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tt0217680 | Nang Nak | In a rural village west of Bangkok, Mek (Winai Kraibutr) is conscripted and sent to fight in the Siamese-Vietnamese War (1831–1834). He has to leave behind his pregnant teenage wife, Nak (Intira Jaroenpura). Mek is wounded and barely survives. He eventually returns home to his beloved wife and their child.
A friend visits and sees Mek living with Nak. The villagers, knowing she had died months earlier, realize Mek is spellbound by her ghost. But those who attempt to tell him are killed in the night by Nak's ghost, desperate to stay with her husband. When Mek confronts Nak about the rumors, she lies and says the villagers disliked her after he left for the war. She claims they are also telling lies about their son not being Mek's. Mek believes her and lashes out at anyone who tell him she is dead.
Mek eventually discovers the truth. Crawling under their house, one night to retrieve an item, he trips ons something sticking up from the dirt. Curious, he digs it up and finds a corpse making him wonder why Nak would always prevent him from going down there. Looking up through the creaks of the wood floor, he sees Nak sitting and brushing her hair. Dropping the comb through a creak, her arm eerily extends all the way to the floor to retrieve it. Mek covers his mouth, so she wouldn't hear him scream and continues observing Nak. Nak picks up her crying baby wherein Mek sees that their son is a corpse as well. A series of flashbacks reveal that Nak had a difficult childbirth and both mother and child died from complications. Mek flees in terror to the local temple to hide. Nak follows him and attempts to win him back, but he is too frightened of her. The villagers attempt to drive out Nak, burning down her house and at last summoning an exorcist. Nak refuses to leave unless Mek returns to her. Mek pleads with her to leave to the netherworld. He loves her, but they can't be together since she is dead. He tells her that he is going to cut his hair and become a monk in order to pray for her sins and allow her spirit to find peace. She still refuses.
The kingdom's most respected Buddhist monk (Somdej Toh) arrives and in a tearful farewell Nak repents, leaving her husband for this life. Somdej Toh has the centre of her forehead cut out, thus releasing her spirit, and makes a girdle brooch of it. The epilogue states it later came into the possession of His Royal Highness Prince Chumbhorn Ketudomsak. It was thereafter handed down for generations and its current owner unknown. | revenge | train | wikipedia | I had never heard the story of Nang Nak before, and up to that point, everything I knew about Thailand, I learned from the movie 'Ong Bak' (no offence to any Thai readers).'Nang Nak' turned out to be much better than I had anticipated.
The story of Nak, a pregnant woman whose husband Mak has been sent to war, wounded and is resting in Bangkok.
She can't stay in this world, but she loves Mak too much to leave.A touching story, 'Nang Nak' is beautifully shot and the performances powerful.
Some terrifying scenes accompany a tragic tale of love being eternal, even in death.
The movie makes you empathize with Nak, even though what she does is wrong, she is justified in her actions.'Nang Nak' is a great movie, and a moving story.
I intend to read the story sometime, and I urge anyone who likes the movie to do the same if they haven't - 9/10, I would encourage anyone to see it..
"Nang Nak" is set in the late 1860s and is based on a Thai legend of the supernatural.
When war comes to Thailand, a young husband, Mak, leaves his newly pregnant wife and goes off to fulfill his duty as a soldier.
The other villagers have come to fear Nak--and for good reason."Nang Nak" set box office records in Thailand when it was released in 1999.
Filmed among menacing rivers and lush jungles, "Nang Nak" is a visually stunning film grounded in a solid story line.
From the beautiful shots of Thailand's flora and fauna to the chilling supernatural scenes (which occasionally have the slightest--and rather surprising--hint of Sam Raimi's distinctive cinematic style), director Nonzee Nimibutr immerses his audience in an enchanted world.
Even so, "Nang Nak" has plenty of power and poetry to spare.(A cultural/historical note: The unusual and rather startling blackened teeth of the villagers in the film are due to the practice of chewing beechnuts.
Most Thai historicals or ghost stories are loaded with anachronistic pop culture cliches.
The point is that this film is a serious attempt to do justice to both the original tale and the time period it is set in.
What stood out for me is that Nak's justification for her actions seemed quite defensible, adding to the anguished poignancy of the situation.Asian ghost stories, when done well, have a strongly moral character.
This is a beautiful movie about the undying love between a young man conscripted into the army, and the devoted and pregnant wife he leaves behind.
The photography alone, under Nattawut Kittikhun, is so delicately executed that you would think the film must be printed on rice paper.Though not essential to enjoyment of the movie, it helps to understand that its basis is the Buddhist concept of "Hungry Ghosts," souls that have become so attached to this world that they cannot make the transition to their next incarnation.
If "Nang Nak" is indicative of Thai cinema's potential, then I hope we see a lot more of it..
Here we have something totally unique: an Asian ghost story!
Well, it is if you bear in mind that "Nang Nak" comes from Thailand and hasn't got anything to do with the overrated and rather weak stream of Japanese horror movies, such as "Ringu", "Ju-On The Grudge" and "The Eye".
The film is based on a perennial Thai legend that apparently everybody knows over there and finally received a reasonably well-budgeted and international-orientated film version now!
The legend revolves on the happily married couple Mak (the man) and Nak (the wife) and is set in the second half of the 19th century.
Mak is very reluctant to leave his pregnant wife to go and fight in the war, more particularly because she's expecting their first child.
When he returns home, still recovering from the loss of his best friend in battle as well as a near-fatal chest wound, Mak finally hopes to find peace and quiet with his beloved family.
But something changed here, too
Friends and neighbors keep telling that Nak died whilst giving birth and that Mak only lives together with the spirits of his wife and child.
"Nang Nak" is one of those extremely rare films that successfully blend romance and genuine drama with horror!
The story is pretty intense and heartbreaking, mostly thanks to powerful performances, yet the horror elements are definitely not ignored and multiple images are almost too grisly to process.
"Nang Nak" might easily be the most stylish and beautifully photographed Asian film ever made!
It's almost like watching an educational National Geographic documentary AND a great movie at the same time!
Eternal Love in a Touching Ghost Story.
In 1868, Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is summoned to the war and leaves his beloved wife Nang Nak (Intira Jaroenpura), who is pregnant, alone in their isolate house in Prakanong.
He miraculously survives and after a long time, he returns to Prakanong.He meets Nak and their son and they live happily together until the day that a friend of Mak visits him and tells that Nak had died in the delivery and he is living with the ghost of his wife and his stillborn son.
"Nang Nak" is a movie about a Thai legend of a faithful wife that dies but does not live the world of the living waiting for her beloved husband that is missing in action in the war.
The story of eternal love is a touching ghost story with a melodramatic farewell in the end.
It becomes an important keyword from this movie, and it becomes the problem solver for the conflict.Nang Nak tells us about a folk legend in Thailand around 19th century.
It is a beautiful horror story about a man named Mak, whom his wife (Nak) is dead with her baby when she gives birth.
Mak don't know about it, because he was in war when his wife dead.
When Mak return to his home, he is life happily with his wife and their baby.
After that, Mak's friend is suddenly dead.You can guess what happened next, it's not so complicated nor so unusual, but how Nonzee Nimibutr use the plot is so interesting.
This movie is not only a high quality horror.
Who knew Thailand produced such great movies!.
When I saw that Fant-Asia was screening the first Thai film in the history of the festival, I was really keen to see what kinds of movies are being produced there.It turned out that this romantic/ horror film was one of my favorite of the whole festival.
However, they manage to convey both the sweetness and the horror of the tale without compromising either.If you get the chance, I highly recommend this film..
I thought that all such romantic horror films should take on similar cinematography to make the film beautiful.However, when I watched Nang Nak after graduation, I really salute to the director for making such a beautiful story.
The story behind the legend was true, and it was the perfect choice of the director to choose the production of this film as a love-story instead of a horror movie.Basically it all started out of love, the love of a woman to her man, bearing his child and yet, before they could get together again as a family, they had to be separated by heaven and earth as she dies during child birth.
The female lead did a wonderful job to be so constrained, so soft and almost to the point of pitiful loving which makes it truly understandable why she could not leave her husband despite her death.To intensify her longing to be with her husband, we saw how she was robbed off her belongings at the point of her death while she was giving birth, a young woman who had to bear the pain of childbirth without the support of her husband by her side.
During that time, there were no modern hospital facilities and giving birth in itself is a dangerous labor of love.
Her courage beaten, her life taken, and yet she had not been able to see her husband for the last time.It is no wonder that such a loving woman would bring her child along with her to meet with her husband once more, just so that they can live together again as a happy family.
Despite her coming back to haunt the village, as a viewer I can only pity her for her everlasting love for her husband and her strong will to keep herself within this realm of existence just to be with him, defying all laws of nature..
A Real Hit. Nang Nak is the first Thai film that has got Thai people back watching Thai films.
It is a true story and the legend is very much alive in every Thai person's mind.
The Temple (Wat MahaWoot) is still an active temple and even today people flock to the temple to get good luck (lucky numbers) for their lottery tickets.The story has been told many times in film and also for television - but it still has a great impact on the Thai.The film is well worth watching.
Great place to start if new to Thai ghost stories!.
An awesome introduction to the world of Thai ghost stories, much more so than Bangkok Haunted or Lhorn which are both mildly entertaining but nearly devoid of any true cultural significance (save Lhorn's tale of the 'paup') - not to mention their shared lack of scares."Nang Nak" or Miss Nak translated to English, is a brilliantly filmed atmospheric tale of love that goes well beyond this mortal world.
I personally was entranced by the film, and even though it's not terrifying, there are enough chills to be had if one gives themselves over to the story.
Filmed many times before, but never with the grace and power brought by director Nonzee Nimbutr, Nang Nak tells a famous Thai cautionary tale set in the 1860's of young husband Mak who is called away to war leaving newly pregnant wife Nak alone in their remote river bank village.While fighting Mak is seriously wounded and suffers a menacing recovery lasting many months as Monks in Bangkok nurse him back to health.
Returning home he joyously reunites with devoted wife Nak and their newborn son, beginning life anew as a father.
The mystery takes a dark turn as husband Mak begins to hear very disturbing things from close friends regarding his bride, who has become shunned and hated since Mak left to fight in the war.
Ever the model husband, Mak refuses to believe or even discuss the possibility Nak is to blame for the fear holding an entire village in its grip.
Is it possible even the village elders have succumbed to mass hysteria...or is there a very real reason everyone is terrified of the beautiful Miss Nak?
In my opinion Nang Nak scores very high marks across the board for Cinematography, Story, Cast and even in the Chills department.
Very powerful, heartrending movie..Eternal love...
this film covers all those bases and more.Have you ever been in love?
The best Nang Nak Version, I've every seen..
Nang nak had been made for many times in Thailand both for TV series and films.
Therefore, most of them express the scary part of Nak but they don't mention anything about her deep true love to Mak. So I think this version is very touching and great.
Nang Nak was introduced to me by my wife...
It is because the publicity in the newspaper telling about how this movie has made an impact at one of the European countries movie awards - it's a horror movie but with strong love story message.
I was still doing my work while my wife kept on yelling at me every five minutes to join her...So, I was kind of surprised how good the movie was.
Especially the scene when Mak took a refuge in the monastery and Nak followed him there.
The most scary part is when she hung on the ceiling....Me and my wife had a trouble for a moment to even try to glance at our own house ceiling!Nang nak....
Really interesting piece of modern Thai film.
I really enjoyed Nang Nak.
The boyish looking female lead of Nak will also not have enough 'sex appeal' for some to warm to her.I'm not sure how authentic the setting of it truly is, (I've never been to Thailand), but I found the primitive look of the costumes and housing to be really refreshing.
I thought the director also caught some of the storm scenes really dramatically, and the sequencing of Nak's labour was truly terrifying.
An extremely artistic thriller is probably the best description of this Thai urban legend about the most loyal wife who serves her husband even after she has died.
Mac returns home form the war to live with his wife Nak and newborn baby after being nursed back to health by some monks.
When he gets home he's unaware that both his wife and child are ghosts.
So, when his neighbours and friends try to warn him, he doesn't believe them and also contributing to it is that his wife tells him that their friends treated her poorly when he was gone.A damn right weird, but beautifully told and directed horror feature from Thailand.
One reason for that is the good performances, and that's especially from Winai Kraibutr as Mak and Intira Jaroenpura as Nak. You do care for these characters.
I just wanted to react to a previous Thai commentator meaning that "foreigners will not understand the legend behind this film".
Of course this movie sets a traditional tale of Thai culture.
I am not saying anything extremely original here : Carl Jung found out about the universality of messages included in tales way back in time...
I saw this movie at the Brussels Independent films festival yesterday (nov 12, 2000) and I can assure you that the western public reacted extremely favourably and that there was nothing particularly difficult to understand about it.
Great Thai movie.
I've seen a lot of Thai movies and about every 10 years or so they come out with a gem like this.
If you have ever spent some time in Thailand, this movie offers a lot of insights into the culture and superstitions of the country.
Set in the 1860s, the movie moves between two locations—Bangkok and Mak's village.
It takes a bit of getting used to.Not so much a horror story (it's not really scary at all) as a love story, many westerners might be surprised that superstitions portrayed in the film are still alive and well.
Many Thais believe in ghosts such as Nang Nak to a degree not seen in the west.
And having lived here for 20 years, I have seen some things that are utterly inexplicable unless there really is a spirit world.Beautifully shot, well acted and in my opinion, very real to life, this is a good movie—not your Hollywood-style movie but something different.
Based on a Thai legend this is the story of a man who returns to his wife and child unaware that they are long dead.
Its considered a great story of ever lasting love, I call it dull.
Certainly this is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen, the portrait of life on the river and in the jungle is breath taking.
If I could simply watch the visuals I would be very happy, unfortunately the story of love undiminished by death gets in the way, or rather the way its told.
A moving horror story.
I find that Nang Nak could be considered as a typical example of a sub genre of horror movies.
In fact, the story centers on a young woman, Nak, who refuses to acknowledge her own death.
The High Priest treats Nak like a person who has the right to wish her husband goodbye in order to rest in peace.
The scene in which husband and wife join hands for the last time is charged with aching emotion.
Good Thai Ghost Story....
Ghost stories in general aren't really my thing (though I do have to admit that I HAVE enjoyed some of the stuff from Japan - I'm just kinda sick of it now...) - but NANG NAK is a bit different, as it is an even mix of a tragic love-story and a pretty straight-forward horror film.The setting is 1860's Thailand and Mak is sent off to fight in a war.
His wife Nak, is pregnant - and during Mak's absence, both Nak and the child die during child-birth.
Mak is injured in the war but makes a recovery, and when he returns home, mother and baby are waiting for him.
Mak is unaware that he's actually in the presence of ghosts, and when the local villagers try to convince him of the situation, Mak is unreceptive and refuses to believe - until he begins to see for himself otherwise...NANG NAK was apparently a HUGE success in it's native Thailand - and I can see why.
Successfully blending a tragic story of a love that transcends life and death, with sometimes harrowing horror elements - the film as a whole is very solid.
Personally I found it to drag a bit in spots, and again - ghost stories in general don't really tend to be my favorite - but I can understand why others enjoy this film so much.
