exposure to the element, Askobar.
The movie versions of Captain Barbell had to be redesigned from the comic's original because they're not as muscle bound as the comics version and were not body builders but actors. That's why they have the yellow top and now carry the "CB" symbol on their chest as opposed to the belt buckle logo-and-shirtless-look of 1963.
During times of great upheavals, nature finds a way to expel the magic rock to restore the balance between good and evil and seeks out a host to wield its great power and champion its cause. (There seems to be a possibility that this power source may be the same as Darna's and Lastikman's, both of whom's origins also involved magic "falling stars"). The champions it chooses are usually those who have been victims of society's evils, the disenfranchised, and the meek ones. This is why the power found four social outcast individuals to wield its abilities. But there is a condition: the wielder must only use the power for unselfish purposes and the good of humanity. The abuse of this power holds dire consequences. Unfortunately, when the rock first hit the Earth and got absorbed into the ground, fragments of the rock broke off and in the wrong hands could be very destructive. This is exactly what happened when (in addition to Enteng) extra fragments homed in on the beings that eventually became "Lagablab", "Freezy", and "Dagampatay". | good versus evil | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2929232 | The Void | Drug fiend James flees from a farmhouse and escapes into the woods. A screaming woman tries to follow, but she is shot and set on fire by Vincent and his son Simon. Deputy Daniel Carter finds James crawling in the road and takes him to a hospital where his estranged wife Alison Fraser, works as a nurse. At the hospital is Dr. Richard Powell, nurse Beverly, intern Kim, pregnant girl Maggie, her grandfather Ben, and patient Cliff. Daniel discovers an entranced Beverly murdering Cliff with her skin removed from her face. Beverly moves toward Daniel who shoots her dead. Daniel collapses due to a seizure and experiences a strange vision.
While everyone struggles to figure out what happened with Beverly, state trooper Mitchell enters the hospital to collect James after discovering a bloody scene at the farmhouse. Daniel goes outside to call in Beverly’s death from his patrol car, but is confronted by robed cultists who wound him. He manages to return to the hospital as cultists surround the building. Daniel and Mitchell rush into James’ room when they hear him screaming. They find Beverly’s corpse has transformed into a tentacled creature as Daniel and Mitchell rescue James and lock Beverly in the room. In the lobby, Vincent and Simon enter and hold the group at gunpoint, demanding to get to James. James takes Maggie hostage to protect himself and stabs Powell, who falls to the floor. The creature emerges from Beverly's room and devours Mitchell. Vincent and Simon kill the creature and regroup with the others in the lobby. Vincent and Simon accompany Daniel to retrieve a shotgun from a patrol car, while Alison ventures into the basement to collect medical supplies for delivering Maggie’s baby. Powell rises from the ground and captures Alison. On discovering that Alison is missing, Daniel and Vincent search for her and find photographs and files indicating Powell was the cult’s leader. Powell phones Daniel, taunting him and mentions the vision he experienced while unconscious.
Kim and Ben stay with Maggie while Daniel, Vincent, and Simon interrogate James. James explains that Powell has the power to transform people. The three men force James to come with them downstairs. Alison regains consciousness on an operating table where Powell explains he has found a way to defy death after the loss of his daughter Sarah. Having cut off his face, Powell shows Alison that something now grows inside her. Daniel, Vincent, Simon, and James find a hidden area in the basement and end up surrounded by deformed corpses brought back to life. One of the creatures kills James as the other three men get separated.
As Maggie enters labor, Kim hesitates to perform a C-section. As Ben pleads with Kim, Maggie stands and slits his throat, revealing she is carrying Dr. Powell’s child. Kim hides as cultists enter the building and Maggie leaves. Daniel finds Alison in the operating room pregnant. Looking again at Alison, he sees a creature, with tentacles extending from her body. Powell’s voice speaks to Daniel who finally attacks his wife's mutated remains with an axe. Daniel is transported to a morgue room with a glowing triangle on the wall. Powell’s voice tells Daniel that he found the ability to conquer life and death. Powell promises that Daniel can have his child back if he is willing to die first.
Maggie appears and stabs Daniel. Powell appears without any skin in front of the triangle as Maggie kneels before him. Powell recites an incantation before the triangle as a now frightened Maggie's torso explodes, as she births the reborn Sarah. Vincent and Simon arrive and battle the beast. The creature envelops Vincent, but he covers it in isopropyl alcohol, allowing Simon to kill them both with a flare. As Powell begins transforming, he tells Daniel he can be with Alison if he gives himself to the abyss. Daniel refuses and tackles him, leading both men to tumble into the void. Meanwhile, the creature pursues Simon who escapes, and is teleported back to the hospital to reunite safely with Kim. Daniel and Alison are shown in the netherworld beneath a black pyramid as they hold hands. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0085182 | Ars amandi | An aspiring artist, Paul Sloane, struggles in Paris and wants to return home to America to resume his relationship with his rich fiancee, Laurie. His best friend and roommate, Casey Barnett, tries to talk him out of it. When a beautiful woman, Nikki Donay, suddenly leaps into the river Seine to escape a man's attentions, Paul jumps in to save her. They make it to a barge, but Casey and everyone else is under the mistaken impression that neither survived. Casey gets an idea--a dead artist's paintings could now be very valuable, particularly considering the publicity given Paul's heroic attempt to save the damsel in distress. He begins selling Paul's work, but when the artist himself reappears, very much alive, they hatch a scheme. Paul will pretend to still be dead while continuing to produce paintings for Casey to sell. Matters become further complicated when Laurie comes to Paris. Casey falls in love with her. This infuriates his best friend, resulting in Paul seeking revenge by slipping evidence to the police that Casey actually murdered him to profit from the art. Casey is tried, convicted and sentenced to death, by guillotine. Casey attempts to save Paul at the last minute. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Clunker from a brand-name art-porn filmmaker. Walerian Borowczyk has established an unenviable niche for himself in film history by applying the creativity of an avant-garde artist to the mundane world of sex movies. ARS AMANDI is one of his most pretentious and least successful efforts (so it's no surprise that I'm the first to waste my breath reviewing it on IMDb).Film festival habitués and serious fans of erotica know the drill: when a respected filmmaker shoots a dirty film it's art: no others need apply for that sort of upgrade. And so Borowczyk, like several other top- notch international talents on the festival circuit/merry-go-round like Miklos Jancso, Nagisa Oshima, Marco Bellocchio, Catherine Breillat and even a wannabe like Michael Winterbottom, get mucho attention and even a few hard-earned bucks when they take a dip (or sometimes wallow) in explicit sexual content.This very poorly made sort-of movie based on the poetry of Ovid is truly a chore to watch, as Borowczyk's beautiful imagery and palpable eroticism from earlier works like LA BETE and IMMORAL TALES have been replaced by what plays like out-takes from some misguided Jancso historical/political/porn co-production. I will try to impart some of the flavor of what WB has failed to coalesce into a coherent whole, but you have to sit through this baby (preferably trapped in a real-life movie theater) to properly appreciate its ineptness. SPOILERS ALERT: BIggest problem is Borowcyzk's use of a hoary framing device which is guaranteed to annoy the viewer. After nearly an hour and a half of being trapped in Rome 8 A.D. with a confusing and confused bunch of European actors (some talented, some not), WB springs on us a present- day "it was only a dream" wakeup call for heroine Marina Pierro in modern Italy, driving towards the French border in her Land Rover (yes, a device usually relegated to grade-Z horror movies or THE WIZARD OF OZ).Until she become a modern woman who like Dorothy remembers all those characters from her previous life/adventure, Pierro is basically a horny Roman wife who lusts after young stud Cornelius (Philippe Taccini, an actor who like Pierro never made the grade in show biz), whilst her soldier hubby, the gifted Michele Placido (who alternates serious assignments with exploitation films) goes to and from wars in Gaul.Now it takes some gall for WB to cast Pasolini's prime collaborator Laura Betti as a wig- addicted mama to Placido. Other principal players include the wonderful Milena Vukotic, embarrassing as a neighbor who also has to suffer through simulated sex scenes, another failed thesp, the beautiful Simonetta Stefanelli (one-shot success in THE GODFATHER PART 2) as a pregnant neighbor, Mireille Pame, the black servant who preys to the god Priapus (definitely one of WB's favorite deities) and a cockatoo named Telefo. Since Telefo can talk he has been designated to guard (or fink on) Pierro's fidelity by a not-so-brainy Placido in what passes for WB's screenplay.Scenes are a hodge-podge of clumsily directed and painfully low-budget horsing around with precious little of the promised sex footage. True, Pierro either delivers a private parts closeup (or a double does) for nostalgia buffs of the bushy early '70s, and WB has two very fake scenes lamely depicting (or at least alluding visually to) his favorite topic of woman/beast relations, quite a come-down from his fabulous work in this under-tilled genre with LA BETE. I left out Massimo Girotti, whose achievements in Italian cinema are crucial, from early Visconti to prime Bertolucci. He pontificates as Ovid giving amazing misogynistic lectures on -- you guessed it, the Art of Love, until Placido is angry enough at Pierro to have his soldiers arrest him and all the ladies who follow his teachings. Entire film has one quality image: Pierro in her glass bath framed by fish in their adjoining tank. But WB saves tons of ridiculous exposition for the Land Rover scenes, even resorting to a handy newspaper found by Placido (a priest rather than soldier in the modern "story") to tell us poor movie fans what this nonsense was really all about. |
tt0303758 | Betrayal | This episode presents a backwards narrative, beginning with the Castle Rock Entertainment logo in reverse (but has the music in forward) and goes from the final scene to the first scene.
Jerry and George are walking down the street (while George is wearing Timberland boots) and they run into Nina (Justine Miceli), an old friend of Jerry's whom he never slept with, because there was never an awkward pause during which he could make a move. Elaine receives a last minute invitation to Sue Ellen Mischke's wedding in India. Given the late arrival of the invitation, Elaine assumes that this is an "unvitation" and that Sue Ellen doesn't actually want her to come. Sue Ellen will be marrying Pinter Ranawat, whose name seems familiar to Elaine.
George asks Jerry to call Nina about setting them up on a date and realizes he must wear his Timberlands (because wearing them causes him to seem taller) every time he sees her. Jerry and Nina suffer an awkward pause in their conversation, causing them to have sex on Jerry's counter. Elaine meets Pinter's parents, Usha and Zubin Ranawat, who try to convince her not to go to India for the wedding; they aren't going themselves and dislike India. While at Jerry's to talk about the incident, Elaine discovers that he and Nina have just slept together. She and Jerry agree that they must keep this from George, as he will take it personally.
Elaine buys tickets for herself, Jerry, George, and Kramer to India to spite Sue Ellen by showing up at her wedding. When she returns to Jerry's to give everyone their surprise tickets, Kramer turns down the offer because he's busy with his own subplot (see below). George promptly takes the ticket for Nina, and Elaine and Jerry immediately become awkward, afraid that their secret will get out. Jerry temporarily escapes talking with George by going with Kramer to Newman's. Noticing Elaine's odd behavior, George goes with her to Monk's and gets her drunk on Peach Schnapps. While under the influence, Elaine reveals Jerry and Nina's encounter to George.
Elaine, Jerry, George and Nina arrive in India, where Elaine discovers that Pinter is a man she has slept with and that they are the only people from the United States who are attending the ceremony. Jerry makes Elaine drink schnapps to find out why George is acting bitterly towards him. George finds out that Jerry slept with Nina and that Elaine had slept with the groom, a fact that George shouts out during the wedding ceremony. Sue Ellen calls her wedding off when she finds out, and Nina reveals she hates George and isn't interested in Jerry, and only came for a free trip to India. Jerry, George, and Elaine return from their disastrous trip to India that they don't want to talk about to Kramer. It is revealed that, two years ago, Elaine indeed dated Pinter (whom Elaine knew as "Peter") and Jerry tells George and Susan that Nina might be the one. He is very impressed when she mentions something he's never heard of, called "e-mail".
Meanwhile, Kramer attends FDR (Franklin Delano Romanowski)'s birthday and FDR gives him the evil eye right before blowing out the candles on his cake. On a later visit, FDR reveals that his wish was for Kramer to drop dead. Kramer tries to get Newman to use his birthday wish to protect Kramer from dropping dead, but he instead wishes for a date with a supermodel, which in fact comes true. Kramer stops by Newman's apartment (with Jerry in tow to avoid George) to confront him, at which point Newman's girlfriend suggests he counter the wish himself. Kramer and FDR soon find themselves out-wishing each other by wishing on a shooting star, throwing coins in the fountain, pulling out eyelashes, and even pulling a wishbone. In the end, Kramer and FDR settle their scores with a snowball. It is revealed that Kramer hit FDR in the back of the head with a snowball two years earlier.
At the end of the episode, a flashback, taking place eleven years earlier, shows Jerry moving into his apartment and his first meeting with Kramer (whom Jerry calls Kessler, the name on the buzzer), who welcomes him to the building. He invites Kramer over for pizza and tells him, "What's mine is yours." This explains why Kramer will frequently go uninvited into Jerry's apartment later on. | violence, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1172206 | Somers Town | Somers Town follows several days in the lives of two teenage boys, Tomo and Marek, who develop a mutual trust and form an unlikely friendship. Marek, a Polish immigrant, lives with his father, who drinks too much. The film begins with Tomo running away to London from a lonely, difficult life in Nottingham. When Tomo arrives at his destination, he attempts to enjoy cans of Carling that he asked a stranger to purchase for him. His luck changes when three boys approach him and ask him questions. The gang robs Tomo of his bag, which contains all of his money and clothes. They also beat him up, leaving him severely bruised.
In a local café Tomo approaches Marek who has taken photographs of the beautiful French waitress. To tease Marek, Tomo runs away with Marek's photographs, but then gives them back, and they become friends. Marek explains that the woman in the photographs is his girlfriend, and her name is Maria. Since they have neither kissed nor done anything remotely sexual, Tomo thinks she is just a friend of Marek's.
Tomo then lives clandestinely at Marek's place. The latter is adamant that his father not discover Tomo's existence at the flat. When Tomo and Marek find a wheelchair left in the street as rubbish, they offer to take Maria home in it. They describe it as being her 'special taxi.' She enjoys the ride,and she kisses both boys upon arriving at her flat. Maria tells them she likes them equally. The next scene shows Marek outside the door of the toilet. He encourages Tomo to hurry up. Tomo is in the bathroom and cannot be huried. Marek is worried that his father has only gone to the shops and will catch Tomo. Marek then catches a naked Tomo sitting on the edge of the bathtub masturbating while looking at a picture of Maria. Tomo, however, is not embarrassed and laughs at the interruption.
Tomo and Marek then pass by the café where they learn that Maria has gone home to France because one of her family members fell ill. The boys are upset that Maria did not inform them, and that they bought food for her that she will not be able to eat. Troubled, the boys become drunk on the wine that they bought for Maria and make a mess of Marek's flat. Marek's father catches the pair, throws Tomo out of the flat, and tells his son to clean up the mess. Marek then expresses to his father how lonely he is. A neighbour lets Tomo live with him, on the condition that Tomo perform whatever tasks he demands. Tomo and Marek come up with an idea to save up money to travel to France together.
A hand-held camera reveals the two boys travelling to France. They meet the waitress, who embraces them and is very affectionate towards them. The last shot of the film shows Marek and Tomo each giving the French waitress a kiss on the cheek, as she smiles. The trip to France is filmed in colour. | romantic | train | wikipedia | The answer comes in the form of 'Somers Town',a gritty,grainy black & white film (with colour inserts) with a real "do it yourself" (or,D.I.Y.)look to it, that wears it's heart on it's sleeve.
The story concerns two teen aged boys,Tomo (played by Thomas Turgoose,from 'This Is England'),a homeless lad that managed to escape a harrowing home life in the north-Midlands to run wild in the streets of London, and Marek (played by newcomer Piotr Jagiello),a young lad, who is living with his divorced father,Mariusz (played by Ireneusz Czap),both immigrants from Poland living in London.
Tomo & Marek meet under some dubious circumstances,with Marek not liking Tomo much at first,but the two forge an uneasy friendship,fall in love with the same woman (a French waitress,Maria,played by Elisa Lasowski),and generally become B.F.F's (best friends forever).
Paul Fraser writes a heartfelt screenplay about two opposites that overcome odds to find friendship (Tomo is easily the most unlikely to be able to even have a friend,due to his scrappy nature,while Marek is lonely,due to his father's hard drinking with his co-workers).
Natasha Braier's kitchen sink,black & white/colour photography (shot in monochrome HD)gives this film it's character look,and the crisp editing really works to give this film the kudos it deserves.
Shane Meadows' new release, Somers Town, has received mixed reviews in the British press.
I would contend that although the style of Meadows sits rather awkwardly with the involvement of Eurostar, the film itself is a triumph: funny, intelligent and poignant.Set in an area of inner city London near the construction site of the new Eurostar train terminal, the film follows the fortunes of two young boys from troubled backgrounds.
Thurgoose is superb in this lead role, cheeky, rude even, but charming and disarming a far cry from the youths who attack him in the film's opening.Tomo crosses paths with Marek (played by Piotr Jagiello), a young Polish immigrant living with his father, Marius.
They also help out budding salesman Graham, a slightly absurd and very amusing Del Boy character.The dialogue amongst the characters in Somers Town is excellent, often hilarious but at times sad and moving.
The wistful, poignant ending throws light on the preceding film and affirms the themes of rootlessness, despair and dreams of escape.With the wealth of Hollywood blockbusters and fine foreign-language films being produced this year it has been easy to overlook the films emerging closer to home, but this superb film has made me sit up and look for more British cinema..
Despite these stereotypical characters, this is an amazingly powerful film.I'm a white middle-class English man and I've spent a lot of my life living in inner cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Milton Keynes).
Shane Meadows ("This Is England"), directing from a strikingly authentic Paul Fraser script, has crafted a winner with so much to like that it's hard to know where to begin.The film takes its name from an area of inner London where the landscape is dominated by monstrous natural gas tanks and the construction of a station for a Channel Tunnel rail link.
One day Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) appears out of nowhere, a boy Marek's age who is little more than a street urchin from the East Midlands to the locals.
We know where they're going -- how they get there is at the heart of "Somers Town." The outstanding supporting cast includes a sweetly understated Elisa Lasowski as Maria, the local girl who they both fall for, and the hilarious Perry Benson as Graham, who provides much of the film's comic relief (not that it needs any more than the boys already provide) as an eccentric neighbor who is literally indescribable.
The soundtrack is simply a perfect match, with a playlist of tender acoustic songs that seems tailor-made for the narrative.Everything about this film says "gentle and tender," from the friendship between the two boys -- what could almost be described as a platonic love story, to the longing the two have for Maria -- the object of affection who is always just out of reach, if only by age and maturity, and even to the father's tentative but loving relationship to his son -- in stark contrast to typical American films where the two would be constantly butting heads.More than anything, though, there is no doubt that Turgoose and Jagiello carry this film on their young shoulders.
It's no wonder that Turgoose and Jagiello each received the jury award for Best Actor here at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where "Somers Town" had its North American Premiere.
Shane Meadows' beautiful snapshot of life for two teenagers in North London, "Somers Town", is a million miles away from "This is England" in tone, but has no less class or brilliance about it.
Filmed in wonderful black and white, this is a delightful, entertaining and involving piece about youth, culture and friendship.The power of Meadows's film-making is in his characters.
Something rings fundamentally true about the people that he brings to the screen, and the writing of Paul Fraser (a long time Meadows-collaborator) is a great help to this film.
He is ably supported, not just by Piotr Jagiello, who plays the Polish teenager Marek, but by the rest of the small, but perfectly formed, ensemble.This film is not just an entertaining and moving piece, but is also a beautiful film with a dash of severity.
Britain's debates on immigration often ignore the individuals involved in the issues, and that scene cuts right to an unexplored area of the matter.The beauty of the film is not just in its emotions and characters, but also in its photography.
Though clearly a bit of a "quickie" project made in the immediate afterglow of This Is England - and featuring that film's young star Thomas Turgoose in one of the two main roles - the DV-shot, (mainly) black-and-white, minimal-budgeted 'Somers Town' is by no means a "minor" Meadows.
Therefore perfect to consume on a quiet sunny afternoon.By not being too long, this film does not loose out in being concise, it feels like every short scene is of real value to the story.
This is a shame because deep within the movie, there is definite heart and some strong themes, yet smothered by countless scenes of uninteresting, minute details, this follow up to Meadows' previous success feels more like a forgettable intermission rather than a whole, solid production.Set in modern day London, around the construction of the Channel train system, Somers Town tells the tale of two teenage boys as they slowly find their way into their new and unfamiliar setting.
Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is from the East-Midlands of England, and having "nothing" back home (this is all that is revealed) has ventured to London to try and make something of himself; he doesn't know what he's going to do, but it seems he doesn't have much choice either way.
This side of London isn't pretty, as Tomo finds out early on when he's brutally mugged, and so the photography does well to echo the film's more ambitious, arty nuances used to portray the gritty, down to earth side of the story.
One thing that it complements really well however, and not to positive effect, is the film's minimalist nature; the black and white does well to bring to the life the film's greatest, most poignant sequences, yet the filling between these areas becomes a lot less interesting to watch as a result.
The actors do a strong job with the script and meadows certainly manages to get more than a few compelling scenes out of all involved, but the overwhelming feeling by the end is one of disquieted indifference; there's no denying that these seventy minutes feature some fine moments, but such indulgences could probably have been better suited to a short film format.
In some ways Somers Town is a bit of a departure for Meadows as it is nowhere near as gritty as some of his previous work.
The performance of Perry Benson as Graham is also fantastic and all the characters in the film are very true to life.The film is in black and white apart from the last couple of minutes and at 75 minutes is extremely short for a feature.
In bleak contrast to the director's last film, This Is England, Somers Town has none of its depth, subtlety and emotion.
The aggressive and outgoing Tomo and the shy, lonely Marek make for an improbable match, but they gradually become fast friends.One of the delights of the film is in its capturing the close friendship between the two boys.
Following the success of This is England, Meadows has come south for a small story about a minor friendship between two young men who finds themselves in need of one another to some extent.
The fact that the bigger picture of these two lives is largely left in the background is a bit of a problem but then it is hard to see how all that could have been brought in with the budget and time constraints.Meadows directs the film well though and should be commended for staying in smaller British films that he wants to make.
Czop is convincing and I also enjoyed Benson's small-time wheeler/dealer.Overall Somers Town is not that great a film and it will not show up amongst the best works from Meadows but it is not without its appeal.
1st watched 8/9/2013 – 7 out of 10(Dir-Shane Meadows): Charming slice of life drama about a couple of young boys in London who don't have much for themselves at the beginning of the movie but find friendship kind of accidentally, which provides for them the support that they both need.
It's the story of teenagers Tomo and Marek and their unlikely friendship in London.
Shane Meadows is an under-acknowledged genius, and in this short film about the friendship between two boys, lippy Tomo and drippy Marek, all of his strengths are on view (in spite of its brevity): the ability to coach brilliant performances out of largely unproven casts, hilarious yet real dialogue, simple but atmospheric cinematography and an excellent soundtrack provided by his long-term friend and collaborator Gavin Clark.
Anais Nin said, "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." A new world is indeed born for two lonely teenagers in Shane Meadows' Somers Town, a spirited 70-minute exploration of the bonds that can arise out of mutual need.
Written by frequent Meadows collaborator Paul Fraser and shot in high contrast black and white, the film stars Thomas Turgoose, the twelve-year-old Skinhead in This is England as Tomo, a runaway orphan from Nottingham.Tomo comes to London to find something better in life but is beaten and robbed of his money and belongings on his first night away from home.
He soon meets Marek (Piotr Jagiello), an introverted Polish teen who lives with his father in one of the flats in Somers Town, a working class area in Northern London.
Supported by an outstanding acoustic soundtrack of songs by Gavin Clarke and Ted Barnes, Meadows captures the grittiness of blue-collar existence but balances it with a light touch that makes the film a thorough delight.One of the funniest sequences is when the two steal a bag of clothes from the Laundromat that turn out to be mostly women's garments which Tomo is forced to wear simply because he doesn't have anything else.
Somers Town is so natural and the character's growing pains so poignant that you will have a hard time ever getting it out of your head..
Much as I love Shane Meadows, and much as I enjoyed the the naivety of Tommy Turgoose in last year's excellent "This Is England", I'm afraid TT cannot carry a film alone.
I watched it in Nottingham which is where one of the main character's home is said to be in the film which added a certain local feel to it.Anyway, shot in black and white this film is about two lads who eventually become good friends.
Tomo (Turgoose) moves from Nottingham to London in the hope of a new start and befriends Marek (Jagiello), a Polish immigrant who has a crush on Maria (Lasowski) After viewing Shane Meadows impressive drama This is England this 2008 drama sounded very appealing and I am glad to say the same level of drama and sophistication is as present as it was in 2006 and with the same level of issues and entertainment present, this makes engaging viewing, if not as passionate as his previous release.One of the main reasons Somers Town isn't as strong as the Bafta winner is Thomas Turgoose's protagonist Tomo.
A dramatic instalment is Tomo but the character development and the way it is handled in the latter part is appreciative and almost heart warming, with a few twists thrown in.Piotr Jagiello is very impressive as Polish immigrant Marek.
Having the film set in black and white makes these concepts feel that extra dramatic and therefore more powerful.Meadows' direction is tackled very delicately with some artistic soft shots thrown in to appreciate the story in context, including a wonderful montage in the closing stages.
The relaxing score further engrosses viewers into the sentimental story.Whereas this isn't as strong as Meadows' other film, Somers Town takes comfort from a passionate collection of protagonists and thrives on the drama of real life..
Being from Nottingham myself, I sort of feel duty-bound to watch Shane Meadows' films.
What drives the film then is the comic spectacle of the unlikely relationship that develops between young Tomo and a Polish immigrant he meets.
And it lacks run-time: 70 minutes and no discernible 'ending' - you may well feel like heading back to the ticket booth and asking for a refund afterwards.Not an unmitigated disaster, but watch Shane's other films first..
Somers Town is endless - in the very literal meaning of the word.The opening minutes of this nicely shot black and white piece, set just north of London's Marylebone Road, are wonderfully atmospheric and you settle into your seat with a sense that you are about to be greatly entertained in some way, such is the deftness of the set-up.
At the end, Tomo and Marek visit Maria in Paris (via Eurostar of course), the monochromatic feature finally bursting, Wizard Of Oz-style, into colour.Narrative-wise it's not exactly There Will Be Blood, but to call Somers Town a stop-gap for Meadows is to insult another beautifully crafted film, as well as a great London film, from the finest British director working today.
Somers Town, the kind of movie critics refer to as a "gem", is as charming, funny and authentic as any of his major works; the fact it achieves this in just over an hour and with a corporate backer tousling its hair makes the victory even sweeter.The ensemble cast is terrific, and share a fantastically real camaraderie (see especially the tender scenes between Jagiello and Czop as the shored-up father and son, missing the wife and mother who walked out on them back home).
This being a Shane Meadows film, however, it's just another uproarious, naturalistic scene from teenage life.Likewise, a scene in which Graham the fence tells Tomo that in order to bunk down at his he'll have to do everything he tells him to.
how is Tomo living and supporting himself?) in what had been to that point an enjoyable exercise in social realism.In short, yes, a film funded in this way obviously does have an impact on the artistic decisions taken by the director.
There are hints of a good film here, but ultimately it's disappointing and comes nowhere close to the previous efforts of Shane Meadows.Set in London, the film tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two youngsters who are experiencing the city for the first time.
Marek is a Polish immigrant, who is living in a flat with his Father.The film lacks any real direction.
The acting from the boy who plays Marek is poor at best, and even Thomas Turgoose, who was excellent in This Is England really struggles.
In fact the most interesting scenes are those with Marek's Dad. We get a real sense of the love he has for his son, but also his pain at having left his former life behind and bringing up a child on his own.The film is very short, but there are still some scenes which could have been cut shorter or omitted altogether.
I liked the last sequence, and having the trip to Paris in colour was a nice touch (the rest of the film is in black and white).
If you've seen any of Shane Meadows other work, maybe check Somers Town out just to see how it stacks up, but I think you'll be left disappointed..
This story of the unlikely friendship between a working class Nottingham lad and the son of a Polish labourer in London contains only the most cursory of plots, and as the film unfolds the suspicion grows that, even at little more than an hour long, there's a little too much padding here.
There are two musical montages - one, in colour, which may be a dream or wish-fulfilment sequence - and a sub-plot about the relationship between Marek and his hard-drinking father that goes nowhere.Lack of a storyline isn't necessarily a bad thing (and despite the negative tone of this review Somers Town isn't a bad film), but if a filmmaker is going to rely on observation in a character-driven tale then those characters have to be interesting.
The youngsters give decent performances - especially Thomas Turgoose, who also appeared in Meadows' This Is England, and the director's eye for detail means that the film doesn't feel boring, but once it's over you're left wondering what the point was - and the significance (or wisdom) of having Turgoose's character ending up wearing a dress and dusting knick-knacks like a midget housewife near the film's conclusion.. |
tt0131179 | Meitantei Conan | Shinichi Kudo is a high school detective who sometimes works with the police to solve cases. During an investigation, he is attacked by members of a crime syndicate known as the Black Organization. They force him to ingest an experimental poison, but instead of killing him, the poison transforms him into a child. Adopting the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and keeping his true identity a secret, Kudo lives with his childhood friend Ran Mouri and her father Koguro, who is a private detective. Throughout the series, he tags along on Koguro's cases, but when he is able to solve one, he uses a tranquilizer needle to put Koguro to sleep, and impersonates his voice to reveal the solution to the case. He also enrolls in a local elementary school where he makes friends with a group of classmates who form their own Junior Detective club. While he continues to dig deeper into the Black Organization, he frequently interacts with a variety of characters, including his professor friend Dr. Agasa, Ran's friend Serena, a fellow teenage detective Harley Hartwell, his parents, and many other characters.
Kudo later encounters an elementary school transfer student, Ai haibara, who reveals herself to be the creator of the poison that made him small. She too had ingested the poison, but she is no longer affiliated with the Black Organization. During a rare encounter with the Black Organization, Conan helps the FBI plant a CIA agent, Kir, inside the Black Organization as a spy.
In 2007, Aoyama hinted he had an ending planned out but does not intend to end the series yet. | comedy, murder | train | wikipedia | I had read about "Detective Conan" about a year prior to the show being released in the United States, and so when "Case Closed" began airing in May of 2004 I jumped at the opportunity to see this show.
The stories are well thought out, the solutions are NOT obvious but can be put together by an observant (and thinking) viewer, just as Conan does, and best of all the series does not insult the intelligence of its viewers: the show is entertaining without padding 3/4 or the episode with slapstick routines and mindless running from a person in a Halloween costume.The show's premise is that little six-year-old Conan Edogawa is actually a 16-year-old detective prodigy.
He was reduced to a grade school child when a mysterious would-be assassin gave him an experimental poison that (unknown to the poisoner) regressed the detective rather than killing him.
In a bit of angst reminiscent of the early adventures of "Spider-Man", Conan makes a hard discovery: You can have the most brilliant detective mind in the world, but if you're six years old, all the police are going to tell you is, "BEAT IT, KID!" In spite of this hardship, little Conan finds ways of bringing the guilty parties to justice -- although all too often, someone else takes the credit for his deductions.HIGHLY recommended..
However, this is just the alias of 17-year-old Jimmy Kudo, Japan's most famous young detective prodigy.
However, he retained his brilliant mind and vicariously solves some of the most perplexing mysteries imaginable.This is a very intelligent and well-written show and is recommended to anyone who loves a good murder mystery..
Shinichi Kudo(Jimmy Kudo) is highly famous for being the best teen detective of East Japan.
Conan hopes to make Kogoru famous so that way he can get some leads and info on the 2 men responsible for his condition.As the series progresses, Conan does what he can to become Shinichi Kudo again.
Once he does find the 2 men in black, Conan will try to obtain the pill that changed him and get Dr. Asawa to make an antidote to make him Shinichi again.For more than a decade this anime has been widely successful in Japan.
With almost 500 episodes, several movies, and a handful of OVAs. Detective Conan(Case Closed) should deserve to be a highly acclaim cartoon in any category for Anime.Problem is very few American Anime fans, don't know how great it is or don't know it's existence.
I guaranteed Detective Conan is unlike the other mystery anime out there..
Because even though it is not always a very credible or spectacular series, the detective series and the overall realism of the series make this Anime so comfy to watch, everybody just has to love it!!!
For instance, there is no character with blue or green hear and unlike other series, the characters to not yell all the time in an annoying, exaggerated manner.The big pro of the series are the usually very cool and clever plots, sometimes an episode gives you all the hints you need yourself to figure out who the culprit is.
Mostly though, an episode does not, or sometimes it's luck which leads Conan to solving a case.
Personally, I gave it a 10, but what I don't like is that throughout the 506 episodes, the real core story about Shinichi and the Black Gang is rarely progressed..
Broadcasting in he U.S. as Case Closed, Detective Conan is an interesting mystery/comedy/thriller that looks like a kiddie show but definitely ia much more to the series.
Plot: a teenage detective protoge is turned into a kid by a weird poison and must help solve cases for his girlfriend's bumbling father under a alias until he can find the people who did this to him and recover an antidote.
The premise, like I said, sounds kiddie but as the series rolls on things start to get messy and at times, a bit disturbing, but the cases are so ingenously planned out and executed you can't help but watch just to see how Jimmy/Conan will get the jobs done with such a small guise working against him.
The series revolves around a teenage detective whiz who is shrunken down to the size of a child by an experimental poison.
Helping him is a funny inventor who gives "Conan" (an alias the character uses as a child) cool James Bond like gadgets, like a bow tie with a voice distorter and shoes that magnify kicking strength.The mysteries Conan solves each episode are very brain teasing, but nothing impossible if you put your brain cells together and follow the clues.
Though many of the cases involve murder (and some pretty elaborate ones at that) each episode is presented in a way for people of all ages, much like how I used to watch Murder, She Wrote as a kid.
And as he tries to find a way to get back, he still continue to solve murders with the help of Edogawa, and his friend Ran and her lousy detective father.
And his gadgets are cool, he can alter his voice, mostly making it that detective Mouri guy, with whom he makes the hero of every story and episode, for shame!
As a mystery fan, Detective Conan is truly great.
It's funny, and suspenseful (well, at least the superb episodes are), and thought-provoking all at the same time, and it gives the viewer ample time to think through the case right along with Shinichi.At first, I couldn't understand why they put it on Adult Swim instead of Toonami, but after watching some of the episodes, I saw the reason...
even though it feels like a kids' show, a lot of the cases are murders, and they sometimes deal with heavy topics (like losing a child)If you enjoy mysteries (and even if you don't, this might get you into them :P ), I highly recommend watching this show.
Here in America this show is called Case Closed which has become my favorite anime/mystery show of all time.For a long time I haven't been an anime fan since I out-grew Pokemon.
This is a purely fun show to watch.It's about a high-school kid named Jimmy Kudo who is a mystery solving prodigy.
So with the inventions that Doctor Agasa creates for him he helps Richard Moore (Rachael's dad) solve cases and becomes famous while he's back in elementary school.
So now he's waiting for the organization to re-appear so he can get the poison they used on him and create an antidote and turn himself back to normal (thats why he's staying with Rachael and her dad in the first place, Richards a detective so he's hoping that somewhere along the line he'll run into them again).I know that some of this stuff sounds a little kiddie but it is a great balance between both.
A must-see series for any anime and/or mystery fan.
I love watching Case Closed every night so I can figure out some murders.
Case Closed is a story of a teenage detective boy who turned into a kid by some poison from two bad mysterious guys who were meant to kill him.
Detective Conan, or Case Closed as it is known in some countries, is a wonderful anime with dynamic characters and an interesting plot, with additional just as fun sub-plots.The story is about an intelligent high school detective who one day has the misfortune of being caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Assuming a false identity as Conan Edogawa, Shinichi is determined to find the ones responsible, destroy them and reclaim his normal body.Detective Conan is filled with enigmatic crimes for the viewer to solve before the main character can.
great anime show-Case Closed or Detective Conan.
The story follows the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a prodigious young detective who was inadvertently transformed into a child after being poisoned.
I've been watching this series from the beginning and it is one of the best anime series ever.The directing and writing work is very good.The content is exceptional.The oddly initiated cartoony visuals combined with the dark murder theme goes in contrast with each other.Though the original storyline exaggerates a bit,the individual plots and cases are brilliant.
Its amazing to watch how Shinichi or Conan applys Sherlockian logic to solve cases.
Anyone who is looking for adventure,good storyline, mind boggling cases and a bit of love story should just go for it.