The lush tropical Thai environments (much like what are seen in the newly-released ART OF THE DEVIL 2) make an interesting back-drop for this sort of film, and the acting, cinematography, and story-line are all pretty top-notch.
If you dig films like RINGU, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS, JU-ON, etc...but want something different - give this one a shot, you may like it.
Personally, I can "appreciate" NANG NAK more than I actually "like" it - so it gets a 7.5/10 from me... |
tt0305396 | The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course | In outer space, a United States-owned satellite blows up and one of the last remaining pieces, a beacon, is sent hurdling towards Earth where it lands in Australia, only to be swallowed by a crocodile. Back at the CIA, Agent Buckwhiler and Deputy Director Reynolds reveal that, in the wrong hands, the beacon can change the axis of power in the world, so they send two agents, Robert Wheeler and Vaughn Archer, down to Australia to retrieve the beacon. Department Director Ansell also secretly hires an operative of his own, Jo Buckley, to go and retrieve the beacon before Wheeler and Archer, so Ansell can take Reynolds' job.
In Australia, the crocodile that swallowed the beacon lives in a river next to the house of Brozzie Drewitt, an obnoxious cattle station owner who is taking it in her own hands to kill the crocodile for preying on her cattle. Because of this, the Department of Fauna and Fisheries send one of its workers, Sam Flynn, to Drewitt's house. Sam attempts to convince Brozzie to hire some professionals to relocate the animal, instead of having her kill it, which is illegal. Despite Flynn's words, Brozzie attempts to kill the crocodile later that night, only to fail.
Meanwhile, the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin and his wife Terri are filming a documentary about the "less-lovable of Australia's wildlife" when they are hired by Flynn to relocate the crocodile that has been bothering Brozzie. Steve successfully gets the crocodile in his boat. Wheeler and Archer are nearby using GPS technology to track the beacon. When the two agents see Steve and Terri zoom past them in their boat with the crocodile who swallowed the beacon on board, they are convinced that the Irwins have the beacon. They call up the CIA, who believe the Irwins plan to use the beacon to pay for a multimillion-dollar expansion to Australia Zoo. Steve and Terri board up the crocodile in a crate and put it in the back of the truck to drive to a new river system. Wheeler and Archer follow them from behind in a Land Rover, and when Wheeler hops on the top of the Irwins' truck, Steve believes them to be poachers who are after the crocodile. Steve climbs up on the roof and, after a brief fistfight, manages to knock Wheeler off the truck. When the Irwins reach the river, Steve opens the crocodile's crate and discovers that the crocodile had defecated. In the poop, Steve sees a shiny metal object (the beacon) which he mistakes to be a misproperly discarded children's spinning top toy. Steve and Terri successfully get the crocodile in the river, but Wheeler and Archer show up again in a boat, determined to get the beacon. Jo Buckley shows up in an ultralight and throws sticks of dynamite down on Wheeler and Archer's boat, destroying it and knocking the two agents in the river. Steve believes that he and Terri are caught up in the middle of a "poacher war" and, not wanting the dynamite to hurt the newly relocated crocodile, gets a rope out of the boat and lassoes the aircraft, causing it to crash in the river and seemingly kill Buckley. It turns out Buckley did survive and she swims to shore to inform Ansell via a phone call that she failed to retrieve the beacon. Ansell informs Buckley that he is on the run from the CIA and the police for hiring her for the mission. He is found by police and is arrested for his crimes, ending the phone call.
Due to Wheeler and Archer's failure to retrieve the beacon, the CIA decides that it is time for drastic measures and they call up U.S. President George W. Bush in the White House to request permission to use military helicopters to fly to Australia and get the beacon.
Steve is ending his documentary by throwing the beacon in the air, when the military helicopters arrive. Steve hands them the beacon revealing that the whole predicament was a misunderstanding, and, in return, the CIA send Wheeler and Archer to work at the zoo as volunteers. Brozzie becomes a volunteer for the Department of Fauna and Fisheries. | action, entertaining | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0383353 | Evil Aliens | The film begins with the alien abduction on Scalleum, a remote island off the coast of Wales, of Cat Williams and her boyfriend. Cat's boyfriend is gorily killed through brutal anal probing, and Cat is (also gorily) implanted with an alien fetus. Cat's story attracts the attention of Michelle "Foxy" Fox (Emily Booth), the bosomy host of the cable TV show Weird Worlde, who brings a film crew to the island — her cameraman boyfriend Ricky (Sam Butler); Jack the sound man; nerdy UFO expert Gavin Gorman; and actors Bruce Barton and Candy Vixen (the latter, Foxy's producer assures her, "because she's good, not because she's my girlfriend").
The island is accessible via a narrow causeway only at low tide. The Weird Worlde crew sets out in their van, but it is dark by the time they reach the Williams family's creepy farmhouse, where they meet Cat and her three hulking and sadistic brothers (who speak only Welsh with English subtitles). The crew (with the exception of Gavin Gorman) initially assume that Cat's story is a hoax, and even go so far as to make a crop circle in a nearby field so they can film it for the show, to Gorman's great disgust. However, it soon turns out that the aliens are all too real and rather malevolent.
The film crew teams up with the Welsh Williams brothers to fight off the aliens, with a great deal of blood and gore. One highlight features Ricky running down some aliens in a combine harvester, to the tune of "Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)" by The Wurzels.
Eventually, the alien child inside Cat claws its way out; on board the alien ship, Foxy is impregnated with another alien fetus while Gavin loses his virginity to a shapely female alien; Bruce, Candy, and the Welsh brothers meet various horrible demises; Ricky blows up himself and four alien pursuers in a tank of liquid manure; back at the house, the female alien rips Foxy in half; and finally Gavin manages to use his laptop (in a sequence reminiscent of Independence Day) to overload the ley lines of the nearby stone circle. As Cat's alien child rips his arms off, Gavin manages to press the space bar with his nose, sending the stones shooting into the underside of the alien craft, which crashes into a convenient mountain. Jack the sound man, meanwhile, having been blinded by alien ichor early in the film, swims across the channel to the mainland, only to discover that he's lost the videotape that was the only proof of their extraterrestrial encounter.
The film ends with a clip from an alien talk show reminiscent of Jerry Springer (and subtitled in English), on which Gavin's female alien is trying to explain how her entire crew was killed by humans and she herself carries the love child of one of those humans. The audience roars with laughter, and the host cuts her mike. | violence, comedy | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0064513 | John and Mary | The stories are set mainly in the Berkshire countryside, at the farmhouse home of the children's grandmother, a Scottish-born woman named Mrs Hawthorne. The farm is called Smockfarthing, and is near to an imaginary village called Smockfarthing Wick, which in turn is close to a town called Riverton. Although these places are not real, James uses names of real places such as Oxford and Drayton, so it is possible that the area could be somewhere around Abingdon. John and Mary's parents live in Rome, as their father is Italian and works there apparently as a diplomat (his work is described in John and Mary Revisit Rome as "involving a great deal of travelling about to far-off places"). His wife is Mrs. Hawthorne's daughter, and her sister is named Push, who also lives at Smockfarthing. John and Mary are educated at home by a governess called Miss Rose Brown, although they spend about half their time in Rome, and indeed are bilingual in English and Italian. Smockfarthing carries a full complement of servants, including Mrs. Dyer the cook, Ellen the parlourmaid, Lizzie (whom the children call Lisetta) the maid, and Edie Kittiwake, the nurse. Edie's father Kittiwake looks after the farm with his son Reggie, and they and Mrs. Kittiwake live in a house on the farm called the Round House. Other characters, such as schoolmasters, vicars, postmistresses and so on, crop up in the books from time to time as well.
Although the series covers about thirty years, John and Mary are never allowed to grow up (only from about the ages of four to twelve) and nothing ever changes very much in their surroundings. This leads to situations such as the war and rationing being discussed during the 1940s, and television and washing machines being mentioned in the 1960s. (One can only assume that Grace James wished to appeal to a constantly fresh readership, although children of the 1960s would probably have found it rather odd that John and Mary would still have a governess and maids running around after them.)
The John and Mary stories involve the children doing fairly normal and day-to-day things within their environment (mainly the countryside), although James makes sure that they meet unusual people and have adventures along the way. The stories are written in a realistic way and the adventures are the kind of adventures that any children might have under the same circumstances.
John and Mary's Aunt is not about John and Mary at all, but is about James herself and her upbringing as a child in Japan. We learn that she was born in Tokyo and lived there until she was about twelve, although no exact dates are given. She does mention that her father was part of a naval mission and was there as an instructor - this seems to fit in with the time of the 'Douglas Mission' to Japan, which commenced in 1873 (hence the photographs in the book of her and her siblings in Victorian children's clothing).
The books were published by Frederick Muller and were illustrated by Mary Gardiner. | flashback | train | wikipedia | I know, this is just a small movie, but one that I'm able to see again and again, mainly because of little things as the bright blue sky upon Mia Farrow eating an apple or the original egg-cups in Dustin Hoffman's kitchen.
Well, if you long for those days or would just like to see what they were like, a good way to telescope back to `those thrilling days of yesteryear' would be to watch John and Mary.
This wonderful little gem from the height of the Sexual Revolution era is about young people trying to connect after the sex part is done.
A delightful, youthful Mia Farrow is compelling, bright, sexy and very appealing as Mary.
Dustin Hoffman as John is excellent.
The script is intelligent and the flashbacks very effective and interesting.If you like a mature story emphasizing superb character development with fully-realized, appealing characters, this is for you.
"It's Not Your Mother's Love Story," the ads for "John and Mary" proclaimed, and I suppose that back in 1969, such indeed was the case.
Telling the story of a one-night stand and the rainy day after, as the couple in question gets to know one another in the guy's spacious apartment at 52 Riverside Drive (in actuality, a 15-floor, redbrick building at 78th St. whose asking price today must be astronomical!), the film certainly must have engendered some controversy, back when.
Fortunately, this sweet, realistic, adult slice of life, though certainly a product of its time, is not as dated as one might expect, and the tentative, uncertain steps that John and Mary (whose names we never know until the picture's final moments) take when learning about each other should seem familiar to even Gen Y'ers.
This process of discovery is accomplished mainly through talk, but the viewer gets to know the two characters even better, via flashbacks, fantasy sequences and their voiced-over thoughts.
In the leads, Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow are quite fine, and director Peter Yates brings his picture in with great sensitivity.
The trio had recently participated in three enormously successful films--"The Graduate," "Rosemary's Baby" and "Bullitt," respectively--and while "John and Mary" is certainly a smaller film than those others, it is still of great interest.
Hoffman and Farrow were immensely ingratiating screen presences at this early stage of their careers, and their unique pairing here makes this film something special.
And speaking of early-career performances, "John and Mary" also features Tyne Daly, Cleavon Little and Olympia Dukakis, all in small but amusing parts.
Anyway, it is my feeling that viewers of this film will gradually come to really like John and Mary, and root for them as a couple, and wish them many more nights together.....
Which is perhaps where the film and theme deserves credit.Farrow is understated, Dustin Hoffmman his usual self (think Kramer vs Kramer) However for the subject matter, the film does succeed on several levels.Farrow remembers her pointless affair with a politician (Michael Tolan) who often played these roles.
Mia Farrow and Dustin Hoffman pairing...very interesting..
My memory may be clouded by the past, but I remember enjoying the teaming of Mia Farrow and Dustin Hoffman very much.Both actors are very good in this movie.
It's a small intimate two character story and depicts the "one-night" stand morals that were just beginning to take hold.
The conceit is they don't ask each other's name until the end.Mia had just completed "Rosemary's Baby" and Dustin had "The Graduate." They were young and especially successful as actors.
This is an all but forgotten little gem by Peter (Bullit) Yates, who uses a sensitive and witty script by the excellent John Mortimer.The direction, acting, and general tone are near perfect.
Alas it was probably super cool for a year or two after it's release and nothing dates like 1960s high fashion.You may catch it on a late night TV channel - if so, postpone your bedtime for 90 minutes or so and enjoy!Last thought - This film may have been the source for Woody Allen's famous and celebrated "subtitles" scene in Annie Hall, made several years later with Mia Farrow..
Realistic, charming slice of life movie about finding love.
This is a simple, charming movie about two people with "baggage" from past relationships who happen to find each other (and in the process, the possibility of true love and contentment) amid the insanity of NY and a frenetic existence.
Both lead actors are charming - particularly Mia Farrow - who has a waifish, far-away look in her eyes.
My favorite part of the movie was when "Mary" left "John's" apartment and he realized she didn't leave a number, so frantically searched the city for her..
A single man and woman, having met in a bar the night before, wake up together in bed "the morning after" but can't decide where to go from there.
Two charismatic leads (Dustin Hoffman just after "The Graduate" and Mia Farrow post-"Rosemary's Baby") try enlightening a terribly flat screenplay, but the sluggish narrative and sterile atmosphere make it impossible.
Farrow's Mary is all over the place: guarded and vague (and a little rude), and then sheepish and huggable; Hoffman's John is suspicious and cynical, but yielding.
"John and Mary" could certainly use a little whimsy--yet after all that fashionable cynicism, the old-fashioned finale is rather tough to swallow.
It had everything going for it, the hottest young stars of the late sixties, Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow, fresh from the successes of the Graduate and Rosemary's Baby.
The director had just made the huge hit Bullit and the hopes were very high, the two stars were on the cover of Time magazine!It was set in swinging New York, nice photography, cool apartments and clothes, it had to be a hit, right?What went wrong??????
Mia Farrow is too mannered doing her little-old-lady-in-a-girls-body routine.
It's worth watching just to hear Mia say that line about breakfast.
I remember at the time it was released that Dustin Hoffman was a bit unconvincing as a swinging single, since it had only been about 3 years since Mrs. Robinson seduced him after he spent the afternoon floating around the family pool.
When you watch "John and Mary", enjoy the great on-location filming, and keep a sharp lookout for when the two title characters actually introduce themselves by name to each other, lest you miss this touching moment..
This is a low-key, easy going and wonderfully realistic movie, about how people react to one another when they are trying to begin a relationship out of nothing.
John and Mary meet each other, have sex and wake up knowing next to nothing about each other.
Mary has her history of relationships where she wasn't valued and John has history with feeling abandoned and used.We follow them throughout their day, hear and see their thoughts and begin to understand why they say and do, the things they do in regards to each other.Their cognitive distortions are apparent and made entertaining by the movies style and humor.This movie is under-rated and possibly misunderstood.
Dustin Hoffman was one role post his Oscar nominated Midnight Cowboy and Mia Farrow was one role away from her groundbreaking Rosemary's Baby when they were teamed for John And Mary.
It's a film typical of the times, hook up first and then get to know each other.
As for Hoffman he's got a cornucopia of issues most of them centering around his mother played here by Olympia Dukakis.John And Mary is chronicling the Sixties sexual revolution and at least what we see of Hoffman and Farrow's characters they would certainly be recognized by today's audience.
Of course there weren't a lot of sexually transmitted diseases then, when they burst on the scene that made a lot of people act more prudently than John And Mary seem to.I never really got into the characters in this film.
For those of you who are interested in Marantz trivia, in this movie, John (Dustin Hoffman) has an exclusive vintage Marantz HiFi setup.
Hot off of Rosemary's Baby and The Graduate, Mia Farrow and Dustin Hoffman play 2 characters who have nothing to offer each other or the audience and who seem to take forever to do whatever it is they do.