You know that Detective Conan is one of my favorite Series of all time the story is excellent and the plot is amazing this story is about a teen detective named Shinichi Kudo who drugged and incidentally becoming a kid.
I don't want to spoil anything you have to watch this anime this is the best crime solving anime of all time you can't predict what will happen and you will be surprise.This anime is a masterpiece Gyoso in his best he can make Detective Conan become something that phenomenal just talk about it make me chills with awesomeness.I very very in love with this anime.Detective Conan is standing tall like the likes of Sherlock Holmes we can say that Sherlock Holmes is Detective Conan and Detective Conan is Sherlock Holmes.I very recommended you guys to watch this anime and rate it.
Cased Closed is probably one of my top five favorite comic series right now.
I would say if anybody likes comic and mystery, then this series is right for them.I LOVE CONAN MORE THAN YOU!HEEE HEEE!Case Closed is the American version of the highly acclaimed "Detective Conan" from Japan.
They'll tell you how the teenage Shinichi Kudo (a genius detective) is given an experimental pill by some thugs and is transformed into a child again.
When he solves the crime, he knocks out an adult with a dart hidden in his watch, hides behind the sleeping adult, talks through his bow-tie to sound like the adult & tells everyone within earshot who the criminal is.Now, I love anime & I love this show.
He still acts like an adult & most of the time, he's just hanging out with his girlfriend (who doesn't know Conan is her boyfriend) & her father (who is a detective & a very bad one at that).
It's pointless.Luckily, most of the detective stories themselves are great enough to overlook the premise.
I do recommend this show to anime fans & people who like detective shows.
The series has a great plot, very good characters and even some of the episodes not related to the Black Organisation are great fun to watch.
Don't get me wrong i love the show and continued watching even after the English dub ended at episode 130.
Being a fan of the comic book series from way back before the anime version came out, I was really excited to see it on DVD.
<p>The story is as follows: 16 year-old high school student Shinichi Kudou is a world-class detective.
Ran's father is also a detective, and Shinichi hopes that by tagging along on his cases, he might eventually pick up clues to the bad guys' whereabouts.
The bad guys are also looking for him (since there were no reports of Shinichi's body being found, and they're not the kind to let a thing like that go), and anyone who knows anything at all about his real identity will be in serious danger.
<p>In the meantime, the detective father is a bumbling, girl-hungry idiot, and Conan soon gets into a routine of solving the father's cases for him without looking like he's doing it.
He reluctantly makes friends with his classmates and he and they also have their own share of adventures.<p>Because I've read the series, I was mostly curious to know how the voices would come out, how the producers would set up each plot, and if they would be able to transfer the suspense, drama, and comedy of book form to the TV screen.
Best Detective series ever !!.
that this series is amazing.U just love the characters.Well not only that this series is for everyone for kids as well as adults.It has Comedy,Feels,Drama,Tragedy,Action and Yeah some romance too!.This is basically a story of a high School Kid who is a high-school detective is shrunken(reverts in young age) by a drug.He hides his identity and start looking for the people who did this to him and in the way he solves impossible cases.Well this series will not disappoint u,if u not want to see 800+ episodes just skip the fillers.One more thing this series is not for extreme binge watching just watch it at a regular pace otherwise u can get bored with too much mystery!.
This anime is one of best anime's ever it has a great story line and a lot of cool characters I know a people hate this anime because it has a lot of episodes and it has been going since 1996 but this anime has over +770 and a lot of movies and specials, what's special about this anime its re-watchable and it has great story this series is awesome, I can't define it in words you just to have to see it if you love Sherlock Holmes or CSI you will love this show and you may be wondering =770 episodes is a lot, but actually its not an all filters of the series are awesome, I will watch detective this series even if it never ends or has +1000 Episodes I have been watching this TV show since I was a kid, I am happy it grew up with me and I hope it stays longer.10/10 story 10/10 Characters 9/10 Opening songs 10/10 Theme song Overall:10 "Awesome"This series is awesome u have to watch it before u die..
Best Anime, One of the Greatest Shows To Watch, Never to make you boring.
One of the best selling manga and longest running anime of all time,Detective Conan, which is created by Aoyama Gosho talks about Kudo Shinichi, a 17 year old high school detective that already solved cases that the police can't resolve, One day while going to a theme park with her childhood friend, Ran Mori, he followed a man in black who is doing suspicious transactions and later was poisoned by his accomplice , Later he adopted a new name Conan Edogawa after turning into a 6 year-old kid and later lived with Ran whose father is a detective.The series already made 700 episodes, 19 movies (most of it becoming one of the highest grossing movies in Japan in their respective years), 12 OVA's, Magic Files , and Specials, at first glance you might think it would be tiring,bad or boring, Give it a try and episode by episode it will change your first viewThere are several types of episodes here1.
Conan being Shinichi (some gives an effect in future Black Organization Cases)6.
And of course, the Main Arc, Cases with the Black Organization involvedEpisode GlanceBefore Episode 129, Most of the characters will appear but little to few Black Organization Episodes, but these Episodes are MASTERPIECE and SHOULD BE WATCHED, after Episode 129, Characters shrouded in mysteries will appear which might be connected into the Black Organization, some of them still being shrouded in mysteries, Long Black Organization related arcs will appear, which will always excite youThis show is FANTASTIC and SOMETHING YOU SHALL WATCH, It's fantastic writing, Great arcs and mysteries, and of course the mystery that still baffles Conan, the mystery that shrouds the Black Organization is what makes it the Best Anime Ever"Perceiving the one and only truth with the appearance of a child but with an intellect of an adult his name is Detective Conan" And that describes Conan Edogawa, the pioneer character of this Great Anime - - Detective Conan.
Anime originals are just random cases and have absolutely nothing to do with the plot, don't get me wrong some are fantastic but after a while you'll get bored.
Especially ones were the Black organization appear (if u have any background knowledge about the show, Conan is high-school detective who is shrunk by a "black organisation") Cases are very realistic and can be very challenging to solve.
The show can be funny a lot of the time as well, but a few episodes especially the anime original ones can be a bit childish but i personally don't mind.
The story plot is so satisfying, depicts about school kids trying to solve cases..
All the episodes feature different cases, all impossible crimes and yet conan solves it.
Unlike the fictional stories where everything is possible, or will be made possible to provide a plot twist without giving accurate reasons; Detective Conan is a relief.
People say this series is not for kids but when first I watched I was just a kid unfortunately at that time they only have some episode dubbed in Hindi.
Good thing about this series is that every episode is mostly not dependable on timeline(This is the reason I didn't start watching games of throne) except for Black Org plot.
On the other hand in Detective Conan in just 20 minutes they solve a whole crime.
I read one reviewer said that Conan always predict crime and suspicions everything to him or her I only want to say one thing This is what a Detective supposed to do.
In many episode Conan stopped a crime from happening just because of his prediction.And some person say that he walk around crime scene like he is invisible I know many times it too much but you have to ignore such small thing as soon as they are doing their main job(making crime mystery) right.
This T.V. series Called CaseClosed was made in Japan but this story is about a high school detective named Jimmy Kudo He goes to and amusement park with his childhood friend Rachel Moore they both secretly like each other.
Detective Conan is a long series based on a manga called, "Case Closed." The plot is about a teen that was shrunk again by a substance given to him by two mysterious crooks that caught him sneaking on the scene.
This series is one amazing ride and if you love crime mysteries like BBC's Sherlock Holmes or CSI MAIMI you'll find this a riveting watch as you try to solve the mysteries before the main character does.
I highly recommend this to any of my friends and those who love a crime mystery |
tt1060256 | Ichi | Ichi (市) is a goze (blind woman) who is travelling Japan in search of her mentor, who was the actual Zatoichi.
She is befriended by a travelling samurai Toma Fujihira, who tells her that he rescued her from bandits (in fact, it was Ichi who saved them both by killing the bandits). They travel to a town run by the Shirakawa, a Yakuza family who are plagued by the Banki-to, a group of mercenaries. This group is led by Banki, an evil man who is excellent in sword fighting but who has a disfigured face. Ichi is befriended by Kotaro, a boy who lives with his drunkard father.
After Ichi helps Toma win money from Chō-han, they are followed by five Bankito who demand Toma's money. After Toma refuses, he is challenged to a fight but he is unable to draw his sword. Ichi slays the gang. The Shirakawa leader's son, Toraji, arrives after the fight and assumes that it was Toma who slew the men and makes Toma his personal bodyguard. Ichi is convinced by Kotaro and his father to stay in the hope of the famed blind swordmaster, Zatoichi, passing through. Toma confesses that although he has fighting skills he is unable to draw his sword because of guilt for blinding his mother in an accident.
The Bankito plan their revenge. They kill the head of the Shirakawa. Toma is unable to defend anyone and is left unconscious. Ichi admits that it was she who killed the earlier men and after displaying her skills, the second-in-command of the Bankito is convinced and takes her to the mountains to meet their leader, Banki. After she kills two Bankito who doubted her skills, Banki attacks and defeats her. As Ichi lies injured, Banki states that he had met her mentor. The two had fought but Zatoichi would die in battle because of a fast acting disease. She is thrown into a locked ditch and left to die. As she loses consciousness, Ichi drops the bell given to her by Zatoichi.
We then see Ichi's backstory. She was born blind. While she was still a young girl, Zatoichi rescued her and left her in the care of a group of goze, giving Ichi a small bell to remember him by. Zatoichi visited her as she grew and secretly taught her the fighting techniques Zatoichi had mastered. Ichi grew up to be a musically talented and beautiful woman, as well as an accomplished sword-fighter. After one of her goze group's performances, she was raped by one of the patrons. Goze were strictly forbidden to marry and required to be celibate so she was later expelled from the goze household, even though it broke the other members' hearts. She pleaded with the man who had raped her to talk to the leader of the goze so she could go back to the group, but instead he mocked her and tried to attack her again. She was able to draw the sword she kept hidden in her cane and killed him. Ichi then travelled Japan to look for Zatoichi, who she believed was her father, and this was how she met Toma.
Toma is attacked by the members of the Yakuza clan because of his deceit, but Toraji rebukes the attackers, stating that they still need Toma's help to defeat the Bankito. Toma goes with Kotaro's reformed father to the Bankito hideout and saves Ichi. Banki swore revenge. While recovering, Ichi explained that she's searching for Zatoichi because she wanted to see him one last time before she commits suicide. Toma is able to convince her to give up the idea. Later, while she sleeps recovering from her injuries, Toma leaves her to go help the Shirakawa fight the Bankito. When Ichi wakes up Kotaro tells her about the fight that's going on in the town.
The Bankito outnumber the Shirakawa by 2 to 1. Still, Toma is unable to draw his sword. But when Banki demands Toma step forward and fight him, Toma is willing. He overcomes his guilt and is able to draw his sword. The two men fight and Toma shows everyone that he is indeed an adept swordsman. Toma inflicts a fatal strike on Banki, but Banki gives him a fatal wound as well. Toma dies in Ichi's arms and tells her not to lose hope. After Toma dies Banki tries to attack Ichi but she is able to defeat him and finally kills the clan leader, whose horribly scarred face is revealed. Fearing for their lives, the few remaining members of the Bankito flee.
Later we see Toraji rebuilding his town and assuming the leadership of his Yakuza clan. Ichi plays Toma's favorite song one last time, and is seen at his grave with Kotaro. Intending to bring Toma's katana to his mother's grave, she bids her friend Kotaro farewell and give him a little bell as a keepsake (the same gift that Zatoichi had given her when she was young). She said that Kotaro was right all along, that she needed light for her journey, and then departs. | tragedy, revenge, cult, violence | train | wikipedia | Fact is, ICHI is a fairly traditional version of the Blind Swordsman, though Haruka Ayase has a one-two punch of strong acting and good lucks.
Having seen other movies about the Zatoichi legend and having been less than entertained and having ended up ejecting the disc about half way through, it was with some hesitation that I sat down to watch this 2008 take on the legend.I will say this this 2008 version was particularly stylish and interesting compared to the other ones I have seen.
It stands out as it is heavier on the action and the acting, than the older movies that are heavier on the melodrama.The movie is easily summarized for those not familiar with the legend of the blind swordsman.
Ichi (played by Haruka Ayase), a blind traveling musician, is seeking out her mentor, and on her travels she meets up with Toma Fujihira (played by Takao Osawa) and the end up in a feud between the Yakuza and a gang of thugs."Ichi" has some good action scenes and sequences that were nicely choreographed, and they used a great combination of slow-motion and regular motion camera work to enhance the action.
Oddly enough, though, with her skills with her sword, Ichi never got any blood on her and was always pretty and clean.The movie was driven by a good story, and helped along by some pretty good acting.
The movie did suffer from the acting of Shidô Nakamura who played Banki, the leader of the thugs, it was overdone and very staged.There was a lot of good camera work in the movie, and lots of nice scenes.
Recommendable for those who like feudal Japanese swords fighting movies..
Beset by tragic circumstances, often instigated due to her unfathomable beauty, the cruel fates bestowed upon her poignantly explored over the course of the feature, Ichi (the enthralling Haruka Aysae), a goze (a blind performer, who serenades people with her vocal talents and shamisen playing capabilities), with uniquely outstanding sword fighting skills, provided by a master she longs to discover, is forced to wander alone, after been accused of nefarious activity that was not of her own doing.Set during an unidentified ancient period in Japanese history, the self-titled Ichi combines exceptional cinematography that wondrously captures the environments, while at the same time, the lavishly rich musical score heightens the beauty of the environments, and the poignancy of the horrible occurrences the leads are forced to endure.
The bloody violence that accompanies the fight scenes is neither over the top, nor too little, and much like the rest of the feature, efficaciously encapsulates what can only be perceived as an accurately brutal portrayal of how cruel and barbaric, yet at the same time, vivid, life in this particular period could have been.Touma (Takao Osawa) is a swordsman on a pilgrimage, and though he is capable of pretentiously boasting about his capabilities, he finds himself unable to draw his sword, for reasons that are conveyed over the course of the plot.
Upon venturing into Ichi's life, she is forced to defend him against members of the villainous Ban-ki gang, their deaths spurring a vendetta, cast by their fellow members.Led by the antagonistic Banki (Shido Nakamura), a once revered Samurai, past events left his face hideously scarred, though these afflictions are not nearly as grotesque as his mind, this man being turned into a lunatic warrior with a thirst for bloodshed, his violent origins having a direct link to Ichi, which is again further developed as the plot progresses.
Accompanying Banki are a collection of equally violent men, one of whom being Izo (Riki Takeuchi), a fighter who proves to be almost as equally terrifying as his leader.On their journey, Ichi and Touma come upon a town run by the Shirikawa's, a family consisting of Chobee (Akira Emoto) and his son, Toraji (Yosuke Kubozzuka), both of whom are members of the Yakuza, their township been plagued by continuous raids from the wretched Ban-ki gang, the local governmental personnel been unwilling to provide support.
With the help of Kotaro (Ryosuke Shima), a young boy, Ichi is able to explore the town, during which she punishes members of the Ban-ki gang, Touma taking the credit for this particular brand of justice, which causes the town to hire him as their protector, unknowing that he is in fact incapable of providing the assistance they require, as the advances by the enemy continue to rapidly escalate.As Ichi and Touma begin to spend more time together, a unanimous form of understanding and respect begins to grow between them, as the two traveling individuals discover they need each other for separate reasons.
It ought to be noted, some of the sexual content in the film evolves around rape, and though I personally loathe films that use rape, or the threat of rape, as a form of entertainment, in the case of Ichi, this hideous act is used to not only realistically depict the horrors of the climate, but strengthens the sympathy we feel towards specific characters.Although I have not previously witnessed the Zatoichi films this particular feature carries on from, so am unable to offer a comparative analysis, Ichi is a moving film with an equal amount of heart, brutality, character, depth and action, which elegantly and continuously captures the attention of its audience with the use of adventurous direction and poetic beauty..
The story and the relationship btw Toma and Ichi are developed decently, so we are kept interested in the movie throughout.
It's almost as if the director is making up for plot holes by inserting random bits of poetic images and dialogue that aren't set up well and don't make that much sense.The action is more or less decent, but the climactic fight scenes are too short and simplistic.
About a blind but deadly woman forsaken by her home-village and a man she meets on the way.It's not packed with non-stop action it's more story based than it is action based but the action that there is is really well orchestrated.The story packs plenty of emotion, possibly a bit depressing for some people but I enjoyed it.The acting, cinematography, music, editing etc is all good even if the second half gets a little too slow at times but one could argue that it needed to be, anyway yeah overall it's a stellar piece of work that should satisfy your samurai-movie needs..
Zatoichi, the blind wandering yakuza, as played by Shintaro Katsu, is a broad and irreverent character.
This finely tuned and expansive portrayal of Zatoichi by Shintaro Katsu is the main reason his numerous films and TV episodes still endure today.Ichi (2008) is an alternative take on the blind wandering Yakuza character and Zatoichi becomes a blind wandering Goze (female blind musician).
Apart from the action the film is shot very much like a TV movie.The fight scenes in the original Zatoichi movies and TV episodes all had one thing in common, the suddenness and brutality of the action.
Shintaro Katsu's dexterity and deftness with the sword and also the long single takes allowed the action to be seen and as a result the fights were almost always surprising.
In the same way you may enjoy and marvel at a Bruce Lee fight, the same can be said of a Shintaro Katsu sword fight.In Ichi (2008) this sudden and convincing violence is gone, to be replaced by the cinematic cliché of real-time cut to slow-motion and back again.
For the best results in female martial arts action, it is better to cast an actress with a background in dance or martial arts like or Ziyi Zhang in House of Flying Daggers (2004) or Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda in Chocolate (2008).Ichi (2008) is a missed opportunity scuppered by mediocrity..
Ichi is supposed to be a remake of Zatoichi but for some reason I feel that its more like the 1st Crimson Bat movie.I think a lot of the negative reviews is because of its inevitable (since it claims to be a zatoichi remake) comparison to Zatoichi.
Even the gambling sequence where she wins by listening to the dice.The actions scenes with Ichi are not bad, nice quick and slow motioned sequence.
But the part where she fights the main baddie is weak.A well shot movie thats worth a watch.
In all honesty, the original reason I decided to watch this movie was the keywords, "Blind Swordsman." in the synopsis.
There wasn't any fighting' for the sake of fighting'The wandering protagonist, Ichi, is a Goze (a blind woman who barely scrapes by, working as a wandering musician).
Toma recognizes Ichi's amazing fighting skill and feels some sense of emasculation.
At times, it's both easy and difficult to relate to Ichi, but once you hear her full story, you'll likely gain some perspective into this flawed but beautiful person.
The beauty of this movie is comparable to that of Tokyo Story or The Twilight Samurai.
And being a new movie it comes in blue-ray and that greatly intensifying the beauty.So, despite the bad rating, I would say, go see it, at the very least you won't feel that you wasted your time.
That's basically Ichi, a satisfying spin on the long-running saga of the blind swordsman.The plot centers on Ichi's search for Zatoichi (who has been missing for quite some time), her tragic back-story, a feud between two yakuza gangs in an inn town, and a traveling warrior that eventually befriends Ichi.
Haruka Ayase makes for a good (and absolutely gorgeous) Ichi, and plays her as soft-spoken, reserved and stoic while letting her determination, dangerousness, and lighter side break through when appropriate.
This isn't a pure action film by any means, it's fairly leisurely-paced outside of action scenes (Ichi doesn't play around with her enemies).
ICHI is a Japanese samurai movie with a twist: the blind warrior of the title is a woman in this one.
Heavily based on the popular and long-running ZATOICHI series of films, the story sees Ichi ending up in a small town that's been overrun by bandits.
The plot is complicated when another swordsman, traumatised by the events of his past, falls in love with her, is mistaken for an expert swordsman, and becomes the town's protector.There are shades of YOJIMBO in the look, style, and feel of this production, but it manages to be a successful film in its own right.
And it's in the characters and the human drama where this film excels: there's emotion to spare in this story, along with characters you learn and care about throughout, and the acting as a whole is superior for the production.ICHI is hardly an action packed movie but there are some key moments that impress, alongside an extended climax that makes up for some of the slower points in the story.
The premise of this movie is simple: What if Zatoichi had a daughter who was born blind and without a personality?
Fair is fair.It is a shame that the woman took on a personality like the Takashii Zatoichi as opposed to the superior Shintaro Katsu version of the character.
It was a solid movie; however, there was very little that was likable about Ichi's character.
As an action movie, it wasn't too bad.This is the second time that someone has missed the point concerning the success of the Zatoichi franchise.
The copies have been life-less cut-outs...with one exception...The Crimson Bat series had a title character with a personality...a different personality in each of her four movies.
I hope that, when the next blind swords-person movie is made, they pay attention to what made the old ones great..
But this film is still watchable despite the really manga influenced style of it all, even if it worked for the movie "Ping Pong".
The movie wasn't as engrossing as expected but it was still sort of entertaining watching the blind female swordsman cut down bandits although the movie is a bit too vivid and colorful in a negative way.
This movie was a bit of a disappointment and maybe this director should just do another manga adaptation with a good and engrossing story.
Good action drama suffers only if you compare it to the best of the Zatoichi films.
Rethink, and perhaps continuation of the story of Zatoichi, the blind swordsman.
You can't really compare it to the best of the Zatoichi series since its not really fair since those films had a couple of chances to hit their stride before they got it right.
The other flaw is that the films budget at times makes it seem almost like a TV movie, especially with the use of computer generated blood.I like the film a great deal and would recommend it, especially if you let the film do what it wants to do and not take for what its not, say a continuation of Beat Takashi's take on the characters.
I haven't seen the original films in the '60s and '70s, but I watched the 2003 Zatouichi starring "Beat" Takeshi, which was a very strong film.This remake starring Ayase Haruka has its share of improvements, but just as many shortcomings.Sori Fumihiko's direction, as with "Ping Pong", was wonderful.
When I watched the 2003 version, what impressed me about the character was that he can be so deadly even though he was blind, merely using the sound of opponent charging and feeling of enemy presence.
This remake, however, completely failed to show how the character was strong as she was, and also ignored the weaknesses, such as the scene where the crowd was making a lot of noise, but she was still able to easily defeat her opponent.The movie had nice action and few touching scenes, but plagued by miscasting and a weak script that also over-dramatized the story.
I'm a big fan of foreign films especially Korean and Chinese films I saw the trailer of Ichi it looked good so I bought it and I'm glad I Did Ichi exceeded my expectations the movie takes place in feudal Japan and follows a blind woman Ichi who's very adept with musical instruments as well as a sword she is looking for the blind swordsman who trained her along the way she comes across a village being harassed by a brutal warlord and his gang and gets dragged into the conflict there's lots of great and gory battle scenes many men think Ichi is easy prey big mistake on their part the acting cinematography soundtrack and storyline are all great the main actress who plays Ichi was AMAZING Truly a great performance the ending is very emotional and a little sad but is still a good positive happy endingI got the blu Ray version the picture and audio quality are amazing and the blu Ray includes both English dub and the original japanese with English subtitles I highly recommend watching it with the original Japanese with English subtitles dubbing really sucks and lowers the quality of the film don't get upset about the subtitles once you get into the movie you won't even realize your reading themOverall Ichi is an amazing movie with quality acting and storyline Foreign films are easily destroying Hollywood these days especially Asian cinemaHighly recommended.
On her journey she encounters a samurai who fears killing people, a village plagued by the Yakuza.Ichi is a film that focuses on the story rather than action and although the action is always great, it holds the audience's attention with likable characters and at times its very intense.
When the final fight finally does arrive, we've seen the lives of the characters making the end very satisfying, as well as sad..
Ichi is a goze who is travelling Japan in search of her mentor, who was the actual Zatoichi.
And Haruka Ayase as Ichi herself is stunning and beautiful and at the same time a convincing swords-woman.
For people who love the Zatoichi films, many will no doubt watch this film hoping to see their beloved character and stories recreated for the 21st century.
Shintaro Katsu (the original actor for the series) died some time ago and apparently Takeshi Kitano is not up for another film in the series (though apparently there IS another Zatoichi film coming out in 2010 starring Shingo Katori).
The Zatoichi of old could not because he had to make up for his violent past as a member of the Yakuza--but why was this Ichi so sad and on her own--acting like a total outcast?!
Even with the montage scene, her actions through the film didn't seem to make total sense.
This was a weakness in this film.Another weakness, and this is a big one, is that the new Ichi was actually NOT the main character for much of this movie.
Instead, so much of the tale has to do with a samurai who refuses to fight--though his reasons seemed a bit silly to me--especially late in the film when so many died because of his inner struggle.
Now everyone who has heard of Zatoichi or seen even some of his films or episodes,then you know how the story goes.
Haruka Ayase is really good in this role as Ichi and she comes in and slices and dices her foes as expected.Then comes in the secondary character, the buffoon Fujihara who likes to run to the rescue, but can't draw his sword because when he was little he swung his sword, broke the tip of said sword, which flew across the court yard while his mother who happened to be passing through who gets slashed across the eyes blinding her.
Isn't she the star, shouldn't she have the chance to redeem herself as so many other characters do in movies like this?
Sorry for my English, this is not my mother tongue..First of all it is almost impossible not to compare this movie to the Zatoichi series - if you watched that earlier.
Ichi's face is, as mentioned by a lot of review, motionless, which makes the movie very unreal. |
tt0011870 | Within Our Gates | The film opens with Sylvia Landry (Evelyn Preer), a young African-American woman, visiting her cousin Alma in the North. Landry is waiting for the return of Conrad as they plan to marry. Alma also loves Conrad, and would like Sylvia to marry her brother-in-law Larry, a gambler and criminal. Alma arranges for Sylvia to be caught in a compromising situation by Conrad when he returns. He leaves for Brazil, and Larry kills a man during a game of poker. Sylvia returns to the South.
Landry meets Rev. Jacobs, a minister who runs a rural school for black children called Piney Woods School. The school was overcrowded, and he cannot continue on the small amount offered to blacks for education by the state. With the school facing closure, Landry volunteers to return to the North to raise $5,000.
She has difficulty raising money, and her purse is stolen, but it is recovered by a local man, Dr. Vivian. Almost hit by a car as she saves a young child playing in the street, Landry meets the owner(Owner of what? this is vague. Please clarify), Elena Warwick, a wealthy philanthropist. Learning of Sylvia's mission, she decides to give her the needed money. When her Southern friend, Mrs. Stratton, tries to discourage her, Warwick increases her donation to $50,000. This amount will save the school and Landry returns to the South.
Meanwhile, Dr. Vivian has fallen in love with Sylvia. He goes to Alma, who tells him about Sylvia's past: these flashback scenes are portrayed in the film. Sylvia was adopted and raised by a poor black family, the Landrys, who managed to provide her with an education.
During her youth, the senior Landry was wrongfully accused of the murder of an unpopular but wealthy white landlord, Gridlestone. A white mob attacked the Landry family, lynching the parents and hunting down their son, who escaped after nearly being shot. The mob also lynched Efrem, a servant of Gridlestone. Sylvia escaped after being chased by Gridlestone's brother, who was close to raping her. Noticing a scar on her breast, Gridlestone's brother realized that Sylvia was his mixed-race daughter, born of his marriage to a local black woman. He had paid for her education.
After hearing about her life, Dr. Vivian meets with Sylvia; he encourages her to love her country and take pride in the contributions of African Americans. He professes his love for her, and the film ends with their marriage. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0111987 | Goosebumps | Zach Cooper and his mother Gale move to the town of Madison, Delaware. While settling in, Zach meets his new neighbor Hannah and her overprotective father "Mr. Shivers." Zach and Hannah become quick friends, but Mr. Shivers warns Zach to stay on his side of the fence. At Madison High School where Gale works as the vice-principal, Zach befriends Champ, a socially awkward student. Later that evening, Hannah comes to Zach and takes him to an abandoned amusement park out in the woods where they watch the sun set together on top of the Ferris wheel. When they get back home, Mr. Shivers appears and again warns Zach to stay away from them or something bad would happen.
The next night, Zach hears Mr. Shivers and Hannah arguing, followed by Hannah screaming and something crashing. Zach calls the police, but Mr. Shivers assures the officers that the noise came from his television. Fearing Hannah is in danger, Zach tricks Mr. Shivers into going to the police station for further questioning and breaks into his house with Champ's help. The two find a shelf containing many Goosebumps manuscripts, all of which are locked. Frustrated by Champ's curiosity, Zach unlocks one of the books. When Hannah discovers them, Zach drops the book, releasing the Abominable Snowman of Pasadena. They pursue the Abominable Snowman to an ice skating rink, where Mr. Shivers appears and imprisons it back into the book.
On the way home, Mr. Shivers reveals that he is Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. He created the stories as a child to terrorize the people that made fun of him, but the monsters came to life and became uncontrollable, so he trapped them in the manuscripts. Returning to the house, they find Slappy from "Night of the Living Dummy" (who was freed after the Abominable Snowman knocked over his book) waiting for them. Angry at being imprisoned, Slappy burns his own manuscript and flees with the others in the Haunted Car (after releasing it from its book) after unlocking the book "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes". They are attacked by the living lawn gnomes. When Stine and the kids try to smash them, each of the gnomes reform, making them realize that they can only run away.
Slappy releases several monsters, letting them rampage under his command. Zach suggests Stine to write a new book that will trap every monster, but he can only do it with his special typewriter which is at the high school. On the way there, Brent Green from "My Best Friend is Invisible" and the giant praying mantis from "A Shocker on Shock Street" attack Stine's car, so they are forced into hiding. Will Blake from "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp" pursues them into an abandoned supermarket, only to be run over by Zach's aunt Lorraine in the parking lot.
As they cut through the cemetery, Zach notices that Hannah glows blue in the moonlight, revealing her not to be an actual teenage girl. They are then chased by the Graveyard Ghouls from "Attack of The Graveyard Ghouls," but manage to escape. When they arrive at the school which is having a school dance, Zach privately questions Stine about Hannah. Stine reveals that she is a Goosebumps character (from "The Ghost Next Door") he created to cope with his loneliness, of which she is seemingly unaware. Stine finds the typewriter and starts writing a new story based on the events around them, while Zach, Hannah, and Champ lead the students at the dance in fending off all the released monsters that are storming the building. Champ manages to get his crush to kiss him, after he saves her from Will Blake when Davidson abandons her. Slappy confronts Stine and breaks his fingers with the typewriter case before the story is finished.
Stine, Zach, Champ and Hannah use one school bus to trick the monsters, and ride another one to go to the abandoned amusement park. There, Slappy lets out the big pink blob from "The Blob that Ate Everyone." Stine hands the book and typewriter to Zach, and distracts the blob by allowing it to devour him. Zach finishes the story on top of the ferris wheel which is then attacked by the praying mantis and it rolls down toward where the bus is parked. They get out alive, but Zach is reluctant to open the book because Hannah will also be sucked inside it. Revealing she knew the truth about herself all along, Hannah opens the book, sucking all the other monsters into it. The blob spits Stine out as it is sucked in. Stine is then attacked by an enraged Slappy, but he manages to kick him into the vortex. Zach tries to hold on to Hannah as the book attempts to suck her in, but she accepts her fate and bids farewell to Zach with a kiss before she is also sucked in.
Sometime later, Stine has started working as Zach's English teacher and is in a relationship with Lorraine. After class, Zach asks Stine if he misses Hannah. Stine says she will always be in their minds and hearts, and then points down the hallway where to Zach's surprise and delight, Hannah is standing. Stine reveals to Zach that he wrote her back into reality with another book. Hannah and Zach kiss and leave school together while Stine burns Hannah's manuscript, making her permanently real. As Stine prepares to leave Madison High School, he sees the typewriter typing by itself inside its display case. To Stine's horror, Brent Green has evaded imprisonment and begins writing a new story titled "The Invisible Boy's Revenge." | paranormal, psychedelic, horror, good versus evil | train | wikipedia | When I was a kid my all time favourite show was the Goosebumps TV show and of course the books as well.
My favourite character was Slappy the living dummy.I'm now 16 and I must say that the show is not at all scary to me anymore as I've watched many far more shocking things since the Goosebumps days.
My favourite episodes and books are still Welcome to Dead House, The Haunted Mask, Ghost Beach, The Ghost Next Door, Night of the living Dummy 2 and A Night in Terror Tower.I would overall give RL Stines Goosebumps 10/10 stars as a good young person's creepy show.
There are also movies that came out that are based on the old Goosebumps books we all loved to read.
I remember taping episodes to watch, later after school.Looking back on it now, I can see flaws in the stories and don't really find it as mystifying as I used to.
Although, I will always get nostalgic when watching it and that will always make me recommend this show to kids, and even people my age (17-18) for a good, light watch.My favorite episodes will always be the Night Of The Living Dummy ones, for a good reason.
My generation was being delighted by the works of R.L. Stine and his magnificent book series "Goosebumps." Between 1992 and 1995 I myself read some great ones like "Monster Blood," and it's two sequels, "Say Cheese and Die," "Ghost Bead," "Deep Trouble," and the greatest one of them all "The Haunted Mask." So obviously in 1995 when FOX Kids premiered this show I watched it.
I thought, "Old foreign show, may check it out." I hadn't read the books when I was little, so I didn't know what to expect.
Goosebumps, I had read some of the books and when I saw the TV show, I fell in love with the series.
"Goosebumps" the television show was based on R.L Stine's popular horror stories for kids.
I clearly remember sitting down and watching it with my sister 'cause we were both fans of the show and of the books (my personal favourite is the "Monster Blood" stories).
The show wasn't entirely scary (though it may scare very young children), it was rather cheesy actually, but in a good way.
We taped some of the episodes (and actually have one of the episodes on video); I remember watching 'em all the time, but I have no idea were they are now.In short, "Goosebumps" the show was a very faithful adaption to the stories and a whole lot of fun to watch.
Great Semi-Horror Fun. Goosebumps was a very interesting piece of horror, in the sense that it was not scary for adults or teens but still pretty scary for 5-12-year-olds.
It was pretty scary for kids and it would be equivalent to showing a 10-year-old The Hills Have Eyes.
I really enjoyed Goosebumps since I was in primary school and I remember once I went to a family friend's house and I saw one of the Goosebumps stories Legend of The Lost Legend but I didn't read it because I was so little at the time, I also remember my cousins had borrowed some from the library and one of them is Piano Lessons Can Be Murder which was my personal favorite along with Say Cheese and Die, The TV Show was not that scary at all I liked some of the episodes, when I first found out Goosebumps was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada I was surprised because the books were written in America but then I realized that it wasn't that bad, also does anyone know the schools and streets some of the episodes were filmed at?.
When I was little in the years 1994 through 1998, I watched this show every single Friday afternoon and Saturday morning on the Fox Kids Network.Slappy the living dummy was always and always will be my favorite character.
They are terrifying yet G-rated enough to entertain little kids without giving them nightmares.The Special Effects of this show -- the lighting, the makeup, the mechanical creatures -- were beyond realistic and very high-budget for a kid's show.If you are looking for a great show that's cool for kids and enjoyable for adults to watch as well, check out GOOSEBUMPS on DVD.R.L.Stine is one of the best horror writers to ever walk this planet!!!
Back in the early to mid-'90s, I (and much of the rest of America's youth) loved R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series, which were as popular as Harry Potter in their day.
Even when I was a kid I never found them all that scary (and when they got to "Series 2000", they took a huge nosedive very quickly), but they're entertaining enough and worth reading.
The older eps of the show, like "The Haunted Mask", "Night of the Living Dummy II", "It Came From Beneath The Sink", "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes", "The Werewolf of Fever Swamp", etc., varied slightly from the book they were based on, but in general were very faithful to the stories.
But definitely read the books, at least #1-35, if you like these kind of stories.Seven stars..
My 8 year-old, however, loves it.The stories are basically Twilight Zone episodes, with more ghosts and monsters.
For several years during the 1990s, R.L. Stine wrote and published many books in his "Goosebumps" series.
I used to like to read some of these books, when I was around ten years old, and eventually, I discovered this "Goosebumps" TV show, which I enjoyed watching for a while.
I eventually went off both the books and the TV series (late in 1997, when I was eleven years old), but I can't deny the fact that I was once a fan.There's not much to say about the plot of this show.
Basically, all I can say about it is that the programme was an adaptation "Goosebumps" book series, so the episodes were horror stories for kids.For a while, R.L. Stine would pump out "Goosebumps" books very quickly, so quickly not all of the stories could have been that focused.
Well, the books and the show definitely deserve some credit for how many kids they entertained back in the day, but I believe that "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" was a superior show..
I can't wait to see the "Night of the Living Dummy" episodes again and I'm looking forward to seeing "One Day at Horrorland" (apparent precursor to the Escape From Horrorland CD-ROM game) for the first time.
My favorite episodes were: "One Day at Horrorland", "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder", "The Ghost Next Door", and "A Night in Terror Tower"."Goosebumps" really was a good series.
Read the books as a kid watched the tv show came back 20 odd years later still love it as an adult great kids horror series based on the books amazing show even for the kids or if you're an adult.
Then again when this was on the AIR I was watching shows like X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine so compared to the production values of those big American shows what chance does a little cheap Canadian show made for kids have anyways.This show is very very very well done with great stories and episodes.
I haven't a clue if they make shows like this any more but honestly they could reboot this show for this decade and for this batch of kids and I believe it would be just as good but in HD.At the time of this review you can find this show on netflix.
Even though I like the show, the GOOSEBUMPS books are much better.
The books are almost always formula in this point too - but Stine was phenomenal in spicing the stories up by conjuring up different humorous dialogue, explanations for the evil, or details to make it seem impressive to a kid.
The fact that (with a few exceptions that ran 2 episodes), each story was limited to less than 30 minutes (the commercial breaks which accounted for the "less than" were surrounded by fade-outs of some new terror arising - which, even the youngest viewer realized after a few breaks, would be a false alarm when it resumed) rushed the plots of stories I laughed and fascinated over in book form, giving no time to absorb the scares, other than the phony ones resolved in 60 seconds while the camera dimmed and returned.
In the 3rd series, a large number of episodes were wasted not on books, but on short stories in his compilations Stories to Give You Goosebumps, which contained 10 boring stories (the one I tried and failed to read was the one never used to base TV scenes off of, but I'm sure the others were no better) which often provoked no fear even on the page - imagine how a screen adaption even weaker than their book basis would've been!
Ironically my favorite episode (along with a 3-part story I shouldn't mention; it wasn't based on a book) of which I've seen was one of these, "Click" - I doubt it was meant to be scary, but it did make me laugh expecting that the boy who exploited a space- and time-controlling remote could so easily be punished!
The dialogue is repetitive (every episode has at least one utterance of the line "I'm not crazy!"), just like the plots, which, by the end of the book and television series's run, just became ridiculous.
I am a 29 year old, I have grown up on movies Like The Exorcist, Friday The 13th, Halloween but nothing I have ever seen compares to GOOSEBUMPS.
It's hard to believe that this series is on so early and that kids can buy the videos, they should be NC-17 for Goosebumps is far to scary for children.
Ever since I started watching this series I have been to afraid to turn off my lights, I mean this show is to intence for anyone to take, believe me the first time I saw tat living dummy I almost banged my head off the roof as I jumps from fright, I just can't watch this show anymore, I fear it will give me a heart attack one day or my roommate will walk in one day and just find me dead on the floor from fright.
As a loyal Goosebumps fan, I must say that this show is good, but no offence R.L., But this show isn't as scary as the books.
Some of the stories have stupid summaries like in the night of the living dummy series.
I read 3-4 of the books as a kid and I was never scared the least bit.
So I thought that the show would be a little bit scarier, perhaps..However the show that ran on TV was bad with preteens doing awful acting, lame special effects and cheesy plots.I have no idea why some people like this show, I thought it was awful even as a kid.I guess if you are 6 years old you might be slightly scared by goosebumps books, but if you are above that then you will really start noticing the awful writing of the author, and the fact that goosebumps tends to become really boring once you realize that they are not the slightest bit scary.Labelling these books are horror books is very misleading, they are adventure books for kids, with awful writing and cheesy plots, and the show is just as bad..
Earlier, I had no idea about Goosebumps except that it's scary and a show based on horror kids novels.
But now and after watching various episodes, I finally discovered how stupid a show Goosebumps is.
There's a lot more shows like it now but back then there weren't many good "scary" shows for kids and this was one of the better shows that there were.
Good stories and acting for a kid show..
Off the top of my head, I remember the following episodes as being halfway decent: The Ghost Next Door, Night of the Living Dummy III, Werewolf Skin, and Stay Out of the Basement.Other notes of possible interest: 1) The casts are usually Canadian, and it's fun to hear them pronounce the word "house".
With a warning like that how could you expect not to be curious about Goosebumps."Goosebumps" is based by the book series of the same name by R.L.Stine and this is one of the few times when a show or movie based off a book does it right.
Goosebumps was a very popular book series in the 1990s and R.L.Stine was consider the Stephen King of Children Horror stories and looking back he manage to create a series that grab children's attention and inspire them to read more.
But it didn't stop me from watching Goosebumps the TV SeriesThe Intro to Goosebumps remains one of my favorites as it starts off with R.L.Stine walking in a black hat and black jacket and briefcase and a chilling piano theme that still holds up today as being creepy whoever wrote the music for the theme deserves a lot of points because it still a creative theme song even more.The episodes for Goosebumps were based off stories from the book series.
A good percent of the episodes follow the story line of the books.
Now that's something you don't expect in a series based off a children book.Goosebumps just takes what is already a horror theme story in it own right and made it very scary on TV also the theme song will get your attention to make you watch the show so give Goosebumps a shot but Beware You're In For A Scare..
The Goosebumps book/TV series were a big part of my childhood.
Goosebumps was definitely one of the better shows of the 90's.Unfortunately there were many flaws with the series.First of all, the acting.
I know that this doesn't count as an "effect", but the Canadian accents were almost as irritating as the acting.Lastly, the fact that a lot of the better books were never made into episodes.
Goosebumps definitely isn't what I'd call scary at this time of my life, but it still has its moments.Goosebumps has episodes ranging in length; some are two-part episodes and go more like watching movies.
The series began to go bad in the last couple of seasons though, with funny but lame episodes like An Old Story that really pointed out that the series was about to end.Goosebumps is a great show for kids, no question about it.
This is another great show from the 90's, Goosebumps is based on the brilliant books by R.L. Stine; each episode is a scary tale much like 'Are you afraid of the dark?' Some story lines were a little stupid like 'Are you afraid of the dark?' , yet some story lines were quite scary..I remember my cousin use to come over and watch with me on a Friday..How we laughed when I brought this up a couple of days ago...We're both 21 now...and can't believe we scared of the episode were the boy's aunt and uncle turn into werewolves.
And the episode with the dummy that's evil and tries to kill the three kids....
Great Horror Stories For Kids Six To 10!.
That's reasonably and simply stupid!This series ("Goosebumps") is for little kids...the others I mentioned are for older teens and adults.
STUPID!I had a girlfriend years ago whose little son watched this (and, read the books).
She told me that "It's monster stories for little kids."Then, years later, when my own Son began watching this, I took a particular interest and watched with him.YES!
The 90s was a time when kids entertainment reached its peak mixing the supernatural with drama and life threatening situations.Goosebumps came around after the enormous success of the books and soared to number one on the bill boards for children's entertainment lasting four seasons.While some of the details were changed for the stories it was often for the betterment of the episode like vampire breath that had a time travel angle that went nowhere or had no significant to the book unlike the kids finding a labyrinth of coffins in the basement in its place.Usually the plots could be repetitive with an unpopular kid who stumbles on to an old house, board game, mirror etc and get involved in a morality lesson about not cheating others, reading is fun and taking care of the environment.In away it modeled itself after the twilight zone with a creepy theme, lessons to be learned and even a host to introduce the show from time to time.Still it was the different mythologies they developed in a hip way and the characters involved that kept you watching to see if they would make it it not.The effects are dated in this day and age where a blue screen can take the place of a sock puppet or a grimy computer graphic that barely makes the cut above average.
Fast forward now and there is now a movie of this coming out this year starring Jack Black as R.L Sline so what better way to do but to review the TV series of Goosebumps.
Two episodes I remember to this day are The Haunted Mask and The Night Of The Living Dummy which both scared me as a kid(actually I seen The Haunted Mask the other day and it scared the crap out of me).
The Haunted Mask episode was also creepy as a young girl wanted to buy this really scary mask unaware that when she puts it on it would stick to her face and would be impossible to remove it,unless she can love herself more.Overall if you are a die hard fan of horror films than this show is just for you,but if you hate watching stuff that scare the living daylights out of you than stay away from it.Even the music was creepy like what you hear Danny Elfman play. |
tt0062177 | Ram Aur Shyam | Ram (Dilip Kumar) lives with his sister Sulakshna (Nirupa Roy) and niece Kuku in his family estate. His brother-in-law Gajendra (Pran) looks after his factories and controls his property with an iron hand. Ram is shy and coward in nature. He is always abused and brutally beaten by Gajendra. Sulakshna and Kuku try to protect Ram from Gajendra whenever he whips Ram. Everybody decides to get Ram married for his well being. Gajendra finds a rich girl Anjana (Waheeda Rehman) with the aim of getting a huge dowry. Anjana dislikes Ram after he spills tea over her due to nervousness. Gajendra angry at Ram's behaviour, conspires with the support of his mother and cunning Munimji to kill Ram and take over his property. Ram overhears this and escapes to the city to save his life. Meanwhile, Ram's long lost twin brother Shyam (Dilip Kumar) lives in a village with his adopted mother Ganga whom he believes to be his birth mother. No one other than Ganga knows the truth about the twin brothers. Shyam is strong, brave and mischievous, unlike his brother. He has a love hate relationship with Shanta (Mumtaz). Shyam escapes to the city, after a mischievous conflict with Ganga, and meets Anjana, who is impressed by his personality. Anjana and her father confuse Shyam with Ram. Ram meets Shanta who thinks he is Shyam and takes him forcefully to his mother. Ram and Shanta develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Shyam decides to take the place of Ram to face Gajendra. Shyam refuses to sign his property after which angry Gajendra attacks him. Shyam retaliates and whips Gajendra hard, shocking everybody. Sulakshna stops her brother to protect her husband. Gajendra is startled after being beaten up by Shyam, whom everybody believes as Ram. Shanta and Anjana meet and both claim the picture of Ram as their fiancé. Gajendra learns that Shyam has taken the place of Ram. He abducts Ram and Shanta, and plans to kill Ram. He frames Shyam for the murder of Ram though Ram is alive. Shyam is arrested by police. Anjana and her father learn from Ganga that Ram and Shyam are twin brothers lost in a village fair. Shyam escapes from police custody and battles Gajendra and his henchmen. Gajendra tries to shoot them but both the brothers and Shanta manage to defeat him. At the end twin brothers are happily married and the family reunited. | good versus evil, cruelty | train | wikipedia | A Dilip Kumar vehicle which is fairly good but never particularly memorable. Okay, so, a movie about twins, and the main lead is none other than Mr Dilip Kumar. Ram Aur Shyam is a Dilip Kumar vehicle all the way and even the opening credits say "Dilip Kumar in his first dual role", as if it was an event of sorts. But while you expect something particular from the film, it turns out to be different. First, it is not a complete comedy of errors. Actually, there's more drama in this one than comedy. Towards the end, it even gets a dark tone which I personally did not predict and did not like at all. The comedy does work from time to time, and it's nice to see the turns even though everything is predictable. Ram Aur Shyam is not the only movie of its sort, and many such movies were made later, like Seeta Aur Geeta. Which brings me to the next point and it is the fact that today while watching all these twin movies, comparisons are inevitable. Clearly, the best one of the lot is Seeta Aur Geeta, an all-time great comedy, which had the verve, the light and lively comic mood, the music and the excellence that Ram Aur Shyam lacks. Even Hema Malini's unforgettable performance remains unmatched. Where acting goes, well, as said, this movie was made for Dilip Kumar, and he does well, but it is far from being his best. He is excellent as Shyam, but overdoes the cowardice and the shy nature of Ram. The girls do very well even if one expects to see them disappearing under his shadow. Waheeda Rehman plays Anjana with grace and conviction, while Mumtaz is wonderful as the street-smart Shanta. The supporting cast do well. The music is very ordinary and forgettable. Ram Aur Shyam is not a bad film and it has its moments of comedy and great fun, but they are limited, and I would rather go and watch Seeta Aur Geeta instead.. A laughter-bonanza from the Tragedy King. Though Dilip Kumar was labelled as the Tragedy King of Hindi cinema, he was quite skilled in comedy too. Today I am reviewing a movie which is a showcase of his comic talent. It's a classic movie which became a pioneer for twins-based stories in Hindi cinema later. This movie is Ram Aur Shyam (1967) which features Dilip Kumar in contrasting twin roles - one is a weak, coward and submissive person whereas the other one (the twin) is a daredevil and smart person. It's the latter which provided Dilip Kumar an opportunity to make the audience laugh and he did it with such finesse that till date his performance in this role is quoted as a classic comic performance.Ram Aur Shyam is the story of twins who got separated in their childhood and brought up in utterly different environments leading to development of completely opposite personalities of them. Ram (Dilip Kumar) grows up in a rich household which remains under the tyranny of Gajendra (Pran) whereas Shyam (Dilip Kumar in double role) grows up in a village with the affection of Ganga Mausi (Leela Mishra) and the childhood teasings of Shaanta (Mumtaaz). For Ram also, the love of his affectionate sister-in-law - Sulakshana (Nirupa Roy) and niece - Kuku (Baby Farida) is there but they are helpless before Gajendra. Gajendra is greedy too and he decides to marry Ram to Anjana (Waheeda Rehman) who is the daughter of a wealthy man (Nazir Hussain) for the sake of getting a hefty dowry. Now comes the principle twist in the tale which forms the backbone of the story.Destiny takes Ram to the house of Shyam and vice-versa. Now Ram who has always been getting bashed and humiliated by Gajendra, gets warmth, love and respect too. Shaanta finds his 'Shyam' to have changed into a shy and submissive person and instead of teasing him (as she has always done to the real Shyam), she starts loving him. On the other side, Shyam enters the house of Gajendra as Ram and his daredevil activities prove to be a pleasant surprise for Sulakshana, Kuku and the servants of the house and on the other hand a nightmare for Gajendra whom he bashes like anything. He happens to meet Anjana and her parents and falls in love. Anjana also starts loving him and she is quite happy to be the fiancée of 'Ram'. The reality comes before everyone in the climax and the fact of Ram and Shyam being twins is also known to render a happy ending to the movie.Ram Aur Shyam was a pioneer movie in Bollywood because it paved the way for follow-ups like Seeta Aur Geeta (1972) starring Hema Malini in lead role, Jaise Ko Taisa (1973) starring Jeetendra in lead role, Chaalbaaz (1989) starring Sridevi in lead role etc., the stuff being the same, i.e., twins separated in childhood and nurtured in entirely different environments to grow up into entirely opposite kind of individuals. However the comedy Dilip Kumar did as Shyam in Ram Aur Shyam could not be repeated by anybody, may it be Hema Malini or Jeeendra or Sridevi. Ram Aur Shyam can be watched any number of times to watch the brilliant comedy presented by the actor who is contradictorily known as the Tragedy King of Indian cinema.Dilip Kumar is the heart and soul of this movie and he has done well in the submissive role of Ram too. Both the leading ladies alongwith the supporting characters have also done satisfactorily. Nirupa Roy as the sister-in-law of Ram and Baby Farida as her daughter and Ram's niece deserve special mention. Other than Dilip Kumar, if someone has made his presence prominently felt in this movie, it's none other than the most dreaded and notirious baddie of Bollywood cinema - Pran.Naushad has composed great music for this movie with the beautiful lyrics coming from the pen of Shakeel Badayuni. Two songs are immortal - Aaj Ki Raat Mere Dil Ki Salaami Le Le (Rafi) and Aayi Hain Bahaaren Mitay Zulm-o-Sitam (Rafi, Lata and chorus). Other songs - O Baalam Tere Pyar Ki Thandi Aag Mein Jalte Jalte (Rafi-Asha), Iss Nagari Ki Reet Hai Ulti (Asha-Mahendra Kapoor), Aaj Sakhi Ri More Piya Ghar Aaye (Asha and chorus), Maine Kab Tumse Kaha Tha Ki Mujhe Pyar Karo (Lata), Main Hoon Saaki Tu Hai Sharaabi Sharaabi (Lata) etc. are also good to listen (and to watch as well). Choreography in Aayi Hain Bahaaren Mitay Zulm-o-Sitam is just outstanding and it's a treat to watch this song on the screen.Technical and production value aspects of the movie are all in order. The length of the movie is nowhere felt while watching because the complete movie is very interesting from beginning to end and at no place even an ounce of boredom has been allowed to creep in.All in all, Ram Aur Shyam is a highly entertaining movie which should not be missed by either the fans of Dilip Kumar or the movie buffs in general. Those who have seen its remakes like Seeta Aur Geeta, Jaise Ko Taisa or Chaalbaaz should also watch it for getting a different kind of entertainment rendered by the Tragedy King's comic timing.. A best film that cannot be made again. Ram Aur Shyam is a story about two twins.The movie has got enough amount of comedy scenes compared to any other movies. The climax is superb and it is appreciable.A best family story that cannot be made again in Indian cinema.The songs and the dances are very good.Mumtaz had played her role as a simple village girl who loves anything in this world none other than her lover.Waheeda Rehman excels in a lead role.Pran plays a very tough role in this movie as a cunning man who loves only money in this world.A great family show to be watched by all ages of the people.The story of the movie is a great one to watch it.The song "O BAALAM TERE PYAAR KI THANDI" would be one of the best yesteryear songs in the Hindi cinema. A lively comedy which enthralls your heart !. This movie speaks for itself , why Dilip Kumar is a living legend . A true blue tragic hero of all the times , capable of portraying an intense romantic hero as well , like in Madhumati , Dilip has given a performance of his life time , in a double role , with such intricate and subtle shades , as if two different actors are playing the lead roles.Dilip proved to be a role model for all the actors like Amitabh , Shah Rukh , and Manoj Kumar, who studied religiously the style , the mannerisms , body language , and his soft dialog delivery , as well as avoiding loud acting , underplaying the character . Yet , one can say without reservations , or being unfair to others , that Dilip was original , and though critics some times expressed their unhappiness over his mumbling , subdued style of delivering dialogs , in Ram and Shyam , he is exuberant , vibrant , and mischievous , funny , all rolled in one , while in the opposite role , he is extremely shy , nervous , and fearful , traits which Dilip has shown remarkably well . Vaheeda is good in a rich daughter's role , and has shown a good chemistry with her leading man ;Though the plot line and the obvious dark and white shades are typical of that age of cinema , Pran terrorizes , and fits the bill of a staunch villain.It's the deft handling of some hilarious scenes by the director , like the one when the crafty fellow eats heartily in a city restaurant and walks away coolly without paying the bill , and the meek fellow gets thrashing as well as deprived of his jacket , because of mistaken identity !Compared to his contemporaries ,like Dev Anand and Raj , Dilip was not a very good looking hero , in the classical or the traditional standards of handsome or chocolate hero persona ; but his tremendous screen presence , and cultivated naturalness , weigh more than just the looks . Many movies with double roles have followed , but Ram and Shyam will always remain quite unique , a milestone , and a hearty , breezy comedy , with all the necessary ingredients of a block buster in good measures , specially the music score , with memorable numbers , even today , like the birthday song , and the duet of Dilip and Vaheeda , Main Huin Saaki , Tu Hain Sharabi , Sharabi amongst others. A timeless product , which would never go stale . |
tt0264683 | High Times Potluck | Frank (Frank Adonis) is a pot luck mobster that is finding the good and protecting Jade (Theo Kogan) is finding a way in and then finds the Slim Man who is a small time criminal and then Frank kills him to blame that consequence and then drives to the house and checks inside and looks for his book on the bed and then gets in and heads to the car and then takes Jade to a warehouse. At the warehouse Frank is telling Jade a story to know it's another thing that is saying it's right and then Frank goes to the place and finds the Barbeque place and then finds Saki and then Jade takes Saki to the warehouse and then she walks inside and then Frank thanks her.
Frank goes to the subway station and meets Ma and then she gets off the train to meet Frank and keeps it busy so that she knows and then Frank takes her to a warehouse to interrupt a story about it. At the game store Frank stops by and then Jade agrees with him by being interested for an answer to cross a border that's there and then crosses it and finds Edie and then he is good and then Frank takes him to Jade to keep him safe. Frank is agreeing to Jade about the story and then Frank and Jade drives to a apartment and walks inside and finds a room and then finds Jack who is bad and then Frank kills Jack a gangster kid for trying to get Frank killed and then leaves the apartment.
Frank and Jade obtains Jade's car and then Frank drives away and drives to the harbor and then talks to Jim about the story and then Frank takes Jade's car into the garage and stores it inside. Jade talks to Ma and then she gives it the answer and then Jade takes Ma to Malik and then Malik is interested about getting the answer right and keeps it there and then Frank and Ma takes Malik to a fire station to keep an app. Frank interrupts Ma's story about the idea what he is saying and then Malik finds a bad guy named Rigano and then Frank kills him and leaves him for dead and then gets away from his area and leaves him dead behind. Frank tells Ma its a secret to say and agree and then Frank and Ma and Jade gets the answer in a way right and then does not restrain it and then Frank finds David Peele and then tells him to move quickly and fast and say the answer. Frank and Ma drives to a Cinemas and finds Vic who is a helper and then Frank and Ma takes Vic to a room where he is safe and then Vic thanks them. Frank and Man drives to a cargo ship to meet Mickey and then Mickey who is the bad guy gets off the boat and then goes in a meeting with him about it and then he is taken to the high level. At the high level apartment Frank walks in Mickey's apartment and talks to Mickey and then says I have an answer to agree to and then answers it and then says yes and then Frank goes to the wood house and finds Ryan who is a sinister and then Frank kills him and leaves him for dead and then leaves the area to give Frank the answer to identify that Ryan is bad.
Frank says to Mickey that it will be a time of life and then walks to Ma and Jade and Malik about the answer that it's going to be and then finds Arneau who is good and then Frank says that Ma's boyfriend is Arneau and then Mickey try's to search and then they move away. Frank tells Mickey that he will interrogate him and then a good kid named Young Saki moves and then a bad guy named Benny arrives and then Frank beats up Benny and then kills him and then leaves him be. During a story Frank is told by Ma and then Malik walks up to talk to something about the story to get the answer complete and then they complete it. Frank takes Ma up to Champaigne Sally to know it's ok and then they complete the story together with Ma and then answers it right and walks back in. During a road trip Frank takes Ma up on the road by giving Jane the answer and then they talk and then checks out the trip and then returns to the car.
During a walk Frank follows Jade to Mario and gives the true story some details and has it gifted to Mario and then answers it while they subdue it. Frank tells Jade to stay outside and then Frank walks inside to close the door while meeting Young Slim Man and then he says go in and then he leaves and then he goes inside and then looks inside and finds Congressman and then he says I need to be clear of something and then Frank agrees and then meets Cool J and Mercury and Tommy Chong to agree with the answer about planning and then they say yes. Frank tells Cool J and Mercury and Tommy Chong to stay at the wall near the closet and then Frank goes up to the door and then looks for Liberty and tells her yes and then she agrees and leaves and then she runs to the sidewalk while Mickey looks for them. During a walk in Frank and Cool J and Mercury and Tommy Chong have societies in there self and then tells them to answer the whole story and then Mickey stares at him like he is crazy and then a bad guy Joey and then he pulls out a gun telling him leave and then Frank whacks him on a head with a bat killing him and then Frank gets to them. At the fight Frank and Cool J and Mercury and Tommy Chong needs society and then Mickey tries to kill them but they hide for cover and then they have Ticket Counter behind them and then Mickey kills him and then they scream help. During the escape Frank and Cool J and Mercury and Tommy tries to get away from Mickey and they run through the side door to escape in and then they leave that area and then heads to a car and then makes the escape in the 20 miles ahead. | comedy, murder | train | wikipedia | a female Scorsese arrives.
A female Scorsese is born.
New York Streets, gritty, street actors, experimental, witty, great direction, in your face camera work.
Times square chase scene with wild animal sound affects underneath are very cool.
Lots of very subtle things you could miss.
Mobsters, punk rockers, transvestites, upper east side yuppies, cops, politicians, rappers, bankers, potheads.
It reminded me of a cross between the movie "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Mean Streets" on Pot. I rented this from the video store and watched it twice as i found extra stuff I missed the first time.
I am a big fan of Jason Issacs work he is a cool actor!!
I loved him in "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson, in every film he plays someone different you can hardly recognize him.
He's also in Armageddon and the Harry Potter films.
I'd watch Potluck again!
I wonder what Ms. S will do next!.
very funny ending - worth watching to the end.
I really enjoyed this movie.
After buying it used, I feel like I got a bargain for $15 bucks.
"Potluck" was different and the old gangsters made me laugh.
The main character, a favorite gopher for a mob boss, discovers the joys of being a viper, when a suitcase of high-grade pot is dropped into his lap, time and time again - lol.If you like "tough-guy" type of humor, I reckon this flick is worth a view.
Our mobster's relationship to the the older members of the gang will make you laugh, especially at the end.
Stick it out to the end ya'll .
If the movie starts to get slow, twist up another one and ride it out - lol..
Excellent Cult Movie.
So many films these days try to be "cult" movies, while wasting large budgets and stupid story lines in order to get there.
They should follow High Times Potluck's excellent example of how to get it right without breaking a sweat.
All the actors were brilliant, the story was different class, and there is heaps of pot smoking which can only be a good thing in this day and age.
One thing for sure, this story would never had worked if they had been using alcohol, coke, Prozac etc instead.
A very funny and totally underrated film which I really hope will one day get the recognition it truly deserves.
You can bet your bottom dollar that some sharp eyed big studio exec has probably got his/her eye on this movie, and will remake it in 5 years with a big budget and well known actors, and it will probably be pants.
As far as I am concerned over the past year two of the best marijuana films of all time were released.
Potluck of course was one of them, and Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.
Buy the DVD, light up a big fat one, and enjoy one of the coolest and non stressful movies of the last few years.
Enjoy!!!!.
Cheech and Chong meets Goodfellas.
The plot of this flick is pretty simple...I don't want to give it away to you, but it's not rocket science.
That said, this cast really puts it together into what turned out to be a pretty funny and exciting movie.
I'm a big fan of Jason Mewes and his role is great...Frank Adonis is also awesome at the lead role (think mob guy who sees the light!).If you're chilling on the couch with some friends and want to be entertained for a couple of hours, I definitely recommend this movie!
It's got the funny parts of any good stoner movie (you KNOW the folks at High Times must like this one...) and the action/plot of a good escapade movie.
I give it the 5 leaf seal of approval!.
If you like to laugh and come out of a picture feeling a little high, then this is the movie to see.
Potluck takes you on a ride through the streets of Manhattan with a cast of cool underground players.
A new cult film is born.
A new cult film is born.
There are a lot of characters to choose from including Jason Mewes, (Clerks and Silent Bob) Jason Isaacs( The Patriot)to Sylvis Miles( Midnight Cowboy)to Frank Gorhsin ( The Riddler)and about 20 others.
I think this movie reaches all ages as it has so many different aged characters.
You need to see it twice to soak it all in.
Theo Kogan of the Luna Chicks puck rock band is very sexy playing herself and her songs are in different scenes throughout.
She also sings live on stage..
funny times with pot and high times!!.
I went to see High Times Pot Luck with a friend and was given the ticket as a gift.
I did not really know what I was walking into but was interested and eager to see what it was about, being a fan of the magazine and also of the plant.
I had never seen any movie produced by High Times but gave them the benefit of the doubt and I am very glad that I did.
The movie grabs you as soon as it starts and takes you on this extremely funny, witty, and all out in your face comedy.
There are few movies that can stand with HTPL and the roller-coaster ride that you go on.
The cast is excellent!
The direction is extraordinarily innovative and capturing.
This movie also offers wide variety of cameos appearances that each add their very own flavor to their scenes.
An all around good time and I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.
This is definitely a "Cult Classic" in the making..
Slow start, but worth the wait.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, having received it as a gift from a friend.
All I knew was that Jason Mewes and Jason Isaacs had small roles, and that Dan Lauria was in it.
And, that it was about pot.
Aside from the scene with Arneau, I felt that the first half hour dragged.
However, as the film went on, the characters became more engaging, and as a result, as a viewer I was more interested.
I appreciated the quirks of the story, though I'm sure I didn't catch them all.
I especially liked how the characters were linked - nearly everyone knows Arneau (since he's a pot dealer), the mobsters watch old movies, and the cops know the movie stars in their old age.I'd recommend this film for anyone who wants something out of the ordinary.
Hopefully this will be released outside of the USA sometime in the near future..
A True Native New York Film.
In a day and age of corporate formula films, it is refreshing to see a film about New York that is shot in New York using actual New York Actors and streets that I have walked down.
On the recommendation of a friend we went to see this film in the East Village and the story was clever, intelligent and well paced.
It kept us interested and entertained which is more than I can say for 90% of the current crop of big budget Hollywood cineplex fare.
In a city where anything can happen, everything does in this film.
Even my 70 year old mom loved it..
High Times Scores Big....
I was fortunate enough to be among the lucky few to catch the first-ever screening of High Times Magazine's feature film debut, `Potluck'.
Scripted by `Summer of Sam' veteran Victor Colicchio and helmed by Aussie newcomer Alison Thompson, the film was a total riot.
An all-star ensemble cast including Jason Mewes, Dan Lauria (the Father from the Wonder Years), Jason Isaacs (dude from the The Patriot) and Frank Adonis combine to create one of the most engaging and hilarious cult films I've ever seen.`Pot Luck' is a situational comedy with an intricate plot line that involves a struggling artist, a mob crime family, a tough `grrrrrl' rocker and an aloof pair of would-be criminals even a congressman and a transvestite in a marijuana heist.
Victor Colicchio describes the film as a cross between Cheech and Chong and the Sopranos
I couldn't have said it better myself.
And while the film does give significant screen time to every one of its several main characters each character adds an important and convincing element to the overall story.
Consequently the suspense is only heightened as the audience views the marijuana heist through many different eyes.The plot unravels as Arneau (Isaacs), a struggling artist supporting his passion by peddling joints, finds himself being robbed by would-be criminals Mickey and Ryan.
As the robbery goes awry mob soldier Frank (Adonnis) is called in to complete the heist of Arneau's supply `a suitcase with what must be at least $50,000 worth of weed' and turn the pot into cash.
The film begins to follow the suitcase as it travels through the beautifully-photographed, gritty Manhattan streets.
Along the way we are introduced to mob boss Carmine (Dan Lauria), a bite-your-fist HOT girl rocker (Theo Kogan, lead singer of the independent Lunachicks) and a variety of other sublime characters.
The film climaxes in the midst of a hilarious pot legalization rally, with the movie building to a crescendo that will have you on the edge of your seat
at least if you don't fall of that same seat laughing.Some have compared `Pot Luck' to the Jim Brewer vehicle `Half Baked'.
I was not a fan of Half Baked in fact I thought it was a total waste of celluloid.
Still even though I didn't appreciate `Half Baked' as a whole I do admit that a few of the jokes had me in stitches.
So I was reluctantly expecting the same thing with `Pot Luck'.
Fortunately High Times Magazine, with its almost fifty some-odd pages of pornographic detail involving growing and smoking weed, picked a writer/director combo who were savvy enough to create a film enjoyable by moviegoers over the age of thirteen.Don't get me wrong -- any thirteen-year old would still count themselves lucky to catch a peak at the movie.
I'm only nineteen and I loved it!
Yet Thompson has carefully layered the plot twists and multiple characterizations to create a noir pot caper that gray-haired parents can enjoy right along side their angst-ridden teenage child.Really any further spoilers in this missive would destroy Potluck for even the most enthusiastic audience member.
The only other aspects of the film I'd like to note are Jason Mewes's hilarious piece as a drug dealer and Tommy Chong's part as a hippie pot enthusiast.
For those two performances alone I'd pay to see the movie ten times again.I don't know when this film will be released or who's going to pick it up, but make a point to check it out.
We need more movies like this!.
I absolutely loved this movie.
An excellently paced comedy that boasts a colorful cast of characters.
I was thoroughly entertained and wished it was longer.
The culture clash between Mafia and punkers was priceless.
Its "Dazed and Confused" meets "Goodfellas".
Its "Dazed and Confused" meets "Goodfellas".
The plot twists and turns keeping you smiling throughout.
Definitely scores an A+ in terms of the type of movie its supposed to be.
Funny, and poking fun at everyone on all sides.
Definitely a Dark Comedy along the lines of a "Trigger Happy", you either loved it or you didn't get it.
The mob discovering baba ganouche and hummus after getting the munchies was hilarious.
Is there any substance that renders a character more hilarious when they are stoned than Marijuana?
Definitely a keeper on DVD.
Something you can watch several times and still continue to laugh. |
tt0044110 | Ten Tall Men | After capturing an important Rif prisoner in an undercover operation, Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Lancaster) is imprisoned himself for striking a lieutenant (Stephen Bekassy) who beats a French woman (Mari Blanchard) with his riding crop for preferring Kincaid to him. Kincaid has a longstanding rivalry with the lieutenant, but the lieutenant is now in command of the company holding the city of Tarfa while the regiment is away. As the ranking officer, the lieutenant uses Kincaid's striking of him to get his revenge.
Kincaid is imprisoned alongside seven military prisoners and the captured Rif who has refused to talk, with the lieutenant refusing food and water to both Kincaid and the Rif. When his two comrades-in-arms who accompanied him on the mission, Corporals Luis Delgado (Gilbert Roland) and Pierre Molier (Kieron Moore), sneak food and water to Kincaid, he shares them with the Rif. To repay Kincaid's kindness and assuage his own guilt for telling the lieutenant about Kincaid's assignation with the Frenchwoman, the tells of an impending attack on Tarfa while the garrison is weak. The Rif believes Kincaid will escape to save himself, but he instead warns the lieutenant.
The experienced Kincaid tells the lieutenant that their only chance is to release him to lead a series of guerrilla hit-and-run attacks to delay the enemy for five days until the regiment returns. The lieutenant agrees, but only if Kincaid will testify that the idea was his. Kincaid agrees to his terms. The only men available for the mission are the seven prisoners, who receive full pardons for their crimes. His two corporals join them, raising their number to ten.
When scouting an enemy camp, the Legionnaires discover two rival tribes have joined forces, making them strong enough to take the city. Using his expertise in disguise and language, Kincaid finds out that the Rif leader, Khalid Hussein (Gerald Mohr), is marrying Mahla (Jody Lawrance) in order to cement an alliance with the other tribe. Kincaid kidnaps her to force the enemy to chase him for the five days.
Mahla begins to fall in love with her handsome captor, as Hussein pursues the Legionnaires across the desert. In the midst of the dangers, the patrol find a destroyed Legion truck containing a safe that one of the men opens, revealing a large Legion payroll. When Jardine (John Dehner) tries to get away with the payroll, he is shot, but that tells the Rifs where they are.
Kincaid is eventually captured and Mahla freed. She demands that Kincaid be released unharmed or she will not marry Hussein. Hussein reluctantly does so. Kincaid and his men infiltrate the wedding ceremony, and fighting breaks out. Mahla's tribe switches sides, and Hussein is killed. | cult | train | wikipedia | The phrase "they don't make them like this anymore" is often used in this CGI-infested age to describe extra-laden and 'authentic' Hollywood spectaculars of yesteryear but, frankly, watching this more modest, tongue-in-cheek Foreign Legion adventure, I was equally struck by just how old-fashioned (and refreshingly so) it all was – not that the sand storm sequence included here would pass muster with today's audiences!
Anyhow, from the very start of the film, we have Burt Lancaster, Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore disguised as, respectively, an Arab merchant and his two daughters!; legionnaires who are punished for daring to look twice at their Lieutenant's fiancée; an Arab chieftain who marries off his daughter to a rival Sheik to bring peace between their warring tribes and in a bid to rid their country of the 'French' infidels; the kidnapping of that same feisty daughter who, not only turns the heads of all her ten titular captors but, after several escape attempts, eventually steals the heart of tough guy Lancaster; etc.
However, shot in lovely Technicolor and moving at a rapid pace, the film is an enjoyable ride through familiar territory; what was somewhat surprising, plot-wise, is that while much was made initially of the unloved Lieutenant (Stephen Bekassy) and his blonde girlfriend (Mari Blanchard), their characters virtually disappear once Lancaster's jailbird unit sets out on its mission!
Despite its baffling ultra-rarity, the film is peopled by an interesting pool of talent both in front and behind the camera: Lancaster is in his third adventure flick; Gilbert Roland is his usual laid-back, womanizing Latino self; John Dehner the proverbial rotten apple in the group; George Tobias (perhaps thankfully) sacrifices himself early on; Nick Dennis and Mike Mazurki are among the rowdiest of the 'Ten'; Gerald Mohr adequately provides the required villainy; this was the second product from Norma Productions (which first partnered Lancaster with producer Harold Hecht); writer Roland Kibbee would much later go on to share directorial credit with Lancaster on THE MIDNIGHT MAN (1974; which I will be revisiting presently); associate producer Robert Aldrich would later direct Lancaster in four movies – including TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977; which I'll be viewing for the first time during this ongoing Burt Lancaster tribute); and, most interestingly perhaps, this was multi-talented Willis Goldbeck's most notable directorial effort but, at least two of his screen writing credits are highly impressive indeed: Tod Browning's FREAKS (1932) and John Ford's THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962; Goldbeck's last film work)!