Pete Yates directed this weird yawner complete with dull performances, zero pacing and pointless flashbacks and a script with less meat on its bones than the film's leading lady.
Advertised as a love story, John and Mary with its endless, tedious, narcissistic self-analysis feels more like David and Lisa..
Mia Farrow and Dustin Hoffman play a young couple who have had a one-night stand.
The entire movie takes place during the dreaded and infamous "morning after", but many scenes are shown in flashback.
While I usually criticize movies that rely on a nonlinear storyline and flashbacks, John Mortimer's script made some very interesting choices.
While Mia and Dustin talk over breakfast, the conversation triggers a memory in one of them and cues a flashback.
Words trigger memories, and before we know it, we're lost in another thought while real life continues.I didn't end up liking John and Mary; in fact, I found it pretty unpleasant.
Both characters, in the awkward light of day, struggle to get to know each other, and often speak internally as a reaction to what they're learning.
Since I'm a girl, I'm a little biased to be on Mia Farrow's side.
Why is it entertaining to watch Mia try and get to know someone like that?.
I had seen Hoffman in "The Graduate" and was intrigued by Mia Farrow.
With Mia Farrow as Anna Karina and Dustin Hoffman as Jean-Pierre Léaud.A movie that radiates a wonderful atmosphere, at least for those who like feeling with the hearts and thinking in the minds of lovers - and sometimes denigrate their feelings and then regret what they denigrated and then denigrate it again...But it's an American love story all the same.
Mia Farrow is Mia Woodhouse from "Rosemary's Baby" and Dustin Hoffman is Ben Braddock from "The Graduate".This movie doesn't need a plot and in fact it hasn't got one.
So, for once, the flashbacks and the interior monologues thrown into the dialogues and the inserts from thoughts and dreams and memories, all of these cinematic devices that are designed to keep the viewer interested and mostly just confuse him, here they contribute to the movie's ambiance.You should watch it with your lover by your side..
It's bad enough Mia Farrow was snubbed by the Academy for Rosemary's Baby, but she should have won an Oscar for her performance in this.
Dustin Hoffman is in full "Graduate" and "Midnight Cowboy" form but this is clearly Mia's movie.
Peter Yates pulled off another great film and one which would never be made today - it's too character driven and nuanced - not enough happens - for Hollywood today.
There are voice-overs of Dustin and Mia's character's thoughts - which totally work - but because of the quality of the their performances, could easily have been eliminated..
Mia Farrow still had the Vidal Sassoon hairstyle from the Rosemary's Baby in this film production.
She played Mary, a single New Yorker who lived in Turtle Bay section of New York City.
She meets John played by Dustin Hoffman.
They have one night together after meeting in a New York singles bar.
Neither John nor Mary are baggage free.
The New York City locations add to the film's scenic appeal.
The performances from Farrow and Hoffman are believable and genuine.
For a good part of 2010,a family friend would mention to me how when ever he sees an interview with Dustin Hoffman,this film seems to never be mentioned at all,even though it was made during the "Golden Decade" (the 70s")and that it also has a very good cast & crew.So,around November I went looking round for the film as a Christmas present.And though it has sadly not come out in the UK,I was luckily able to find a copy of the film from the states.When it arrived,I felt that since it had taken a good amount of time to find the film,that it was worth watching to see what it was all about.
The plot:After having spent the night together,two people (John and Mary,who both don't know each others names)wake up in bed together.When they both go down stairs,so John can cook some breakfast,they both start to think of each other in a very cynical way.This is because they both usually run off right away after having spent the night with someone,which is partly done,because they have had some very disappointing relationships in the past.As Mary starts to see how much of a "boring" bachelor lifestyle John has (staying inside,cooking and listening to Brass Band music as he looks out of his windows )Whilst she mainly wants to be a very outgoing type of person.Though she stays round at Johns place a lot longer than she would have anticipated (which she decides to use,to ask him about some of his past relationships.)And at the point,where it seems that both of them might like the relationship to keep going and to become more meaningful,Mary suddenly disappears!.Although John knows what part of the city she lives in (although he has not got the flats number,or address.)Since he did not think of taking a photo of her,or asking what her name is,the only thing that John does know,is that it is going to be a very long night,on his search to meet Mary again.
View on the film:One of the things that stuck out most to me about the film,was how surprisingly quiet director Peter Yates (who sadly died just two days after I had viewed this great film) had made the film.Yates does very well at showing the slight nervous awkwardness that the two main characters have around each other when they awake,with hints given with the mood of the film,that they both perhaps,would like this to be a deeper relationship.With the screenplay by John Mortimer (which is based on the book by Mervin Jones) giving John and Mary some excellently cynical lines,especially in the clever narration of the film,which is done so the whole audience knows what they both REALLY think of each other (and oddly,I feel that parts of the narration in the film,may have inspired some scenes of the excellent anti- ROM-com film (500) Days of Summer.)With a good portion of the film being set in one flat,the performances of Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow make the small flat,almost feel like a mansion.Hoffman first shows John as someone who is completely happy with their routine in life,into some one who seems to really be trying to get out of his comfort zone,when it seems that he might be about to lose something special.For her performance,Farrow does really well at showing Marys outgoing personality change,as she starts to realise that she really likes John,and that she does not need to pressurise him in a forceful way.Final view on the film:An excellent,"quiet" movie,with some witty lines,two very good leads and great directing from the late Peter Yates..
There are movies where people feel that they are underrated.
Many of the comments that have been written suspect this for "John and Mary".
Moreover, when a movie is built on dialectical experiments, thus focusing communicative structures, very easily the impression rises that the plot is thin or the story more or less absent.
Neither of that is the case in "John and Mary".John and Mary meet one night in a New Yorker Bar. They are attracted to one another.
The next scene shows them already in the morning in John's apartment.
We see it in all other movies where such scenes happen.Then the scene changes to breakfast.
And so, what we see as voyeurs and not so much as audience (audire = "to hear, listen"), is an extremely complex network of flashbacks and flash-forwards, of what did happen in the past of John and Mary and of what may or may not happen in their common or not common future.
This means, John and Mary could reach by communication the desired status of relationship.
I saw this movie in the theater when first released.
That's how this movie opens; they don't even know each other's first name.
Through flashbacks to the night before, you see Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow trying so hard to be cool yet successful in the frenzied meat market of the Friday night Manhattan bar scene.
For most of the movie, quite frankly, I was so bored I dosed off about five times.
Once the end of the movie neared, however, I started to like it.
Of course, my DVR has a habit of only liking to record the first hour and twenty-five minutes of things, leaving me with the need to buy the movie just to skip everything and watch the last five minutes.A brief synopsis of the film would be that Dustin Hoffman, an emotionally challenged, furniture designer, and Mia Farrow, a worker at an art gallery, meet at a bar, then have sex, and spend the next day in his apartment, talking and thinking about themselves and their past-loves.
Eventually, she leaves, never learning his name and him never learning hers and, they eventually meet again when he tries to find her, but discovers her in his own home instead, and they begin to date (thanks to my television, I'm guessing, so don't take my word for it).All together, the movie is strangely cohesive and an interesting view on the romance of two romantically blunt people.Buy the movie and WATCH it, I know I have to..
Dustin Hoffman had already impressed me in this sensual film The Graduate (with sound track by the talented Simon and Garfunkel).
Mia Farrow did the same thing in the illustrious TV series Peyton Place.
Perhaps the relation of John and Mary is less sensual, but it is certainly equally daring.
On the other hand, John and Mary are in danger of exploiting each other. |
tt1397497 | Carny | The Jersey Devil appears in quick flash glimpses in the very beginning of the film as it growls. After Cap (Alan C. Peterson) kills the man who sold him the Jersey Devil, Cap and his assistant attempted to bring the Jersey Devil into the carnival of the truck. Cap shoots it with a tranquilizer dart to calm the Jersey Devil down. However, as Cap's assistant heaves on the Jersey Devil in chains, it slashes at his eye, causing it to bleed. Cap eventually shoots the Jersey Devil with more tranquilizer darts which causes the beast to finally pass out.
When the sheriff Atlas (Lou Diamond Phillips) comes to investigate Cap's carnival under the local pastor's requests, Cap takes him into the tent where the Jersey Devil is being kept for the opening show. The Jersey Devil growls at Atlas from inside its cage and Atlas, shocked at the Jersey Devil's hellish appearance, suggests that the Jersey Devil is not safe. During the opening show, the audience is shocked at the sight of the Jersey Devil. All except for the pastor's son Taylor (Matt Murray) and his friend who throws peanuts at the Jersey Devil from the audience. This angers the creature and the Jersey Devil eventually escapes from its cage and begins terrorizing the carnival. It throws a man inside the cage that it had been locked in and escapes the carnival right before flying into the Ferris wheel and injuring itself.
Later the following night, the Jersey Devil finds Taylor and his friend hiding in an old barn in the forest when it hears a dog barking at it. The Jersey Devil goes after the dog as Taylor and his friend escape the barn. However, the Jersey Devil eventually finds Taylor hiding under a bridge as his friend hides in an old car. The Jersey Devil lands on the bridge and then looks under it to find Taylor, who it kills and dismembers. Later when Taylor's friend, who survived the incident, and his mother are driving down a road in the forest, the Jersey Devil attacks him through the car window and flies off with him. As the mother is gazing at the skies trying to find him, the Jersey Devil drops his dead body on the car right before killing the mother.
Cap and his assistant later try to recapture the Jersey Devil by using tranquilizer darts. They stab Atlas' deputy to attract the Jersey Devil with the smell of his blood. However, as the Jersey Devil approaches, the deputy shoots at the beast right before dying, which causes the Jersey Devil to retreat. The Jersey Devil then sets its sights on Cap's carnival once more and kills several of his carnies. Cap later tries once again to recapture the beast by stabbing his own assistant to death to attract the Jersey Devil with his blood. The Jersey Devil soon arrives and sneaks up from behind Cap. Cap then shoots the Jersey Devil with his new tranquilizer darts that "have enough drugs in them to put an elephant to sleep for a week", which knocks out the Jersey Devil once more.
When Cap is arrested for murder after Atlas discovers part of a tranquilizer dart in his deputy's back, the Jersey Devil awakens from the tranquilizer darts and arrives at the police station where it kills Cap. The pastor, who wants revenge on the Jersey Devil and the carnival for the death of his son, stabs the Jersey Devil in its shoulders with two tranquilizer darts. This eventually knocks out the Jersey Devil. However, when the pastor and his followers arrive at the carnival, the Jersey Devil awakens right before the pastor's eyes. The Jersey Devil growls at the pastor and then kills him.
When Atlas arrives at the now burning carnival, he attempts to rescue one of Cap's carnies, Samara (Simone-Élise Girard), and the Jersey Devil arrives to kill them as it lands on one of the RVs. The Jersey Devil chases Samara to the Ferris wheel where the "Gentle Giant" attempts to stop it. However, the Jersey Devil attacks and kills him. Atlas eventually rams the Jersey Devil into the Ferris wheel with a car in attempts to kill him. As the Jersey Devil is rammed into the Ferris wheel by Atlas, it growls at him from the front car window until the Ferris wheel eventually collapses on both of them. This finally kills both the Jersey Devil and Atlas. Before the Jersey Devil dies, its hand is seen collapsing. | violence | train | wikipedia | "It's another one of THOSE films where the creature is only shown in brief, shaky camera shots to avoid special effects costs." Luckily, I was wrong.Of course the creature escapes, just like you'd expect in a horror movie, beginning a fairly typical "monster on the loose" scenario--because really, you can't make a movie unless the monster is on the loose.
Who'd like a movie where the monster just stayed in its cage and ate mice all day???
There are three things that set Carny apart from the typical Sci-Fi B movie.1) The characters.
The characters aren't -just- there to be eaten; you get a feeling like they're actual people.
And again, monster-on-the-loose flicks really don't require a lot of deep, existential dialogue.Give Carny a chance.
There were some credible makeup and physical effects, a number of competent actors supporting a script that avoided many of the more common clichés for what has become its own genre, the Sci-Fi Channel monster flick usually produced in Canada.Lou Diamond Phillips stars, cast yet again as a small town sheriff battling things that fly and/or creep whilst chewing scenery, secondary characters and extras at will.
Good flying monster, good story, good character development, and good location photography.
Lou Diamond Phillips is totally acceptable as the small town sheriff, and the evil carny owner is well played by Alan C.
"Carny" is superior to two other "Jersey Devil" movies, "The 13th Child Legend of the Jersey Devil" (2003), which is terrible, and the somewhat interesting "The Last Broadcast" (2006).
One that causes mayhem, for certain, but not nearly as much as a few of the humans involved.A carnival visiting a town has as its star sideshow attraction a beast which remains hidden from us until it escapes from its cage.
The carnival master has assured Lou Diamond Phillips (the local sheriff) that there will be no problem with the sedated and incarcerated...thing.We know different.
There is another problem - a local preacher that hates all things carnival, and he particularly is interested in seeing that the escapee is captured.I will leave it to you to find out how this whole thing ends.
"Carny" was like a trip down memory lane for me, and perhaps will be for anyone who watched horror movies during the mid- and late 80's.
This movie was like it was plucked right out of that era and then shined up for a 2009 release.The story in "Carny" was pretty tame.
A carnival of traveling freaks come to a small town, and with them they have a new attraction.
Pretty much standard 80's horror plot right there.Now, I think that the creature actually looked good and was believable.
I read some reviews who weren't as forgiving to the effects and the creature, but I found it to actually be good enough.And as for the cast and the acting, well there were some questionable performances, sure, but there were also some fairly decent performances as well.
Don't put your hopes up for any award-winning performances, because then you will be sorely disappointed.As for being a horror movie, then "Carny" wasn't particularly scary at all.
Not saying anything else, just watch it yourself.All in all, "Carny" was a fairly average horror movie, though it was weak in scares.
The good thing about it was that most of it was actually shot during the day, so you had good, clear and well-lit scenes, and you saw the creature clearly in the daylight (as to where many other movies use glimpses and darkness to hide whatever is prowling the innocent).
Lou D.Philips plays a small-town sheriff who goes on the hunt for a winged creature that has escaped from a traveling carnival.
Ah, but the carny owner (Peterson) is an extremely nasty and hideous-looking fellow who doesn't hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his path either.
And the local minister (didn't catch the actor's name) is hellbent on shutting down the carnival, even if it means burning it to the ground with all the carny folks inside their tents.
He gives the same wooden, mail-it-in performance he gave in BATS (where he also played a small-town sheriff), with no indication he has learned anything new about acting in the interim.
Small town sheriff Lou Diamond Phillips (as Atlas) has his hands full when a circus arrives.
The main attraction is "The Jersey Devil" stolen by carnival manager A.C. Peterson (as "Cap" Caprini) in the opening minutes.
For some reason, Ms. Girard feels "safe" with her boss, who is arguably more wicked than his monster...God-fearing pastor Vlasta Vrana (as Owen) believes the circus will bring sin to the community and starts to campaign against "God's abomination." Ironically, his juvenile delinquent son Matt Murray (as Taylor) triggers the rampage of "Jersey Devil".
The gargoyle and Kyle Gatehouse (as Jesse) are nicely done.**** Carny (4/25/09) Sheldon Wilson ~ Lou Diamond Phillips, Alan C.