One final note: after searching high and low for this film on account of a friend of mine who is a big Burt Lancaster fan (and recalls the star's brief sojourn in Malta in the 1970s), ironically, it was he who eventually provided me with a means to catch up with it via a surprisingly well-preserved VHS-sourced copy he acquired!.
Burt Lancaster, plays Sgt. Mike Kincaid, a French Foreign Legionnaire, who, while in a military stockade, learns of an impending attack on the city proper while the main garrison is away.
Further they kidnap Mahla (Jody Lawrance) a tribal princess, which prevents the evil Khalif Hussein (Gerald Mohr) from caring out his attack.
The entire film is fun to watch as great actors like Gilbert Roland, Kieron Moore, George Tobias, John Dehner and Mike Mazurki establish a wonderful and fun filled afternoon of creative enjoyment.
Since he is in charge of the mission, Marvin also realizes that his life also depends on them too and pointed out that fact to his superiors.In the movie Ten Tall Men, Burt Lancaster says almost the same thing: "The main reason we're going to do it is we have no other choice.
I'm going to see to it that the next man doesn't let him down." Only difference is that Lancaster has two corporals to back him up while Marvin has the MP sergeant to help him out plus the men under Lancaster's command are not facing a death sentence or long imprisonment for murder.
This film dates from Burt Lancaster's swashbuckling period when he was trying to inherit Errol Flynn's mantle as Hollywood's leading action hero.
"The Flame and the Arrow", for example, is a disguised remake of Flynn's greatest hit, "The Adventures of Robin Hood", with the story transferred from England to Italy, and "The Crimson Pirate" is in the same tradition as Flynn's "The Sea Hawk".It has long been an Anglo-American jibe that the Foreign Legion is the greatest fighting force in the French Army "because it has no Frenchmen in it", and the exploits of the Legion have always been popular with film-makers.
Although many Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were opposed to European colonialism, such opinions were rarely reflected in Hollywood films- "The Hurricane" from the late thirties is an exception- and "Ten Tall Men", which is set during the Rif War of the 1920s, takes a firmly pro- French position.
In that film Peck plays a US cavalry officer who commands a small force tasked with holding off the Indians for long enough to allow reinforcements to reach a garrison threatened with attack.
Here Lancaster plays Mike Kincaid, an American- born sergeant with the Legion, who commands a small force (the "ten tall men" of the title) tasked with holding off the Rifs for long enough to allow reinforcements to reach the threatened city of Tarfa.
(Kincaid himself has been imprisoned for striking an obnoxious Lieutenant in defence of a lady).The main difference is that "Only the Valiant" took this scenario seriously, whereas "Ten Tall Men" is, by and large, a comedy, or at least a comedy/action hybrid.
As part of his plan to foil the raid on Tarfa, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla, the beautiful fiancée the of villainous Rif leader Caid Hussein and, inevitably, the two end up falling in love.
Equally inevitably, Mahla is played by an American actress, Jody Lawrance, rather than a Moroccan one."Ten Tall Men" is a better film than "Only the Valiant", which even Peck acknowledged as one of his weakest, precisely because the latter treats an implausible scenario seriously, whereas the former takes a very similar scenario and treats it in a more light-hearted manner.
As a swashbuckling hero Lancaster was not in the same league as Flynn- he was to achieve more later in his career when he reinvented himself as a serious actor- but here he is charismatic enough to keep the film watchable, with the aid of some well-handled action sequences.
When in the brig on charges, Foreign Legion Sgt Mike Kincaid learns from a Riff prisoner of an impending attack on the outpost of Tarfa.
In exchange for freedom, Kincaid and his men offer to run a series of distracting missions across the territory to keep the enemy busy until help can arrive.
When he also learns that the leader of the Riffs, Caid Hussein, plans to marry Mahla, a girl from another tribe, in order to combine the two tribes against the French, Kincaid kidnaps her and flees into the desert sparking anger and a chase from Hussein and a growing love for Kincaid in Mahla.Featuring the chest and jaw of Burt Lancaster, this is just one of many foreign legion films that were so popular at one time in Hollywood.
Of course this is not to say it does anything special, because it doesn't but it does do what you would expect from a foreign legion picture of the period sand storms, heroic sacrifice, bare chested heroes, torture, attacks on forts and so on.
Those who like the matinée feel of the foreign legion film will enjoy it as such but just don't expect it to do anything above and beyond the call of duty as the characters, plot, action and delivery are all fairly average and prevent the film from standing out from the crowd..
"The Sahara - - years ago, land of the Riffs, the Foreign Legion-and adventure".
More known for writing credits that include the likes of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Sergeant Rutledge, Willis Goldbeck here instead jumps into the directors chair for this fun Burt Lancaster led desert adventure piece.
Also starring Jody Lawrance, Gerald Mohr and John Dehner, the film finds a cast rightly not taking things too seriously.
The plot sees Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Lancaster all teeth and pectorals) lead nine Legionnaires on a deadly mission to delay a Riff attack on a desert fort.
Whilst on the trek Kincaid learns that the Riff leader Khalid Hussein (Mohr) is planning to marry Mahla (Lawrance) so as to unite two once opposing tribes.
So, to prevent the marriage, Kincaid kidnaps Mahla and the troubles for the Legionnaires are about to get much much worse.It's easy to dismiss the all round acting as being rather poor, but with the material and the obvious tone the makers were going for, it all sits rather well.
In those last years before the French finally cleared out of North Africa, Foreign Legion films seem to have been popular with the movie going public.
Ten Tall Men is a typical example of such a film.
Even though ultimately and soon the French would be driven out of the area the Foreign Legion patrolled before the decade ended.Burt Lancaster is a sergeant of American background in the Foreign Legion and typically we don't know what drove him to join.
His two corporals are Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore and a bit of lese majeste involving Mari Blanchard got these guys some stockade time.
But Burt with that smile and those pecs is the guy for the job.None of the players in Ten Tall Men took this one real seriously and neither should we.
Ten Tall Men is like a combination of The Desert Song and The Road To Morocco without songs.Don't believe me, well check out the end and you can't tell me The Road To Morocco didn't inspire that..
When French Foreign Legionnaire Kincaid (Burt Lancaster) is told of an impending attack on the outpost of in North Africa while he is imprisoned.
In return for his freedom he and his men will distract the enemy until help arrived.However he learns that the treacherous leader of the Riffs plans to marry Mahla, a girl from a rival tribe in order to create an alliance against the French.
Kincaid kidnaps her and takes for the desert where both fall for each other.Burt Lancaster was the tough, compassionate and dashing soldier several years before From Here to Eternity.The plot nicely shot in Technicolour does have a hint of being shot in a Hollywood back lot rather than a desert.
It also has a whole heap of campness especially with a bare chested Lancaster about to be tortured.Its purely a film of its time with a light plot, broad humour, a clunky romance where the white soldier kidnaps the Arab princess and inexplicably fall in love.
The 38 Year Old Burt Lancaster.
An impressive 38 year old Burt Lancaster appears in this mediocre film.
Although there is no one film that I like about Lancaster, he was impressive at 38..
The French Foreign Legion movie usually ranked as one of Hollywood's most enjoyable sub-genres, and this is a good though undistinguished example of it.
If it doesn't quite match 1953's "Desert Legion," it's probably because of a tongue-in-cheek tone which sometimes seems a bit juvenile, and because of an unconvincing leading lady -- Jody Lawrance -- who seems more North Hollywood than North Africa.
However, Burt Lancaster shone in this kind of adventure and you don't have to wait long before he has his shirt off in a bathtub scene.
If like me you prefer adventure movies that entertain and that don't have to engage the brain then this is probably right up your sand dune.
Most of today's audience will also notice there's no cgi cartoonery that has to be in every film made nowadays.Swashbuckling Legionnaire Burt Lancaster gets out of jail on the understanding he will delay by 5 days the naughty Riff's attack on their stronghold at Tarfa, picking 9 men fairly good and true to help.
Although Lancaster initially seemed to me to be missing Nick Cravat he turned in some fine non-acrobatic comedic moments – as the supposed father to 2 ugly daughters, dodging Princess Mahla's bullets, and one of my favourite split seconds from any film ever made is when he lustily roars out "Murderers!" to the aghast wedding party.
But what the red blooded Mike was supposed to see in Mahla was beyond me though as she wasn't a very friendly lady - even at the end if she'd ever said I Love You to Lancaster I'd take it to mean Take That!So, it's nothing heavy and has absolutely no significance at all – but every few years it's a pleasant time passer for me, 97 minutes of witty and romantic middlebrow entertainment.
This is a typical Hollywood action-adventure movie of the 1950's.
It is a vehicle for Burt Lancaster to show case his sly romantic, tongue in cheek comedic, and of course his bravura talents.
This film also has a bunch of well known Hollywood character actors, most as reprobate Legionnaires who are sent on a mission to delay the Riff from attacking the town of Tarfa.
Producers: Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster.Copyright 5 November 1951 by Halburt Productions, Inc. A Norma Production, released by Columbia Pictures Corp.
97 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Foreign Legion Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Burt Lancaster) and nine comrades-in-arms undertake to stop a Riff attack on the desert city of Tarfa.
Mike captures Mahla (Jody Lawrance), a Riff princess whose marriage to Hussin (Gerald Mohr) will ally two Riff tribes against the French.COMMENT: A Foreign Legion romp with Burt Lancaster and company pretending to be legionnaires, alternately incredibly brave or playfully skittish.
Burt Lancaster makes an efficient looking sergeant, and Kieron Moore a somewhat less adequate corporal.
Burt Lancaster is a sergeant in the French Foreign Legion, head of a pack of madcap ne'er-do-wells including some of the leading lights among the supporting players of the 40s and 50s.
For added thrills and laughs, there is Mari Blanchard in a canary yellow dress and a fluffy hair do of the same tint.Lancaster and his men capture a Riff prisoner and bring him back to Lieutenant Kruger in temporary charge of the base at Tafra.
One foreign accent sounds much like any other to Hollywood's ears, and it's as well that the mean guy should be a German because 1951 was only six years after the end of World War II and we still hadn't forgiven the Nazis.
(Gasp.)" The ending is a Donneybrook in the enemy camp, so comic it could be Bing Crosby and Bob Hope instead of Lancaster's men.
Burt Lancaster is at his best here.
"3 Men in White" director Willis Goldbeck's "Ten Tall Men" is a rip-snorting adventure in the Errol Flynn tradition about recklessly brave heroes and slimy villains running loose in the dunes.
Basically, the Roland Kibbee & Frank Davis screenplay, based on a story by James Warner Bellah and Goldbeck, is a French Foreign Legion escapade against murderous desert tribes that want to wipe out the French.
Nevertheless, this is fast, furious and frivolous nonsense with Lancaster in command at all times supported by Gilbert Roland and Kieron Moore.
This Columbia Pictures release is in glorious color and the cast is first-rate."Ten Tall Men" opens with French Foreign Legion Sergeant Mike Kincaid (Burt Lancaster of "All My Sons") masquerading as an Arab merchant.
Kincaid trudges along a desert trail with his two veiled daughters, in reality Corporals Luis Delgado (Gilbert Roland of "Camille") and Pierre Molier (Kieron Moore of "Mine Own Executioner") in disguise waiting to catch an enemy Rif warrior.
Not surprisingly, while Kruger is interrogating the Rif prisoner that Sergeant Kincaid provided him, Kincaid is making time with DeLatour.
Predictably, Kincaid winds up in the clink with his Legionnaire buddies, Londos (George Tobias of "Objective, Burma"), Mouse (Nick Dennis of "Spartacus"), and Roshko (Mike Mazurkia of "Murder, My Sweet"), and learns from the Rif prisoner that Tarfu is going to be wiped out.
Kincaid tells Kruger about the enemy plans and insists that he can save the garrison as well as the town if Kruger will give him ten men.
Naturally, Kruger has his doubts and cannot spare the manpower so Kincaid settles for men in the stockade.Our heroes descend onto the enemy camp deep in the desert by an oasis.
Instead, they discover that the tent belongs to a beautiful girl, Mahla (Jody Lawrance of "Mask of the Avenger"), who is not only about to marry Khalif Hussein (Gerald Mohr of "Invasion, U.S.A.") but also unite two tribes intent on running the French out of Morocco.
Kincaid and his men snatch Mahla and Hussein and company pursue them.
The commandant of the Foreign Legion orders Lieutenant Kruger to administer full honors to Kincaid after he pins on the medal.
Kincaid gives the medal to Mahla and tells her that it belonged to his mother.Fistfights, shoot-outs, horse chases, and more enliven this adventure film.
The diminutive Frenchman who plays Lancaster's orderly is future "Hogan's Heroes" star Robert Clary making his film debut.
Despite the presence of Burt Lancaster, this is a very ordinary sort of French Foreign Legion film.
You certainly WON'T be reminded of "Beau Geste" when you see "Ten Tall Men".Lancaster plays a trouble-loving sergeant.
Much of the rest of the film consists of Lancaster and his men running from the pursuers.I assume that if you love the colonial system, you will be more favorably disposed towards this film.
As for me, the deciding factor for not loving the film had much more to do with the very pedestrian nature of the movie.
Not a terrible film--just not a good one either.By the way, look for Robert Clary (of "Hogan's Heroes" fame) in a small part as one of the natives. |
tt0034742 | Flying Tigers | Jim Gordon (John Wayne in his first war film) leads the Flying Tigers, a squadron of freelance American pilots who fly Curtiss P-40B fighters against Japanese aircraft in the skies over China. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money (they receive a bounty for each aircraft shot down), or just the thrill of aerial combat.
One day, old friend and former airline pilot Woody Jason (John Carroll) signs up under Jim's command. An arrogant, hot-shot aviator, he starts causing trouble immediately. When the Japanese raid the Flying Tigers' airbase, the enthusiastic new arrival goes after them, taking up a P-40 fighter without permission, not realizing until too late that it has no ammunition. As a result, Woody is shot down. He is unharmed after his fighter crash lands, but the precious P-40 fighter is a total wreck. As time goes on, Woody shows that he has little use for teamwork, alienating and endangering the other pilots. He abandons his wingman, Blackie Bales (Edmund MacDonald), in order to shoot down a Japanese aircraft. As a result, Blackie comes under fire from another and must bail out of his burning P-40. While hanging suspended in his parachute, he is strafed to death by the Japanese pilot.
Woody starts romancing nurse Brooke Elliott (Anna Lee), who is considered by all the Tiger pilots to be Jim's girlfriend. One night, they go on a date. When he is late getting back for a night patrol, Jim's right-hand man, "Hap" Smith (Paul Kelly), secretly takes his place, despite having just been grounded by Jim because his vision had deteriorated, notably at night. In the resulting dogfight Hap is unable to judge distances accurately and winds up dying in a collision with a Japanese aircraft he is pursuing. This proves to be the final straw. While sitting at his office desk, Jim fires Woody, explaining that "It's out of my hands now. None of these men will ever fly with you again. And they have to fly". The date showing on Jim's calendar is Sunday, December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II.
A day later, Jim receives notice that a vital bridge must be destroyed. The target is so heavily defended, however, that the only way there might be a chance of succeeding is to fly in very low with a single unescorted bomber to attack the bridge; the mission appears likely to be a one-way suicide mission. Jim volunteers to fly the bomber, but Woody invites himself along at the last second, much to Jim's irritation. They proceed to attack the bridge too late to keep a crucial enemy supply train from crossing. Their aircraft is hit by flak and catches fire. Jim bails out with an unexpected push from Woody, expecting Woody to follow. Woody, however, has concealed the fact that he is bleeding, having been hit by shrapnel from a flak burst. He then takes the bomber's controls and heroically crashes into the train, destroying it at the cost of his own life. Back at the Tigers' base, Woody has left a goodbye letter which Jim and Brooke read; in that letter he has asked for his lucky scarf to be given to the next pilot who thinks aerial combat will be "an easy racket". Jim hands the scarf to his youthful new wingman, telling him to "Take good care of it ... it belonged to a pretty good flyer". | violence, romantic | train | wikipedia | One poster complained that the Flying Tigers actually were only flight trainers for the Chinese Air Force, and only lost three pilots in combat.
Sixth, the outdoor sequences of "The Flying Tigers" were not filmed in Northridge, California, but rather in the high desert area around Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the (successful) attempt to give the foliage a more "foreign" look.As to the film itself, I would suggest you go to the Fighter Museum in Phoenix, AZ, or the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH, and find out just how close the film was to reality.
Wayne Goes To War. John Wayne's first war film was one of his best, a solid actioner with Wayne giving great presence as the leader of a fighter squadron doing battle against the Japanese invader over the skies of China in the dark days before the U.S. entry into World War II.Wayne plays Jim "Pappy" Gordon, a variation on the many flinty-commander-with-heart-of-gold characters he would play in films to follow like "Sands Of Iwo Jima" and "Fighting Seabees." Gordon is less flinty than most of them, maybe because his men are volunteers or maybe because his girlfriend Brooke (Anna Lee) is stationed on the same airbase.
While the Japanese take their toll on his men, Gordon's toughest job may be keeping peace in his squadron when smug gloryhog Woody Jason (John Carroll) arrives.When I first saw "Flying Tigers" as a boy, the on-screen gore made the strongest impression.
Though it's troubling to be entertained by what amounts to real images of people getting killed, director David Miller manages to incorporate actual combat footage very well into battle sequences that alternate with Lydecker miniature work and shots of actors in their cockpits, better than the more acclaimed director Nicholas Ray later did in another Wayne air war film, "Flying Leathernecks.""Flying Tigers" contains one key historical inaccuracy: While assembled in the months before Pearl Harbor, the Tigers didn't see action until December 20, 1941.
This is an important caveat, but the inaccuracy allows for one of the very first and best examples of that classic movie cliché, where a dramatic scene ends with a glimpse of a desk calendar showing the date "Dec. 7." The scene that follows is one of those Wayne moments that resonated especially in theaters in 1942 and still packs a punch now: Pappy alone by a radio, standing expressionless while a cigarette smolders in his fingers, listening to President Roosevelt declare war.Neither Wayne's iconographic stature or final victory against the Japanese were sure things when "Flying Tigers" came out in 1942; we tend to take more for granted and give films like this less credit.
Unlike other wartime films which went heavy on ethnic stereotyping, the Japanese are seen as skilled, ruthless adversaries who require resolve to face down.The film does lose altitude at the end, when Wayne goes off on a hare-brained bombing mission and Carroll has a "why-we-fight" epiphany that rings rather hollow.
There's also a little too much melodrama between Wayne and Lee that feels out of place in a war film.But "Flying Tigers" has weathered the years better than most films of its kind, and is a historic landmark both for its effective action scenes and its pioneering use of Wayne as cultural touchstone.
The Flying Tigers and God Is My Co-Pilot are the two films out of World War II which are dedicated to the American volunteers who flew for the nascent Chinese Air Force both before and after America officially got into World War II.
And it's true they did have a nasty habit of machine gunning fliers while they were parachuting down, no avoiding that.The main plot of the film is John Wayne as the disciplined leader of this particular squadron of Flying Tigers based somewhere in western China and an old and rather undisciplined friend John Carroll in a rivalry over nurse Anna Lee. Carroll's irresponsibility causes the death of one man and maybe another.Still he's not a bad sort, just an overgrown kid.
Carroll actually has the best moment in the film consoling Mae Clarke the widow of one of the Flying Tigers.Some nice aerial combat shots are in this film and it really should be seen today to explain some of the Chinese attitudes towards the Japanese today.
We got into World War II on December 7, 1941 which in fact the men in Wayne's squadron hear about in the film.
Being born in 1939 I grew up watching all the John Wayne movies and remember quite well the impact this film had on me and eventually my chosen profession as a pilot.
And, Wayne, being an old pal of Carrol's knows that down deep Carrol will prove himself in the end.Along the way, we are treated to a liberal dose of the nobility of our Chinese comrades in arms as well as the inherent decency of our volunteer pilots.
Well done action film with good attention to detail.Many critics unfairly derailed this movie as propaganda when it is actually a good peek into that time and place.Mercenaries!Oh my!Many do not want to recall that the U.S. was very much involved in combat with the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor.EGAD!No wonder the backlash.See this one if you like John Wayne and war films.One of the greatest B movies ever as this is the forte of Republic films.There are some historical exaggerations but all done in good taste to condense such large scale events into a short movie.......
October '42) recalls that he and a couple other Tigers were so embarrassed by the film that they were caught sneaking out of the theater.However, the loathing of John Wayne contained in other reviews on this site demonstrates a total lack of objectivity.
Yes, this is a second-rate John Wayne war film (which probably makes it a third or fourth-rate movie for some).
Its story resembles a Pat O'Brien/James Cagney military actioner of the thirties, or maybe even the Spencer Tracy/Clark Gable flight movie TEST PILOT, more than it does the real story of the Flying Tigers.
Wayne plays the paternalistic leader always telling the hot shot to play with the team; ironically, it was because the Army Air Force wanted to deflate the cowboy attitude and emphasize team work that the real Flying Tigers got disbanded.
The movie based on their exploits is called " Flying Tigers " and star's John Wayne as Capt.
As a result with the additional cast of John Carroll, Paul Kelly, Gordon Jones and Edmund MacDonald as 'Blackie Bales' the movie succeeds in creating a rousing yarn of heroic young men and the niche they created over the Asian skies.
The Flying Tigers were a volunteer air security team stationed in China both before and during the second world war.
Promotional tours were soon abandoned, and its career ended as a movie prop, appearing in ground roles* in several motion pictures ("Five Came Back" 1939, "Flying Tigers" 1942, others) before reportedly being scrapped c.1943.
The Flying Tigers were the foundation for America`s efforts to win the war against Japan in the Pacific theater.I liked John Wayne`s character`s toughness in order to GET THE JOB DONE.Unlike Claire Channault and "Pappy" Boyington, it is unfortunate that John Wayne is not buried at Arlington National Cemetery..
Exciting WW2 actioner about flight commander John Wayne and his crew having to deal with hot shot pilot John Carroll's recklessness.
In this case, it was looking like Carroll would steal Anna Lee away from John Wayne which is a movie-killing idea if there ever was one.
WWII propaganda is entertaining John Wayne film....
FLYING TIGERS, made on a tight budget for Republic Studios, has JOHN WAYNE doing his standard hero role with ease and skill as he copes with a squadron of American men volunteering to shoot down Japanese planes during the early days of WWII.
Roosevelt, heard in his famous speech to Congress wherein he invokes that "day of infamy" phrase.If this were an MGM film, it would have been a perfect vehicle for SPENCER TRACY (in Wayne's role) and CLARK GABLE (in the JOHN CARROLL part of a cocky flyer).
Carroll breezily handles the role of Jason, Wayne's old service buddy who shows up at the outpost in China so he can shoot down the Japanese for $500 per downed aircraft and makes no bones about it.
His cavalier attitude is a turnoff for the men in the squad, so we know he's going to have to redeem himself in everyone's eyes by becoming a hero before the last reel is over.It's a clichéd story, done before in films like ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, even the part about the disabled man whose eyesight bans him from flying but nevertheless must prove himself when the chips are down and he gets the chance to fly because Carroll doesn't show up in time.
These and other plot devices seem borrowed from the Howard Hawks film, whether intentionally or not.But it serves as good, solid entertainment for John Wayne fans, despite the low-budget production values because all of the aerial sequences are well filmed with special effects that make the action as realistic as possible, even when some of the footage appears to be taken from actual stock scenes of dogfights.Victor Young's score is a solid plus, and the performances are adequate with ANNA LEE as a charming nurse for Wayne's love interest and GORDON JONES as Carroll's sidekick, with MAE CLARK, TOM NEAL and David BRUCE in minor roles.Carroll's role is played in such a way that he reminded me of a poor man's Clark Gable--the same cocky charm and arrogance that Gable would have brought to the role.For fans of WWII war films, this one fills the bill nicely..
Flying Tigers was not a big-budget film, with what appears to be Northridge, CA subbing for China, but there's enough action and explosions to make any male viewer happy (and some sappy love interest, too).
Other attention to detail: the Americans were basically paid mercenaries and one of them makes no bones that he is killing for cash; the flying tactics are mostly accurate as the actual P-40s in China were, on their own, no match for Japanese Zeroes.
As the leaders of one of the squadrons of the American Volunteer Group in China known as the Flying Tigers, "Captain Jim 'Pappy' Gordon" (John Wayne) has a lot on his hands.
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay movie overall but-like most films produced during World War 2-it has it's fair share of propaganda.
Be that as it may, while some viewers might consider this movie to be a bit corny it served as a refreshing change of pace for many Americans during this particular time and all things considered I have rated this film accordingly.
The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war and made national heroes out of the real-life Flying Tigers and their commander Claire Chennault, who as paid warriors in the Chinese air force were the only Americans already fighting the Japanese on 7 December 1941.
John Wayne was swiftly hired to play the pilot mercenary leader in a propaganda movie a year later.
The chief sub cut and replaced it with the words: "Standard John Wayne war movie" instead.
In this early war film Wayne played Claire Chennault disguised under a pseudonym Jim Gordon perhaps to keep US intentions from the Japanese.AVG, the official acronym of the Flying Tigers, was composed of American mercenaries who flew for the Chinese Republic.
A few years before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a unit called The Flying Tigers helps the Chinese defend themselves against air strikes from the Japanese.
When Jim's old pal, Woody Jason, joins him on the team it sees their friendship put under strain as Woody's cavalier attitude puts him and the others at risk.I'm not entirely sure why this film was thought to be a morale booster because I would have though the troops may have been a bit narked that John Wayne was free to make films when really he should have been overseas as well as part of the draft.
The real draw of the film are the occasional dog fights that, although obvious models at times, are still reasonably good fun (compared to the rest of the material anyway).The preaching message at the end (where Carroll says that the Chinese cities meant nothing to him until he realized that they were just people like back home) is a bit rich and in poor taste when you consider what the US then did to the Japanese cities but I suppose you can forgive it for doing what it set out to do simplify the issues for the sake of boosting morale.
Anyway, I am curious as to what kind of an airplane John Wayne and the other guy were flying trying to drop the nitro on the Japanese.
How long have they been up in the frigging air?!" John Wayne was a terrible actor but this was the worst film he ever attempted.
John Wayne as 'Captain Jim' is great for the most part but Anna Lee as his admiring nurse/sweetheart?
Had The Duke survived to the present day, then the parallel with the Bush Regime would probably be even more profound.Anyway, to the film; you could sum it up and say 'John Wayne; good', 'Japanese; evil, bad'.
The Japanese do 'bad' things (ie bomb innocent civillians and shoot American pilots) and The Duke flies into town in his white plane and cleans up the whole gosh darn mess..There's nothing wrong with this film; it's a John Wayne film and it is very much 'of its' time' - xenophobia and racial stereotypes included.However, everytime The Duke lights a cigarette I cringe, because this is what, in time took his first lung, and ultimately his life..
FLYING TIGERS is one of those American war movies that came out while WW2 was still in full swing.
This film's milieu is a little different, chronicling as it does the adventures of a group of voluntary American pilots battling the Japanese in the skies over China just before Pearl Harbor.The film is low budget but effective and the lack of real plane interiors and the like is well disguised by the director's efforts.
Possessing unmatched skill and bravery, Jim Gordon (John Wayne), the Tigers' commander, is the top gun of China's skies.
Jim's fight to retain his respect for Woody while maintaining the solidarity of his pilots is an explosive battle of courage and heroism that lights up the sky with action!" according to the DVD sleeve description.This looks like it was rushed together from other war stories featuring brave flight commanders and his heroic crews, with all the familiar theatrics - the exception that Captain Wayne (as "Pappy" Gordon) doesn't ease his pain with alcohol can be explained as the film's release during wartime necessitated a pro-war slant.
"Flying Tigers" is usually claimed to be Wayne's first war picture, though he'd been fighting mightily in previous films.
Herein, Mr. Wayne is a steadfast but easy to pushover leader, hotshot John Carroll (as "Woody" Jason) gets most of the script action, cute nurse Anna Lee (as Brooke Elliott) cleans up quickly in the bath, and Paul Kelly (as "Hap" Davis) supports the team well.
The film is so programmed and artificial, it's difficult to recommend - but, many in the cast are enjoyable, and they've included some good, action-packed aerial footage.***** Flying Tigers (10/8/42) David Miller ~ John Wayne, John Carroll, Anna Lee, Paul Kelly.
The "Flying Tigers" gets off the ground early as Commander Jim Gordon (John Wayne) leads his blue group fighters into exciting aerial battle against the Japanese.
The film takes a look at an American band of mercenary fliers defending China just prior to our entry into World War II.
For historical perspective, there's a scene right after Gordon chastises hot shot flier Woody Jason (John Carroll) for missing a night time reconnaissance flight; on Gordon's desk is a calendar with the date - Sunday December 7, 1941.
This right after giving parachuted buddy Gordon the old Geronimo out the plane's door before disobeying orders one last time.John Wayne's romantic interest in the movie is suitably portrayed by Anna Lee, her character a nurse at the air base tending to Chinese children and wounded fliers when necessary.
Jones looks a bit out of place in the film, perhaps I've seen him too many times playing the foil to Abbott and Costello in any number of their own movies and TV shows.Both as a war film and a John Wayne vehicle, "Flying Tigers" is generally adequate, taking some liberties from a historical viewpoint to be considered entirely accurate.
Jim Gordon(Wayne)leads an American Volunteer Group which flew for the Chinese against the Japanese...right up to that fateful day December 7, 1941.
Gordon comes to odds with an old friend Woody Jason(John Carroll), who seems to need to prove his prowess in the air.
This is an early John Wayne film and, unfortunately, his acting is absolutely not up to his later standards.
They think they're watching a simple war flick, not realizing that this John Wayne vehicle actually is a film noir outing featuring Brooke, the deadliest Femme Fatale in recorded human history.
As John Wayne stares into the distance while socialist president FDR drones on from the radio about "Days of Infamy," you can tell that he's thinking "Some day my grandchild will drive a Lexus." FLYING TIGERS is a cynical look at war profiteering and mercenaries from beginning to end.
While the planes these American war heroes supposedly have the face and teeth of tigers painted on them, it is very apparent that they look more like sharks.
As these military men of the United States protecting the Chinese from invasions of the Japanese, they are involved in combat even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. |
tt0120618 | Breakfast of Champions | Kilgore Trout is a widely published, but otherwise unsung and virtually invisible writer who is invited to deliver a keynote address at a local arts festival in distant Midland City. Dwayne Hoover is a wealthy businessman who owns much of Midland City, but has become increasingly unstable mentally. The novel is achronological and frequently shifts focus between Hoover and Trout, as well as supporting characters like Hoover's son, Bunny, and Wayne Hoobler, and Kurt Vonnegut himself, who appears as the author of the book. "The novel's structure is a simple one, yet it employs simultaneously evolving plots from different times and spaces." Early on, Vonnegut as narrator/creator says he's going to purge himself of mental clutter, and, throughout the novel, can be found examining and refuting disparate concepts, from the 'discovery' of the new world in 1492 to euphemisms for genitalia.
When Kilgore finally arrives in Midland City he piques the interest of Dwayne. A confused Dwayne demands a message from Kilgore, who hands over a copy of his novel. Dwayne reads the novel, which purports to be a message from the Creator of the Universe explaining that the reader – in this case Dwayne – is the only individual in the universe with free will. Everyone else is a robot. Dwayne believes the novel to be factual and immediately goes on a violent rampage, severely beating his son, his lover, and nine other people before being taken into custody. While Kilgore is walking the streets of Midland after Dwayne's rampage the narrator of the book approaches Kilgore. The narrator tells Kilgore of his existence, and lets Kilgore be free and under his own will. Kilgore begs to be made young again, and the novel ends with a full-page drawing of Vonnegut crying. | absurd, avant garde, satire, comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1261047 | Gulaal | In the fictional town of Rajpur, Dilip (Raj Singh Chaudhary), a law student who is a Rajput from Bikaner, and his faithful servant, Bhanwar (Mukesh Bhatt), secure housing in an old, run-down British-era pub. Here Dilip meets Rananjay Singh “Ransa” (Abhimanyu Singh), a prince who despises the ideologies of his father and the aristocracy. Ransa's straightforward and fearless personality has quite an effect on the mild-mannered Dilip.
Dilip visits the university hostel where he is ragged by a gang of university thugs, led by Jadwal (Pankaj Jha). They strip him and lock him in a room with Anuja (Jesse Randhawa), a young lecturer in the same university. Dilip and Anuja are released naked. Dilip's brother tells him to ignore the event and that things were the same in his days, effectively stating that the society as a whole hasn’t changed much since his time. But Ransa disagrees and tells Dilip that they should avenge this act. Initially, Dilip is reluctant but gives in and goes with Ransa, after Ransa provokes him to give the thugs a taste of their own medicine. But the tables are turned and Dilip and Ransa are beaten, ragged, and thrown out of the hostel. Ransa meets Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon), a local figure who is trying to gather support for the Rajputana separatist movement, who allows them to proceed with the plan to injure Jadwal. Ransa and Dilip ambush Jadwal, but the other thugs corner them in a cinema hall. Dukey Bana intervenes and rescues them. Dukey Bana then convinces Ransa to compete in the General Secretary Elections at the university. Running against Ransa is his father's out-of-wedlock daughter, Kiran (Ayesha Mohan).
Ransa is kidnaped by his father's out-of-wedlock son Karan (Aditya Srivastava), who asks him to withdraw from the elections. Ransa mocks him and Karan kills him. Taking advantage of the situation, Dukey Bana makes Dilip take Ransa's place in the election. The chances of Dilip winning are minimal, so Dukey Bana bribes the electoral panel to rig the count in Dilip's favour. Dilip wins the election to become the general secretary. Kiran then seduces Dilip and convinces him to allow her to become the cultural secretary. Dukey Bana starts using the funds for the Rajputana separatist movement. When Dilip finds out, he goes to confront Dukey Bana about the funds. Bana lets Dilip know about the movement and tells him that the funds are being used for it. Dilip is not convinced and tries to reason with Bana.
A frustrated Bana takes Dilip to his country estate where his thugs have killed Jadwal. He shows him the body to intimidate him. Anuja is thrown out of the hostel and moves in with Dilip. Kiran gets pregnant and is angry with Dilip for being careless. She gets an abortion and leaves Dilip. Anuja tries to make Dilip understand that Kiran has no interest in leading a married life and leaves him. A frustrated Dilip resigns from his post and Kiran steps in. In a private meeting, an irate Dukey threatens Karan and Kiran by telling them that the only reason they're alive is because of their links to the local king. She then tries to seduce Dukey Bana. She fails when Bhati (Deepak Dobriyal), Dukey's second-in-command, comes looking for Dukey.
Dilip, blinded by his love for Kiran, becomes violent and aggressive. Anuja also decides to leave him. Meanwhile, Dilip finds out about Kiran from Bana's mistress, Madhuri (Mahi Gill). He grabs a gun, goes to Bana's house and shoots him. While dying, Bana tells him that Kiran used Dilip to get to him. At the same time, Karan reveals to his group of thugs that once Dukey Bana is out of the way, the Rajputana movement will have no choice but to choose Karan as its new leader and, therefore, legitimise his royal status. They conclude that, to get rid of Dukey, they must first eliminate Bhati. Dilip wants to hear the truth from Kiran, so he tells Bhati to get her on the phone. Kiran refuses to answer. Bhati goes off to find her and is killed by Karan's thugs. Dilip meets Kiran who tells him that all she wanted to was use him to become general secretary. Dilip rejects her explanation and almost shoots her but gets shot by thugs. Despite his injuries, Dilip walks back to his house and dies there. The film ends with Karan as the head of the Rajputana movement, while Kiran sheds a tear as one of the loyal faithful.
Parallel to the plot there is the character of Dukey Bana's brother Prithvi Bana, played by Piyush Mishra. He wears bizarre dress and seems a psychotic. He talks very satirically and is often abused and slapped by Dukey banna for this. It is told in flashback that he was a guitarist in his young days. Along with him there is a person characterised as Ardhanarishvara, who is killed by Dukey Bana mistakenly when Dukey Bana was outraged with his brother and aims to shoot him and misses. | revenge, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0056504 | Sodom and Gomorrah | The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah prosper because of their great deposits of salt, which are mined by an army of slaves. The decadent citizens, who have become wealthy by trading salt, live in luxury and use slaves as servants and for violent games of entertainment.
After a night of revelry, Astorath (Stanley Baker), the Prince of Sodom, tells slave girl Tamar (Scilla Gabel) to carry a message to the king of the Elamites, with whom he plans to overthrow his sister, Bera, Queen of Sodom (Anouk Aimée). Returning from her meeting in the desert with the Elamite leader, Tamar is captured by a Sodomite patrol. Queen Bera demands the name of her co-conspirator. Tamar refuses to speak under interrogation and Bera has her and her two young sisters killed.
Meanwhile, Lot (Granger) leads his family and a Hebrew tribe through the desert, hoping that he can find a permanent home for his people along the fertile banks of the River Jordan. By contrast with the people of the twin cities the Hebrews are presented as a pious and austere people with high moral standards. As the Hebrews approach their destination, Lot meets the beautiful Ildith (Pier Angeli), who luxuriates in a litter while a group of slave girls in chains precede her over the rocky terrain. Lot assumes that Ildith owns these women. She tells him that she is also a slave, albeit the chief of the Queen of Sodom's body slaves. Lot tells her that owning slaves is evil. The following dialog ensues:
Ildith: "Evil? How strange you are. Where I come from, nothing is evil. Everything that gives pleasure is good."
Lot: "Where do you come from?"
Ildith: "There, not far. Just ahead: Sodom and Gomorrah."
Once Lot and his people reach the Jordan, he negotiates the use of the land on one side of the river with Queen Bera, promising her both grain and defense should Sodom's desert enemies attack. In a surprising turn, she gives Lot Ildith, who does not wish to leave the queen and her life of luxury in Sodom. Astorath is disgusted and baffled by his sister's easy terms with the Hebrews. However, he soon turns his attentions to Lot's flirtatious daughter, Shuah (Rossana Podestà).
Ildith dislikes the rough conditions of the Hebrew camp, but soon becomes a friend to Lot's daughters. She and Lot also fall in love and plan to marry. Love also blooms elsewhere in the camp as Shuah and Prince Astorath begin a secret affair. Lot's other daughter, Maleb (Claudia Mori) and his headstrong lieutenant, Ishmael (Rik Battaglia) also plan a marriage.
Lot and Ildith's wedding day celebrations are interrupted by an Elamite attack. Although the Hebrew farmers and the Sodomite soldiers fight valiantly, they are nearly defeated by the fierce nomadic warriors. As a last, desperate measure, Lot orders the dam that the Hebrews have built to be broken. His quick thinking saves the twin cities and the Hebrews, but the camp and the crops are destroyed. However, the flood waters reveal that the Hebrew camp is also the site of a vast salt deposit. Lot now believes that the Hebrews can move out of the wilderness and live among the Sodomites ("Separate, but in their full view," he cautions) by selling salt. (In the original Roadshow prints, this is where the theatrical intermission occurred.)
Some time later, Lot and Ildith now live in luxury in Sodom. Sodomites and Hebrews both revere Lot and seek his judgment. Ishmael however, believes that Lot has succumbed to luxury and instead should liberate Sodom's mine slaves. Lot disagrees and advises Ishmael to wait, believing that the Sodomites will change their ways in time. Ishmael does not heed Lot and unsuccessfully tries to set the slaves free. He believes that the Hebrews will harbour the slaves, but they instead shut their doors on the desperate escapees who are soon recaptured and sentenced to death. As the newly appointed minister of justice, Lot must now sentence Ishmael. However Ishmael is only one of Lot's problems, as he is confronted by the jealous Prince Astorath, who tells him that not only has he had both of Lot's daughters, but that Ildith had known and kept the affairs secret. An outraged Lot kills Astorath.
At this point, Queen Bera's plot becomes clear: she used the Hebrews to destroy the Elamite threat and also used Lot to rid her of her scheming brother. Lot becomes deeply remorseful that he has not only killed but he has led his family and people into sin. Bera has him taken to prison.
While Lot asks God for forgiveness and guidance, two angels appear to tell him that God is displeased with the twin cities and will destroy them. Lot pleads with the angels to spare the city if he can find just ten Sodomite citizens who will repent and leave the cities with him. The angels agree and free both Lot and Ishmael from prison.
Meanwhile, many recaptured slaves are tortured to death on the wheel. Queen Bera exclaims "But wait, the games have just begun," as Lot appears seeking ten righteous Sodomites.
Although he has God's consent, Lot finds it impossible to persuade any Sodomite citizens to follow him, only the slaves are willing to accompany him. Even his own daughters, who believe Lot a hypocrite, at first refuse. Ildith, however, convinces them to leave, hoping that they will someday understand their father and his greatness as a leader. Shuah goes only grudgingly, telling Lot that she hopes to see him suffering, as she does now that Astorath is dead.
Immediately after the Hebrews and Sodomite slaves leave, God assails Sodom with earthquakes and lightning. Queen Bera retreats with her slave Orphea to her palace, where they are killed under the collapsing pillars. Everybody flees into the streets and are crushed by collapsing towers.
Meanwhile, Ildith now wishes she were back in Sodom. Despite her love for Lot, she cannot accept his God, choosing to believe in Lot rather than in a Divine plan. Despite Lot's warnings, Ildith looks back at Sodom. God turns her into a pillar of salt just as He destroys the city with a final fiery explosion. Lot collapses in grief. Maleb and Shuah rush to comfort him. He staggers off with the Hebrews, who wander the desert once more. | tragedy, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0140613 | The Day Lincoln Was Shot | The movie shows the events leading up to and after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, as well as a look into the personal lives of both men. Lincoln is relieved that Richmond has fallen and the Civil War is over. He has contentious discussions with his Cabinet about the treatment of the defeated South. They want the Confederates punished while Lincoln argues for mercy. The President is despised by many Southerners and receives numerous death threats. Lincoln has a rather fatalistic attitude about these, however he has a disturbing dream about hearing cries in the White House and seeing a coffin in the East Room surrounded by mourners crying out that an assassin has murdered the President. Booth is the most popular actor in the country (it is pointed out that only Lincoln has his picture taken more). Coming from an acting family, he feels overshadowed by his father and brother and longs to make his mark on history. A fanatical Confederate sympathizer, Booth sees Lincoln as a tyrant and slavery as a proper way of life. He assembles a motley group of Confederates including former Soldier Lewis Paine and simple-minded David Herold. They form a plot to kidnap the President. However, the war ends and Booth is outraged when he hears Lincoln making a speech promising African-Americans citizenship and the vote. His plan to kidnap turns into a murder plot. He decides to assassinate Lincoln at Ford's Theatre and orders Paine to kill Secretary Of State William Seward and orders another accomplice to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. Booth kills Lincoln and escapes after breaking his leg jumping to the stage. Paine attacks Seward who survives and the Vice President is unharmed. After an intense manhunt, Booth is shot and killed inside a burning barn surrounded by federal troops. He dies on the front porch saying that he died for his country. The credits reveal that Booth's confederates were put on trial and hanged. Ironically, Lincoln's successor Johnson was much harsher on the defeated South then Lincoln would have been. | tragedy, violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0091284 | Janbaaz | Rana Vikram Singh lives in a huge farmhouse with his wife, Laxmi and two sons: Rajesh (Feroz Khan), a police officer and Amar (Anil Kapoor), a fun-loving playboy. Amar's entry begins with him playing a round of loaded Russian Roulette which he wins and proclaims himself jaanbaaz.
Rajesh has gone through a traumatic experience of losing his love Seema (Sridevi), when she succumbed to drug addiction. He vows to fight the drug menace. An underworld kingpin Raja (Shakti Kapoor) murders Rana's old friend. Reshma (Dimple Kapadia), his friend's daughter, takes shelter in Rana's house. Rajesh is on the drug trail. Reshma's father lost a huge bet (by being tricked) to Raja after which Raja killed him in a fake accident.
When Reshma goes to live with them, Amar has sex with her in a horse stable. After savoring Reshma and ruining her life, Amar refuses to marry her. Reshma is heartbroken but continues to move on with her life. When Rana comes to know of Amar's relationship with Reshma, he warns him that Reshma is not suitable for their family. But Amar maintains an interest and is jealous to see Reshma in the company of Vikas, an employee at the farmhouse. A fight ensues between Vikas and Amar, and Vikas is killed. Amar is now on the run, and Rajesh has been assigned the task of apprehending him. But at the end Reshma doesn't go to Rajesh. | good versus evil, romantic | train | wikipedia | A Feroze Khan Film.
Starting from Apradh(1972)as a director and actor, Feroze Khan who recently passed away was the flamboyant guy of the classic era(70s & 80s)of Indian cinema.
He was greatly influenced by the action, glamor and adventure of western movies.
Even in Apradh, he would film scenes (glamorous & murder in a bath tub) which were a far cry for those days Indian movies.
He was definitely ahead of his time in getting closer to the western style/touch.
He always choreographed good/hit songs bred with sensational music score and sometimes showing foreign artists/dancers in his movies.
Qurbani (1980) was a block buster primarily due to the super hit songs.Janbaaz, a later day movie in the career of Feroze Khan was also a box office hit.
With young, dashing and robust Aneel Kapoor to act as the prodigal Amar Singh, he got the right guy to portray the like of a spoiled scion of a powerful family.
This spoiled young character had to face a suave and honest elder brother/police officer - Rajesh, beautifully played by Feroze Khan.
As an affront cowboy like brother who sports hedonistic tendencies inherited from their pleasure seeking and rogue father (Amrish Puri), Amar would emerge as a contender between the sincere love affair of his elder brother -Rajesh and Reshma, played by versatile Dimple Kapadia.In all, the story is interestingly meshed up with the dons of underworld drug trade, a criminally lenient feudal father and a reckless younger brother.......
the glamorous Dimple providing obscene pool and kissing scenes with a cameo appearance by Sri Devi and Rekha.Good entertainment and good songs.
Indeed not boring to watch..
A firoz Khan Flick.
Well Guys !
this flick is a Basic feroz khan one.
If u watch bollywood movies then u'd know.
He was greatly influenced by Cowboy movies and calls his home RANCH (yeah thats true).The movie is about Drug Paddllers and A cop with a Love story woven into.
There's vendetta as well.
Not much of a plot really but MAN...this movie is stylish in a cult sort....U like A Shouting John Wayne...u'd like Word Chewing Feroz Khan and well U'd not Seen Anil Kapoor yet....nice performance....i dnt say that its a Award Winner...but its a got its own good things....
....Music...Photography....Style.....
Painfully bad cheese fest.
As a fan of Bollywood in general, this is easily one of the worst I've ever seen.
Its only redeeming features are a couple of good songs, and the unintentional laughs you get from the cheesy production.
The director also plays a leading role in the film, and his performance and direction are both equally inept.
One example of the ridiculous clichés indulged in "Janbaaz" is how every time a gunshot is fired, the actor twirls the pistol back into his holster like a Hollywood cowboy.
The film's only remarkable feature is that, unlike any other Bollywood feature I've seen, it shows a pair of lovers actually kissing on the lips!
Very risqué!!
With a running time of almost three hours, you should not waste your time unless you get your kicks from making fun of bad movies..
Sridevi steals the show with a ten minute performance.
Feroz Khan's 'Janbaaz' is your typical action romantic 80's flick where Khan tries to tackle the theme of drug abuse that is surrounded by poor storytelling.
Of course sex has always been an ingredient in Khan's film and there is some doze of that.
Unfortunately, 'Janbaaz' is hardly a sexy film (thanks to the amateur presentation).
I would have found the movie unintentionally funny but most of the scenes unnecessarily drag on to the point that it gets tiring.
In such circumstances, the remote control is handy for the fast forward application.
Of the so many things I find ridiculous in the story, it really tests your patience when they try to justify the murder of a poor innocent man in the name of love, how Reshma so easily forgives Amar because he murdered Vikas out of jealousy.
There are plenty of such silly moments but that one's the tip of the icing.
One thing that Feroz Khan got right was the soundtrack.
The songs are of the hummable sort.
With some catchy numbers, the one I liked most was 'Har Kisiko Nahin Milta'.
Rekha's item number is hilarious but the song itself has some great lyrics.
Try and catch a glimpse of it on the Internet and you'll see what I mean.
I must add the pairing of Feroz Khan and Sridevi is ridiculously hilarious.
Clearly, Khan does a poor job of hiding his age as dying his hair wasn't enough.
In terms of ç acting he is downright wooden while Anil Kapoor is merely okay.
Dimple Kapadia does well in the initial portions but when things get dramatic she becomes a caricature.
The best part of 'Janbaaz' was Sridevi's portion.
Sadly, this sequence doesn't last more than a few minutes.
How to turn a ten minute performance into something transcendent is something only very few actors can do and and Sridevi has done it with sheer ease..
Watchable 80s Hindi masala film.
It is clichéd but watchable, yet another cops and criminals script made watchable by earnest performances.
There are no acting standouts and Anil Kapur looks awfully green (suiting his role).
Feroz Khan looks his age.
Songs are nice.
Very long but watchable.6/10.
Decent film by FK.
Feroz Khan after Qurbani came back with Jaanbaaz where the aged and overweight FK plays the lead(predictabily), we have Anil Kapooor play a playboy, while Dimple Kapadia thrown in in between, Also we have a subplot with Sridevi(as she rejected Dimple's role) The film has a good plot and it's well handled,the way Anil transforms is well handled.
It also has a very criticised sex scene involving Anil and Dimple The film brings back Shakti Kapoor as the villain.
It also has Amrish Puri in a semi negative role Here too we have expensive sets, item numbers with international artists and a violent end where the other hero diesDirection by FK is good Music was a big hit, Har Kisi Ko is still remembered, Jab Jab is another superb song Feroz Khan looks aged and wrinkled and is as usual Dimple Kapadia is good, Anil Kapoor is good too in his role Shakti Kapoor repeats his Qurbani act, Amrish Puri is good too Sridevi sizzles in a brief role rest are okay |
tt0109369 | Camp Nowhere | Morris "Mud" Himmel has a problem: his parents want to send him away to a summer computer camp. He hates going to summer camp, and would do anything to get out of it. Talking to his friends, he realizes that they are all facing the same sentence of going to a boring summer camp. Together with them, he hatches a plan to create their own summer camp with no parents, no counselors, and no rules. Word gets out and other kids want to join the made up summer camp. Mud decides to blackmail former drama teacher Dennis Van Welker into helping; he had bought an AMC Gremlin and failed to make most of the payments and is being pursued by soon-to-retire collector T.R. Polk, and agrees to help them in return for $1,000.
With Dennis' help, the kids trick all the parents into sending them to the camp, and then rent an old campground (that used to be a hippie commune back in the 1960s and 1970s.) with a cabin on a lake. Some parents believe it is a computer camp, while others believe it is a fat camp, military camp, or an acting camp. The kids use the money their parents had paid for camp to buy toys and food. After a little while, they get bored and wonder if they should just return home. Mud goes to Dennis for help, and with a bribe, he soon finds ways to keep things interesting and help them continue to have fun.
Eventually, the parents want to come visit their kids, despite being told that there are no parents' days. Mud makes a plan to trick them and, along with his friends, they keep the camp concealed. In a matter of hours, they fix it up and set up different scenarios representing the different camps (fat camp, computer camp, military camp, etc.) Their plan works and the parents don't suspect a thing. T.R. Polk then meets a state trooper who was also seeking Dennis, and they find their way into the camp and catch him. The police are called and Mud finds Dennis running away from the authorities. Mud is confronted by the police and protects Dennis from them, but soon after Dennis turns himself in. Mud confesses and explains that the whole thing was his idea, and uses the rest of the money to pay T.R. Polk, who'll retire with a perfect record. Dennis gets off the hook and the kids leave for home, having had the greatest summer of their lives. | romantic | train | wikipedia | It's a great movie to just sit back and relax to, while vicariously living out on screen the things you wish you could have done as a teen.
This movie is better than Meatballs, or other "summer camp" movies, as it doesn't feel the need to resort to sexual content to be funny..
Classic Kids Movie.
as a child the movie embodied my hopes and dreams of a camp away from parents where I was in control.
The movie is simply most kids' dream which makes it a childhood classic..
i grew up in my pre-pubescnet years watching this movie and loving andrew keegan, its one of the best kids escapism movies around and i'd recommend it for other kids too.
I mean who didn't want to be one of those kids at a camp with no adults and a stash of money.Good fun.
I saw it when it came out in 1994 and I still rent it on video.The movie is about a group of young kids who are fed up with the camps their parents are making them go to.
When walking home from school one day, Mud and the others come up with a plan to create a camp of their own.
So now they are all together in putting together a precise parents day without screwing up.I think that this movie is a masterpiece in family cinema.
Good movie for kids.
I'd say this movie was one of the better kid's flicks (not saying that Police Academy is one, but honestly, it's a big piece of crap).
I give it a kids/comedy rating of 7/10 (please note that this is not a generic movie rating.
This movie is no masterpiece, but I consider it fun and light entertainment.
It's a great movie to watch during the summer because it so perfectly portrays the carefree and light-hearted feeling of the season.
Many people have commented that it is the worst movie they've seen; I suggest they watch Grease 2.
This is another of those films made about and starring kids where adults are really rewriting history in a fantasy way.
Well, the story is enjoyable enough, the parents are simple (stupid) enough and the kids all get something they really wanted (without recognizing it beforehand) Not a great movie but an ok time.
I'd be surprised if the critical reviews of this film don't mostly come from kids (or soon to be ex kids) who think its dumb.
Great movie with good values.
A wonderful funny movie.
I wanted to be at the camp with the kids.
I watch it now and wish I could just get away and have a camp like that.
The kids made there own camp and had, Christopher Lloyd, be there camp representative for multiple camps.
Andrew Keagan is in it and when I was younger I thought he was the hottest guy alive so I loved to watch and re-watch the movie.
The kids all get in trouble in the end for deceiving their parents and Lloyd gets his debt which has the cops looking for him paid off in a sweet way..
With a unique cast, led by the ever eccentric Christopher Lloyd, a former drama teacher leads a team of kids to a summer camp free of work, parents or any authoritative counselors.
He is encouraged by four bright but disgruntled youngsters who dread the thought of spending summers being trained to live up up to their parents expectations: fat camp, acting camp, military school and computer camp.
But the shenanigans do not come into classic play until the kids' parents insist on visiting them at their "educational" camp.
This joins ' The Goonies' and 'Willow' and one of the many films that my own kids will grow up watching...but I think if you are watching this film...like me, you are far too much of a child yourself to be thinking about actually having children!.
I saw this movie the day it came out on video 5 years ago, i was 10 or 11.
Any kid could love this movie.
They seek help from the eccentric former drama teacher Dennis(Christopher Lloyd) and they pull off an alternative camp where they can be free all summer.
Starring: Christopher Lloyd of the Back to the Future movies, Jonathan Jackson of "General Hospital", Andrew Keegan of "10 Things I hate About you" and Wendy Makkena of "sister act".
Me and my friends love this movie.
Made me feel like a kid again what with all the summer camp motifs.
My friend Tommy says it reminds him of his camp he went to for about five years when he was a younger kid.
I've seen this movie so many times, I always get it everytime I go to the video shop.
But no matter how old you are Camp Nowhere is a great, funny and entertaining movie.
Jonathan Jackson and Christopher Lloyd play the parts fantastly.No matter how old I get, this movie will always be a favourite of mine.
Camp Nowhere is, if nothing else, a wonderful guide for actors on how to play many parts in one movie.
Christopher Lloyd does a wonderful job playing at least 8 different characters.
Jonathan Jackson, best known for his role on General Hospital, plays at least two other characters besides Mud Himmel.
Each time I expect a formula solution, the movie surprises me with a new and funny twist.
Comic timing is wonderful and young Nathan Cavaleri, who plays Steve, is the one on the guitar in "Summertime Blues" and "Working on It." Watch this movie!.
I just wanted to watch a stupid film, but later on I found out that it wasn't that bad.
I hope you have much fun watching this movie!.
A basic paradise, unsupervised (unless you count a cooky Christopher Lloyd), a bunch of kids, fed up with their forced lived, rebel and decide to make their own camp.
jonathon jackson and melody kay were soo good in the scenes when they had to like each other.
its so great to see where some stars got their starts like jessica alba and..well almost all of the kids in the movie have gone on to do other work too.
i think everyone everywhere would love this movie.
adults, because it reminds them of their youth and children, because it is just a time to get away and pretend that you are actually at camp nowhere.
Best Camp Movie of All Time.
Camp Nowhere was a really fun movie to watch.
It brings back good memories from camp, and it makes you miss being a kid.
The only part I didn't like about this film, it that it was predictable, but all kids movies are like that.
Great summer movie, and a good movie to watch more then once.
Great movie, Jessica Alba's first role.
Why couldn't they have cool stuff like that when I was their age?After Dark Angel was canceled by Fox, I checked this web site to see what else Jessica Alba had starred in.
A good one to watch with the family, but make sure that your kids don't get any ideas.
I would like to say that Camp Nowhere is the best movie that anyone has ever made.
"Camp Nowhere" is just one of those movies that you KNOW will be a feel good movie from the very start.
It follows the tale of 4 kids out to trick their parents and have the best summer at their own camp.
'Space Cowboy's basic premise, for instance, was not plausible but it provided an enjoyable evening of watching for my wife and I, seeing stars we enjoy having fun doing this movie.
It's a kid's movie about celebrating youth, summer and freedom.
The movie has really funny parts, and although kids probably couldn't pull this off in real life, that's not the point!
This is a cute, funny, lighthearted movie, that I've seen a million times but still can't get enough of.
Her acting is a "Adult Film Star" quality and she always sounds like a tone deaf valley girl.I have never enjoyed anything she is in because she ruins everything.
great kids movie.
Morris "Mud" Himmel doesn't want to go to summer computer camp.
The four disparate friends find former drama teacher Dennis Van Welker (Christopher Lloyd) hiding from debt collector T.R. Polk (M.
Then other kids want in on the scam.This is a great kid escapist movie.
I want that Breakfast Club scene where the kids sit down and go into their lives.
This is a fun movie for kids and younger teens..
Film Critic Camille Bajema below: I like this film because it has a lot of super funny scenes and characters!This film is about four friends, Mud, Zack, Trish, and Gaby, played by Jonathan Jackson, Andrew Keegan, Marnette Patterson, and Melody Kay. These kids' parents want to send each of them to awful summer camps.
They are all dreading it until Mud comes up with an idea to make up their own summer camp.
She doesn't want to go to Camp Slenderella!Out of all these wonderful characters, my favorite one is Zack.
I like Zack because although he has a frightening reputation, he's really funny and good at heart!My favorite scene in this film is when the parents come to visit their kids and the kids at Camp Nowhere and they have to pretend that the camp is whatever camp they're supposed to be at!
The acting in this film is pretty good, although at some points it could have been better.This movie is written by Andrew Kurtzman and Eliot Wald and directed by Jonathan Price.The cinematography in this film is great!
It is very picturesque and I I can totally imagine myself there!I recommend this film to both boys and girls from age nine and up because it is a great film the family can watch together, although it is a bit long!I give this film five out of five stars because overall, I think it is very funny, clever and cute!.
Another Camp Movie, Different Year.
"Camp Nowhere" is somewhat of an update of "Meatballs (1979)," starring Christopher Lloyd of "Back to the Future (1985)" fame.
As camp movies go though, this film has its particulars, it is funny, but to a point.
It was not as well received as the 1995 camp film "Heavy Weights," which was a roaring success.Lloyd is a man who needs money and these kids need time to themselves, so they hire him to run their camp, he accepts.
Did I mention that each kid told his/her parents they went to a different camp?
Perhaps these kids are the same ones from that movie!
A little bit silly but surprisingly cool.Camp Nowhere was in many ways what I exactly expected; a little bit silly but funny and lighthearted family flick enough entertaining to keep us watching for 90 minutes.
Christopher Lloyd is funny and likable while the kids are also delivering some funny and sweet moments.Basically it's a story of a bunch of kids who are going to different summer camps and for some reason each of them is not very happy about that idea.
With a help of a former drama teacher they are deceiving their own parents each time in a rather funny and specific way and starting "Camp Nowhere" for all summer long with no adult supervising.
Of course the kids are just mostly goofing around and having fun (and to be fair that's what they are supposed to do in summer) but at the same time they are becoming friends and eventually learn some positive values.Sure some stuff is far-fetched and hardly believable but who cares this time, anyway?
It's a nice family entertainment which adults can survive without much pain and quite possible even enjoying with a thought that sometimes it might be much better to ask your offspring what he or she really likes and wants to do.
Christopher Lloyd's character could be really annoying but this time his performance is rather cool and enjoyable while all the kids are trying to do their best and obviously having a great fun at the same time.
The jokes are not that crude as they are used to be in many similar movies and the movie concept is not serious enough for real kids taking it as a good idea.
OK, there have been so many movies about cool kids trashing the adults' rules, that another one would hardly register.
No doubt, all kids have at some point wanted to do something like this.
And if there's only going to be one adult at the camp, I'd say that Christopher Lloyd probably would be the right person to have.So, don't expect to see this and have some sort of religious experience (although there's no guarantee that you won't have one); just expect to have fun (that's pretty much guaranteed).
Most of the Y-geners can delight watching their stars at the beginning of their acting careers: Jonathan Jackson ("General Hospital"), Andrew Keegan (10 Things I Hate About You), Marnette Patterson ("Movie Stars"), Jessica Alba ("Dark Angel"), and Allison Mack ("Smallville").It's also good for the X-geners to see Christopher Lloyd and Thomas F.
Camp Nowhere is easily the most dismal film I have ever seen.
This is the worst movie I have ever watched without a shadow of doubt.
Mediocre Kid's Movie.
I suppose younger children might find this fun and laugh at the gags, but if you're over 15 like me, you will find this out to be a predictable, mediocre comedy.
"Camp Nowhere" dares to hide under the guise that it is a comedy starring Christopher Lloyd!
One of the funniest "summer-camp" movies of the 90s.
Yeah, it's just a silly movie for kids, but "Camp Nowhere" hits right in the mark: the story is engaging enough to keep us watching, the characters are adorable, it has Christopher Lloyd in it and the jokes and slapstick are fun enough to keep us entertained the whole thing.
Yes, this is not as smart as "Addams' Family Values", but for what it is, is a enjoyable ride.The highlight of this movie, as I've said, is Christopher Lloyd: he's a great and funny actor, and here he shows his comedic talents in all its glory, with his multiple performance.Good and funny summer movie, take it for what it is; a kids' film.7/10.
It did appeal to the child in me - yes, if there was a camp like this when I was young, I would have loved it.The only genuinely funny bit is the "Tennessee for tots" skit, but that comes near the end..
The film concerns a group of kids who, unbeknownst to their parents, create their own summer camp with the help of an eccentric former drama teacher.
In any event, the film is well directed by Jonathan Prince, who later created one of my favourite drama series, the criminally underrated "American Dreams".Without a shadow of a doubt, the perfectly cast Christopher Lloyd steals the show as the aforementioned drama teacher, an ex-hippie named Dennis Van Welker who once put on a musical production of "The Silence of the Lambs".
As the kids have to fool their very gullible parents into thinking that they are going to different camps (computer, weight loss, military and theatrical), Lloyd's considerable skills as a comic actor are called upon when he has to imitate the various camp leaders.
Lloyd gets most of the best lines and funniest scenes in the film.
It is not just played for laughs, however, as he has a very sweet romance with Dr. Celeste Dunbar, played very well by Wendy Makkena, which reminded me somewhat of Doc's relationship with Clara in "Back to the Future Part III".Jonathan Jackson is very good as Morris "Mud" Himmel, the boy who came up with the idea of Camp Nowhere in the first place.
Andrew Keegan and Marnette Patterson round out the younger cast as the troublemaker Zack Dell and the Valley Girl Trish Prescott, both of whom are revealed to be little more complicated than they first appear as the film progresses.
Patterson is the weakest of the main four kid cast members but she is still quite good.
She, Jackson and Keegan seemed to be in every live action kids' shows and film in the 1990s, incidentally.
He has less than a minute's screen time but he is still the best thing about the film other than Lloyd, which says a lot.
It also features nice small appearances from Peter Scolari, Peter Onorati, Jonathan Frakes and his wife (and Jackson's "General Hospital" co-star) Genie Francis.Overall, there is a very fun film which has some very clever moments which I did not appreciate when I was younger such as the extremely funny "Tennessee for Tots" production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" and aforementioned "The Silence of the Lambs" joke.
Another little moment that I loved was one of the kids confusing "Star Trek IV" with "Rocky IV"!
This was an awesome kids movie, it was every kids dream come true, No parents, Plenty of money, and a camp counselor that has traveled through time.
So the premise is all these rich kids have to go to camp in the summer and their dreading it.
A plan is organized so all the parents Think there going away to their respective camps, but instead they take the money and rent out a lodge for the entire summer to cause mayhem.
The summer goes as planned, kids curb their boring specialties (playing the cello, using computers) and use their parents camp money on video games, electric guitar's, wide screen televisions, probably a thousand pizza's and of course a whole line of Nerf products!
. four kids can't find a good summer camp, so they make their own, with just a little bit of help from a certain someone..
Ever notice how you watch a movie?
And the kids on it, /around/ your age, seem pretty 'good looking'? |
tt0024067 | Going Hollywood | The film tells how an infatuated school-teacher, Sylvia Bruce, follows Bill Williams, a popular crooner, to Hollywood where he is to make a picture. On board the train she obtains a job as maid to Bill's French fiancee and leading lady, Lili Yvonne, and meets the film's director, Conroy, and promoter, Baker. On arrival in Hollywood she is befriended by Jill and shares her rooms.
At the Independent Art Studio in Hollywood, where the film is being made, Lili's temperament and lack of talent cause Conroy much concern. Eventually, after losing her temper with a woman who asks for her autograph, Lili refuses to continue unless the woman is removed from the Studio. She is persuaded to stay and production continues with her singing 'Cinderella's Fella' but Conroy is still not satisfied and an angry Lili walks out. Sylvia impersonates Lili's version of the song and ends with an imitation of Lili's tantrums. Lili returns in time to hear Sylvia and there is a brawl in which Lili gets a black eye. Baker, who has also heard Sylvia, intervenes by firing Lili and engaging Sylvia for the part.
Baker asks Sylvia to accompany him to a party but withdraws when Bill expresses his own interest in her. Bill takes Sylvia to dinner and the party but a quarrel ensues and she accuses him of insincerity. Bill deserts the film and goes with Lili to Tijuana where, drinking heavily, he receives a telephone call from the Studio with the ultimatum that if he does not return they will get a replacement. Lili advises him to let them do so and suggests that they fly together to New York and on to Paris. Sylvia finds him and pleads for him to come back to the Studio but returns without him.
In Hollywood there is difficulty with the player chosen to replace Bill and eventually Bill finally appears at the Studio to rejoin Sylvia in the film's closing sequence to sing 'Our Big Love Scene'.
The song 'Beautiful Girl' is sung by Crosby at the beginning of the film before his departure for Hollywood when technicians arrive to record it. When he boards the train at Grand Central Terminal there is a big production number where he and the chorus sing 'Going Hollywood'. He also sings a few lines of 'Just an Echo in the Valley'. Crosby is also heard singing 'Our Big Love Scene' on the radio when Jill is showing Sylvia her apartment. 'We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines' is a dream-sequence production number with thunderstorm effects at the Studio and is featured by Crosby, Marion Davies, chorus and dancers. An impersonation act by The Radio Rogues is also filmed at the Studio and includes imitations of Kate Smith ('When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain'). Russ Columbo ('You Call It Madness But I Call It Love'), Morton Downey ('Remember Me?') and Rudy Vallee ('My Dime Is Your Dime'). Crosby sings 'After Sundown' at the party. 'Temptation' was an early film attempt to fit a song into the story pattern and was presented dramatically by Crosby whilst drinking tequila in a bar at Tijuana. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Just as she says "I wish I may, I wish I might...." Bing Crosby's voice cuts across the moment as he begins the lyric of "Our Big Love Scene": "Don't waste the night in wishing..." as though in answer to Davies' wish upon a star.
The director walks by and hires them as extras in the film starring Crosby and D'Orsay.At Kelly's bungalow, Davies takes a nap and has a bizarre dream about herself and Crosby starring in a surreal production number called "We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines." While Davies dreams, we are shown a huge close up of her face, which is occasionally superimposed over the dream-scene action so that we don't forget it's all a dream.
It's an amazing sequence.The scene shifts back to the film set where, after seeing a dance montage to "Have You Heard," Davies is about to film an elaborate production number.
I had never thought of it in those terms, but it's true.Marion Davies is a love starved French teacher at a girl's boarding school who's spare hours are taken up with the radio crooning of Bing Crosby.
She follows the object of her affection out to Hollywood and in Hollywood cliché style gets her big break in the movies.First if you're willing to accept the beautiful Marion Davies with this crowd of old spinsters at the boarding school then the rest of the plot simply follows.
And you give Marion a good supporting cast that includes Fifi D'Orsay, Ned Sparks, Stu Erwin, and Patsy Kelly.
I'm surprised frankly that Hearst allowed Crosby a huge number like the title tune, set in Grand Central Station, without Davies in it.
Davies does join him in a dream sequence where she sings a couple of lines of We'll Make Hay While The Sun Shines with Marion and Bing dressed as a pair of Grand Wood rustics.
When she discovers that the crooner she adores is GOING HOLLYWOOD, a liberated school teacher dogs his steps all the way to the Studio sound stages.Marion Davies tries her hardest to entertain in this tinsel town spoof, but neither the script (based on a story by the celebrated Frances Marion) nor the direction give her much leeway.
Unfortunately, moments like that come all too rarely.Leading man Bing Crosby comes off rather better, showing the casual charm that would make him a huge star.
And he gets to sing some fine tunes by Nacio Herb Brown & Arthur Freed, including the classic Temptation' and the fun We'll Make Hay While The Sun Shines.' Although his character is a bit of a cad, Bing never fails to deliver the goods to the audience.A troika of character performers add sparkle to the proceedings: earnest Stuart Erwin as a film producer; caustic Ned Sparks as a dictatorial director; and tomboy Patsy Kelly as a plain-talking gal trying to break into the movies.Movie mavens will spot Clara Blandick & Nora Cecil as two of the ossified instructors at the girls' school, and Sterling Holloway as a recording mike technician - all uncredited.Oddly, this film about the Hollywood movie business takes time out to poke fun at contemporary radio stars.
But to remember her as only the bimbo blonde mistress of the country's mightiest media baron is patently unfair.While much of the blame can go to Orson Welles' spoof of Davies in CITIZEN KANE (which he was to admit he regretted towards the end of his life) it must be stated emphatically that Marion was not a no-talent actress with few friends & even fewer brains, whose career was destroyed by her stammer, leaving her to spend lonely years in great, hulking empty castles.In reality, Davies was a bright, vivacious lady who charmed & captivated such diverse guests as George Bernard Shaw & Winston Churchill throughout her 33-year liaison with Hearst.
But she eventually relinquished her film pursuits in order to care for the aging Hearst, and after his death in 1951 she showed herself to be an astute businesswoman during the remaining ten years of her life.It is only now, with the passage of much time & the restoration of her old movies, that it is becoming easier to acknowledge the contributions & cinematic expertise of Miss Marion Davies..
The names and locations were changed, but the plot itself is identical--following the exact same pattern...yet the films are all flooded with 10s.As for Marion Davies, who starred in GOING Hollywood, this weird pattern has emerged.
When Marion hears one of Bing Crosby's songs on the radio, she dances about and announces to all that she's quitting her sequestered job, as she wants to experience life and love.
Aside from a dumb plot, the film is jam-packed full of very, very broad acting from Fifi D'Orsay (who is more a caricature than a realistic portrayal), too much singing (I can't blame the movie entirely for this, as this was not unusual for 1933) and the ridiculous way everything works out perfectly just like in A STAR IS BORN.
Beautiful blonde French teacher Marion Davies (as Sylvia Bruce) quits her job to pursue radio crooner Bing Crosby (as Bill Williams) to Hollywood, where Mr. Crosby is going to star in a motion picture.
Davies continues to swoon over Crosby, who is only has eyes for French co-star Fifi D'Orsay (as Lili Yvonne).
A fine supporting cast, director (Raoul Walsh), and budget make this is a pleasant Bing Crosby musical masquerading as a Marion Davies movie.
Two of Crosby's Brunswick 78 RPM recordings were hits: sung herein to Sterling Holloway, "Beautiful Girl" reached #11; the best film song "Temptation" went to #3; and, the big production number "We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines" peaked at #8."Three Radio Rogues" singing impersonations are also highlights, with Jimmy Hollywood managing Kate Smith's "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain" with uncanny ease.