It does have some beautiful-looking and atmospheric sets and lighting, giving an appropriate nightmarish feeling, good make-up, a surprisingly well-designed and menacing monster, credible performances and a score that doesn't feel at that generic and also fits with the film's tone.
The story has a good if not groundbreaking(though it didn't need to be) concept and is actually mostly interesting, well-paced and with some scenes that are quite nail-biting.
When a circus arrives in a small town, their prized attraction in a captured Jersey Devil gets loose into the surrounding woodlands and forces the towns' sheriff to not only go out and stop the creature running wild on the townspeople as well as the carnival folks from their ire.This here was a surprisingly good and enjoyable Sci-Fi Channel creature feature.
An attack on a couple in a car is also quite good, the hunting party scenes where the townspeople try to get the creature are both quite fun and enjoyable watching their tactics to get at it while the creature just goes on the offensive.
The big one, though, and what makes the film so fun, is the major action scenes at the end starting off as a multi-person brawl at the police station which turns into a fight against the creature and then turning into a full-scale attack at the carnival.
Coming complete with some vicious kills, a ton of destruction, some explosions and some fun mini- moments that are strung together into a high-energy scene before the big battle with the creature making this one go out on a high mark as well.
The creature itself is given a lot of face time and the gargoyle-like appearance doesn't look all that bad, and along with the film's rather nice amount of blood and gore, these here are the film's good points.
One of the problems is that the escape of the creature comes a little too early in the film, barely twenty minutes in and without much of a set-up or anything.
The one-line back-story about what the thing is doesn't help, since it doesn't give off any information about it or even detailing the legend it's based on, and the creature's origins are a big mystery.
The last flaw is the constant preaching of the pastor in the film about the sins of the carnival and what they mean in terms of religion.
In Carny Lou Diamond Phillips is cast as the police chief of Reliance, New York a small town in the most rural part of upstate New York where the big event of the year is about to take place, a carnival has come to town.
The biggest attraction in the show is some kind of gargoyle like creature billed as the New Jersey Devil.
When it gets loose and starts terrorizing the area, Lou as the sheriff takes it upon himself to organize a hunting party.This is where it really gets ridiculous.
The rest of the cast is made up of Canadian players.Of course getting this gargoyle proves to be a rough go for Lou and his posse of hunters who are used to more docile creatures like deer.
There's also a side story about a crazy preacher wanting to see the carnival destroyed before he even knew about the gargoyle.Carny is one big mess of a film.
I had the recent misfortune to watch this "film" which was probably the worst I have ever seen, my initial expectations of a good plot for "Carny" were about psychopathic carnival people luring their victims in with trickery but no!
The town's pastor rants on and on about the carnival even before he has a good reason to.
The townspeople at the end are both stupid and unsympathetic as they promptly turn their efforts to killing people at the carnival rather than making sure the creature is dead.
When side-show circus owned by Cap (A.C. Peterson) arrives in Reliance, the greedy owner kills the driver that brings the new attraction – the Jersey Devil – and his henchman dumps the severed body in the woods and the trunk in the muddy lake.
The local sheriff Atlas (Lou Diamond Phillips) checks the permits of the carnival under the protests of the deranged pastor Owen (Vlasta Vrana) that does not want the abominations in the small town.
In the opening show, the Jersey Devil escapes and attacks the audience, killing Owen's son.
Atlas organizes a hunting party to kill the monster, while Cap and his partner try to capture it alive to sell to a wealthy investor.
"Carny" is really a terrible movie.
The story and the screenplay are awful, with a ridiculous conclusion; the development of the one- dimensional characters is shallow, even for the lead ones; and the Jersey Devil and the special effects are very poor.
2009's "Carny" is a TV monster-on-the-loose flick about a carnival stopping at a New York town with a new attraction, a gargoyle-like creature that turns out to be the infamous Jersey Devil.
The town's prominent pastor initially objects to the freakshow and goes over the edge after the creature gets loose.
The sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips) rounds up some men to end the slaughter of innocents while the malevolent carny owner wants to recapture the creature for greedy purposes.Being a fan of winged-monster flicks like "Gargoyles" (1972), "Gargoyles: Wings of Darkness" (2004), "Wyvern" (2009) and even "Jeepers Creepers (2001), I was really looking forward to "Carny." But after a very intriguing start I was let down.The opening act with the introduction of the town, the characters, the carnival and the creature is the best part, but the film fumbles the ball in the second and final acts.
Circus-like scenarios are a surefire setting for horror/mystery tales, as verified by "The Funhouse" (1981), "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1983) and even "The Howling VI: The Freaks" (1991), but "Carny" fails to truly capitalize on this attribute.The Human interest factor is next to zero.
We get three main characters: The evil freakshow owner, the wacko pastor and a likable sheriff.
Peripheral characters include the carnival owner's henchman, the pastor's son & friend, and a cougar fortune-teller, Samara.
Although the story throws in a self-sacrificial scene there's not enough depth to these characters or their relationships to make it moving.The second act involves a search-in-the-woods for the creature by the two groups noted above and I appreciated the serious, non-campy vibe (even while the villain and the Reverend treaded the waters of cartooniness).
A bloodthirsty monster is on the loose and these people are trying to kill (or capture) it; one man is likable, another is ultra-evil and the other is a wack-job.
The monster looks convincing and there's a lot of gore (not that I care about gore but some people do).The film was shot in Ottawa, which is a good stand-in for Northern New York since it's only an hour drive south.The runtime is 88 minutes.GRADE: C.
Two cops, one carnival with 4 or 5 sideshow freaks and a Ferris wheel, one greedy owner and his side kick.
But wait I forgot the star of the movie, The Jersey Devil.As a native New Yorker I use to hear tales of the Jersey Devil and how he would come after bad little girls who never listen to her parents.
That being me.Well it turns out someone has captured the creature and the owner of the carnival has got a buyer for it.
And he also has one minor problem, a crazy Pastor who believes Carnivals and the people who work there come from Hell so they must be gotten rid of and he is sending them right back to where they came from, Hell.The beast kills everybody in his path.
The greedy owner wants him back alive so the sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips) allows him to the next morning to capture the Devil.
He kills the only other cop in town so the creature will smell the blood.
Doesn't the actors say wait there has to be another town this monster can fly to and continue his killing spree, what about calling the cops from all of the surrounding area?
It is not like it is a wolf or dog that got lose it is a freaking killing machine that flies.This is a movie you have to suspend all common sense to watch.
The pastor is really mad now because his son is dead and he blames the goober sheriff for allowing the carnival in the town and the people who work there.
The Goober Sheriff is nowhere to be seen when this is happening even though he is really right in the next cell which by the way also houses a rack of high powered rifles which he uses to escape from the cell when he comes to.
Lou Diamond Phillips in yet another movie that will briefly entertain and then be forgotten.
CARNY is little horror flick filmed in Canada for the Sci Fi Channel.
Peterson plays a greedy and murderous carnival owner that has just acquired a hideous monster for his traveling freak show.
The carnival comes to set up shop in a small Nebraska town.
Hidden amongst the roustabouts and sideshow oddities like the two-faced man is a steel cage where shackled is the newest attraction...half animal/half devil creature...Jersey Devil.
Influential citizen and Pentecostal minister Owen(Viasta Vrana)warns Atlas, the local Sheriff(Phillips), not to let the carnival open for business.
Nevertheless, the freak show opens to a good size crowd and after being taunted, the blood thirsty Jersey Devil breaks loose and begins to feast on the township.
A disreputable carny (A.C. Peterson) manages to obtain the Jersey Devil and uses it as a sideshow in a small town in Nebraska.
It gets loose and raises havoc in the woodlands of Nebraska that looked like Quebec, Canada, There is a seer named Samara (Simone-Élise Girard) pronounced like "Tomorrow." Only Lou Diamond Phillips can save the town....well part of it.This is a 2009 made for TV film.
The lethal and mythical beast the Jersey Devil is being shown as the main attraction at an eerie traveling carnival.
The monster escapes and terrorizes a small town.
It's up to stalwart sheriff Atlas (a solid and likable performance by Lou Diamond Phillips) to stop it before it's too late.
Peterson as shady carny owner Cap, Vlasta Vrana as hell and brimstone preacher Owen, Dominic Cuzzocrea as Owen's meek assistant Quinn, Dan Petronijevic as redneck yahoo Luke, Simone-Elise Girard as fetching psychic Samara, and Joe Cobden as eager deputy Rogers.
Moreover, extra props are in order for both the scary'n'nasty monster and the surprisingly good quality make-up for the grotesque carnival freaks.
The carnival comes to town and it's evil promoter, Cap(Alan C Peterson)has a new sideshow attraction, a winged creature hungry for human blood who has broken free from it's steel cage.
Sheriff Atlas(Lou Diamond Phillips) has a lot to contend with as locals begin to fall victim to the beast.
Cap is so absolutely vile he guts his own trusting servant, Quinn(Dominic Cuzzocrea)just so that he can capture the creature by using the smell of blood from the poor guy as a means to lure the monster.
Through Cab's mystic, Samara(Simone-Elise Girard), we learn as she is speaking with Atlas that the creature just may be the Jersey Devil.
Adding to Atlas' troubles is the local fire-and-brimstone priest, Father Owen(Vlasta Vrana) who, before the start of the carnival, was warning his citizens and neighbors of how this traveling freakshow would only bring horror to the town, a rallying cry of epic proportions, heaven and hell, good and evil kind of stuff.
Surprisingly well made creature feature compared to past Sci-Fi channel offerings, actually has some decent special effects in regards to the monster's presence in the film.
The filmmakers decide to shoot the creature out of focus just enough as it flies/swoops down in the background so that it won't be as glaring computer effect as we normally are used to seeing in a Sci-fi channel Saturday movie.
Owen is so blind with his own rhetoric involving the carnival of freaks' responsibility for bringing the monster in town that he encourages the locals to target them next.
Phillips slips comfortably into the small town hero role without a hitch, having starred in more than his share of B-movies, understanding this genre all too well.
Not a lot of carnage as you might expect(there could've been more body parts and torn flesh), but there's at least a tongue removal by a knife, and because of the creature's brownish gargoyle-like color(it reminded me of the beast from JEEPERS CREEPERS a bit), this allows it to integrate fairly well within the darkly autumnal surroundings.
The exciting climax has a ferris wheel toppling over thanks to Atlas trying to use whatever he can to finally rid his town of the monster, with a rather bleak resolution as many of the carnival freaks suffer devastating fates thanks to mostly Owen's doing.
The creature, setting, and story line were lifted whole cloth from F.
Read the Wilson story (it's available on a free download from the Guttenberg Project) Then re-watch the movie. |
tt4324302 | Justice League: Gods and Monsters | In an unspecified alternate universe, the Justice League is a brutal force that maintains order on Earth. This universe has its own versions of the League, Batman is Dr. Kirk Langstrom, Wonder Woman is Bekka, and Superman is Hernan Guerra. The Justice League's lack of accountability is ultimately challenged by the world's governments following the suspicious deaths of three renowned scientists: Victor Fries, who was drained of blood in the Arctic, Ray Palmer, who was sliced into two with a sharp weapon, with his car having traces of a high heel shoe, and Silas Stone, who was burned alive by an explosion of heat vision energy along with his young son Victor Stone. The innocence or guilt of the three is the central plot element of the film.
As all suspicion falls on the Justice League, President Amanda Waller asks that they cooperate with the government's investigation. Wonder Woman speaks to Steve Trevor to learn what the government knows while Superman invites Lois Lane to the Justice League's HQ, where he tells her of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Krypton or his heritage.
Batman investigates Silas Stone's office and discovers an email that was sent to a number of scientists including Dr. Will Magnus, Kirk's best friend and college roommate who helped his transformation. Having remained close friends with Magnus and his wife, Tina, Batman asks the doctor about "Project Fair Play," which involved all the scientists under Lex Luthor's employ, but Magnus tells him nothing. Later, Batman locates all the remaining scientists discussing the possible threat over their heads, when they are attacked by three robotic assassins, who travel via Boom Tube. Despite Batman and later, the other League Members intervening, the assassins slaughter the remaining scientists and Tina before 'Booming' out, leaving Magnus, severely burned by one of the creature's heat vision, the sole survivor of the attack.
The Justice League take Magnus to their HQ, the Tower of Justice, to recover, while Superman flies into the moon's orbit to a satellite, where Luthor now resides. Luthor reveals that Project Fair Play is a weapons program to destroy the League if necessary, while also revealing that he retained all the remaining information on Krypton from Superman's shuttle, and tells him the truth about Zod, who Superman had envisioned as a hero trying to save his world. Luthor tells Superman that Waller has the original files, and as Superman leaves, a robotic assassin booms in and the satellite explodes, seemingly killing Luthor. As Superman looks on in shock, Trevor shows satellite footage of the explosion and Superman's presence to Waller, and she retaliates with Project Fair Play, which consists of troops and vehicles armed with energy weapons powered by red solar radiation like Krypton's sun.
Superman and Wonder Woman face the army at their door as Batman stays inside the Tower, where he activates the Tower's forcefield, with the idea being that once Magnus recovers, he can clear the League. Suddenly, Tina arrives and before Batman can react, she subdues him and shape-shifts into a liquid metal robot. With Batman restrained by Tin, Magnus' house robot, Tina revives Magnus with an organic nanite serum similar to Batman's, which physically enhances him and gives him regenerative healing powers. Magnus is revealed to have orchestrated the framing of the League, with his robotic assassins actually being the Metal Men, armed with 'Boom Tube' technology and red sun energy. Magnus tells Batman that he intends to detonate a Nanite Bomb, with microscopic Boom Tubes teleporting nanites into every person on the planet, to forcefully link humanity together into a hive mind. He confesses that he accidentally killed the real Tina in a fit of rage one night early into their marriage. Overwhelmed with irrational jealousy, he believed that she secretly loved Kirk, and was tired of her constantly begging him to find a cure for Kirk's vampiric condition. After covering up her death, Magnus replaced her with a robotic duplicate named Platinum, capable of mimicking human flesh, and joined Fair Play, intending to use its resources to fund his secret Nanite Bomb project. He feels that his actions prove that there is no hope for humanity if even a brilliant, rational man like himself could do that to his own wife.
As Magnus prepares his weapon, Lex Luthor, who escaped the explosion, suddenly teleports into the middle of the battle outside and tells everyone that he has discovered Magnus' plan. Inside, Batman destroys Tin and frees himself, then seizes an opportunity to drop the forcefield. With Batman fighting Magnus, Wonder Woman faces Platinum, and Superman takes on the Metal Men, who quickly merge into a single, more powerful entity. Wonder Woman uses her sword's boom tubes to 'Boom' Platinum to the sun, Superman destroys the mother boxes inside the Metal Men to keep them from 'Booming' before taking them underground and melting them inside molten rock. They manage to destroy the bomb (at the cost of Superman's Kryptonian escape craft) and, after being defeated by Batman, a regretful Magnus commits suicide by disintegrating himself with nanites.
A week later, the Justice League has been cleared of all wrongdoing, and the world, along with Lois Lane, views them differently. Bekka decides to leave the Justice League to face her past along with Lex Luthor, who wants to explore other universes after growing bored with this one. Before leaving, Lex Luthor gives Superman all the data on Krypton and tells him to be a "real hero". The film ends with Superman and Batman deciding to sort through the data immediately to help humanity, but in a less brutal way. | murder | train | wikipedia | As a result of the Justice League's savage tactics, their unaccountability is ultimately challenged by the world's governments following the suspicious deaths of renowned scientists.Admittedly, I was initially influenced by some of the negative reviews that lashed out at the concept of Justice League: Gods and Monsters; however, this DC Animated Film was surprisingly entertaining.
Although this is an alternate Justice League from the one I grew to love over the years, this is definitely an exciting addition to the Justice League Animated Movie Series.
Gods and Monsters is another great entry in DC's animated film catalog that can stand alongside some of the greats like Under the Red Hood or Flashpoint Paradox.The story has an interesting premise.
Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are center stage and each have a newer origin story which help flesh out the characters more.
As much as I love them, it was great to hear some new voices.Overall, this Elseworld story is a fantastic addition to the DC Animated Universe and is a clever spin on what could be a normal Justice League movie.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a much welcomed return to the quality standard DC Animated established that was a bit lacking in the last few entries since Justice League War, Son of Batman and others.
Superman is now the son of Zodd, Batman has no problems killing villains by sucking their blood Dracula-style and Wonder Woman has a completely different background.
Considering how much was already done in Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond and Justice League, it's really refreshing to see Bruce Timm back doing new things while still maintaining the similar feel and quality the classic Justice League series are known for.
It succeeds where Justice League War, another alternate universe JLA movie, failed.The story tells the origin of each of the three Justice League members with a plot-line in the current time and is pretty much straight forward, but interesting enough and well paced.
The downside of is that you have to be familiar with the DC universe to a degree, otherwise you'll be wondering about the function of a couple of characters with small screen time and won't care for their destinies as much.The action is a bit lacking, but the focus is more on storytelling and characters anyways, so its a good trade off.
"Gods and Monsters" follows in its footsteps as an example of a well executed parallel universe movie.The characters are fleshed out enough for us to become attached without going into so much "origin" as to affect the pacing of the episode or to ruin the opportunity for future exploration of the characters.
Thank goodness WB brought back Bruce Timm, who was one of the primary creative forces behind the Batman and Justice League animated series that kicked off DC animated projects being good in the first place.
The result is the best DC animated film since New Frontier.Gods and Monsters can be said to be the first true Elseworlds story that's been done in animation.
Sure there's been some parallel world stuff (Crisis on Two Earths) and plenty of out of continuity stand alones (like the aforementioned New Frontier) but they've still kept the characters pretty close to the standard versions we all know.
It makes the wise choice of having different characters taking on the mantles of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman rather than actually trying to muck about with Clark, Bruce or Diana.
Instead Superman is the son of Zod, Batman is Kirk Langstrom (better known as the Man-Bat in the main DC universe) and Wonder Woman is one of the New Gods (such as High Father and Darkseid.) Their backstories are explored just enough to give a good picture of these versions without ever bogging down the narrative itself.Like any good Elseworlds story, this is an "all bets are off" take where any prior knowledge of the main DC universe can add some weight when characters like Victor Fries or Dr. Sivanna get name dropped, but nobody is exactly the same as their standard representation.
The problem is that those films are trying for a more realistic version of fights, which isn't what animation is good for.
It exceeded all my expectations and then some.The movie showcases an alternate DC universe, which has a darker Justice League who investigate the mystery of some missing scientists.
The story is really great, with focus being on this world's Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, and a last minute twist that no one could have predicted, yet is very faithful to the source material, a silent nod to some relatively recent comic series, such as "52" and "Prelude to Trinity War".
Even in the short span of 60 minutes, it makes you care deeply for these characters, despite their fallacies.Overall, Gods and Monsters is a great alternate take on the DC Universe, which can be enjoyed by fans, especially since it is laden with easter eggs, and newcomers alike, because of it's accessibility.
With great voice acting, excellent animation and a compelling story, it is a must watch for any Justice League fan..
Flashpoint paradox was the only DC animated l enjoyed in recent years, and especially JL War and Throne of Atlantis were particularly bland and boring.l suggest anyone to watch the mini introduction chronicles first to get a sense of the new versions of the league members in this alternate universe (especially Superman - Bomb!!).
I was planning on seeing this anyway, as I've seen all DC Universe Animated Original Movies films up to now.I learned about this new take on Batman, WonderWoman and Superman and thought, okay, alright, let's see where this goes to.Then learned Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett where behind it, and it only increased my interest in it.Saw the trailer, and thought, this actually looks good.But I've been fooled before with DC Animated films.
DC's animated movies in the recent years has been pretty bad starting from Justice League: War and onward.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a return to form for the DC animated movies with it's interesting story, great action sequences, and interesting alternate take on the DC Universe.A lot of the negative reviews for this movie was written due to this alternate universe not feeling like the original DC Universe.
But I decided to keep an open mind and go with what they are doing and I have to say, after seeing the movie, it has left me wanting more of this universe, especially Wonder Woman's side of history as I found it to be very interesting being a huge fan of the Fourth World and New Gods story line.The story itself is very dark, much darker than most of the movies that DC has done.
The movie isn't pointlessly violent but uses it's violence to really help the viewer immerse into it's worldI really liked the look of the old Animated DC TV series but done with modern technology so everything looks sharper and smoother.
Even if you aren't a DC fan, this will be worth your time as animated movies like this do not happen often.
Wonder Woman - Bekka, exile from the New GodsThese are the heroes who are the government sponsored Justice League.
Although the very different portrayal of the Justice League characters will take a lot of getting used to, their personalities and back-stories changed beyond recognition for die-hard fans struggling with the concept, the alternate universe concept was a very interesting one and mostly the execution was very good, its best elements great.
Having said that, 'Justice League: Gods and Monsters' has better story and characterisation execution than most DC animated films that needed to be longer and not as hasty.
It's also very gripping, makes the most of its concept without being too simple or confusing and gives the characters interesting stories, especially Wonder Woman.
The action is violent and exciting, though perhaps there could have been more of it.'Justice League: Gods and Monsters' is very good, often great.
Hall being brilliant while Benjamin Bratt is one of the better voices for Superman of the DC animated films and others show that with good material they can act (C.
8/10 Bethany Cox. just doesn't feel like a Justice League movie...
Maybe i have missed something from another Justice League film but why does 'Gods and Monsters' take place in an alternative universe for a start?
Like i said, Flashpoint takes place in most of the alternate universe with different versions of the characters, Superman was skinny etc.
(also made by Bruce Timm) If you are looking for something with that sort of feel, LOOK ELSEWHERE!While some of the ideas in this movie were pretty good, (I liked the new Wonder Woman background in particular), they fail to make up for the atrocious voice acting, dialog, writing and pacing.After thinking about it, I can honestly say that not a single character was the least bit likable.
It takes the classic DC alternate universe plot line which, as shown in films like The Flashpoint Paradox and Crisis on two earths, can be done right and come out very entertaining but this film does it wrong, very wrong.
Now in films like Flashpoint and Crisis on two earths you get an introduction which explains what is going on but in this you get General Zod push a button and suddenly batman is a vampire, superman has a goatee and honestly I have no clue whats up with wonder woman.
They take some of the most beloved characters in comic book history and say "f*** you, in our new DC film your getting a Vampire, Goatee-man and wonder woman dressed like a stripper cause you all asked for this!".
If you love the DCU give it a look as it is a bit refreshing to see some killing, but don't expect it to be a Justice League movie.
I don't know what DC/WB is thinking making this and Batman v Robin when they had these other great animated movies.
In an alternative history Zod is Superman's father, Batman is not Bruce Wayne but instead a vampiric Man-Bat, and Wonder Woman is the child of Ares, God of War. They cuss and drink and sleep around.
The animation, characterization, and voice acting are all at the pre-Flashpoint movie quality, which makes it worth the watch for any DC animation fan.Now in order to fully enjoy this movie, you have to really buy into the concept that this is an alternate universe.
I found the backstories to be a refreshing (especially Wonder Woman's)and was interested to see these characters in a new light.
While the plot wasn't anything special, it did serve to highlight the personalities of the characters and allow for an introduction into this new world.The movie is violent, with people being incinerated, stabbed, sucked of blood, etc.
I Love this concept on paper, and I really enjoy most "alternate universe" takes on characters/stories (Superman: Red Son, Gotham By Gaslight, Spiderman Noir, Old Man Logan).
But this concept, while an interesting idea, was executed in one of the most boring and unenergetic ways imaginable.The voice cast is terrible (with the exception of Benjamin Bratt as Superman, who is actually interesting and cool) everyone else, especially Michael C Hall who sounds like he's bored, or on a sleep drug.The animation is pretty basic, most of the cast rings flat, and the plot is predictable and unimportant.it won't add anything of value to your brain, I'd skip it..
Superman is the son of General Zod raised by migrant farmers, Batman is a vampiric form of Dr. Kirk Langstrom (AKA the Man Bat) and Wonder Woman is resident of New Genesis who fled to Earth after her family wiped out Apokolips.
But as far as the justice league war and the son of batman series goes.
They took the well know characters of Batman, Wonder Woman and superman, and they changed it just a bit, which resulted in a lo more dark and gritty justice league.
We get to see this universe of The Justice League who still fight crime but in a very different (Killing) way.
I wasn't a fan of Batmans costume, but enjoyed his character.The voice acting was strong, it pulled me more into the story.
DC have planed an animated series based on this Universe coming out soon, and season 2 has already been green lit, with a possible sequel film down the line.This film gets a 8/10 Anynegative comments are by people who don't like change, they want the same characters over and over.
Its an alternate universe where the Justice League isn't what we remember them as.
Our Superman is the son of Zod and not the Clark Kent we know, our Batman is actually Man-Bat Kirk Langstrom who is a blood sucking Vampire and our Wonder Woman is the violent Bekka.
The film re-introduces Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman in stories that are indeed alien to us.
When it appears the world's top scientist are being killed off by the Justice League, they must defend themselves from the world while trying to save it by finding the real killer.I found the story interestingly different and refreshing.
The movie is also very brutal in a way because a lot of innocent scientists get murdered by Will Magnus's droids to frame the JL.What doesn't make sense is like why was Will Magnus evil and why did he make a robotic version of Tina (Kirk's love interest who he kills by smashing her head through a table).Overall it was an awesome movie and good voice cast..
But this isn't the familiar Justice League: this Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman kill without regret in order to maintain "justice." Many of the DC Comics animated features use varied character designs, often based on the comics they are adapted from.
But that is where any similarities end: this is an "Elseworlds" movie, using much of the established mythos but twisting it (Superman is found and raised by Mexican immigrants, Batman is vampire Kirk Langstrom, Wonder Woman is Highfather's daughter Bekka, and so on).This is a good movie - a story which moves along well, with good action, animation and voice work - but make no mistake, this is not one for the kids.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is an alternate universe where Superman is the son of Zod and Batman is straight up vampire.
It's commendable for the movie to create separate origin stories that actually work in the span of the relatively short runtime.These heroes are far from the ones audience would know, even compared to other alternate versions, but in spite of the variance they are still oddly relatable.
Superman is the son of General Zod, Batman is actually some version of Man-Bat, and Wonder Woman is Bekka from the New Gods.
The character designs worked for me (especially Superman).The voice acting was very well in my opinion, up there with most of the other DC animated movies.
Choreography of fight scenes is lacking though - pretty much reminded me of the Justice League TV Animated Series and nothing compared to the likes of Wonder Woman, Crisis on Two Earths or Under the Red Hood.
This is actually one of the better Justice League movies I've seen.
But I would also like to feel comfortable taking my kid to see a movie about the heroes I grew up loving, instead of having them miss out on some wonderful fantasy story-telling..
Compared with other movies of this type, it had some pretty good jokes and lines, not to mention that having a very different view about how justice league could be it also adds a bonus.It has many things that you would not expect in a justice league movie, probably cause there are a lot of writers for this kind of movie and is not the first movie with superheroes that has a more adult-like atmosphere that i personally enjoy, one such movie was Batman: Assault on Arkham but there were more like this.At the end you have a sensation that the main three characters are really trying to be honest and just in a kind of unselfish way, also it depicts Lex Luthor like some extremely brilliant savant, almost like a deity, i don't know if that has any connection with the word "god" present in title.Anyway worth watching for sure..
That premise, and the consequences of it, is the basis for Justice League: Gods And Monsters that was released last summer as part of the ongoing range of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
Indeed much of the film centers on the inversion of many DC characters whom fans will likely recognize such as Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Ray Palmer, Victor Stone and Will Magnus but that won't alienate newer viewers as well and makes Gods And Monsters perhaps the most original release that the range has given us in sometime.Though what it does with the premise is perhaps less original.
One of the things I have taken away from the range in the last couple of years has been the emphasis on action sequences over good storytelling, particularly in Justice League: War and the films based on The New 52 comics, something which began to happen once Bruce Timm walked away from the range.
As with many of the recent films, it's a shame that they couldn't be put to use in a better overall work.At the end of the day, Gods And Monsters can be summed up like this: an interesting premise with a less than worthy execution.
Anyone watching the Justice League animated movies in order: The New Frontier, Crisis On Two Earths, Doom, Flashpoint, and War, will notice that they have become darker and more nihilistic one after another.
The "Justice League: Gods and Monsters" is a movie where everything takes place in an alternate universe.
So Superman is now the son of General Zod and Batman is some sort of scientist with vampire like abilities. |
tt0203612 | Otoshiana | John "Johnny" Forbes (Powell) is a middle-class husband and father who is tired of his boring routine, working for the Olympic Mutual Insurance Company in downtown Los Angeles. Private investigator and former policeman J. B. "Mac" MacDonald (Burr) reports that Bill Smiley (Barr), an embezzler who had been bonded by Olympic Mutual, caught and sent to prison, had given several expensive presents - including a speedboat named "Tempest" - to Smiley's girlfriend, model Mona Stevens (Scott) in Santa Monica.
Mac wants to stay on the case, admitting he is attracted to Mona, but Forbes decides to try to retrieve the gifts himself. He ends up spending the day with the sultry blond on her speedboat, and a physical romance begins. His wife Sue (Wyatt) has no idea what is going on; Mac, however, does. The next night, he beats Johnny up and tells him to stay away from Mona. When Mona hears that Johnny has called in "sick", she goes to visit him at home and learns at the last moment that he is married with a young son. She calls off the affair, unwilling to break up Johnny's family.
Mac keeps stalking her, both at the May Company department store where she works and at her home in Santa Monica, so Mona finally tells him bluntly that she does not like him. He goes to see Smiley in prison and informs him what is going on. Mona finds out Smiley's release date the day before he is to be released. When Smiley gives her a hostile reception, she turns to Johnny. Johnny pays back Mac for the beating he received earlier with one of his own for Mac.
When Smiley is freed, Mona tracks him down and discovers that he has been drinking, and that Mac has given him a gun. When Smiley rejects her plea to move to another city and start a new life together, she phones Johnny to warn him. Smiley goes to Johnny's house that night. Johnny drives him away at gunpoint, but when Smiley returns and breaks in, Johnny shoots him dead, letting the police think Smiley was just a burglar.