Mainly, though, it's Crosby's show.***** Going Hollywood (12/22/33) Raoul Walsh ~ Bing Crosby, Marion Davies, Fifi D'Orsay, Patsy Kelly.
It is of course, an absolute slice of silliness, the opening business with a rebellious Davies giving up her job as a teacher as if it was something she had been forced into setting the tone for things to come, but Frances Marion's simplistic tale of a girl making it big in movies is the very quintessence of MGM dreaminess, and Stuart's sharp wit gives it a nice gloss.
This may have been a contribution of Walter Wanger, who always tended to oversee a flowing style in his pictures.Then again, it might also have been influenced by director Raoul Walsh (incidentally a pal of Hearst) who, like in the musical numbers, never made movies as a presentation.
Walsh likes to place his audience where his characters are, especially at key moments, giving a real intensity to the scenes between Davies and Crosby.
In a funny kind of way these moments link to Walsh's westerns, where the homesteads were always dull and squalid while the plains were vast and inviting.So Going Hollywood sees its star supported by a big wall of talent.
MARION DAVIES & BING CROSBY ARE GREAT TOGETHER !.
Bing was a great actor in this film along with super star Marion Davies, who was like the Marilyn Monroe during her days and even Jean Harlow.
Spirited young teacher leaves uptight girl's school for fame and fortune in Hollywood.I tuned in to catch the legendary Marion Davies, WR Hearst's (Citizen Kane) favorite squeeze, and was generally impressed even though the movie is unexceptional.
So this is not a case of a rich Daddy Warbucks making a silk purse out of a no-talent.The movie itself is expensively produced with a couple impressive dance numbers (e.g. the massed train station), plus a youthful Crosby crooning at his most tuneful.
Sylvia Bruce (Marion Davies) is a bored French teacher but after hearing the melodious sounds of the famous Bill Williams (Bing Crosby) on the radio, she is so inspired she leaves her job and seeks her dream.Going Hollywood is a rather odd movie as there is the disturbing fact that Marion Davies' character is practically a stalker who insists that their love is meant to be.
The music - especially "Temptation", "Going Hollywood" and "Beautiful Girl" are absolutely delightful little tunes and make the movie well worth watching.Overall, a bizarre and often tedious movie and Davies isn't at her best.
Her acting, singing and dancing are all pedestrian, and there is absolutely no chemistry with co-star Bing Crosby.
It's a musical starring Marion Davies as an unhappy school teacher who follows Bing off to Hollywood.
Great songs also helps, something that 'Going Hollywood' certainly has, the standouts being the title song, "Temptation" and "Beautiful Girl".Of the production numbers, choreographically the best is the train station sequence which is so lively and entertaining.
While going on a little too long, the Three Radio Rogues are also entertaining, and while overlong and overblown parts of the dream sequence are quite sweet.However, was very much mixed on Marion Davies.
Marion Davies is a young woman who quits her job as a teacher and is content to chase a singer (Bing Crosby) in "Going Hollywood," a 1934 film also starring Stuart Erwin, Fifi D'Orsay, Patsy Kelly and Ned Sparks.
Davies fancies herself in love with a crooner and follows him to LA, where he's about to make a picture with a temperamental French actress (D'Orsay) who is also his current girlfriend.Before becoming the singer of "White Christmas," Bing Crosby was an innovative performer, the first so-called "legit" singer to cross over into popular song.
The film is nearly all music, but nothing as good as "Temptation": "Our Big Love Scene," "Beautiful Girl," "Just an Echo in the Valley," etc.There is a wonderful scene done by the Radio Rogues, who play techs in the film where they improvise a radio program that references stars of the era such as Morton Downey, Russ Columbo, Rudy Vallee and Kate Smith.Marion Davies at this point was 36 - way, way, over the hill for a lead actress in those days - and she requested both Crosby and D'Orsay to be in the film.
It begins with Marion Davies being so enchanted by Bing Crosby's voice on the radio that she rebels against the stuffy girls' school where she teaches French and goes looking for Der Bingel.
And even that doesn't linger long.A curious look at early 30's Hollywood, and Bing on the way up as a song and dance dynamo, but little else to recommend it.
Marion Davies plays Sylvia, a school teacher who quits her job after hearing Bill Williams (Bing Crosby) on the radio.
William Randolph Hearst was the backer of this film and wanted Davies to be surrounded by as much talent as possible so he paid an outrageous fortune to get Crosby away from Paramount as well as paying to get Walsh away from Fox. The end result of all the time and trouble made for a good 80-minute comedy that has plenty of small laughs and some nice music.
The supporting cast includes Patsy Kelly, Ned Sparks, Stuart Erwin and Fifi D'Orsay as the mean French woman.
It doesn't make her look bad, but it doesn't make you think she was a great comedian, either.For me, the best thing, the only really good thing, in this movie was Bing Crosby's delivery of some of his musical numbers, in particular *Temptation*, a great song that he brings off very well.
The other musical numbers, like the script, are bland and forgettable.I'm surprised that Hearst, with all his money and power, couldn't have seen to it that Davies had better material.
In one of Bing Crosby's earliest movies, he "goes Hollywood" and sings an adorable '30s production number at the train station.
If you don't mind musical numbers that involve tapdancing scarecrows, and a scene where Marion Davies acts in blackface just to get a rise out of Bing, you're in a good mindset to enjoy the whole of this movie.
The main plot is also incredibly dated: Marion Davies is a schoolteacher and falls in love with Bing Crosby's singing voice on the radio.
Basically, if you're not extremely interested in this time period of film history and don't even know who Marion Davies is, you won't make it through this movie.
There are some great songs, like "Temptation", "Beautiful Girl", and "Our Big Love Scene" that you've probably heard on CDs but now get to watch performed in the movie!.
Crosby, of course, held the patent on this kind of easy charm and likability, and I can't think of another musical of this period where I felt cheated when some of the songs ended too soon--the title song, "Beautiful Girl" and especially "Temptation." In addition to showcasing his iconic baritone, this film gives some of the earliest glimpses of the excellent dramatic actor who would appear in films later in his career.D'Orsay, Ned Sparks, Stu Erwin and the Radio Rascals all provide moments of fun, even if the cumulative effect is sometimes too much of a good thing.
"Going Hollywood" (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1933), directed by Raoul Walsh, hailed as one of the better Marion Davies productions for MGM during the sound era (1929-1934), is an interesting item mainly because of the presence of her co-star, Bing Crosby (on loan from Paramount), then in an early peak to his career, along with his introduction to the hit song, "Temptation." It also became Marion Davies' second MGM comedy with a Hollywood background, the first being the silent production of "Show People" (1928), which today seems to hold up better than "Going Hollywood," but on the whole, each provides an interesting tale and the behind-the-scenes look to a bygone era.Davies stars as Sylvia Bruce, a young French teacher at Miss Briarcroft's School for girls.
After Lily walks off the set, Sylvia is then given the leading part, but further complications occur, especially misunderstandings that cause Bill to not show up on the set, leading to his termination from production."Going Hollywood" is a typical and lighthearted musical comedy with noteworthy songs by composers Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur including: "Our Big Love Scene," "Beautiful Girl," "Going Hollywood," "Just an Echo in the Valley" (by Reginald Connelly, Jimmy Campbell and Harry Woods); "Going Hollywood," "We'll Make Hay" (all sung by Bing Crosby); "Have You Heard?" (sung by Marion Davies); "Cinderella's Fella" (sung by chorus); "After Sundown," "Temptation" and "Our Big Love Scene." Many songs, no real production numbers, with the exception of a interesting dream sequence to note with the lively "We'll Make Hay" number, as Sylvia is being crooned to by Bill (Crosby) on the farm surrounded by dancing scarecrows and farmhands.
Plenty of chances for Bing Crosby to sing, but the pedestrian 'bit part to star' plot is standard issue.Marion Davies' dancing is not as bad as others have suggested, though not great.
As for her acting--well, let me put it this way, three strikes and you're out.As for BING CROSBY, he does very well in this early film, sounding every bit like the classy crooner he was in those days.
One scene that is memorable for all pure cinephiles is the "Going Hollywood" number that Bing Crosby sings at the beginning of the film.
In the musical "Going Hollywood," Marion Davies plays a starry-eyed girls-school teacher who, after listening to Bing Crosby's crooning over the radio, follows him to Hollywood--essentially becoming his stalker.
This is a silly premise, especially given that Davies was an established Hollywood star since the silent-film era, and Bing Crosby was just beginning his career there.
Through much of the picture, Davies gives a stilted performance complete with dead-eye stares, which seems appropriate to the stalker role, but the rest of the film, unfortunately, plays out as a generic ingénue-turned-star romance, with neither star fitting the bill.With a threadbare plot, "Going Hollywood" spends much of its time on Crosby's singing.
I have only seen Marion Davies in two films "The Bachelor Father" and "Going Hollywood".
In this film the standouts are the memorable songs (all of them now Bing Crosby standards), Bing's completely natural and easy going manner, Ned Sparkes (of course) and Marion's very clunky dancing.As one of the reviewers says it did seem to be a shorter film than intended.
"Beautiful Girls" - Bing sang as he packed to go to Hollywood - I was expecting a big production number - I was disappointed but at least they were included.Sylvia Bruce (Marion Davies) is a teacher at Briarcroft Girls Boarding School.
One night when listening to Bill Williams (Bing Crosby) sing "Our Big Love Scene" - "Don't waste the night in wishing" - she decides to do what the song says, follow her heart and goes to Bill to tell him what he means to her.Bill is also going to Hollywood.
This number was filmed in a clumsy way but with great gusto.Sylvia has to get past Bill's current love Lili (Fifi D'Orsay) but manages to secure a job with her as a French speaking maid (she had been a French teacher at Briarcroft).
It ends very quickly - all the cast is on the stage to film "Our Big Love Scene" when Bill (singing of course ) comes through the door takes Sylvia in his arms and kisses her.
Toss in former girl's school teacher Marion Davies as the star-struck young lady who reluctantly ends up becoming an actress, temperamental Fifi D'Orsday (in her biggest film role), funny Patsy Kelly, money man Stuart Erwin, and sour-pussed Ned Sparks, and you have a dyslexic "42nd Street" where the extra gets to be a film star rather than the chorus girl getting to be a Broadway star.
Bing Crosby and Marion Davies dominate in this musical comedy/romance.
A musical comedy, in which Marion Davies' character becomes obsessed with Bing Crosby's singing one starry night, and decides she's going to quit her dull schoolteacher job, and go to Hollywood in imitation of Crosby, to experience life and love.
These include "Temptation", "Going Hollywood, and "Our Big Love Scene". |
tt0435623 | Conversations with Other Women | At a wedding reception, a man in his late thirties (Eckhart) approaches a bridesmaid (Bonham Carter) of about the same age, and offers her a glass of champagne. As conversation ensues, they begin to flirt. Witty small talk about such topics as the wedding party and their own past relationships gradually reveals to the viewing film audience that they are not strangers, but in fact that they share an intimate past. A series of flashback scenes shows much younger versions of the two of them as lovers.
Despite having significant others (22-year-old Sarah the dancer and Geoffrey the cardiologist, both absent) the couple choose to go upstairs to her hotel room together. However, their decision to sleep together is one which is clearly complex and fraught with emotional baggage for each of them. Again with flashbacks, a series of vignettes juxtaposes their earlier selves against the older, perhaps wiser couple in the hotel room.
The two reminisce and reassess their feelings for each other. He appears to have ambiguous feelings about the direction of his life, while she seems more adjusted to her life choices. The emotional fulfillment the two experienced in their youth has the appearance of causing them to reflect on their current lives in comparison to the choices and options they had while much younger.
She must catch a transatlantic flight home to London in the morning, so the two leave the hotel together in the early morning. As they return to their separate lives, each speculates with their cab driver on the future and the difficulty of being happy. | realism | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0037193 | The Princess and the Pirate | A pirate captain known as the Hook (Victor McLaglen) buries his treasure on an island and kills the map maker so no one else will find it. He and his cut-throat crew go after the Mary Ann, a ship on which Princess Margaret (Virginia Mayo) is running away from her father, the King (Robert Warwick), so she can marry a commoner. The Hook plans to hold her for a large ransom. A cowardly actor, Sylvester the Great (Hope), is in the cabin next door to Margaret. The Hook's ship, The Avenger attacks the Mary Ann and after a big fight, the crew are killed or made to walk the plank by the pirates. Sylvester escapes by disguising himself as a gypsy woman and is taken on board The Avenger with Margaret.
The Ship's aged tattooist, Featherhead (Walter Brennan) has taken a fancy to the gypsy which is all that saves the disguised Sylvester. It turns out that he guessed the gypsy was a man and involves Sylvester in his plot to get the Hook's treasure for himself. He gives him the treasure map and helps Sylvester and Margaret escape in a boat and they are to pass the stolen map to Featherhead's cousin on the pirate island of Casarouge. The couple make it to the island which is extremely bloodthirsty. The couple check in at the Boar's Head Inn where they are to meet the cousin (who at present is not on the island) and do an act at the Bucket of Blood to get some money to pay for their stay.
Margaret is kidnapped and Sylvester goes to the Governor (La Roche) (Walter Slezak) to complain only to find out he was the kidnapper. La Roche has recognised Princess Margaret and plans on holding her for a million doubloon ransom. He stops Sylvester from leaving, planning to ransom him for 100,000 doubloons, sure that the King will want to hang him. Sylvester is well looked after and helps Margaret who is on a hunger strike. The Hook is in with La Roche and they threaten nasty things for the possessor of the map. Featherhead turns up under Sylvester's bed and knocks out Sylvester who wants to destroy the map to save his skin. Featherhead tattoos the map on the chest of the unconscious Sylvester and when he recovers, they both eat it.
After a meeting, the Hook guesses Sylvester is the gypsy who stole the map and returns to the Governor's house to kill him. The Governor sees the map on Sylvester's chest as the Hook arrives. The Hook chases him but is stopped from killing Sylvester by Featherhead who shoots him. As he has not returned, Pedro (Marc Lawrence), the Hook's second-in-command leads a raid on the Governor's house to rescue the Hook and after a big fight, inadvertently rescues Sylvester who has disguised himself as the Hook, along with Margaret.
Back on The Avenger, Sylvester as the Hook starts giving orders, not knowing that the real Hook has just been grazed by the bullet and is now also on the ship. Contradictory orders flow from the two different Hooks at different times, till Sylvester is unmasked. In chains and ready to kill themselves, The Avenger is attacked and they believe it is La Roche. It however turns out to be the King's ship and both are released (La Roche has been captured and has revealed all). The King says he is not going to stand in Margaret's way if she wants to marry a commoner and she rushes forwards. Sylvester is shocked as she passes him and into the arms of another man, Bing Crosby, who is playing a sailor. Indignantly, Sylvester says; "That is the last picture I do for Goldwyn" (which it was). | action, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0033149 | They Drive by Night | Brothers Joe (George Raft) and Paul Fabrini (Humphrey Bogart) are independent truck drivers who make a meager living transporting goods. Joe convinces Paul to start their own small, one-truck business, staying one step ahead of loan shark Farnsworth (an uncredited Charles Halton), who is trying to repossess their truck.
At one stop, Joe is attracted to waitress Cassie Hartley (Ann Sheridan). Later, the brothers pick up a hitchhiker going to Los Angeles; Joe is pleased when it turns out to be Cassie, who quit after her boss tried to get a bit too friendly with her. While en route, they witness a truck, its driver asleep at the wheel, go off the road and explode in flames. When they return to Los Angeles, Paul is reunited with his patient though worried wife, Pearl (Gale Page), who would rather have Paul settle down in a safer, more regular job. Joe finds Cassie a place to stay, and starts seeing her.
Just after the brothers finally pay off Farnsworth, Paul falls asleep at the wheel, causing an accident that costs him his right arm and wrecks their truck. Lana Carlsen (Ida Lupino) has wanted Joe for years, but Joe has always rebuffed her advances, especially since she is married to trucking business owner and former driver Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale, Sr.), a good friend of Joe's. When Ed hires Joe as a driver, Lana persuades her husband to make him the traffic manager instead (and starts dropping by the office frequently).
Joe spurns Lana's advances. One night, when Lana drives a drunk, unconscious Ed home from a party, she murders him on impulse, leaving him in the garage with the car motor still idling. When the police investigate, she persuades them it was an accident. She later gives Joe a half-interest as a partner in the business in a subsequent attempt to attract him.
Bitter over his inability to support his wife, Paul returns to work as a dispatcher for Joe. Joe does a fine job managing the business, but when Lana learns he plans to marry Cassie, she becomes so enraged, she reveals to him that she killed Ed so that she could have him. She then goes to the police accusing Joe of forcing her to help commit murder. During the trial, the weight of circumstantial evidence looks bad for Joe, but a guilt-ridden Lana breaks down on the witness stand, laughing hysterically and claiming the electric garage doors made her do it. The case against Joe is dismissed after Lana is determined to be insane. Joe considers going back to the road, but Cassie, Paul and the boys manage to convince him otherwise. He thus returns to the trucking business that he had dreamed of owning, with Paul as his traffic manager and Cassie as his bride-to-be. | insanity, romantic, humor, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0116193 | En brazos de la mujer madura | When war breaks out in 1936, the boys at a Catholic boarding school in Republican territory are sent home. Andres is one of these boys. Finding that his widowed mother's flat in Gerona is requisitioned and she is far away in La Coruña, he decides to rejoin her by bicycle. Reaching the Aragon front, he is stopped by an Anarchist unit under the charismatic commander Dávalos and is conscripted to help the cook Honorio, who is having an affair with a peasant woman Pilar. Also stopped are a wealthy Englishman and his American wife, la Condesa, for whom Andrés acts as interpreter and is rewarded. He is then sent to safety in Barcelona where he starts an affair with Julia, the virgin daughter of the house, but is evicted before consummation. To live, he starts dealing on the black market and one night tries a prostitute, but she is so bored that he leaves in disgust. The war over, his mother comes back and is set up in a flat by her Falangist lover Victor. Above them lives a married woman Marta, who lends Andrés books and starts an affair. But she and her well-off husband were Republicans and are taken away by the secret police. In the street, Andrés sees Pilar, the working class girl from the front, and they have a night together. Then at a concert he falls for Irene, an Italian violinist, and they have a brief idyll. Her orchestra's next engagement is in Vichy France and at the frontier station of Canfranc Andrés rejoins her. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0170544 | SF: Episode One | The plot centers on Inukai Heishirō (Mitsuru Fukikoshi), the son of a clan officer. One of his clan's most precious heirlooms, a sword given them by the Shogun, has been stolen by the samurai Kazamatsuri (Tomoyasu Hotei). Against his father's advice, Heishirō insists on retrieving the sword himself. His father sends two ninja after him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
Kazamatsuri wounds Heishirō, and kills one of his companions. The young noble ends up staying with an older samurai (Morio Kazama) and his daughter Koharu (Tamaki Ogawa) while he heals from his wound and plans his next move. The older samurai tries to dissuade him from fighting, but Heishirō's honor won't allow him to leave Kazamatsuri alive. The older samurai, who turns out to be the master Hanbei Mizoguchi, convinces him to fight Kazamatsuri by throwing rocks rather than with swords.
Meanwhile, Kazamatsuri settles for a few days at a gambling house owned by Lady Okatsu (Mari Natsuki), who falls in love with him. Then one night one of the ninja sent to protect Heishirō bribes her to poison his sake for one thousand gold. She does, but Kazamatsuri tastes the poison and kills Okatsu. He then kidnaps Koharu in an attempt to get the master Mizoguchi to fight him.
Mizoguchi reveals to Heishirō that he killed Koharu's father, and has since never drawn his sword on another man, despite his immense skill. They then go to find Kazamatsuri and rescue Koharu. While Mizoguchi stalls Kazamatsuri, Heishirō takes Koharu aside and says he will marry her if Mizoguchi wins. Kazamatsuri fights Mizoguchi, who only draws his sword after his opponent destroys his wooden sword. He then disarms Kazamatsuri near a cliff. Kazamatsuri, admitting defeat, commits suicide by jumping off the cliff. Heishirō and the others go to the bottom, where there is no sign of Kazamatsuri's body, but Koharu spots the stolen sword at the bottom of the river, where Heishirō retrieves it.
Flash forward one year. Heishirō has married Koharu, the sword is restored, and Mizoguchi is now an official in Heishiro's clan. | revenge, psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0452661 | Outlanders | Set in the same fictional universe as the Deathlands series but separated by a century, Outlanders follows the adventures of a core group of explorers, Kane, Grant, Brigid Baptiste and Domi who operate out of a secret military base known as the Cerberus Redoubt.
Although both Deathlands and Outlanders bear the "James Axler" byline, the latter series is primarily (although not exclusively) written by its creator Mark Ellis whereas multiple authors produce Deathlands.
Two hundred years after a nuclear holocaust devastated the Earth, the chaos and barbarism as depicted in the Deathlands series gave way to a centralized, despotic government ruled by nine mysterious barons.
Material taken from redoubts, secret preholocaust military installations with stores of weapons and the home of the gateways, MAT-TRANS (matter-transfer) devices, supplied the baronial rule in what was known as the “Program of Unification.”
Rearmed from redoubt stockpiles, the barons consolidated their power and reclaimed very advanced technology created two centuries before by the so-called “Totality Concept”.
Their power bolstered by the invisible authority known only to an elite few as the Archons extended beyond the fortified city-states into what came to be called the Outlands. There, the rootstock of humanity survived, eking out an existence in hellzones and hounded by black-armored Magistrates, the enforcers of the barons’ laws.
When Cobaltville Magistrates Kane and Grant came across a piece of misplaced technology and Brigid Baptiste, an archivist began an investigation on their behalf, they found themselves branded as sedititionists, their citizenship stripped from them and they were reclassified as Outlanders.
Since 1997’s Exile To Hell, the first book in the series, the heroes and heroines of Outlanders slowly uncovered the truth behind the barons, the Archons and the nuclear holocaust and finally the hidden history of humanity.
They learn that Earth and humankind has been influenced since the dawn of time by the reptilian Anunnaki and the Tuatha Dé Danann. They realize that the baronies are a revival of the god-king system of ancient Sumeria.
Besides the nine barons, other threats arise in the early books, namely Sindri, a brilliant but deranged dwarf who rules a secret colony on Mars. First appearing in Parallax Red (1998), Sindri becomes the most persistent foe of the Cerberus warriors, appearing in several novels.
Other recurring enemies include Colonel Thrush, Sam the Imperator, Grigori Zakat and Maccan, the last prince of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
In Shadow Scourge (2000), the heroes contend with Ocajinik, apparently one of H. P. Lovecraft’s Old Ones.
In Children of the Serpent (2005), the Cerberus warriors discover that the nuclear holocaust and the institution of the baronies were part of an ancient plan formulated over a thousand years before by Enlil, the last Anunnaki on Earth in order to reincarnate the pantheon of Sumerian gods and re-establish their rule over the world.
The reincarnated Enlil becomes the Outlanders main villain. He is considerably more evil and powerful than any of the barons, and has much of the knowledge and technology of the Anunnaki.
Employing conspiracy theories and myths from all cultures as underpinnings, Outlanders quickly distanced itself from the survivalist tone of Deathlands and struck out in new directions, providing explanations and a backstory for many of the unresolved science-fiction elements in the earlier series. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Great, realistic thriller. This is a great British thriller. It follows a Polish immigrant Adam coming over to London to find his older brother who left home years before and is now found to be at the head of some dodgy construction projects and illegal immigrations rackets. Though initially looking rosy for Adam as he spends some time with his brother again and meets a girl it quickly turns more sour and events power the film to a thrilling conclusion as Adam is forced to make one of the biggest decisions of his life. The film is very realistic in its look and acting and there's some great shots showing the darker side of London. In many ways it is in the same vein of films as Stephen Frear's Dirty Pretty Things and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises in this setting and feel and it is well worth investigating. |
tt0065531 | Le cercle rouge | In Marseille, a prisoner named Corey is released early for good behaviour. A warder tips him off about a prestigious jewellery shop he could rob in Paris. He goes to the house of Rico, an associate of his with whom his former girlfriend now lives, where he robs Rico of his money and gun. Then he goes to a billiard hall, where two of Rico's men find him. After killing one and taking his gun, Corey buys a large car and, hiding the guns in the boot, starts for Paris. On the way, he stops at a roadside grill to eat.
The same morning another prisoner, Vogel, who is being taken on a train from Marseille to Paris by the policeman Mattei, escapes in open country. Mattei orders roadblocks to be set, and returns to face his superiors. Vogel comes upon the roadside grill and hides in the boot of Corey's car. Realising someone is in the boot, with his guns, Corey drives into an open field and orders Vogel to get out. After a tense confrontation, the two decide to co-operate. Shortly after, with Vogel back in the boot, a car with two more of Rico's men forces Corey off the road. They take his money and are about to kill him when Vogel, emerging from the boot, shoots both dead.
Corey takes Vogel to his empty flat in Paris and starts to plan the robbery. For this he needs a marksman, to disable the security system by a single rifle shot, and a fence to buy the goods. At the same time, Mattei is planning how to locate the murderer of Rico's men and to recapture Vogel. He puts pressure on Santi, a night club owner who knows most of the underworld, to find them.
Corey recruits Jansen, an alcoholic ex-policeman and a crack shot, together with a fence, and successfully empties the shop one night. However, his fence refuses to take the goods, having been warned off by Rico, and suggests that Corey asks Santi for a lead. Santi tips off Mattei, who poses as a fence and asks Corey to bring the goods to a country house. Corey does so, taking Jansen as backup and leaving Vogel at his apartment with the rose he had earlier received from a waitress at Santi's. After Corey arrives at the country house, Vogel appears from nowhere and tells Corey to run with the jewels, acting on his suspicion that Corey is not safe with this new fence. A bloody confrontation follows in which all three criminals are shot dead by the police. | suspenseful, murder, atmospheric | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2244697 | Adhinayakudu | Harischandra Prasad (Nandamuri Balakrishna) is an influential leader in Rayalaseema and he treats all his people as his children. To provide jobs to them, he decides to build a huge steel plant with the assistance of foreign collaborators. But Ramappa (Pradeep Rawat) and his assistant (Kota Srinivasa Rao) oppose this. They hatch a plan to eliminate him. His son Ramakrishna (Nandamuri Balakrishna) thwart the villain's plans. But the story takes a cruel twist as the villains strike at the heart of the family by using Bobby (Nandamuri Balakrishna). When Bobby was a small Kid the villains kidnap him and threaten Ramakrishna to leave his father and save Bobby. Although Harischandra Prasad has no love on Ramakrishna, he loved his father and for fulfilling his father's wishes he stands protecting and Bobby is said to be escaped from the house. But Ramappa and his followers make Bobby a professional killer at the age of 12 by another killer (Charanraj) and use him to kill Harischandra Prasad. The whole family except Ramakrishna and his step-brother (Rahman) is unaware that Bobby killed Harischandra Prasad.
Now Bobby is an adult and is a high-profile professional killer and returns to his land with the help of his newly found friend Deepu (Lakshmi Rai) who share mutual love interest. His mission in short is to protect his father from Ramappa. In this process it is revealed to the family members of Harischandra Prasad and the people that Bobby killed Harischandra Prasad and Moreover, the antagonists frame Ramakrishna as the man behind the Death of Harischandra. Frustrated and deeply hurt by this, Ramakrishna's Step Mother (Jayasudha) and wife (Sukanya) and the people expel the both and police arrest them and take them away for a secret encounter by Ramappa. Seeing this all, Ramakrishna's step brother, who was paralysed earlier in attempt to catch Bobby during the murder of Harischandra, springs back to life and reveals the whole truth to his family and the people. Meanwhile, Ramkrishna and Bobby team up and kill all the frods and enemies together. Later Ramakrishna's step mother apologises for the ill treatment by her and orders him to fulfill his dead father's wishes. | murder | train | wikipedia | Pathetic attempt with a very illogical script...... When I saw the movie I was very curious and feel excitement about this movie. NBK is one of my favorite Telugu actors. He has good numbers of fan following and he is a good actor. I like his acting style and the most enjoyable thing of his acting is his dialogue delivery. All of his movies has lots of crunchy masala type dialogues. I like that kind of dialogues. I am telling this because this movie is very anticipated for me and without reading any reviews or comments I was watching this movie. But after watching this, this is one of my biggest nightmares and this is the awful experience I have ever experienced. Really pathetic and I want my time back. this not a joke and we the audience need clarification about this very terrific and horrific movie. Absolutely pathetic.NBK plays a triple role for this movie this is the most terrible joke. The story is very boring, nothing new and very outrageously created. The story writer actually concentrates nothing and I think he has no cinema related knowledge. The screenplay is very pathetically written and when the quality is the concern the output is fearsome. The director (I don't want to pronounce his name because this guy is another joke) has done a brilliant "atrocious" job and showed us how a bad movie would be created. This is the perfect example of a shameless direction. As the lead character, NBK has done an awful job and his characters are total bitter.I don't want to tell other technical aspects because I have no energy to write about these after watching this pathetic movie.If you want some flat "fun" this is the perfect choice for you. If you want to make angry someone you can gift a copy of this film to him!. Comedy, Action. Baala Krishna is serene as Harish Chandra Prasad. He reminded of Senior NTR in several shots.The character is very shot but will entertain fans. And the middle get up as Rama Krishna Prasad forms the central part of the story. The character is very powerful. His dialogue delivery is excellent and is extremely effective as always. His get-up is highly ferocious and rough. The other character of Babi is also passable and has come very good comedy scenes and fights. First half of the film is good with some excellent comedy. Second half goes a bit wayward with family drama interrupting the flow.The plus points of the film are Balayya and the heroism elevated scenes for which fans go mad. However, the inconsistency in the story narration had let down the movie a bit. The commercial success of the film depends on how masses embrace this film. |
tt3919322 | Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy | Velma gets a call from Cuthbert Crawley, a lawyer for Velma's family who tells her that she's inherited her great uncle's property and castle in Transylvania. Velma turns the offer down, replying she wants nothing to do with her uncle, puzzling the gang. Mr. Crawley understands, revealing the curse over the estate. He says that if anyone gets too close to the Baron legacy, then what they love the most will be destroyed. As they head outside, Fred hears a noise from the Mystery Machine, then it explodes and a mysterious character with a mask appears. Crawley reveals that it's the ghost of the Baron, Velma's old ancestor. The remains of the machine explode again, with words saying stay away from Transylvania, but Fred declares that is where they're going to find the person responsible for destroying the Mystery Machine, saying this time "it's personal".
Having no other option, the gang ride in the express. Velma reveals the truth that her real last name is Von Dinkenstein, which her great grandparents shortened to Dinkley when they moved in from the old country. Her ancestor is Baron Von Dinkenstein, who was said to have created a monster called Frankencreep (which inspired famous novelist Mary Shelley to write her novel Frankenstein). Velma explains that this was the reason that she started solving mysteries. All of a sudden, the train starts to pick up speed. After getting everyone to the last car, Shaggy goes to the front of the train, but finds not the conductor but the Masked Baron's ghost, who states the curse is now affecting the gang just before he tears off the control panel, throws it and disappears. The gang still manage to save the last car, the people, and themselves just as the train derails and explodes. As they arrive in town, the people in the car are the inspector, burgermeister, and Iago, a hunchbacked servant of Castle Von Dinkenstein. He takes them to the castle, where they meet Mrs. Vanders, the housekeeper. They arrive in the Baron's laboratory and find Frankencreep in solid ice. Velma said she could prove that the monster was a fake and tells everyone else to leave. As the rest of the gang leave, Mrs. Vanders shows Velma a machine which hypnotizes her.
Strange things start happening when the gang goes to a village festival. Daphne is shocked to find her current size clothes are now too tight for her, as she has gained weight. Shaggy and Scooby suddenly become brave and courageous and are not hungry either, and Fred mourns his beloved Mystery Machine. Iago arrives and saves the gang, who are being threatened by the villagers, and he tells the gang Velma has gone insane.
When they return, Velma now has pink hair, new clothes, and has brought Frankencreep back to life. The villagers attempt to defend themselves and take down the monster, but Frankencreep scares them off. Daphne and Fred are still miserable by the losses and wander off to be alone, while Shaggy and Scooby, who are still brave, decide to capture Frankencreep themselves. Velma manages to knock out the monster and decides to remove Shaggy and Scooby's brains to put them in Frankencreep (stating the two of them together have one brain). Fortunately, things start to get better, as Fred finds a workshop and builds a new mystery machine, Daphne finds that her dress is an inflatable suit with air and Frankencreep rips off Shaggy and Scooby's new outfits, turning them back to their old hungry and scared selves. When Frankencreep starts to chase them, it accidentally hits the lever of the machine that hypnotized Velma, bringing her back to normal. Iago appears and tells them that they need to leave the castle because it is about to explode. They manage to escape and fake their deaths.
They lure the burgermeister, inspector, gypsy, and Mrs. Vanders to the express train. They trap them in an express car as the train drives. Just as the mystery seems to be solved, Frankencreep reappears revealing to be a robot with Iago, who then reveals he's actually an undercover DOD agent named Shimidlap. He says that one of the exoskeletons the infantry of humans was stolen from their research labs and traced it to Transylvania. It's soon revealed that instead of a suspect, it was actually a conspiracy of revenge: the burgermeister, inspector, gypsy, and housekeeper were all in on this. The inspector is unmasked to be Cuthbert Crawley who is actually Cuthbert Crawls (the partner of Cosgood Creeps where they haunted a mansion as green ghosts in "A Night of Fright is No Delight" from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?). The burgermeister is exposed by Velma to be C.L. Magnus (who posed as Redbeard's ghost), and then the gypsy reveals to be Lila (a singer who posed as one of Mamba Wamba's zombies). Finally, Mrs. Vanders is unmasked revealing to be Mama Mione (the cafe owner and criminal gang leader who dressed up as Old Iron Face). She reveals that Iron Face's mask was also the same mask as the baron's ghost had. The four criminals reveal that they planned on getting revenge and once they discover the history of Velma's ancestry, they bought the castle that was sitting on the natural gas which is explosive (unaware that they could have made a huge fortune if they sell the land). They are soon arrested once again and the Mystery Machine is rebuilt and the gang takes off in it heading straight for home.
At the beginning of the end credits, AlexSuperFan2112 points out some of the plot holes of Mystery Inc's mystery. This gets the attention of the DOD who take him away and cut off his computer broadcast. | revenge, horror | train | wikipedia | An Honest Review.
On one hand it was boring....But on the other hand, Transylvania, Pennsylvania is sort of a classic Scooby location, at least in spirit, so there is that attempt to appeal to the old Scooby Fans.And the towns people were a great source of humor, especially their exchanges with Velma's family, so again, there is that working out for it.And the plot twisted enough to seem like a Classic Scooby cartoon.the downside is, few of the jokes really stuck and the songs were so-so.
The humor just wasn't there to save it and with Scooby, the movies can't be sold on plot alone, people are fans because they are kid-scary and funny at the same time.Frankencreepy just wasn't really funny..
Self-aware enough to make fun of itself, while still being respectful to the franchise.
I've always been a fan of Scooby-Doo. I know a lot of people prefer when the series goes dark, meta or more mature (like Zombie Island or Mystery Inc), but I always preferred the more light-hearted adventures in colorful locations, and this film hits those hit all the high points for me.First of all, the editing and humor in this film hit me by surprise.
A ton of blink-and-you'll miss it moments, and some of the gags had me in stitches.
I love how the film kept building on the gags and jokes without making them stale (something future films picked up on, but didn't do as much as this one).
The film also had a ton of lightning fast edit scenes which I enjoyed but felt they were a bit out of place.
Overall, the film is a lot more gag-based than some Scooby-Doo films but still manages to have a fairly foreboding atmosphere.
The animation was also really cool.
It felt a bit cheap in places, using fairly low-quality CGI for backgrounds, but it set the moon and looked really good all-throughout.
A ton better than the lackluster looking 2000s films.
I didn't like the animation as good as the anime-styled 90s films, but it's different and still really nice.
What also took me by surprise was the sheer villainy of the bad guys.
Scooby-Doo villains have rarely ever been as bloodthirsty as these guys, who attempted to straight up murder Mystery Inc in various ways.
It was kind of cool in a twisted way.
The villains didn't just feel like a mystery for the gang to solve, but legitimate threats that the gang needed to put to justice.
Overall, the gang felt a lot more heroic in this film, since they weren't just solving a mystery but liberating a small town from a bunch of maniacs who took over.
The characterization of the characters were also a real treat.
The film carried the fairly new tradition of making Fred into more of a technically-minded dork (like Velma but more engineering than science) with a very animated personality.
This has its strengths and weaknesses of course.
On one hand, it makes Freddy a lot more interesting of a character with his own inner-personal demons to overthrow in his character arc, but it also takes away some of the credibility he had as a leader.
Daphne instead becomes more of the straight-man type figure this time around.
Though still vain and fashion-centric, she's much more down-to-earth than anyone else in Mystery Inc. Everyone else is more-or-less how you'd expect, which is always a treat.
To sum things up, this film was an utter treat.
I loved the beginning, middle and end of it.
It might even be my favorite Scooby-Doo movie yet..
Enjoyable ride.
Watched another SCOOBY-DOO direct-to-video movie this one is 23rd in franchise (out of total 32movies) and released in 2014, named SCOOBY-DOO FRANKENCREEPY, and my 5th movie.
I love scooby-doo animated series, alongwith many others like Courage, Dexter, Shaun the Sheep and Disney.
This movie is a good one, as sticking to franchise's central theme, Scooby Doo and team were asked to go to Velma's ancestral house in Transylvania Pennsylvania since Velma's uncle died and left her a big property but villagers didn't liked them due to her uncle's monstrous activity (he built a monster) and now they say that the uncle's ghost is hunting the town.
The mystery is well arranged and a better mystery than other movies I watched, also I found a different treatment to this movie, fast-cut-put together edited scenes like watching a fast go-through the happenings or flashbacks.
I rate 4/5..
Disappointing and Sadly Quite Boring.
Scooby-Doo!
Frankencreepy (2014) ** (out of 4) Incredibly disappointing feature has Velma inheriting her great-great-uncles castle in Transylvania, which has a curse on it.
As soon as the gang heads off to see it, the Mystery Machine is blown to pieces by a strange phantom wearing a mask.
Once in Transylvania it's clear that someone wants revenge on Velma and the gang.After the slightly disappointing WRESTLEMANIAC MYSTERY, this latest feature is without question one of the worst.
That's not to say that the film isn't worth viewing for fans of the series but there's no question that the film offers very little in regards to entertainment.
I will say that there are a few good ideas scattered around but sadly none of them add up to very much and in the end I couldn't help but keep looking at my watch wondering when the film was going to be over.The film tries to do a few new things but I just didn't find anything of them overly interesting.
One of the new things was to have the characters all appear in a different form.
Shaggy and Scooby turned into brave creatures who don't like to eat.
Fred was a whining cry-baby throughout the picture.
Daphne turned into an obese woman with awful hair.
Then there's Velma who turned into a sexy boss.
You'd think some of these changes would be fun but I thought the screenplay was so bland that this stuff was more annoying than anything else.
In fact, I'd say this is the absolute worse I've ever seen the Fred character.The biggest sin committed by this movie is the fact that it's simply deadly boring.
I don't think I'm going to call this the worst thing to deal with Scooby-Doo but there's no question that there's no energy, no passion and there's just nothing working with this thing.
The film adds some footage from the original television show and there's a nice twist at the very end but it's really too bad these weren't used for a better purpose.
I won't spoil the ending but it was a clever little idea that should have been used in a much better picture..
Just another average Scooby Doo adventure....
If you enjoy the Scooby Doo cartoons, then you will also enjoy "Scooby-Doo!
Frankencreepy", as this is a fairly average run-of-the-mill typical Scooby Doo cartoon and story.The friends venture to a small village named Transylvania in Pennsylvania, where Velma has inherited a cursed castle.
And it is up to the friends to figure out what is going on in the cursed castle and the nearby spooky village.Again, this 2014 cartoon follow the exact same method of building up a story as every other episode and movie of the Scooby Doo stories.Kids will enjoy this cartoon..
Changes things up a little.
Everyone's favorite canine mystery solver returns for his 22nd direct- to-video adventure with "Scooby-Doo!
Frankencreepy." You'd think he and the Mystery Incorporated Gang would be ready to retire after such a long and satisfying career.
However, they continue to make their way around the world in their trusty Mystery Machine seeking out one crime caper after the next.Velma discovers she's inherited a cursed castle from her great-great uncle Doctor Von Dinkenstein.
After much coaxing, the team talks her into claiming her birthright in Transylvania
Pennsylvania.
They arrive and discover the dark secret Velma has kept hidden from them all these years.I was surprised at the new tone Director Paul McEvoy and Writer Jim Krieg took "Scooby-Doo!
Most of the direct-to-video entries in the franchise have the same feeling and look to them.
Here we have very different "camera" angles (or whatever you call cinematography when it's referred to in animation) being explored.
Whether or not you like them, it's still refreshing that the producers and filmmakers are trying to change things up a little..
Scooby Doo meets Frankenstein in a tale of spooky fun!.
As a huge Scooby Doo fan since forever, Scooby Doo!
Frankencreepy as well as one of the most unique Scooby Doo films, it is one of the most entertaining and the darkest since Zombie Island.
It's not quite one of the best like Zombie Island, Witch's Ghost, Goblin King and Big Top Scooby Doo but it is a long way from the bottom(for me it's Monster of Mexico), ranking the film it does compare favourably.
Unfortunately, as well as being the unique, entertaining and dark it is probably the most controversial Scooby Doo film with the allegations against it of fat/body shaming in a negative way once Daphne is cursed.
While it is understandable as to why people would think that, to me the film is unfairly criticised for it and the allegations, some may be offended and others will say that it is not that damaging(personally it's the latter), can easily be argued against.Nobody says anything really mean to her in the film, in fact they especially Fred are accepting to how she looks and love her the way she is(in a way that didn't come across as false), and Daphne at least acknowledges that it's a problem(it would have been much more offensive I feel if she was in denial about it).
Sure she does look bigger than a size 8 but I took that as mirroring how it was part of Daphne's imagination and that she saw herself as bigger than she actually was especially when compared to usual(which is common in people who like Daphne constantly worry about how they look).
One Amazon reviewer says that the film does address the idea of the line between being comfortable with your weight and being in denial that it's unhealthy being blurred, and I certainly agree with that.
Weight is a very sensitive issue and along with disabilities shows people at their most prejudicial, and the film did their best handling it.
Again this paragraph was not intended to discredit anybody's opinion, it's just my take.Putting all that aside there is not much at all that is wrong with Scooby Doo!
Frankencreepy.
Frankencreepy.
From personal opinion it did feel rushed in places, with a constantly moving back and forth bounce pace, the opening was a tad jumbled, and the final solution has too much going on with the feeling of more than one ending rolled into one, a similar problem I had with Stage Fright.
But the animation is excellent with colours that are colourful and rich in atmosphere, loved the mix of classic Scooby Doo and the What's New Scooby Doo?
style.
The camera shots are interesting and inventive, unlike any technique you find in any other Scooby Doo film, though they occasionally interrupt the flow.
The music is both atmospheric and groovy and the dialogue crackles with energy with the endearingly goofy jokes having that classic Scooby Doo vibe while keeping things current.
The story always engages and is very eventful with a real attempt to not make things too convoluted and not have loose ends, it also never feels predictable or obvious with the revelations being a complete surprise to me.What was particularly good about Scooby Doo!
Frankencreepy was its merging of classic Scooby Doo and contemporary Scooby Doo. Anybody who sees this film will really enjoy the classic Gothic horror elements it has; There is the Frankenstein influence, but there are the spooky castles, a hunch-backed assistant, a creepy house-keeper and a ghost in a very characteristic Scooby Doo fashion.
There is some violence, more than usual for Scooby Doo, with explosions, fires, chases, Velma with a chainsaw and axe, close calls and fights but not to the extent where it's scary or sadistic.
The characters drive the film really well and shine with their quirks and individualities, their back-stories intriguing.
Their personalities are fresh but not once seeming too out of character.
Velma is the most interesting and likable she has been in quite some time and not annoying like she was in Mask of the Blue Falcon(which is still one of the better Scooby films) and could be in Mystery Incorporated.
Scooby and Shaggy are still as lovable as they ever were and their friendship still charms.
The villains have a real creepiness especially the one who is eerily reminiscent of Old Iron Face from The Scooby Doo Show.The voice acting is terrific.
No big names, just veteran voice actors(Frank Welker being the longest-serving, having voiced Fred since the very beginning 45 years ago) filling their roles perfectly, since Matthew Lillard has been voicing Shaggy he has been a worthy replacement for Casey Kasem(if not quite as good, Kasem WAS Shaggy).
Scooby Doo fans will also enjoy the additions on the DVD of the Scooby Doo Where Are You?
episodes A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts and To Switch a Witch, two of the better episodes of that series.
All in all, a very entertaining Scooby Doo film with plenty of spooky fun to be had.
7.5/10 Bethany Cox.
==SPOILERS==.
Velma is the villian....
Don't remember much except for that..
Some interesting twists than other Scooby Doo stories..
I have always loved Scooby Doo whether its films or TV shows and I have to say this though not the most funny or exciting has many nice touches and twists that make Frankencreepy one of the most interesting SC films ever released.
Scooby and the gang head to Transylvania(not that one but one in Pennsylvania)to visit a castle Velma has inherited but very odd things happen both before and after they get there that affects them all in very different ways.
I won't go into too much details of the movie but just to say the cast as always were wonderful(especially legendary Frank Welker as Scooby and Fred,Matthew Lillard as Shaggy and Grey DeLisle as Daphne)and very funny in places(especially moments as always with Shaggy and Scooby plus Daphne)and had superb scenes with the characters getting affected by a strange curse(Fred losing his mind over the Mystery Machine's destruction,Daphne losing her confidence over her weight,Velma changing into a mad scientist and both Scooby and Shaggy gaining courage but losing their amazing appetite)plus as for every Scooby adventure the animation was stunning and vibrant and hasn't lost it after all these years of stories.
Another winner from Warner Bros and for this still majestic five team of funny,clever and courageous friends(well not so much Scoob and Shaggy of course)..
Surprisingly offensive....
| used to love the animated Scooby Doo movies that get released to video each Halloween season.
There have been some gems such as Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, Scooby Doo and the Alien invaders.
Even the 1980s Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School was fun.In recent years they have become more and more disappointing and this one tops the list.
Daphne gets "cursed" to be a size 8 and the body images they depict are beyond terrible.
The average woman is a size 12 to 14 yet this carton makes 8 look like you're the Proverbial Operatic Fat Lady.
Did the writers and animators have no actual grasp of what a woman's size 8 actually is?
The one shining ray of hope in the whole thing is how the only one truly bothered by it is Daphne herself, the man who loves her does not notice or care.
Some have complained that this just perpetuates the idea that a man's approval is necessary for a woman's happiness but I disagree.
I think it shows that those that truly love you don't mind how you look.But the general depiction of "Size 8" is kind of offensive in and of itself.
If they had said size twenty it would have been more believable.I know it was mostly Daphne's imagination and was to show her own unhealthy body image but I think it could have been handled much better. |
tt0069797 | Blade | In 1967, a pregnant woman is attacked by a vampire while giving birth. Doctors are able to save her baby, but the woman dies of infection.
Thirty-one years later, the child has become the vampire hunter Blade. He raids a rave club owned by the vampire Deacon Frost. Police take one of the vampires to the hospital, where he feeds on hematologist Karen Jenson and escapes. Blade takes Karen to a safe house where she is treated by his old friend Abraham Whistler. Whistler explains that he and Blade have been waging a secret war against vampires using weapons based on their elemental weaknesses, such as sunlight and silver. As Karen is now "marked" by the bite of a vampire, both he and Blade tell her to leave the city.
Meanwhile, at a meeting of vampire elders, Frost, the leader of a faction of younger vampires, is rebuked for trying to incite war between vampires and humans. As Frost and his kind were not born as vampires and are therefore not pure-bloods, they are considered socially inferior. In response, Frost has one of the elders executed and strips the others of their authority.
Upon returning to her apartment, Karen is attacked by a policeman, who is a "familiar", a human slave controlled by a vampire. Blade subdues the familiar and uses information from him to locate an archive of vampire history. Later, at the hideout, Blade injects himself with a special serum that prevents him from succumbing to his desire to drink blood, which would ultimately turn him into a vampire. However, the serum is beginning to lose its effectiveness due to overuse.
While experimenting with the anticoagulant EDTA as a possible replacement, Karen discovers that it explodes when combined with vampire blood. She manages to synthesize a vaccine that can cure the infected, but learns that it will not work on a human-vampire hybrid like Blade. Frost and his men attack the hideout, infect Whistler, and abduct Karen. When Blade returns, he helps Whistler commit suicide and arms himself with special syringes filled with EDTA.
When Blade attempts to rescue Karen from Frost's penthouse, he is subdued and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night, where Frost plans to perform the summoning ritual for La Magra, the vampire blood god. Blade is drained of his blood, but Karen allows him to drink from her, triggering his vampirism. Frost completes the ritual and obtains the powers of La Magra. Blade kills all of Frost's minions, including his mother, and confronts him. During their fight, Blade injects Frost with all of the syringes, causing his body to explode.
Karen offers to help Blade cure himself, but he asks her to create a new serum instead. In a brief epilogue, Blade kills a group of Russian vampires. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | Good video fare. Blade (1973) does not compare with the other movies of the same title. Then again it is not trying to. What Blade is is a short thriller/drama about a tough cop trying to solve a murder case. This setting sounds a little like The French Connection (ala Popeye Doyale) and the movie could be considered a poor-mans version of that movie. Blade also has Morgan Freeman in one of his earlier roles and is a quality rent. Nothing spectacular, but nothing utterly disappointing either. viewed/owned on VHS. Decent enough movie.. Not bad little cop thriller, not to be confused with the Wesley Snipes vampire movie of 1998, stars John Marley ("Dead of Night", "The Godfather", "The Car") as a remarkably easygoing yet still pretty tenacious detective trailing a brutal killer. Complicating matters is the fact that the initial victim was the daughter of a senator running for re-election, and the senator's aide is determined to keep too many details from leaking to the public.One thing we notice right up front is that there's no attempt to hide who the killer is, and we basically watch the movie to see how long it will take our protagonist to catch up with us, as he tracks down one lead after another. The movie does get off to an odd start as the opening murder set piece is accompanied by rather unlikely music. The movie has a rather unhurried pace to it, with generally entertaining characters in a fairly twist-laden story, co-written by director Ernest Pintoff (Oscar winner for the animated short "The Critic", and director of such live action features as "Dynamite Chicken" and "Jaguar Lives!") with cult director Jeff Lieberman ("Squirm", "Blue Sunshine").It is a little tedious at times, but it has its moments too, particularly an interview with a character unsubtly dubbed "Fat Man". There are some sexy ladies on hand, including Karen Machon, Raina Barrett, and Jeanne Lange, and it will be of interest to some that that there are some appreciable topless shots. The score by John Cacavas is well done if a little much at times.With Pintoff having done quite a bit of work in TV, it's not surprising that so much of the supporting cast contains familiar TV faces: Jon Cypher ('Hill Street Blues') as the killer, Joe Santos ('The Rockford Files'), John Schuck ('McMillan and Wife'), Michael McGuire ('Dark Shadows'), Ted Lange ('The Love Boat'), Steve Landesberg ('Barney Miller'), and Keene Curtis ('Cheers'). Kathryn Walker, as our heros' substantially younger wife, has little to do besides banter with Marley. The film is certainly worth a look for seeing the younger Rue McClanahan and Morgan Freeman in noticeable small parts.While overall this story - with racial, social and political overtones - is rather forgettable, the movie is still reasonably watchable with the detective taking a fair amount of physical punishment during the finale.Six out of 10.. Horrendously photographed Thriller Dzd. Blade is an incompetently directed, horrendously photographed Dirty Harry rip-off. Filmed with a hand held camera, it looks like a home movie, half the shots are out of focus. Many times half the faces of actors aren't even in the frame, and it's not a pan & scan problem! A slew of familiar TV character actors all have thankless, underdeveloped roles. Ernie Pintoff never made even a half decent feature, he should have remained in animation. Blade is amateurish and boring.. Solid little police crime thriller. Had-bitten homicide detective Tommy Blade (a fine crusty performance by John Marley) has to deal with corruption and intervention from various people after he starts investigating several murders committed by brutal martial arts-practicing misogynistic psychopath Frederic Peterson (a creepy and intense portrayal by Jon Cypher). Director Ernest Pintoff, who also co-wrote the compact script with Jeff Lieberman, relates the engrossing story at a steady pace, makes good use of assorted grungy New York City locations, maintains a tough gritty tone throughout, and tosses in some ugly violence and tasty gratuitous female nudity for extra lurid measure. The sturdy cast of familiar faces helps a lot: Karthyn Walker as Blade's concerned writer girlfriend Maggie, William Prince as smarmy congressman Powers, Michael McGuire as the cynical Quincy, Joe Santos as Blade's no-nonsense partner Spinelli, John Schuck as huffy superior Reardon, and Keene Curtis as Powers's loyal aide Steiner. Morgan Freeman has a small role as the smooth leader of a black militant group. The raw documentary style and David Hoffman's rough hand-held cinematography provide a strong and vibrant sense of realism and urgency. The lush and lively score by John Cacavas does the rousing trick. Worth a watch. |
tt0066392 | Something for Everyone | A handsome young stranger, Konrad Ludwig, is fascinated by a castle near the Bavarian village of Ornstein. He dreams of owning and living in the castle, which is the property of widowed Countess Herthe von Ornstein, who lives in the dower house, unable financially to open and live in her castle.
As Konrad schemes to become one of the countess's servants he romances a beautiful and wealthy young lady, Anneliese Pleschke, daughter of a nouveau riche couple. The idea is to use their wealth to reopen Castle Ornstein. After an afternoon of chauffeuring the Pleschkes around the countryside, he gets Rudolph, the countess's footman, drunk at the local Biergarten and then run over by a train. Konrad then takes Rudolph's place in the countess's household.
Helmuth, a shy and attractive young man, and Lotte, a plain and annoying girl, are the countess's children. Helmuth is gay and begins to be romanced by Konrad when the stern majordomo Klaus tries to put a stop to it by firing Konrad. Klaus, though, has a scandalous secret: his father was a Nazi colonel, whose memory is fondly enshrined in Klaus's bedroom. The mayor of Ornstein is militantly disposed to root out all Nazis remaining in Germany, and Konrad tells him about Klaus, who is summarily and quietly put out of the countess's employ. Konrad is free to be Helmuth's lover while taking Klaus's place as majordomo.
Konrad now plays up to the countess, encouraging her to throw a daring, expensive party at the dower house in order to initiate a pseudo romance between Helmuth and Anneliese Pleschke. Konrad, the lover of both Helmuth and Anneliese, induces them to become engaged to each other while secretly assuring both of them that he would always be there at the castle. When the marriage contract is signed, the Pleschke money flows in to reopen and refurbish the Castle Ornstein.
The marriage takes place, but the honeymoon is a disaster with both the bride and groom wanting an annulment. The demise of the grand design is hastened along by Anneliese, who walks in on Konrad and Helmuth kissing. Anneliese shocked and speechless is ushered to the limousine in which she and her parents are to be driven to the castle by Konrad. When Anneliese hysterically opens up to her parents, Konrad turns the limousine down a steep embankment, managing to jump out before it crashes, killing Anneliese and her parents. Konrad escapes with a broken leg.
Konrad goes through a pleasant convalescence with the countess herself becoming his new romantic interest. After an amorous night in the countess's boudoir, they plan to be married. Helmuth is devastated. He reluctantly allows the marriage to go on rather than have Konrad be forced to leave by a scorned countess.
Helmuth's sister Lotte has other plans. On the eve of the wedding she informs Konrad that she knows all about his murderous and scandalous exploits. Ingeniously she avoids being Konrad's next victim and has him marry her instead of her mother. | comedy, fantasy, murder, plot twist | train | wikipedia | My #1 Guilty Pleasure Movie of All Time.
This movie tickled me to the bone.I can laugh decades later just thinking about Angela Lansbury greedily but daintily scarfing down strawberries.Michael York is infinitely sexy and sinister at the same time.
Just the memory of his performance gives me goosebumps.Everyone in the cast is such a juicy distinctive being and such fun to watch.It seems funny ranking this movie up there with Citizen Kane as one of the greatest movies of all time, but in terms of sheer enjoyment, for me, it ties with Cabaret (another Michael York movie) as #1..
I haven't seen this movie in a long time.
If you weren't that lucky, let me tell you, when Angela Lansbury appeared on screen about to board a train in her white satin traveling suit and matching (stewardess-style) cap, there was a collective gasp from the audience--admittedly mostly gay men.
And you never saw anything like it again until Dynasty in the 80s.Furthermore, Jane Carr utters one of the best lines in all of cinema history: "There's nothing like a bit of pre-breakfast chocolate cake."The movie is pitch perfect, and I'd say required viewing for gay people, even though that theme is a small part of the movie.
Angela Lansbury as a decadent noblewoman, glaring out into her shaky future is nothing short of sensational.
One of the most entertaining performances ever put on film.
She has to overcome two massive obstacles, wooden Michael York as a co-star and Broadway legend Harold Prince as her "film" director.
Deliciously wicked, seldom-seen black comedy that really shows off Michael York and Angela Lansbury..
In fact, while the Britisher is bicycling through Austria, he sees the very castle described in the fairy tale picture book his mother gave him when he was young, and that he now carries with him at all times.
But in the hands of director Hal Prince, this darkly comic tale takes another direction altogether.
Michael York plays the clever, enigmatic young opportunist who is willing to seduce, charm, outmaneuver, even murder whoever he has to in order to become "king of the castle."The afore-mentioned domain is inhabited by none other than the Countess Von Ornstein (the wonderfully eccentric Angela Lansbury) and her brood.
But with a homosexual son and chubby, homely young teenage daughter left to carry on the family dynasty, prospects look truly abysmal.To say any more would be a dastardly move on my part.
Director Prince takes full advantage as well of the breathtaking Bavarian landscape.York, as Konrad, has seldom had a meatier role as he first becomes a footman to the castle, then proceeds to eliminate all the other human elements that interfer with his rise to the social top.
Lansbury steals every scene she is in, while given a number of deliciously wry monologues to remind viewers that the Jessica Fletcher character she played in "Murder She Wrote" was a popular move but a real step down.
Jane Carr, who the year before gave a touching, timorous performance as the ill-fated student in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," does a 100% turnaround here as the dry, sardonic "plain Jane" daughter who is wise to York's game from the very start.
And Anthony Higgins as the smitten gay son and Heidelinde Weis as an amorous young heiress are quite effective as two of Konrad's romantic pawns."Something for Everyone" definitely HAS something for everyone.
Now, when I look at my $199.00 Sony HD video pocket camcorder I think back to how times have changed.This movie is such a classic I am surprised that it is ignored by TCM, the Independent Film Channel and every other cable movie channel out there.
The rant by Angela Lansbury after the party is one of her greatest scenes and I show it to everyone young person who think they know all there is to know about her.
A beautiful, black, wry, comic fairy tale..
Hal Prince's Something For Everyone is perhaps one of the most looked over American classics of the 70's.
Prince's theatrical touch can be felt and lends a strong hand in the telling of the tale and keeping tight reigns on what could easily have become an out-of-control experience (i.e., "Happy Birthday, Gemini"), a taut, thrillingly wry comedy one of the best of its type.
Combining the fantasy of fairy tale with the social repression and economic dire straits of a Post-II World II Bavaria the film provides a vastly entertaining (and darkly hilarious) look into subject matters verboten at the time of the tale including the Nazi issue, social pariahism, class distinction and sexual appetite.The dichotomy between classes has never been more closely paralleled in film: on one hand there is the starving, eager and willing to do anything young Konrad (Michael York) and on the other the Countess von Ornstein she of by gone nobility.
Lansbury's Countess is priceless and she plays it with an unlikely combination of superego and hopeless despair and she is brilliant.
With nazis hiding in the woodwork, sexual weaponry, misplaced romantic feelings, murder, social climbing combining with delicious Bavarian countryside, castles, beer gardens, stunning mountain vistas and even Wagnerian opera, Prince gives us a fairy tale gone wrong.
This is one of only two movies directed by multi-Tony winning Broadway (and opera) director Hal Prince and redeems him for the ghastly film adaptation of his brilliant stage work on Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.
Angela Lansbury is beautiful and brilliant as a penniless countess who is desperate to save her beloved Schloss - played in part (the Schloss, that is) by one of Mad Ludwig's castles whose construction costs bankrupted Bavaria.
Other reviewers have commented on the Machiavellian plot, with Michael York charming and subversive as the upwardly mobile manservant.
Black humor with clever dialogue, beautiful sets and costumes and fine performances all around.
For some reason, in its theatrical release, it was NOT, in fact, "for everyone", but this movie is long overdue for release on DVD and deserves to be seen by a wider audience..
The wit and glinting malice of this film, combined with stellar performances by Michael York, Angela Lansbury and the completely delectable Jane Carr, keep it as fresh as the day it was released.
Angela at her Best, Michael York at his most interesting.
Angela Lansbury wonderfully typlifies the aristocracy that existed at the end of WW II..and someplaces, even today...at least in some people's minds.York's character, Konrad, is both charming and convincingly conniving doing whatever he has to do to achieve his goal.
Her struting, expressions and attitude make the basic point of the film more obvious and comedic.York is as smilingly disarming as the rouge as Matt Damon was in "Ripley --".
Hal Prince's talent direction is wonderful, but either the camera direction or editing is somewhat ordinary at times.Music theme is by John Kandor (Kandor-Webb who created "New York, New York" and "Cabaret")is fun, memorable and perfect for the film's style time and content.
However, I wished Hal Prince had him underscore the film....at times the film is slow and needs some mood music."Something for Everyone" is an overseen classic - storywise and performance wise.
York too told me he loved the character and the story and like me, wished the film got more notice..
This celebrated black comedy from 1970 marked the directorial debut of legendary Broadway producer Harold Prince.
It has justly earned cult status and a devoted following due, in great part, to Angela Lansbury's remarkable virtuoso performance.
She has flawless support from the delectable Michael York, a very seductive young Anthony Corlan, and gifted Jane Carr.Against a picture-perfect Bavarian backdrop, Konrad (York) rides into town sporting the sexiest legs ever seen in cycling shorts.
He quickly 'arranges' (and therein lies the fun) a job as footman to the impoverished Countess von Ornstein (Lansbury), focusing his attentions on her beautiful, lonely son Helmut (Corlan).
She has Konrad's number right off the bat, though, and asks him which he is, murderer or pervert.
His response is congenial and commendably candid.Simultaneously, Konrad dupes a snobbish, social-climbing family, debauching their beautiful, lonely daughter.
The end, with several clever twists, bears mercilessly down upon poor Konrad.The talent and beauty of Michael York and Anthony Corlan notwithstanding, the film belongs to Angela Lansbury.
Few actors could pull off such theatrical monologues as she does, with the command of Callas incarnating Tosca.Mr. Prince underscores the operatic nature of his story by introducing Wagner early in the film.
A masterpiece of humour with splendid performances by Angela Lansbury, Michael York and a very competent (and well-directed) cast, remains a classic of the genre.
I still keep the movie's VHS incarnation (very poor quality though).Therefore, I was glad to read that a DVD version had been launched in Spain and ordered it.
Angela Lansbury was superb.
I've never been an Angela Lansbury fan (except for The Manchurian Candidate and Gaslight), but she's finally perfectly cast and Michael York actually had a persona back then (two years before Cabaret) and gave some interesting performances in the 1970's.I imagine this is available on DVD and video.
I have the crappiest postage stamp sized conversion to DVD of this movie.
I too include this film as a guilty pleasure, not because it is inferior, but because it is decadent and so good.
It had Angela Lansbury, who was in the Manchurian Candidate (pulled by Sinatra for years, I've heard), and Michael York.
I've always thought this movie and Cabaret made a great double bill.
I guess I will consider myself lucky to at least have a copy, until a proper DVD comes to market..
A subversive happy-ever-after comedy directed by the famed Broadway director Harold Prince, who has only directed 2 pictures for the celluloid.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE stars a fresh-faced Michael Fork as a twenty-some stripling Konrad Ludwig, insinuates his way into the family of widowed Countess Herthe von Ornstein (Lansbury), whose financial situation is running on empty in spite of owning a Mittel-European castle, which, curtailed by an inheritance entail, is prohibited to sell.
Throughout the whole movie, audience has no inkling of his past, like a tabusa rasa, he pops up from nowhere, and miracle comes about around him just like the butterfly of a rare species landing on his hand in the opening, he can always find "something for everyone", a miracle worker indeed, but morbidly, with a tendency of homicide if he sees fit.
Soon Konrad incubates a scheme to bring affluence and glory back to the castle, through a marriage arrangement between Herthe's son Helmuth (a wiry and delectable Higgins) and Anneliese (Weis), the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Pleschke (Gill and Meineke respectively), a nouveau riche couple salivating for aristocratic luxury.
But there is a catch, both Helmuth and Anneliese are Konrad's lovers (and clearly he has a preference), the aftermath of their disastrous honeymoon drives Konrad's plan to an almost breaking point, but thankfully, the marriage is official and money is secured, so it is just a matter of dispensing with those unwelcome nuisances, between the patrician and the parvenu, it is a cinch to guess when side Prince/Konrad is inclined to choose by thinking on their feet.
Konrad's star is rising, he cannot get a break, Herthe is swept off her feet eventually, a marriage proposal, however scandalous, is propounded, and he is in no place to decline, in the final twist, there is someone in the upper crust finally can give Konrad a good run for his money, it is neither the self-involving Herthe, nor the effete Helmuth, but a cherubic lass who sees through Konrad's trickery and ploys, and gets what she always want through blackmail without hazarding her own safety, now we are talking about a film truly merits a sequel treatment.Angela Lansbury entrancingly flaunts royal poise and rhetoric, a facade she nails on the stage but rarely opens to his film audience, and Michael York, is such a unique leading man, angular, confident, charisma-oozing, and the pride in his eyes is undiminished.
As a comedy ruthlessly sends up a morally conscious society, this little-seen picture is a blast from the past, and worth being dusted off to, at the very least, give a scare to the prim, proper and prudish..
Michael York (Konrad) has a fantasy.
Does his fantasy play out as planned
.er, no
Angela Lansbury plays the once wealthy Countess who lives in the castle along with her son Anthony Higgins (Helmuth) and daughter Jane Carr (Lotte).
The family needs money to survive and York has an idea for this.
The film is set in Austria/Germany and this provides interesting landscapes and a slice of village life.
Wolfried Lier (Klaus) plays the butler with a secret and there are also good performances from Eva Maria Meineke and Heidelinde Weis as a wealthy mother and daughter who get lured into York's plans.It's a dark story with twists and turns and the film keeps you guessing as to what York is going to do next.
I find York slightly creepy in a Prince Edward sort of way but he plays his part well.
Handsome young MICHAEL YORK is a drifting social climber who takes advantage of an impoverished Countess (ANGELA LANSBURY) and her underwhelming family--a plain daughter and a homosexual son--using them for his own twisted needs to become the Prince Charming of a Bavarian castle.Directed with finesse by Harold Prince, it's a dark comedy that abounds with wit and a never ending series of complications that ensue when York manipulates and charms his way into everyone's affections.
ANGELA LANSBURY did not even mention this film during a one hour session with Robert Osborne on TCM recently, but it has to be among her best work.It raised eyebrows but failed to connect with whomever the target audience was back in the '70s and became a favorite among the art house crowd for obvious reasons.
Rampant with sexual implications, it's way ahead of its time and would probably do better box-office business in today's more accepting world of oddball themes..
See Michael York and Angela Lansbury eat lots of schnitzel..
Odd, odd, odd film about lowly servant boy Michael York employing Machiavellian means to improve his status in the household of an aristocratic German family headed by widowed matriarch Angela Lansbury.
Famed Broadway director/producer Hal Prince directed this baroque mixture of fairy tale and black comedy and it does possess some rather theatrical elements: eccentric, showy characters and ornately stylized sets and costumes.
I guess this is meant to suggest a place isolated from the rest of the world, a place where the past, present, and future are commingled (like in fairy tales).Some good characterizations: Lansbury is, as always, excellent.
She presents the perfect portrait of refined, snobbish nobility, whether looking down her nose at a nouveau riche couple that wants to buy her family's castle or haughtily dismissing the topic of Nazis from dinner-table conversation (because Nazis are, you know, uncultured).
Jane Carr is funny as Lansbury's frumpy, intellectually precocious daughter, delivering her lines with a knowing irony.Bizarre curio of a movie that's worth a look (even if only for the scene where Lansbury sashays around the living room in bell-bottoms)..
YOU WON'T FORGET THIS FILM FOR A LONG TIME..
hal prince tried to carry "cabaret" over in this one.
It has many of the touches Hal Prince is known for onstage including the marvelous Angela Lansbury.
It attempts to set the sexual ambiguities of "Cabaret" in a small Bavarian village.
Harold Prince's black comedy "Something for Everyone" casts Michael York as a man who goes to work for fallen Bavarian aristocrat Angela Lansbury, not refraining from doing what he wants to in order to take over the estate.
By extension the movie comes across as a look at how Europe's old aristocracy was forced to accept the new realities of the post-war era.
No longer would the aristocracy get seen as the most virtuous entity of all (although we all saw the hoopla over William & Kate's wedding, and then their baby).Aside from that, it's a pretty funny movie.
Not the funniest movie, but worth seeing.
It's apparently available on DVD, but I could only find a VHS copy..
Loved this movie!.
The scenery is lovely and who doesn't like a setting involving an old Austrian castle with a wealth starved nobility striving for former glory.
well the plot is just perfect!Angela Lansbury and Michael York hats of to you for a magnificent performance!.
Dark comedy, "suggested by" Harry Kressing's novel "The Cook", has opportunist Michael York worming his way into the lives of the eccentric, cash-strapped family living in a weathered German castle, at first by gaining employment there as a footman.
York is exceptional as the shameless Conrad, who uses his charm to beguile everyone around him, but Angela Lansbury is too beautiful, too vital to be convincing as a dowager Countess (one can imagine this curvy lady having her pick of any eligible man in the country).
Still, Lansbury's fluttery flamboyance, which the Countess seems to put on--like a costume, for show--is colorful and amusing, while theatre director Harold Prince oversees the proceedings with knowing wit and self-assurance.
Michael York insinuates himself into a family of decaying royals and proceeds to wreak havoc.
Countess Angela Lansbury figures out York's game early on & decides he's just what she and her hapless brood needs.
One grotesque deception after another ensues as York attempts to have Lansbury's homosexual son (Anthony Higgins) married off to a wealthy débutante he himself is bedding.
Directed by Hal Prince (the great stage director making his film debut), this movie is an intriguing curiosity.
York is excellent and Lansbury is great as a bitter yet entirely realistic wreck.