Mac feels he has eliminated both his rivals and expects Mona to go away with him. She shoots him instead and is taken into custody. Johnny gives a full confession, first to his wife, then to the district attorney, over Sue's objections. The DA reluctantly pronounces that Johnny is safe because it was justifiable homicide. Sue gives him a second chance, though she is not sure their marriage will ever be the same. The charge against Mona will depend on whether Mac will live or die. | psychedelic, avant garde | train | wikipedia | It's the first collaboration between director Teshigahara, writer Kodo Abe, and composer Toru Takemitsu, who went on to make the more widely available WOMAN IN THE DUNES and FACE OF ANOTHER.
If you're familiar with Hiroshi Teshigahara's work, especially the notorious "Woman In The Dunes", you will understand the starkness, the harsh reality, the irony of this film.
Ostensibly about a miner who is stalked by a man in a white suit and who then is killed for reasons that do not become apparent until nearly the end of the film, the film is, like "Dunes", an uncompromising look at life.
Although structurally and aesthetically experimental cinema, Teshigahara's debut proper already carries all the trademarks of an assured author and although a bit rough around the edges here and there it shows a director experimenting with his craft even as he perfects it.
Japanese new-wave ferried to its logical conclusion even as it takes its first baby steps.Based on a story by Kôbô Abe, PITFALL explores the myriad possibilities that emerge from the space where life and death overlap, as a poor miner is murdered under mysterious circumstances in the marshes near an old ghost town.
His murderer, an alluring white-clad figure, buys off the silence of the one witness, a woman operating a candy store in the ghost town district, and disappears as mysteriously as he appeared.
In the mean time the murdered man wakes up next to his corpse only to discover he's now a ghost.While THE SIXTH SENSE milked a very similar idea for maximum mainstream appeal, shock twists and shallow thrills, Teshigahara is wise to allow his material to breathe.
Even though a very pragmatic subplot about two rival labour unions introduced in the end of act two detracts from the existential nature of the story, like all great storytellers Teshigahara never settles for the convenient and tidy, refuses to explain what the viewer most needs explained.
Questions left open, the character cleverly typed as a seriocomic grim reaper of sorts riding around in his moped, a manifestation that invokes notions of fate by the very nature of his acts.
Teshigahara pits the dead against the dead, the living against the living and everybody against each other, ghosts quizically examining their corpses and wondering the reason of their deaths, the living deaf to their protestations and too busy being suspicious of each other.
A world revolving around a discordant axis, thrown off balance and left for us to explore its geometry.Teshigahara's direction reflecting the uncertainty and disorientation of the plot as much as Toru Takemitsu's dissonant score.
Construction works photographed in all their derelict, abandonded glory, a ghost world for the dead to haunt.
The ghost of the murdered man complaining he's hungry as winds rise in the soundtrack.
Then The miners move on to new jobs but the man in white follows still unnoticed....This movie is much more about moods I think than the actual story.
I did also like the boy as the silent observer where I wondered if he would interfere with the story at a time and in what way.I would not recommend this movie to everybody.
Most people watch this movie after 'Suna no Onna' (Woman In The Dunes).
No this is not a movie you can understand with watching it second time like 'Memento'.I give 5 stars out of respect to the dead/alive ghastly effects for 1960s..
As the ghosts of two of the victims of the man in the white suit chase his Vespa, they yell, "You can't kill someone for no reason." Whatever that reason is, it is never shared with us.
The man in the white suit has a book and after carrying out his hit, or setting one up, he quietly writes things in that book.
One of the strangest characters is a little boy, the son of the first victim, who seems only intent on eating throughout the movie.
In "Pitfall", an employer who owns two mines has had to deal with one big union in the past.
However, when the miners of mine number one ask miners of mine number two for class solidarity in their strike to get lost jobs back, the miners of mine number two refuse and keep working as the employer has told them that they will not suffer layoffs.
The answer to this question is large part of what director Hiroshi Teshigahara's "Pitfall" is about.
To be sure, "Pitfall" was also the work of author Kôbô Abe. In fact, "Pitfall" was originally a stage play by Abe. One must keep in mind when watching this film that both men were leftists, influenced by surrealism and it shows in the direction, screenplay, choice of music and cinematography.
But neither of them was about to produce a piece of nihilist fiction, which is what many reviewers of this film seem to think "Pitfall" is about.
Teshigahara and Abe are depicting life under the rule of Capital and showing how it works to keep workers at each others' throats.
As the film opens, a father and his young boy wander a stark landscape in Kyushu, industrially pockmarked by mines and the scattered, wild remnants of a supremely indifferent Nature.
We know this because the father is being accompanied through part of the film by a fellow mine worker who is also on the run, a self-proclaimed 'deserter'.
We also know because in one scene from a mine work-site a man is fallen upon by two other men, authorities who take him away after a scuffle.
When he spies a man in a pristine white suit riding through the mining town on a motor scooter, the only motor vehicle around which isn't a truck, he hides.The father, his son and their companion, the other mine worker, leave one job secretly in the night and go on the road to look for another.
The father has always dreamed of working for a union mine and of the better, more comfortable and secure life this would mean.
Instead, the father is led by the written map given to him by his former supervisor to an abandoned mining town where only one person lives, a woman who owns a candy/trinket store.
The candy store owning woman suggests that he might be looking for another mine, just over the hill.Be prepared for ghosts, doubles and dastardly planned murders most foul.
Teshigahara called his first feature film "a documentary fantasy" and it is indeed a strange amalgam of social realism, political thriller and ghost story.People in a mining community are being bumped off by a mysterious white-suited hit-man and the two warring unions are blaming the murders on one another.
The fate of the main character in the film, a common mine worker who shifts from town to town with his young boy in search of better working conditions, is sealed when he is mistaken by the hit-man (posing as an innocuous photographer) for the secretary of one of the unions and ends up face down on a beach before the eyes of his own passive son.The other notable inhabitant of the ghost town is a female candy-store owner who is perennially waiting for news from her far-away lover.
The mine worker seems resigned to his fate of suffering eternal hunger (since he died on an empty stomach!) but the woman can't accept the fact that she was taken away from this world just as her life was about to take a turn for the better; her incessant questioning and screaming after the hit-man riding away on his motorcycle is not easily shaken off.The second half of the movie deals in more detail with the machinations of the two miners' unions which are being pitted one against the other by some unknown force.
Towards the end of the film, there is a lengthy, impressive sequence of a clandestine meeting between the two secretaries (one of whom suspects the other of having hired the hit-man to terminate him) which turns into a gritty fist-fight between the two and ends with their two ghosts haunting the sea-side spot were earlier on the mine worker met his doom.
This time, however, the miner's son is moved to tears by what he witnesses and, bewildered and alone, runs off aimlessly in a stunning, fluid camera move which ends the film on a high note.The occasionally elliptical narrative may be explained by the fact that we see the events unfolding before us through the eyes of the child and the film's most arresting image is that of the boy's eye peering through a crack in the wall of the wooden shack spying on the woman being raped.
While on his way to an interview, the miner is visited by death in the form of a man in a white suit (Kunie Tanaka).
This fascinating, surreal drama, is a blend of many genres, and was Hiroshi Teshigahara's first feature film.
The setting is a ghost town where the dead amble about, carrying the pain that plagued their lives.
Novelist Kobo Abe, who wrote "Pitfall", and was responsible for "The Face of Another" and "The Woman in the Dunes", was a writer of uncommon originality and intelligence, and his work here is excellent.
Our hero, the murdered man, was given some very weak dialog.
The man in white was not as much of a mystery as the film seems to think he is.
-----paragraph----- The film sets up the murdered man to slowly come to realize the fact that there will be no justice for his murder and that it is better, once one has died, not to torture oneself by watching the world he has left behind.
The movie seems to think he's a mystery, but it's pretty obvious that he's a representative of the mining company looking to crush the unions.
The murdered man, our hero, does not realize this, nor does the movie seem to think the viewer does, but the viewer does know, and with all the murdered man has heard, by all rights he should, too.
He recites his stilted inner monologue like a man in a stage play, and it doesn't work.
At the end, he's even trying to speak to a living man, even though he should have come to realize that it's impossible.
Moving on from this we follow the man (a miner) and his son as he tries to find work, until eventually he is set up in a complex murder plot.
The simple technique of playing a shot backwards recalls another early 60's Japanese film, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo, while there it was used as a slight character moment, here it completely reinvents the film's narrative melting away all we've seen and reforming into something much more ambitious.Pitfall contains elements of social realism, surrealist experimentation, crime procedural, conspiracy thriller, and fantasy-tragedy.
Teshigahara's roots in documentary film-making and strong leftist political view provide reason for his sympathies with the struggles of miners, shown through the exploitation of the miner and his son and the two union's confrontation.
Selfishness pervades the film, the individual selfishness of the exploitative old man hiring the men to do a mining job, the boy taking a candy from his dead father's corpse, and the political selfishness, as seen in the confrontation between the two unions.Duplicity and division are chief devices in Pitfall.
Cinematographically we see this through the sensual distance of Teshigahara's camera, at once close, tracking, exploring the personal space and frame of mind of the characters, other times distanced and merely observing, displacing the individual as they get lost in the harsh world around them.
The welding of extreme social realism (at one point real documentary footage of impoverished miners is inserted) and the surrealist imagery of ghosts left in the town, carrying on their lowly routines with no effect, and of the many dead characters inspecting their own corpses, quizzically studying the circumstances of their deaths and often probing the living, creates a fusion of misery both in life, and forever in death.
In ghost form the miner laments his hunger something he no doubt would've done often in life.Despite all these many seemingly contradictory modes and random story-strands, Pitfall holds together well.
As Teshigahara's first feature film, this as a major outlet for his artistic visions, and consequently the film is slightly untidy, structurally the film lacks a successful linking of the many elements at play, they seem to pop-up randomly, sometimes without reason.
Rough around the edges it may be, Pitfall is a genuinely fascinating, thrilling, involving picture from beginning to end, possessing the visual tenacity and narrative complexity of a first-time director finding his feet and unleashing his cinematic imagination..
Teshigahara's debut, at least as a feature length director of fictional films.
The story is about a man and his son who arrive in a mining camp to start a new job.
The child notices a lanky man in white following them about.
The man in white follows and attacks with a knife.
The child hides, watching his father's murder from afar.
The film is a murder mystery.
It is also a ghost story, as Igawa rises from the dead and wanders the camp looking for answers to his murder.
The film plays out as an existentialist nightmare, people wandering through empty landscapes, surrounded by distant hills of dirt and rocks, abandoned settlements and seemingly unmanned mining equipment.
And it's one of the best films I've seen in a long time..
In his feature-film maiden voyage, Director Hiroshi Teshigahara demonstrates that he can be a master of the provocative (provocative extraordinary)---when he closes to be--with films that are filled (actually packed in this case) with incidents and shots that evoke as many interpretations as there are viewers (and likely even more with re-viewing!).
The film elicits a vague sense of dread right from the opening scenes which does not seem to go completely away!
But he also has a lot more on his mind such as: the exploitation of young itinerant coal miners by older former miners; miners who have run away only to be hunted down and captured (like military deserters); mine-owner benefits from inducing conflicts between/within miners' unions; murder mysteries involving contract killings of union leaders; ghosts (both human and canine (the latter may have been eaten by the former)); land rape by coal mining companies (represented by the bleak landscape of abandoned coal fields in Northern Kyūshū); deadly misidentification which isn't what it seems to be; how the dead might confront and try to solve the mystery of their own murders; symbolic use of white; etc.
Exterior locations (depressing landscapes and a river with quick-sand like mud shores) and set design (a ghost town you may have seen in other films) are outstanding.
And this makes one wonder why so many films are so straightforward and dull, visually, when the very usage of such techniques actually complexes a rather simple narrative quite dramatically.
Some critics have carped that the film is not that realistic in its depiction sof its characters; especially the dueling union heads who end up killing each other.
In fact, I would say, that in the less philosophic aspects of the tale, the film is amongst the most realistic portrayals of unionism going; in many ways more so than even a film like Norma Rae. And the portrayal of the company-hired assassin recalls that other great corporate malfeasance film, Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well, while the ironic bleakness recalls Kon Ichikawa's Fires On The Plain.The DVD package, from The Criterion Collection, Three Films By Hiroshi Teshigahara, comes with a fourth disk of supplements, the main feature of which is a documentary about Teshigahara and his Kobo Abe's lives and collaborations.
There are also four short early documentaries by Teshigahara, none of which presage his fictive films.
Hiroshi Segawa's cinematography is very daring, and the scoring, by Toru Takemitsu, is always apropos to the scene, underscoring emotions, never exaggerating them, and often adding to the scenes with an askewness to what is seen, which throws a viewer into a different state of mind, aiding the feeling of alienation many of the characters feel.This alienation is at its greatest when one realizes that the first two murders of the miner and the candy saleswoman are incidental to the real 'meat' of the film.
And, in this way, Teshigahara is offering up his version of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, wherein the character the viewer presumes is the film's main character, is not.
That both of those films were influenced by documentary forms, as was Teshigahara's work is no coincidence; as is Teshigahara's will to break with the tried and true.Pitfall is a film that is great because it is daring, it does not bite off more than it can chew, it provides a strong narrative, but leaves enough mystery for the viewer to cogitate on through multiple viewings, is technically strong, in all areas, and provides solid enough acting (never great) that its just mentioned framework of excellence never frays.
It provides a narrative for those drawn to plot first films, yet also has a philosophic heft that works on many levels- from the existential to the ethical, and touches upon identity, the layers of the self, and what is and is not private and is and is not evil.
It may be a bit less daring than Teshigahara's later The Face Of Another, as well as lacking in as much razzle-dazzle and narrative complications, but it is also less flawed, and this latter quality is why it stands taller as a great work of art than the later film.
However, both films evince an undeniable fact- Hiroshi Teshigahara was a force of great talent and achievement in Japanese and world cinema, and the world of art, and that at large, is poorer for his absence, and the absence of his creative descendants. |
tt0071717 | Killdozer | A meteorite crashes onto the Earth's surface, an island off the coast of Africa. Some hundreds or thousands of years later, after natural forces have buried it and restored the local environment, six construction workers are boated to the island to begin work building an airstrip for an oil drilling company at the crash site, the uninhabited island.
Foreman Kelly (Clint Walker) and bulldozer driver Mack (Robert Urich) uncover the meteorite (though they don't recognize what it is), which emits a strange sound. When the bulldozer (a Caterpillar D9 in the movie, a Caterpillar D7 in the novella) is used to try to shift the meteorite, it emits a blue light that moves to, and seems to possess, the bulldozer. Mack, standing nearby as this occurs, falls ill and then dies some hours later. Chub (Neville Brand), the team's mechanic, cannot find anything wrong with the inoperative bulldozer, but can hear the odd sound from the blade. Kelly orders that the bulldozer not be used.
Beltran (James A. Watson, Jr.) ignores the prohibition and starts the bulldozer, bringing it to malevolent life. It destroys the camp's only two-way radio and begins a rampage, killing the workers one by one. It seems to run indefinitely in spite of a limited fuel capacity. The machine has some rudimentary intelligence and guile, and hunts down the men.
The crew is soon reduced to just Kelly and Dennis (Carl Betz). Running out of options, with the expected relief crew not due to arrive just yet, they amuse themselves by convicting the bulldozer of murder, then consider methods of 'execution'. Too heavy to hang, too big for the gas chamber... until they realize it might be able to be electrocuted. They lure it to a trap consisting of steel Marsden Matting (used for constructing temporary runways during World War II) connected to a generator.
As the bulldozer is electrified, the alien entity emerges as an aura around the machine, then finally fades. The men shut down the power and check the blade: no sound. Though Kelly realizes his story will not be believed as he is a recovering alcoholic, and this job was his last chance to redeem himself, he intends to tell the truth. | paranormal | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0025124 | Flirtation Walk | Richard Palmer Grant Dorcy Jr. (Powell), a.k.a. "the Canary" and "the singing bird of the tropics," is an enlisted man in the United States Army. Stationed in the Hawaiian Islands, he has a contentious but friendly relationship with his sergeant, Scrapper Thornhill (Pat O'Brien). When General Fitts (Henry O'Neill) visits the post with his daughter Kit (Keeler) on their way to Manila, Dick is assigned to drive her to a reception that evening. Falling victim to the moonlit night, Kit and Dick attend a luau instead. They are discovered in each other's arms by Scrapper and Lieutenant Biddle (John Eldredge), who is also in love with Kit. Biddle accuses Dick of ruining Kit's reputation and forcing her to accompany him off post. Dick decides to desert. Scrapper begs Kit to straighten things out with Biddle.
To prevent Dick from deserting, Kit tells him that she was responding to a crazy impulse and he means nothing to her. Stung by her words, and Biddle's condescending statement that "if you were an officer and a gentleman, you'd understand," Dick decides to compete with Biddle as an equal and applies for West Point. He is accepted and does very well, to Scrapper's delight. In his First Class year, Dick becomes First Captain and General Fitts is appointed Academy superintendent, with Biddle present as his aide. While most of his classmates are infatuated with Kit, Dick is cold to her. Consequently, he is not very happy when the rest of the men insist that she participate in the traditional "Hundredth Night" theatrical performance that he is to direct.
Dick writes a comedy about a female general with a message directed at Kit. After the first rehearsal, Kit walks with Dick on Flirtation Walk and tries to explain why she told him she was not in love with him. Dick is too angry to listen to Kit, but during their on-stage love scene kisses her, and she admits she loves him. When, near graduation, General Fitts announces Kit's engagement to Biddle, Dick naturally is confused, and visits her after lights out to talk her out of marrying Biddle. He is caught by Biddle and, at Biddle's suggestion, agrees to resign from the Academy to protect Kit's name. Scrapper arrives at the Academy to see Dick graduate and is disappointed to learn of his resignation. The day is saved when Biddle tells Dick that his resignation was not accepted and that Kit returned his ring, wishing him good luck. Dick graduates a happy man. | romantic | train | wikipedia | FLIRTATION WALK (First National, 1934) directed by Frank Borzage, teams Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler for the fifth time, and the first to present their names above the title.
When released in November 1934, this sentimental musical-comedy was so successful that it was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture, along with eleven (yes, 11!) other movies that year, but no win.
The predictable plot begins in Hawaii in which Powell plays Army Private Richard Palmer Grant Dorcy, better known as "Canary," who meets and falls in love with General John Brent Fitt's (Henry O'Neill) daughter Kit (Ruby Keeler) on a two day visit at the base.
Kit happens to be engaged to Lt. Robert Biddle (John Eldredge), but she doesn't care.
She gets Dick to take her out for a moonlight drive, and they are later are caught embracing by Biddle.
Fearing Dick would get court martialed, Kit discourages and cures the lovesick private before she leaves Hawaii.
Determined to forget Kit and become an officer and a gentleman, Dick decides to leave Hawaii and enroll at West Point.
After more than three years at the military academy, and close to graduation, Dick encounters Kit once more.
Dick then tries to ignore Kit and give her a hard time, but risks getting a dismissal from the academy when caught embracing Kit once more in her quarters by Biddle.Pat O'Brien co-stars as Scrapper Thornhill, Dick's sergeant in the first half of the story set in Hawaii, while Ross Alexander and John Arledge appear as the cadets in the second half set at West Point.
Alexander, the one with the physical appearance of dancer Ray Bolger, supplies some fine comic touches here.
Directed by two-time Academy Award winning director, Frank Borzage, FLIRTATION WALK focuses more on plot than musical interludes.
Powell sings a little, but tap dancer Keeler does not do any fancy footwork here.
There are no real lavish production numbers to speak of, with the exception of a Hawaiian luau some 20 minutes into of the story.
The 15 minute segment of the Hundredth Night Show at West Point consists of songs by Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon: "No Horse, No Wife, No Mustache," the lively and amusing "Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name" and the title song.
Aside from scenes filmed in Hawaii and West Point, light comedy, sentimental moments and good tunes, Dick and Ruby are believable their roles, while Pat O'Brien, as a tough sergeant, isn't afraid to shed a tear, especially during Dick's West Point graduation.
Quite different from the previous Powell and Keeler musicals, from Broadway theater setting to military background, which actually works to good advantage, although there is too much time devoted to plebe year and Powell reciting the definition of "Leather."FLIRTATION WALK was distributed on video cassette through MGM Home Video in 1992, and can be seen on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel.
One final note: Although it's been said that future film star Tyrone Power appears as one of the extra cadets, he is so hard to find.
typical Dick Powell-Ruby Keeler movie, except Ruby doesn't dance..
This film is not anywhere near "42nd Street" in terms of music and plot, but it has a few good moments.
Ruby Keeler is a general's daughter who meets Army private Dick Powell when she makes a two day stop in Honolulu, on her way to Manila with her father.
There is a pretty good moment early in the film when she falls madly in love with Private Powell (who she has known for two hours) when he sings "Aloha Oe" at a beach luau the two of them crash.
Boy gets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl once more, later in the film when he is the top cadet at West Point and her father is the new Superintendent at the Academy.
The best song in this movie, "Mr. and Mrs. is the name," is part of the cadet musical Dick writes and produces..
Utterly Charming Musical.
Even with Ruby Keeler's tinny voice and the fact she doesn't dance a step, Flirtation Walk is an utterly charming musical from the Thirties with Dick Powell at the height of his lyric tenor period.West Point's image has done very well by Hollywood.
The West Point Story and The Long Gray Line are the other two big films about the U.S. Military Academy on the Hudson.
But this was the first film of a grand tradition.Dick Powell is an army private stationed out in Hawaii who's assigned by his sergeant Pat O'Brien to be a driver for Ruby Keeler, daughter of General Henry O'Neill.
She's got a boyfriend in her Dad's aide John Eldredge.
But on a moonlight night in Hawaii, the old boy/girl thing happens.Powell receives a rude awakening the next day when he's made to realize the difference in class between officers and enlisted men.
Something like the rude awakening John Agar got in Fort Apache when he was courting Shirley Temple even though he was an officer, albeit a newly minted one from an enlisted man's family.
So Powell decided he's going to become an officer and sets about applying for West Point.The next half of the film is set in West Point and in Powell's final year, Henry O'Neill becomes the Academy Superintendent bring of course Keeler and Eldredge come with him.
Here we have the same plot device that was later used in The West Point Story, breaking precedent in having a woman in the Hundred Nights show for the graduating class.
Who do you think the woman that the cadets want?Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon wrote two nice numbers that are used in the musical show, Mr. and Mrs. Is the Name and Flirtation Walk.
Powell sings them well although he didn't need Ruby's thin voice doing the reprise.
During the Hawaiian portion of the film Powell sang Aloha Oe. Why Ruby wasn't given any dance numbers is beyond me since that was her strength as a performer.I should also mention Ross Alexander, who came to a tragic early end three years later, as Powell's roommate at the Point.
He was a funny guy and had a nice career going in playing best friends to the hero in film.
A sad waste.I think you'll like the characters created and directed by Frank Borzage in this very charming film..
The immense charm and likability of the film makes up for the flawed story.
'Flirtation Walk' may not be a great film, but it entertains and charms and it is difficult not to like.
Absolutely, with the many good points nearly making up for the few points that don't come off quite so well.Coming off least is the story, which even for a musical-comedy is formulaic and extremely simplistic.
Sadly, Frank Borzage tends to make heavy weather of it, meaning that 'Flirtation Walk' is not quite as light-on-its-feet as it could have been and the patriotism present in some of the film is a little too overt and heavy-handed.However, 'Flirtation Walk' while not lavish still looks handsome and colourful as well as skilfully photographed.
The songs are very tuneful and very easy on the ear, the best of them being the witty and clever "Mr and Mrs is the Name".
The script is smart and amusing, if a little too frothy in places.Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell are immensely likable and their chemistry is incredibly charming and a large part of the film's appeal.
Despite the story being less than perfect, it has enough pep and zip to keep things moving at a bright and breezy pace, and the penultimate scene is very moving.
Pat O'Brien similarly brings sympathetic emotional impact.In summary, the story is flawed but the charm and likability (especially from the performances and chemistry of the two leads) is immense.
It's just not worth the hour and a half you have to give up to see this movie.
The two leads fall predictably in love within the first 15 minutes and, for reasons unclear, decide to pretend not to love each other until the last 10 minutes.Not excruciatingly bad, but nowhere near good.
I'm pretty sure it's a comedy, but don't hold me to that..
Pleasant Musical.
Dick Powell handles most of the singing, sounding great as always, even in Hawaiian.
Pat O'Brien is enjoyable in a familiar role as the tough guy with a heart of gold.
Biggest disappointment of the whole movie is no dancing by the lovely Ruby Keeler.
The movie is very different from the 42nd Street-Footlight Parade-Golddiggers musicals that the Powell/Keeler team is most famous for, and if you expect to see that type of movie, you might be disappointed.
I love them in those movies, but I also enjoyed this as something different.
It would be nice to see this movie released as part of a DVD box set to complement the great Busby Berkley set released in early 2006..
not the best musical.
Flirtation Walk is a 1934 musical starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ross Alexander, Pat O'Brien, John Eldredge, and Henry O'Neill.Powell plays Dick Darcy, a private stationed in Hawaii.
He meets the general's daughter Kit (Keeler).
The two fall for one another, but she's engaged to another (Eldredge).
They break up.A few years later, they meet again, this time at West Point.
Kit is still engaged, but very happy to see Dick.
Feeling used by her, Dick rebuffs her and hurts her feelings.Dick has to write and appear the annual show, and the other cadets want Kit to play the lead.
Dick refuses as women are not allowed, but the cadets appeal to her father, who gives the okay.
I love Dick Powell.
I'm not such a fan of Ruby Keeler, who was certainly very pretty and did some good films with Powell.
I did not find this a scintillating musical.
The music was dull, and the story was flat.I actually watched this to see if I could do what no one else has been able to - find Tyrone Power, who was a cadet in this film.The only reason he is listed on IMDb is that he became famous as he was not a featured cadet.
He was an extra, probably answering a call for young men to be extras at West Point.
By the way, he and Linda Christian lived directly across the street from Dick Powell and June Allyson on Copa D'Oro in LA.Dick Powell had such a beautiful voice, but it wasn't used a lot or to great advantage here.
In short, this can't hold a candle to "42nd Street" or "Dames," or other musicals of the era..
With hindsight,"flirtation walk" appears as a blueprint for "shipmates forever"(and even ,so to speak for "Blue Hawai" in which Elvis played a discharged soldier mind you).Like the 1935 (shall we say "sequel"?)work,it features the same actors and it's the most distressingly mediocre movie by one of the greatest directors of the era."Flirtation walk " pales into insignificance when compared to "no greater glory" "little man what now?" "three comrades" "mortal storm" "young America" "stranded" "big city" .....and I don't even mention the masterpieces of the silent era !Borzage epitomized greatness ,and perhaps are we too demanding ?There is a good idea,the play a la "Hamlet" or how to get a message of love through.However,Borzage 's touch is nowhere to be seen in this umpteenth version of "I shall become an officer and a gentleman".If you want to see a good patriotic movie by Borzage,do choose " stage door canteen" in which the characters are made of flesh and blood..
Spirited melange of music, romance and West Point drama.
Flirtation Walk (Frank Borzage, 1934) is an entertaining if disjointed salute to the West Point military academy that flits from romantic comedy to putting-on-a-show musical to sentimental drama.
Dick Powell is a happy-go-lucky private who joins officer training when he thinks he's lost the girl he loves (Ruby Keeler).
Though the film doesn't really gel, there are some great sequences: Powell and Keeler falling in love in hazily-romantic Hawaii, his speedy rendition of Mr & Mrs Is the Name and the penultimate scene: an emotional encounter between the forlorn Powell and gruff, good-hearted sergeant Scrapper (Pat O'Brien).
The rest is comprised of broad comedy, petty squabbling and lots of enthusiastically-choreographed marching.
It's a wonder any young girls continued to idolise Powell after seeing him manufacture a quadruple-chin here - then maintain it through an entire montage.
Incidentally, the curious, antiquated title comes from a romantic pathway in the film, which has a legend attached..
Great if you like this sort of thing....
Dick Powell plays a rather fresh enlisted man who is constantly at odds with his sergeant (Pat O'Brien).
Powell's life takes an unexpected twist when he is asked to chaperon the General's daughter (Ruby Keeler) about Hawaii.
In the process, they naturally fall in love--which is a bit of a problem since Keeler already has a steady boyfriend.
And, this steady is an officer who would like nothing more than to bust Powell.
However, because of Keeler's behind the scenes maneuvering, Powell is saved from court martial.Now Powell announces that he's tired of being bossed around by officers and wants to transfer to West Point!
Talk about an interesting reason to go to the US Army's military academy!
The rest of the film is like an entirely new film--with O'Brien and Powell's friends shipping off to China while Powell is sent from Oahu to upstate New York.
In the real world, the chances for Cadet Powell to ever see Keeler, O'Brien and the rest ever again would be slim...but of course this is NOT the real world!
And, speaking of unlike the real world, like most Hollywood films of the 1930s about the military academies, this one seems to NEVER have the students going to classes!
An odd cliché, I know.Just before graduation, Powell is put in charge of an annual song and dance and comedy show at the academy.
The guys on the committee with him want to put the Superintendent's daughter (Keeler) in the show--but Powell is against it as he's still angry at her.
He thinks she set him up to get into trouble back in Hawaii--not knowing that she really helped to bail him out behind the scenes.
During the production, they fall back in love, as they both truly care about each other--but they old back telling each other.
However, after the show her engagement to her old boyfriend is announced!
Well, finally Powell has had enough and bursts into her home--announcing his love.
But, as it's after hours and he is caught, he's in big trouble.
Will he STILL graduate and will he get the girl?
And, what excuse can they provide for bringing O'Brien back from China to West Point by the end of the movie?
This is a well made musical BUT it's hard to believe that it went on to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar!
I must admit, though, that I am not a huge fan of musicals though I am a huge classic Hollywood fan.
There was one cute dance sequence, however, that I did like.
The dancing scene of the Hawaiians doing an almost Busby Berkeley-style dance number is ridiculous, it also is rather charming to watch.
Plus, you really need to see it--it IS well done despite its shortcomings..
Ruby does not dance.
Ruby does not dance.
I love dancing.
Lose another point.
Lose another point.