Jane Carr is very funny as Lansbury's bitchy and extremely sharp daughter and Wolfried Lier is York's unlucky predecessor (a former Nazi who is disposed of rather quickly). |
tt0039729 | The Prairie | The story opens with Ishmael, his family, Ellen and Abiram slowly making their way across the virgin prairies of the Midwest looking for a homestead, just two years after the Louisiana Purchase, and during the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They meet the trapper (Natty Bumppo), who has left his home in New York state to find a place where he cannot hear the sound of people cutting down the forests. In the years between his other adventures and this novel, he tells us only that he has walked all the way to the Pacific Ocean and seen all the land between the coasts (a heroic feat, considering Lewis and Clark hadn’t yet completed the same trek). That night, a band of Teton warriors steal all of Ishmael’s animals, stranding the immigrants. The doctor returns the next morning along with his donkey. The trapper helps the family relocate their wagons, including one with mysterious contents, to a nearby butte where they will be safer when the Tetons return. Middleton joins the group when he stumbles upon the trapper and Paul. Before they return to the butte, Ishmael and his family go looking for his eldest son, Asa, whom they find murdered. The trapper, Paul, and Middleton return to camp, find Inez whom Abiram and Ishmael had been keeping captive, and flee with her and Ellen. Ishmael chases them until the Tetons capture the Trapper and his crew. They escape the Tetons, and then Ishmael forms an alliance with the Indians. The Indians attempt to recapture the trapper by surrounding them with a prairie fire, but the trapper lights a backfire and saves everyone. They meet up with Hard-heart, a Pawnee Indian who survived the fire wrapped in a buffalo skin, and attempt to escape to his village. The Tetons capture them. Ishmael demands the trapper, Inez, and Ellen for helping the Tetons but is denied and turned away. Mahtoree intends to take Inez and Ellen for his new wives. Le Balafre attempts to spare Hard-heart’s life by making Hard-heart his son. Hard-heart refuses, kills Weucha, and flees the village. When Hard-heart’s Pawnee warriors attack the Teton village, the trapper and his friends escape, only to be captured by Ishmael. The trapper is accused of Asa’s death until Abiram’s guilt is discovered. Abiram is executed, and Ishmael’s family returns east without Inez, Ellen, or the doctor. Middleton, Inez, Paul and Ellen travel back to Louisiana and Kentucky, respectively, while the trapper joins a Pawnee village located on a tributary of the Missouri River. Middleton and Paul return just in time to witness the trapper's noble death and bury him. | insanity, romantic | train | wikipedia | An Oddball "Find". Admittedly, the 60-minutes is not for all tastes, especially those expecting a conventional western. The movie is, however, an oddly atmospheric tribute to its director, Frank Wisbar, who also helmed the moodily exotic Strangler of the Swamp (1946). He was clearly an artistic moviemaker dwelling in the anonymous depths in the manner of the better-known Edgar Ulmer.The story's about an 1803 Kentucky family traveling west in a wagon to settle in the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. The family patriarch is something of an unyielding tyrant, escaping civilization so he can live by his own rules and laws. On the way across Indian land, they pick up a newly orphaned young woman (Aubert) who becomes an immediate attraction for the family's many young men. They also encounter a government mapmaker (Baxter), who knows the prairie ropes but also represents what Dad's wanting to escape from. Various rivalries and a mysterious murder form the movie's remainder.But what makes the movie memorable, I think, are the visuals. Working with a shoestring budget, Wisbar has basically one flat prairie set overgrown with tall grass, along with an all- encompassing moody sky. Together, these compose a strange setting unlike anything I've seen. It's like being inside a teacup that's upside-down on a grassy table top. People and wagon move through the tall grass that somehow appears to consume them with each step. The only variations are occasional campsites, but these too, are menaced by the surrounding prairie. Wisbart has, in effect, taken a severe handicap, the single set, and turned it into an exotic world of its own. Once you've seen it, I don't think you'll forget it. Also, catch the many imaginative camera angles that lift things beyond the conventional, including the transition into the psychology of guilt that comes at the end.All in all, I think the movie is a "find" for folks looking for obscure oddities. I'm not claiming it's a "gem" since the acting is uneven, at best, while the storyline is nothing special. It is a movie, however, whose visuals have stayed with me for 60-some years. And, to my knowledge, it's never appeared on TV during that time, which likely accounts for my being the only person so far to review it. Still, I'm really glad to be able to tout the movie's singular virtues to a hopefully wider audience. I'm just sorry director Wisbar moved back to Germany, likely discouraged by the subterranean budgets of his projects. As this film shows, he was clearly a man of unusual visual talent.(In passing—I got my DVD from w.w.w.MoviesUnlimited.com The only venue I've seen the film available on.) |
tt2317524 | 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded | Paramedic Nick Malloy and his wife Sarah are going home after a movie, when an accident occurs. Nick attempts to aid and rescue the victims: a young boy and a wife and husband. Despite Nick's efforts, the wife dies; this shatters Nick completely as it never happened in his career.
One year later, Nick and his fellow paramedic Jay Thompson are going to work when they get a call from an abandoned building site where they find a dying citizen. They attempt to revive him, only to find the number 1 stitched on his stomach and a bomb, but Nick receives a call, is asked to step outside the ambulance after answering it. He then finds himself playing a game called 12 Rounds by Patrick Heller, moonlighting as a mastermind and using Sarah as a pawn. Before the ambulance explodes, killing the citizen instantly and setting Jay on fire, although he survives.
For Round 2, Nick receives a text message which leads to a parking lot where a car waits for him. Round 3, Nick must find a clue in the car. Nick finds a matchbox with Palace Hotel written on it. Driving frantically to the hotel, Nick takes an alternative route. An enraged Heller threatens to detonate the bomb under the car, Nick manages to reach the Hotel with two seconds to spare.
Round 4 begins in the Hotel. Nick converses with the hotel manager, who is wearing a white top with a cue ball on the front with the number "4" on it and a key that dangles around his neck. Realizing this the 4th round, but Nick assumes that this could be a hint. Nick attacks the manager to steal the key. Nick must find a room that will give him all the answers. Leading to the clues, Nick finds out it's room 44. Inside the room, a young boy, Tommy Weaver, is having fun with a prostitute named Amber. Round 5 begins when he enters the room. Nick ransacks the room and gets in a fight with Tommy and the prostitute. Before the phone rings in the room which is Heller. He orders Nick to bring "it with you" and get into a car parked next to Tommy's. Nick notices a tattoo on Tommy, the same as the calling card of the mastermind. However, as Nick takes Tommy out of the room, on the way Nick gets in a fight with the security guard but escapes. Nick puts Tommy in the car next to his, Nick finds a black glove with some coordinates leading to the Intersection of Grant and Sherwood Street.
During the trip, Nick learns that Tommy has a parole anklet by following his DUI arrest. Heller blocks the signal to the anklet so that Nick can stay focused on his timed mission. During the trip they stop halfway because both Nick and Tommy can hear a cell phone in the vehicle's trunk. They both open the trunk to find Tommy's lawyer, Roberta Shaw, dead. For round 6, they must go to Grant and Sherwood intersection. They find a telephone booth. Heller tells them a series of events that leads them there. Tommy finds out this is the street where he had an accident following his DUI arrest.
Meanwhile, Nick puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and finds out he was at the right place at the right time. The accident at the start of the film, Tommy was the young boy, the woman who died was Patrick's wife. However, Tommy tries to escape, finding 2 police officers and tries to turn himself into them, but Nick catches him, engages and defeats the officers and steals their police car. Chased down by police they take an alternative route until they meet a dead end with police cars. They escape by driving up into the parking garage building. When they reach the top they find are cornered by Detective McKenzie, who is investigating a case involving the Governor.
The woman tells them to play his game to discover and his true intentions. Round 7 and 8 they must reach a sugar factory. This is how his father got into the government Tommy finds his father buried in raw sugar. Nick drives a tractor to stop the overflowing of the sugar. Meanwhile, the cops take care of Round 9. Heller appears and shoots Tommy's father. Round 10 begins with Sarah, but Tommy uses a tazer on Nick temporarily taking him out.
Round 11 begins in front of a club called Karma. It turns out the boy who died in the ambulance worked here. Heller gives 2 glass bottles to Tommy containing some alcoholic beverage. One of them is poisoned. Tommy drinks one, presumes he will die now, then laughs hysterically but Heller pours the contents of the other bottle, igniting it leaving Tommy to die. Later that night, Final Round, Heller has Nick and Sarah tied up in the back of his SUV and calls 911 and tells emergency services that there will be an accident at Grant and Sherwood Intersection. Nick breaks free and fights Heller, by helping himself and Sarah escape, before Heller shouts 'Diana' and the car explodes. Nick and Sarah are inside an ambulance, Detective McKenzie thanks Nick and Sarah for their help and saying, 'It's Over'. | comedy, murder, violence, flashback, insanity, action, revenge | train | wikipedia | Not bad for a WWE straight to DVD production.
I didn't much care for the first "12 Rounds" movie, finding it flat and not very exciting.
So when I sat down to watch this next entry, I was expecting it to be even worse than the original movie.
But I have to admit that I was surprised.
Yes, this sequel does have some problems, not just with the awkward title imposed on the front of the Blu-ray box ("12 Rounds 2"????) The main problem with this movie is that a lot of key linking footage, as well as entire scenes, seem to be missing here and there.
Also, the ending is kind of abrupt.
Still, there's a lot to enjoy here.
The production values are generally pretty good for a movie that bypassed theaters.
Randy Orton, though not a great actor, does seem to be trying, and he makes his character sympathetic enough.
The main selling point of the movie is its relentlessness - once the crisis starts, there's barely a lull in the action and intensity.
I'm not saying that this movie is a GREAT movie, but you'll likely find it better than you might be expecting, and it passes its 94 minutes with a certain briskness..
A very good WWE production movie.
This movie was really more than what I expected, a lot more.
I watched previous WWE production movies and to me this one is the best.
Yes, even better than John Cena starred 'Legendary'.12 Rounds:Reloaded was a really great thriller, action movie.
Randy Orton is great as the hero, has the charisma and can really make u sink in his acting.
The direction was very well done.
The action scenes are also very well co-ordinated & the suspense of the story manages to keep you on the edge of you're seat.
You'll always keep wondering "Why did this happen?
What's going to happen next?"The best part of the movie is that it always has some fresh revelation or twists turning up every few minutes, to help keep you engaged in the films story.
Arguably the films is better than the first.
It has more action, better acting & direction.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED because of its actions and, more importantly, suspense.12 Rounds:Reloaded is definitely worth the watch!.
The Ultimate Movie Review!
- http://tss5078.blogspot.com - @tss5078.
WWE Films continue to surprise, giving us a string of terrific action thrillers from an unlikely source.
Their latest straight to video release is a sequel to 2009s, 12 Rounds.
While Randy Orton wasn't nearly as good as John Cena was in the first film, he gives a more than adequate performance as Nick Molloy, a paramedic who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
After failing to save a rich mans wife at the scene of a drunk driving accident, the man decides to punish all those involved, including the paramedic who failed to save her.
The story here is pretty solid, especially for an action film, but what bothers me is that this sequel was in no way connected to the first film.
Reloaded is a different story in a different city, with an entirely different cast, so how did the bad guy manage to come up with the same game, from four years earlier?
As for that game, the rounds weren't as long or as complicated, but what really makes this better than your average action movie is the compelling back story and the depth of the characters involved.
Randy Orton, while having very limited film experience was pretty good and that will come as a surprise to many.
It's hard to think of WWE Superstars as actors, but that is exactly what they are.
Aside from wrestling in their underwear every week, they have to play a charterer and follow a script 52 weeks a year, so is this really such a stretch?
For the most part the WWE Superstars have made for some pretty exciting action stars.
The supporting cast of this film was also very good, in particular Tom Stevens, formerly of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid series.
Stevens plays Tommy, another person caught up in this madman's game, and he is not only thrilling and charismatic, but he's pretty funny too.
12 Rounds 2 won't win any awards, but it is 90 minutes of non-stop action, packaged in a compelling story, which I found to be extremely entertaining..
poor sequel to a decent first film.
Now I was one of the few that enjoyed the original 12 rounds starring John Cena for what it is a fun action film.
However, this film is a huge step down from the original.
I have got to be honest going into this film I thought Randy Orton was going to be worse then Cena but I was pleasantly surprised that the performances of the villain and Randy Orton are good.
The villain wasn't as good or intelligent as the previous villain but was solid and Orton was relatable and still cool at the same time.
Even though there is some differences in this film from the original it feels like a worse version of the original and when Orton isn't on screen none of the other good guys are compelling and you care about none of them not even Orton's wife.
They were much more interesting in the original and I know I am comparing this a lot to the original but everything about this film is just a predictable worse version of the original not worth a watch but I hope Orton gets another chance in a good WWE studios film if they ever make another one after 12 rounds..
Awesome movie with a WWE star.........
I have watched movies with WWE stars but i am disappointed most of the time.........but this time i really enjoyed the action and thriller in this movie....
waiting for sequel.....I have watched movies with WWE stars but i am disappointed most of the time.........but this time i really enjoyed the action and thriller in this movie....
waiting for sequel.....I have watched movies with WWE stars but i am disappointed most of the time.........but this time i really enjoyed the action and thriller in this movie....
Acting is awesome...
Acting is awesome...
Acting is awesome...
Action speaks louder than words..
Action speaks louder than words..
Action speaks louder than words..
Cinematography is excellent...
Cinematography is excellent...
Cinematography is excellent...
can be watched with family or friends....
can be watched with family or friends....
can be watched with family or friends....
Better than predecessor...
Better than predecessor...
Better than predecessor...
waiting for sequel......
Great acting by Randy Orton.
I thought this movie was way better than the first 12 rounds movie starring John Cena.
This had some good and exciting action spots compared to the first movie.
I thought Randy Orton did a great job in his first time as a lead role.
Like in WWE, where the superstars act according to a script, in the movie industry its the same.
So I don't think Randy had a lot of difficulties in acting even though he lacks acting experience in movies.
Randy has done well to keep the "Nick Malloy" character interesting.This movie was not a box office hit, but this consists of great action scenes, great acting from the cast and also a good story..
Definitely powerful and intense.
I saw this sequel to the original 12 Rounds film starring John Cena and I thought that this film was in between very good and excellent.
The film had some excellent acting by Randy Orton as Nick Malloy, Tom Stevens as Tommy Weaver, Brian Markinson as Heller, Venus Terzo as McKenzie and Cindy Busby as Sarah Malloy.
While Randy Orton wasn't nearly as good as John Cena was in the first film, he really does do an awesome performance as Paramedic Nick Malloy and the acting in this film by Randy Orton was excellent and I think that he should do some more film acting for thrillers with action and violence, because he looks good for the role of a U.S Police Officer etc.
12 Rounds 2: Reloaded was awesome and was filled with some very tense action and suspense.
There were explosions, chases, lots of hard gripping action and there were some awesome fight scenes which showed Randy fight very well.
I thought this film was awesome but its not as good as the original 12 Rounds, but it definitely is a wicked film.
Besides having watched 12 Rounds starring John Cena many times, I have also watched this film 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded starring Randy Orton many times because I also love watching this film and find it enjoyable to watch.
I haven't seen the 3rd part 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown starring Jonathan Good aka Dean Ambrose, yet but I have seen clips of that film and this film 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded looks better and i think is much better than that film.
I would give this a rating of 9 to 9.5 out of 10..
Not bad overall.
As far as a storyline goes, this one isn't too bad, though I haven't seen the original to compare.The cinematography was great.In terms of the acting, Randy Orton was OK, but it would've been interesting to see his character with a higher profile actor and budget.
The villain (if that's what you call him) didn't quite hit the mark for me.
This is a role and character that could've been played by someone darker and actually looks like they have a grudge to beat.It had a lot of concepts similar to Eagle Eye in that everything and everyone is being watched and monitored which I love and find fascinating (and often wonder if it's possible!).I liked it overall, though I won't rush back to watch it again....
Orton: Reloaded.
12 Rounds of non-stop action more or less!
The villain is a man driven to the edge after losing his wife in a car accident where the driver, the son of a governor, is practically let off Scott-Free.
You actually understand why the man takes this course of drastic action.Randy Orton plays a paramedic who attended that car accident and instead of saving the wife, he saved the driver.
And it's that driver that gets pulled into this cat and mouse game as the villain seeks his revenge.This was Randy Orton's first lead role, and he did a pretty respectable job.Wrestlers like Randy are bound to succeed in action movies, as the acting is standard.Randy is the only star of the movie as far as I'm concerned as I don't recognise any of his co-stars.Its a decent enough movie with superb action sequences.
Right place, right time..
Nick Malloy (Randy Orton) is an EMT who hates chick flicks.
He receives a phone call and is forced into a 12 round game or else his wife (Cindy Busby) will die.
Nick has to follows directions and quickly find and decipher clues.
We even get to see the man (Brian Markinson) making the phone calls to him.
The question of "why Nick" is answered midway through the film, at which point Nick tries to go after his caller, while the cops go after him.We have seen similar films as this one, which I thought were superior.
Other than Nick being an EMT, this one brings nothing new and exciting.
The film is mildly entertaining at best.
It might make for an inexpensive rental, but lacks the quality for a second viewing.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Chelsey Reist).
I wish Randy Orton would retire.
12 ROUNDS 2: RELOADED is the second straight-to-video action thriller sequel I've watched this week in which the film's original actor has been replaced by wrestler-turned-actor Randy Orton.
Unsurprisingly, 12 ROUNDS 2 is just as bad as THE CONDEMNED 2, a gloomy, mundanely-directed thriller sorely lacking in the kind of thrills required to make a decent flick.
The plot, in which Orton plays the world's unlikeliest paramedic, sees a man forced to commit tasks against the clock by a vengeful psychopath.
Mostly it's a collection of extremely low rent action bits rendered a bore by Orton's monotonous line delivery and extreme lack of depth..
The sands burying me slightly, and slowly......
Nick Malloy is an Emergency Medical Technician, who finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, with a vigilante tied to the paramedic's past.
With little time to spare, and his wife's life hanging in the balance, Nick must figure out why he's been chosen to be the pawn in this maniac's game before it's too late....If you enjoyed the first movie, and are ready to suspend disbelief for ninety minutes, you will have a ball watching this.Its a WWE movie, starring a huge jawed star who cannot act, but can run for miles and fight the good fight, and the villain stands in a sewer for the entire movie, ringing up Orton and getting him to drive somewhere and pick up a Wesley, maundering guy.And this is where you really have to suspend belief, the rationale of the villain is the act that Orton saved someone else before his wife, who died.So why is it Orton the guy picks on?
Its really annoying, and if I were Nick, I'd tell him where to go, as his wife is pretty much safe for the majority of the movie.But like I've said, ignore this, and its a fun movie, with good production values and some good set pieces.In the end, you realise that Orton can fight two cops no problem, but struggles with a man nearly twice his age with one hand on the steering wheel.But its the best film ever made about having your best friend get caught in a blast, and never finding out what happened to him. |
tt0472071 | Death Defying Acts | In 1926, 13 years after his mother's death, illusionist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) has begun debunking mystics, psychics and others who claim to have paranormal powers. He offers US$10,000 to anyone who can quote his mother's dying words to him.
Impoverished and uneducated Scottish con artist Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) set their sights on Houdini's reward when he visits Edinburgh on tour. Mary's psychic act pulls in the public: Benji surreptitiously gathers information on members of the audience, information Mary uses to con them into believing they can reach out to their deceased loved ones.
Their only obstacle is Houdini's protective manager, Sugarman (Timothy Spall). Mary manages to charm the unsuspecting magician, but as they spend more and more time together, Sugarman intervenes, trying to prevent Houdini from becoming entangled with Mary, of whom he is suspicious.
Sugarman's main desire is to see Mary and Benji gone; they claim they will be gone for good once they secure the reward for finding out what Houdini's mother said to him on her death bed. Sugarman realizes he can't get rid of them as easily as he had hoped. Mary is caught trying to open Houdini's chest and covers up by saying she was just searching for something to channel the psychic energy of the deceased.
Benji gets the key to the chest from Sugarman. When Mary and Benji fail to turn up any useful information, they turn again to Sugarman. He tells them that Houdini was out doing a show and missed seeing his mother before she died. When the time comes, Mary is unable to perform the experiment and attempts to leave. At this point Benji starts having a fit on the ground and claims to be channelling Houdini's mother on her death bed, uttering the words of the Kaddish and addressing Houdini as "Ehrich", his real name, and speaking partly in German and partly in German-accented English asking where he is, and why he is not with her. This could be interpreted as either a genuine seance or a very skillful and convincing impersonation by the young artist. When the note he wrote to confirm the veracity of the experiment was removed from its safe and shown to be blank, Houdini reveals the "eternal shame" he feels because he wasn't able to reach his mother before she died, and thus was unable to comfort her in her moment of death, or to hear her final words. The McGarvies are awarded the $10,000.
Mary is disgruntled because she believes Harry does not love her as she believed. When he says he does, they become romantically involved before Houdini leaves for his last performance, in Montreal. During his travels, he is climbing a set of stairs when a "Red-Haired Prankster" punches him in the stomach while he was not prepared, rupturing his appendix, eventually killing him. | paranormal, historical fiction | train | wikipedia | It was enjoyable, had beautiful cinematography, elements of humor a story of love and life...however implausible it may be, it does not detract from elegance of watching Catherine Zeta Jones(Mary McGarvie) try to support herself and her daughter, matching wits with the great Houdini.Catherine displays a grace and style combined with fire and drive.
Her daughter provides moments of comedic relief and there is tension between Catherine and Guy Pearce - should she win the money at any cost, allow herself to fall in love, what is in the afterlife?
This will definitely be a short review.The film tells the story of mega-famous magician and trickster Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce - Memento).
Something unexpected happens the moment he arrives at Scotland, though - he falls in love with psychic Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones), whose daughter and "apprentice", Benji (Saoirse Ronan) approached to accept his scientific challenge.If that small plot summary sounded simplistic, that's because it is.
The movie is not particularly ambitious, and that's maybe why I was left overwhelmed by it - there's so much to say about a figure as famous and recognizable as Houdini, and the film decides to focus on something decidedly dull.
Catherine Zeta Jones is pretty good too, sporting a credible Scottish accent (!) and trying to portray Mary as a sympathetic figure despite the fact that the writers' don't seem to like the character.
Timothy Spall - as Houdini's manager - is great as always, but the real standout is Saoirse Ronan.
(Who was also really amazing in Atonement, by the way.) It's not only that she portrays the most developed, interesting and fun character, it's also that she brings it to life - Pearce and Zeta Jones' performances are precisely that (performances) but Ronan seems to be inhabiting her character, definitely putting a lot of passion into a project that arguably doesn't deserve that much.Despite the fact that Death Defying Acts is already available on DVD and Blu-Ray in most countries, I got to see it in theatres.
(Cinematography is gorgeous, though, and the score is beautiful.) Performances - especially Ronan's - are what save the film from entering the realm of mediocrity, but if you really want to watch a magician's flick, I'd recommend either the Illusionist or The Prestige..
What had drawn me to watch Death Defying Acts, is that it's a story with Harry Houdini, arguably the greatest illusionist and escape artist of our time.
A few days ago I was browsing through a book which revealed the secrets behind his brand of death defying acts, and really he's a man of science, engineering and most of all, a performer to bring to life the act of fooling an audience into believing his stunts.
In fact, you can count the number of stunts which involve Harry Houdini, and the filmmakers left that for another biographical movie that someone else should pick up on.
What we have instead are glimpses into the man's personal life, and Guy Pearce provided quite an intense and charismatic Houdini with personal demons of his own to do battle with, though the story seemed to rein him in from dwelling too much on that aspect, and preferred to have a more romantic tale weaved in.The romanticism of the movie is not with his illusions, but with a single parent who's a psychic of sorts, relying on her street smarts to get her own act going.
Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Mary McGarvie, who has to rely on her wits to build credibility for her stage character.
Together with daughter and sidekick Benji (played by Saoirse Ronan of Atonement fame), the mother and daughter team tries hard to make a living from their acts, but realize that they're by no means close to Houdini's widespread fame and fortune.However, Houdini himself throws a gauntlet to all psychics far and wide, that whosoever can accurately reveal what his late mother had last said to him, will inherit US$10,000.
Naturally, Mary and Benji find themselves up against the best in the business, but when your back is against the wall, there's nothing much to lose it seems.As mentioned earlier, this movie's more of a character study of the master magician, and explores things like his guilt because of dedication to his craft and performance, as well as his questionable motives in being attracted to the fictional Mary McGarvie.
Gillian Armstrong makes fine movies: she is a director who knows how to tell stories and enhance what appears on the surface to be reality with a healthy dose of fantasy.
DEATH DEFYING ACTS uses the character of Harry Houdini as the stimulus of to tell a story about the folk of Edinburgh, Scotland at a time when stage shows were embraced much the way America was using vaudeville - an escape from the rather dreary state of living to a world of entertainment and love of magic.
Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) survive in Edinburgh by picking pockets not merely for cash but for information to use in their act in the little theaters.
Mary does exotic dances then uses her 'gifts' to see into the 'other world' of people in the audience ( Benji does the investigative work and is the prompter for the séance like acts Mary performs).
Their idol is Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) and when they learn Houdini is coming to Edinburgh to 'perform', they discover Houdini is promising $10,000 to anyone who can prove they have the ability to look into the future (or past).
How Mary and Benji work their way into Houdini's belief system and love life with their con game forms the meat of the sparing.
The atmosphere of the film is well captured by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos who understands who to balance the mire of the streets of 1926 Edinburgh with the gorgeous fantasies used during Houdini's escape acts.
Pearce, Zeta-Jones, Spall and Ronan turn in excellent performances.
This film is about a woman who works as a con artist trying to deceive Harry Houdini into believing that she has psychic powers."Death Defying Acts" sounds like an action movie, but the poster looks more like a romantic film.
It is a slowly unfolding drama about how Mary attempts to con Harry, and how harry falls for her.As Houdini is the greatest escape artist of all times, a film about him should have been exciting, thrilling and even death defying.
There is little chemistry between Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays a foxy, yet poor, mother, scamming away through life pretending to be a psychic.
When Guy Pearce's Houdini comes into town to prove or disprove the existence of the paranormal, they come into contact.It is both a sad and a hopeful movie.
A little too "psychic" for me and too little about the true nature of Harry Houdini except his fascination for his dead mother.
First of all this is not a film about Houdini, there is no reason why this film should dramatically display the amazing acts and potentials of the artist himself; Secondly, i do not see why 'there is no reason for the creation of this movie' is justifiable, this film is just a testimony on how characters carry on with their lives and that itself is enough to make a film meaningful...in fact films like 'Atonement' (where the girl is also in) deserves this statement better where everything is just so FAKE.
Third, i haven't watch the illusionist but i have to say this is richer in detail, and thus better than the Prestige--a film which displays too much magic 'action' but no depth to the characters or the plot at all, like an eggshell without the yoke inside...Lastly, this is a decent film where everything is well-made, well presented, well acting performances (exception of Catherine's dramatically 'fake' acting at times), and a good score.
You know, last year there have been severals magicians movies just like "The Prestige", Neil Burger's "The Illusionist, "Next".
But i noticed myself that "Death Defying Acts" is not just a simple "magic" movie.
Gillian Armstrong gives a touch of real magic directing this impressing, fascinating and thrilling movie, being helped by Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta Jones, that are simply amazing and are "victims" of an unspeakable chemistry that in my opinion should be awarded with an Oscar.
It tells the fictional story of a poor but beautiful psychic-wannabe and Houdini through her daughter's point of view.
One must be warned that this film is fictional and thus, Pearce's Houdini does not bear much resemblance to the real one.
On the plus side, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan and Catherine Zeta-Jones perform well.
One ought not to watch 'Death Defying Acts' as a true account but rather try to enjoy it as a work of fiction..
It might be the weakest of the latest "Magicians" movies (see Prestige and the Illusionist, the latter being overseen at the Box office), but it still has one strong central performance by Guy Pearce.
Houdini was a very tough ex-circus performer..a guy who started in the scummiest dumps and worked his way up..and the Edinburgh music hall scene was an absurdity.
but harry Houdini is not, for sure, the man we see in the movie.
In here, he seems like an arrogant man who instantly falls in love with some girl.Aside from that, Zeta-Jones is once-again great and she kept me following during the movie ...
Death Defying Acts is directed by Gillian Armstrong and written by Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward.
It stars Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Timothy Spall and Saoirse Ronan.
Music is by Cezary Skubiszewski and cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos.Not a biopic of Harry Houdini, but an episode in his life, Death Defying Acts (a bum steer of a title) is lukewarm across the board.
Story charts the years after the death of Houdini's mother, where he travels to 1920s Edinburgh and falls in with Psychic Tricksters Mary (Jones) and Benji McGarvie (Ronan), a mother and daughter team who spy an opportunity to prise a cash reward offered by the great escapologist.What is intended to be a searching examination of Houdini, his mental fragility, hang-ups, strengths and etc, just plays out as a romantic period piece lacking vim and vigour.
Pearce works hard as Houdini but never gets to grasp the tormented angle of the man, while Jones is miscast and not even her pretty face can light up a dull performance.
I'm keeping my review simple, so here are some pros and cons:Pros Good visuals Guy Pearce is likable and chemistry with CZJ seems to work OK, though is somewhat shallow in some regards Character development is good Unpredictable plot Some light-heated, amusing momentsCons Plot meanders, and also takes a while to get to certain key moments - probably done in order to develop characters more but a little too slow for my liking Some strange imagery confuses the viewerIn summary, I probably would only go to see this at the movies for the great visuals of old towns and so forth (certainly not the story, plot, effects, etc).
It sounds like a great idea for a film: a Scottish con-woman, with the manners and mannerisms of a Morningnside lady but a heart of cold steel inside, attempts to con the great Harry Houdini.
Unfortunately, Guy Pierce manages to make one of the most intriguing figures of his team seem boring with his shallow performance, Timothy Spall (playing Houdini's manager) seems surprisingly ill-at-ease in a role you might have thought he was made for (and struggles throughout with his accent), while role of the con-woman's daughter is written as wholesome where a little malevolence might have spiced up the plot.
Love story between a down-and-out cabaret psychic and the great Houdini in town for his world tour.
It tells the fictional story of Mary, a single mother (Catherine Zeta Jones) who struggles to make a living as a psychic in a cabaret using her good looks, artful deceit and pick-pocketing skills more than actual psychic powers to entertain the working class crowds.
Mary and Benji make it a point to meet the great Houdini (played by Guy Pearce, so good in Memento) and gain financially from the encounter.
Magician/illusionist stories are notoriously difficult to make interesting and Death Defying Acts is no exception..
a fictional story about Harry Houdini.
There is a film during which the Catholic church pressures her to say it didn't happen.While performing in England and extending his challenge in the 1920s, Houdini (Guy Pearce) meets a fake psychic Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan).
Guy Pearce has to play Houdini as a person instead of just as a performer, and he does a good job.
He plays the role as a tough, plain-speaking, charismatic man, and a loving man at heart.Catherine Zeta-Jones is stunning, whether on stage as an exotic psychic, in the clothes of someone with no money, or in expensive outfits.
Despite the renewed interest in movies about magicians thanks to the success of the recent "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist", as well as the presence of two famous stars and a child actress who was Oscar-nominated for another film she made the same year, "Death Defying Acts" had only a limited theatrical release in a few countries and drew little attention.
Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta Jones give OK but rather unremarkable performances; the real standout in the cast is the young Saoirse Ronan, who is obviously destined for a long successful career.
Well, THIS would have been indeed a dramatic ending of our movie here: once Benji starts to have REAL manifestations, Houdini could have tried to rig the experiment as to make it look false - thus, compromising all the human relationship he had built so far with the two Scots...
The great Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) has been debunking spiritualists claiming to have supernatural powers.
Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) are con artists and performers.
The mother daughter team manages to get into his world and discovers a locked trunk that could be the key to the two words.The idea holds some potential of a fictionalized Houdini.
If all you know about Harry Houdini is the jokes you usually hear in movies or amongst your friends and relatives, then this movie might at the very least satisfy your curiosity about the greatest illusionist ever.
This movie, if nothing else, shows us a little of what the Great Houdini was like.
Also the great love and affection he felt for his departed mother.So, if you're curious about who or what Houdini was like, this might just satisfy you curiosity..
Zeta-Jones is fine, but never for a single second did I believe she was going to screw over Houdini.
There was never a real sense of wonderment at Houdini's tricks, and the film tried to hard to pull away his showbiz facade.
Plunged well into the years of middle age with perhaps his most prolific days behind him, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) veers towards the impossible presence of his removed origin.
That is the picture painted of this illusionist in Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts." Most people are aware that Mr. Houdini was a literal thinker and attacked the world realistically.
Afterall Houdini's (show) life was based on Death Defying Acts.
But this movie turns out to be a love story with an element of the very spiritualism he was trying to debunk.
It's what men and women do and sometimes if you're really lucky in between the sweaty sheets you'll find a little bit of true human love." "Did you ever find it?"(If you watch the movie you'll get the answer)The moral of the story.
While I enjoyed the acting abilities of Catherine Zeta Jones, Guy Pierce and especially the young Saoirse Ronan, the script was such an affront to the true Houdini that I almost gagged.
Moreover, at the end of the film, there is a title card that describes the séances that have tried to contact Harry after his death, all with no success.
One brave soul did hazard to ask why fictionalise to such an extent and Gillian Armstrong replied that her film was more about the eternal truth of love than the great illusionist himself.
Compared to the 1953 film Houdini starring Tony Curtis, Death Defying Acts showed very little evidence of progress in over 50 years of commercial film making and certainly wasn't worthy of either it's leading man Guy Pearce or director Gillian Armstrong..
"Mary McGarvie" (Katherine Zeta-Jones) is a young woman living in Edinburgh, Scotland during the 1920's who makes a living as a psychic along with her young daughter "Benjie" (Saoirse Ronan).
Then one day the great "Harry Houdini" (Guy Pearce) comes to town and with him is his challenge of $10,000 to any psychic who can tell him what his mother's last words were to him.
Likewise, both Guy Pearce and Saoirse Ronan performed quite adequately as well.
As a movie in general it's just about OK.I didn't have the same reading of whether we are supposed to be believe in the spirit world after watching this film.
You're not here ?" etc is very easy.The movie did make think about why Houdini was so anti-spiritualism ?
Flatly directed by Gillian Armstrong, "Death Defying Acts" stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as a small time huckster who attempts to con Hungarian-American escapologist Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce).
Her con relies on convincing Houdini that she has supernatural powers, a factor which irks many Houdini fans; the great escapologist was renowned for his hostility toward those claiming to be in possession of psychic powers."Death Defying Acts" was part of a wave of films which centred on conjurers ("The Prestige", "The Illusionist", "Magicians").
It's one of the weakest of these films, though Catherine Zeta-Jones and a young Saoirse Ronan act their little hearts out.6/10 - Worth one viewing..
Guy did a rather good job, I think he looks and acts nailed Houdini just right. |
tt0120051 | Safe House | In Cape Town, South Africa, ex-CIA NOC operative turned international criminal Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) acquires a data storage device from rogue MI6 agent Alec Wade (Liam Cunningham). After the pair is attacked by a team of mercenaries led by Vargas (Fares Fares), Wade is killed and Frost is cornered by the gunmen, leaving him no choice but to surrender to the American consulate.
Frost is transferred to a local safe house maintained by "housekeeper" Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), a young agent on his first low-level CIA posting. The CIA sends in a team led by veteran agent Daniel Kiefer (Robert Patrick) to interrogate Frost and bring him back to the US. Weston watches uneasily as Kiefer and his men waterboard Frost. When the power to the safe house is cut, the CIA team realize that they are in grave danger. Vargas and a heavily armed group attack the safe house, killing Kiefer and his team. Weston escapes, taking Frost as his charge. When Weston makes contact with his superior, David Barlow (Brendan Gleeson), at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, Catherine Linklater (Vera Farmiga), another CIA operative, orders Weston to lie low and await further instructions.
Weston hides out with Frost and calls his girlfriend Ana Moreau (Nora Arnezeder), a French medical resident who does not know that he works for the CIA, and tells her to leave the house. Barlow later tells Weston to go to Cape Town Stadium to retrieve a GPS device with the location of another nearby safe house. He retrieves the GPS at the stadium, but Frost creates a diversion and gets away by disguising himself as a policeman. Weston, detained by the police, escapes but is unable to catch Frost. Weston goes to recapture Frost but Frost ambushes him and aims a gun at him as if to shoot him, but then tells him "I only kill professionals".
Weston is ordered to visit the nearest American embassy for debriefing. Instead he meets with Ana and reveals that he is a CIA agent. He tells her to return to Paris for her safety. Weston tracks Frost to a shantytown in Langa, where Frost is meeting Nicaraguan national Carlos Villar (Rubén Blades), an old contact and document forger. Vargas and his team attack again, killing Villar along with his wife, but Frost eludes him and his men with Weston's help. Weston brutally interrogates one of Vargas' wounded mercenaries, who reveals that Vargas is working for the CIA, which is seeking to retrieve the storage device Frost received from Wade. The device contains Israeli intelligence which contain details of corrupt officials and secret money transfers involving American CIA, British MI6, and other intelligence agencies; Weston recognizes the reference to the Mossad because the CIA accused Frost of selling secrets to them before he became a rogue agent. Weston's own superiors may be implicated. Weston takes Frost to the new safe house, where Weston keeps the housekeeper, Keller (Joel Kinnaman) at gunpoint, because he no longer knows if he can trust the CIA.
Keller attacks Weston, and after a brutal struggle, Weston breaks Keller's neck, but he is badly wounded in the fight. Frost leaves Weston, who passes out from his wounds. Meanwhile, Linklater arrives in South Africa with Barlow to collect Frost and Weston from the safe house, but on the way is shot and killed by Barlow, who goes to the safe house and reveals that he is Vargas' employer. He confirms that the file contains incriminating evidence against him, and encourages Weston to lie about what has happened. Frost returns and kills Vargas and his men but is shot by Barlow. Weston then shoots Barlow in the chest, killing him. Frost gives Weston the file and tells Weston he is better than him before he dies from his injuries.
Back in the United States, Weston meets with CIA Deputy Director Harlan Whitford (Sam Shepard), who informs Weston that unflattering facts about the CIA must be removed from his report, but that he will be promoted. He asks Weston about the file's location but Weston denies having been told about it by Frost. Whitford states that whoever has those files will have many enemies. Weston leaves, then leaks the files to the media, incriminating personnel from many intelligence agencies, including Whitford. Later on, Weston sees Ana across a street in Paris, France. She reads a note passed to her from him, looks up at Weston, and they both make eye contact and she smiles before Weston walks away. | suspenseful, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
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