Balance eight out of ten possible points.
This means that the film rates pretty high, however.
Powell could sing.
Ruby could also, better than I expected, but of course no famous warbler like Powell.
I wanted Ruby to dance when she, as the general, has all the men gathered around her desk.
Dick is pretty rude in much of this film.
He needed his ears boxed by Scrapper.
He keeps getting away with wrong things.
Lots of things bounce right off him.
Worse for me, yet, is when Powell went from musicals to dramas and gumshoe boring filmic outings.
The Powell of 42nd Street fades from fun juvenile to wallflower aged oldster sexless senior citizen, it seems like.
I saw Ross Alexander in Midsummer Night's Dream.
Was Powell also in that?
Anyway, in real life Alexander later calls an end to his own life.
Ross is a lot of fun in Flirtation Walk.
This film was Great Depression era.
Besides all of the serious parts of this story, the cadets are tasked with putting on an annual show.
Did I hear Ruby talk about The New Deal?The characters were in military training for some future war; 1941 and Pearl Harbor wouldn't be here for awhile.
Powell early on is regular enlisted, trying to move up through the ranks the old- fashioned way.
He then goes to West Point, however, and through hard work strives to become an officer and a gentleman.
Scrapper has predicted Powell will eventually outrank him, and this is what happens.
The show: I knew that the second I heard about the 100th Night Show, I remembered the 1950 film outing called West Point Story, starring James Cagney, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo, Gene Nelson and Alan Hale, Jr. Jimmy, a volatile washed-up Broadway director and dancer, gets roped into traveling to West Point and training the students to do the annual 100th Night Show.
Doris and MacRae sing about the Kissing Rock, and Gene Nelson does some great tap dancing.
Hale is dressed up like a huge woman, and Jimmy does an awesome tap dance when Gene gets injured.
Therefore, part of 1950 West Point Story I feel is some sort of remake of 1934 Flirtation Walk, 16 years earlier.
I am a degreed historian from the university, studies including military history and history of war.
I am also an actress, dancer, singer, makeup artist, fashion designer, film critic and movie reviewer.
I study the lives of actors and actresses. |
tt0057263 | Love with the Proper Stranger | The film tells the story of Angie Rossini (Natalie Wood), a salesclerk at Macy's department store who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with musician Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen). When she tracks him down, he doesn't remember her. She does not expect him to marry her; all she wants is enough money to pay for an abortion. Meanwhile, Angie is being pressured by her older brothers, played by Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck, to marry the unappealing cook Anthony (Tom Bosley).
Rocky scrapes up money for the crude backroom abortion. But when he and Angie meet the abortionist, who turns out not to be a doctor, Rocky refuses to let her go through with the dangerous procedure. The maturity he shows in doing this brings them closer. After meeting her brothers, Rocky decides to "take his medicine" by marrying her. Angie is insulted and refuses. Angie wants a love relationship, with "bells and banjos."
As an act of independence Angie moves out of the family home. She begins dating Anthony, who offers to marry her. By acting aloof she attracts Rocky, whom she invites to dinner. At dinner he makes advances on her and is rejected. Angie says she doesn't want to make the same mistake again. They quarrel and she throws him out. The next day, Rocky waits for her outside Macy's, ringing bells and playing a banjo, and wins her over. | melodrama | train | wikipedia | Watching this film today, it's easy to forget how daring it was for its day (1963) -focusing on an illegal abortion.It's also an fascinating mix of conventional romantic comedy mixed with real grit and passion - and the fact it starts off as unconventional as possible; girl meets boy, girl gets pregnant, girl and boy try to organise an abortion - and THEN girl and boy fall in love.Natalie Wood was often miscast throughout her career - her dark beauty was used to try and pull of Nat as Hispanic, Nat as half-black, Nat as Mexican.
She gives such a natural performance (usually she's more self-conscious on film) - she is such a joy to watch and absolutely stunning.Steve McQueen is at his most charming - usually he is playing the hero of an action film, so its great to see him display tenderness.
Wood and McQueen have such great chemistry, its a shame this was their only film together.Added to the mega-watt performances is the beautiful black and white cinematography and the NYC location shooting.
Natalie Wood is the feisty young working woman struggling for her chance to be independent, to live away from the family (attached Italian parents and brothers in NYC setting) and be on her own terms.
This film has always struck me as Natalie Wood and SteveMcQueen's best work in movies.
Very satisfying movie that involves us completely in the conflicted relationship of the leads, played beautifully by McQueen and Wood (evidently Paul Newman was originally slated for the part).
The two young people come from Italian immigrant families who provide great entertainment as a backdrop to the love story.In the course of the movie, Angie, who was under the thumb of her domineering family, came into her own and took on a new-found confidence.
But, mostly I think of how wonderful Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen were together.What struck me was how "modern" it looked.
Backdrops of New York City looked present-day.I must have seen it many times in the 60's since I knew lines that were coming, early this morning, before they were said by either of these great actors.The development of this movie from a drama, into a romantic comedy was done brilliantly and very naturally.
Watched out of necessity rather than choice (due to limitations inherent in my DVD recorder's system), I really did not expect to be bowled over by this one – not least because I had been underwhelmed by the subsequent collaboration between director Mulligan and leading man Steve McQueen, BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL (1965), earlier this year – but I was.
That said, I knew of its reputation as one of the best showcases for both McQueen and co-star Natalie Wood (she even received an Oscar nod for her work here) – and I certainly agree, going so far as to say that they were probably never better.
The narrative (accompanied by a lovely, yet sturdy, Elmer Bernstein score) basically resolves itself in a series of extended scenes set in domestic, working or urban environments – with the most unusual being the opening sequence at a ballroom-cum-employment agency where musician McQueen hustles his way to the odd engagement and, later, when he and Wood hide from her overprotective brothers inside his family's dilapidated dwelling (where Jack Jones is even briefly heard crooning the film's title tune).
Wood's relationship with her possessive family is especially entertaining but also her efforts to dodge, and later withstand, gawky admirer Tom Bosley (in an impressive debut) – whose equivalent in McQueen's life is played by Edie Adams: the former, in fact, has no qualms about taking 'new' girlfriend Wood to her flat while she is away at work!
This movie is heightened by the fact that Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen are the stars.
It does have to be said that despite the presence of Steve McQueen, this is undoubtedly Natalie Wood's film.
I very much appreciated their special, personal rapport and their "inside knowledge" regarding the making of this film, as well as the two other films shown on the same night, "Splendor in the Grass" and "West Side Story".The success of this movie, brilliantly directed by Robert Mulligan ("To Kill a Mockingbird"), revolved around the highly engaging interaction between the two main actors, Natalie Wood as Macy's salesperson Angie Rossini and Steve McQueen as musician Rocky Papasano, but I don't think that their performances would have been as alluring without a very intelligent and complex script, as written by Arnold Schulman.
Another vital element of the film's appeal was the outstanding supporting cast, especially Tom Bosley as an awkward, love-stricken restaurateur, Hershel Bernardi as Angie's possessive, produce pushing brother, and Edie Adams as an exotic dancer who also serves as Rocky's roommate of the moment.
I especially appreciated how McQueen developed his character from unlikable to sympathetic in the course of the film, often employing his entire body in the process, and how Wood enabled us to share the wide range of emotions that Angie endured at a time of severe inner turmoil.
Natalie Wood (as Angie Rossini) and Steve McQueen (as Rocky Papasano) are an infectious team.
McQueen seems to have forgotten the dalliance with Wood (blame it on the scotch).Watch for a brief moment when McQueen looks Wood up and down, in their first on-screen scene; this is, perhaps, when McQueen recalls her, and the point at which he begins to "fall in love" with her character (as the sexual attraction had already reached culmination).
This is difficult to play so convincingly; and, the lead performances, along with the direction of Robert Mulligan, are award-worthy.The dramatic highlight will be obvious; the comic highlight is the scene with Wood having dinner with Tom Bosley (as Anthony Columbo)'s family.
This scene works so well because it both parallels and contrasts Wood's earlier meeting with McQueen's family (when she fell in love with him).
The unworthy last act is disappointing, but not damning.********* Love with the Proper Stranger (12/25/63) Robert Mulligan ~ Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen, Tom Bosley, Edie Adams.
Although these movies are both truly perfect examples of McQueen's talent as an actor and speed demon, Love with the Proper Stranger should not be forgotten.
Of course, having strong, easy Steve McQueen as a co-star didn't hurt, and Tom Bosley is very funny in a supporting role (the sequence at his family's house could very well have gone too far, and probably does, but the nimble staging of it made me laugh).
And consequently, Angie comes off like the most intelligent person in the film.Another minor annoyance: if Rocky and Angie had their one-night stand in the summer (as he mentions), and the action takes place sometime in the fall (they are shivering with the cold while waiting outside in one scene)...it seems inconsistent that she would still have an itty-bitty waist (emphasized by the black dress and apron) at the end of the movie, considering she must be at least 3-4 months pregnant.
The pairing of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen was a great idea.Both are excellent and make a film which might seem trite and a bit obsolete to today's audience a winner .Natalie gets pregnant by Steve and this kind of thing was not a windfall in the sixties.Particularly if you are of Italian extraction,in a family who is not prepared to accept it and whose only way to get out of that "mess" is marriage.Remarkable scenes: The tiny flat where Natalie's mama and papa and their family live and where the TV broadcasts a deafening western.Steve meets his parents in the middle of an intense traffic.He also meets a former girlfriend who has become a colorless housewife."She is two years younger than me" he says to a baffled Natalie.The abortionist scene:"You told me it was to be a doctor!" Wood's humiliation is very well directed and her fit of hysterics compares favorably with that famous one in Kazan's "splendor in the grass" (1961) The luncheon in the suitor's flat,with his mother and the two ugly sisters."It's a beautiful room" Natalie says as she tries to say something in this place where bad taste reigns .The heroine was still dreaming of Prince Charming and she wanted a wedding with bells and banjos.She will have both of them ....but not in the way she expected.I recommend this movie..
If there were different ratings for plot and acting I would probably give the movie itself a 7, but Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen make it a 10.
It certainly has one of the best performances of Natalie Wood's career, and a funny performance by Steve McQueen; there are also good performances by Edie Adams, Herschel Bernardi, Harvey Lembeck, and Tom Bosley (in his screen debut).
Natalie Wood and Steve Mcqueen are two people who meet in a casual situation which soon becomes serious when She becomes pregnant and needs an abortion.
Love with the Proper Stranger made a perfect teaming for Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.
Natalie Wood confronts Steve McQueen at a crowded scene to tell him she's pregnant.
Steve McQueen, taking a detour in his acting career from the road ofaction movies and TV shows, stars in this fine love story that combines comedy, romance, and drama.
It is true that Steve McQueen's character does some amazingly kind and considerate things, but I cannot think of one thing Natalie Woods' character does that would make anyone attracted to her as a person.
Emotions seem to turn on and off with almost every cut, and at times it is impossible to tell what the heck is going on.This random motion turns to random Emotion in the final scene of the movie, something I guess I should have expected, but something which does not logically follow anything that comes before it, especially the immediately preceding scenes.I have seldom seen a movie with a more thoroughly botched ending.And finally, while others see chemistry between McQueen and Woods, I saw absolutely nothing.
As I hope to have convinced you of it, the movie is excellent, but Natalie is so beautiful there – The performances of both actors justify an attentive look on this film inequitably underestimated and little-known..
The chemistry between Wood and McQueen is so strong that this film makes you pray that these two endearing characters will end up together!
"Love with the Proper Stranger" tells the story of two young Italian-Americans from New York.
The kitchen-sink films of the sixties are very much of their time, but that does not prevent their being of interest to the modern viewer, both as dramas and as pieces of social history, and I felt that "Love with the Proper Stranger" might have been more interesting had screenwriter Arnold Schulman and director Robert Mulligan made it as a straightforward social-realist drama without trying to turn it into a standard rom-com halfway through.
NATALIE WOOD has probably never been more appealing than she is as a young Italian girl facing the problem of unwed motherhood after a brief affair with a man of equally modest means, STEVE McQUEEN.
But it's played with such charm by the two leads and given such a gritty, believable New York City background flavor that the result is a romantic comedy/drama that should appeal to any discriminating movie fan.Although there are some good supporting roles, notably EDIE ADAMS as a showgirl friend, director Robert Mulligan keeps the focus on Natalie and Steve and they're so strong that they make us feel it's a two-character film deserving of all their attention.Natalie's Academy Award nomination was well deserved.
First off, as Natalie Wood's character has to stand up to her annoying brothers, who are over-protective and try to coerce her into a relationship with a nice guy played by Tom Bosley of all people (Mr. Cunningham from 'Happy Days'), it has a strong feminist message.
And should one just settle in marriage, because, as a minor character so wisely puts it at a dinner party, "love is really an art, and like every other art, it demands practice and patience, consistent dedication and hard work."Lastly, and this is the biggest thing, the film shows what it meant to try to get an abortion before it was legal.
You see, very early on in the film, Natalie Wood has told Steve McQueen that she's pregnant as a result of their one-night stand.
So here it is that you have this film with a beautiful couple with great chemistry, Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen, and you're in an emotional drama, and yet, it's one that has a sense of lightness about it, because of the strong performances they turn in, both of them delicately finding this balance.
Have always been a great fan of Natalie Wood and Steve MacQueen and they both gave an outstanding performance in this film, their chemistry together was like magic and it made your eyes glued to the screen.
Steve McQueen, (Rocky Papasano) plays the role as a musician who goes to a musician's gathering for jobs in New York City and all of a sudden, out of the blue, Angie Rossini, (Natalie Wood) goes up and meets Rocky and tells him she is pregnant and Rocky acts extremely shocked and makes her run off and eventually he catches up with Angie and he tells her he is going to get a doctor for her in order to have an abortion.
Although her pronounced New York accent wavers at times, Natalie Wood gives a strong performance as Angie, especially in the scenes where she silently conveys her character's emotions.
This refreshingly bitter and raw-edged relationship dramedy showcases Natalie Wood in her best screen performance (and at her most gorgeous, to boot).She and Steve McQueen play antagonistic lovers who get pregnant before they know each other very well, and proceed to make a life together, becoming acquainted along the way.
I am a great fan of both Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood, but this movie just didn't work, for me anyway.
Natalie Wood is stymied because she is cast as a good Catholic girl who apparently had no trouble sleeping with a guy on an overnight stand.I'm a huge Steve McQueen fan so I hate to criticize him.
I say generally as there are some positive aspects to this film and it does feature two major performers of the era (Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen ).The subject matter is rather daring for its time-dealing as it does with premarital sexual relations, unwed motherhood and abortion.
The Wood character yearns to be independent-living by herself, making her own decisions and not being subjected to her brothers' attempts to control her.This film makes a stab at being a slice of life comedy-drama.
The abortion scene brought tears to my eyes, as it was so REAL: There were so many underlying themes intersecting all at once: First for Natalie Woods character -- it was clear that she was hell bent on taking control of her life and her future, and that meant ending the pregnancy...and yet, there was no denying the strong bond she felt with Steve McQueens rebellious player character (I always feel sorry for women who fall for guys like this!!!!!!) -- she wondered: Could it work?
"The times, they are a'changin'." – Bob Dylan Arguably director Robert Mulligan's best film, "Love With The Proper Stranger" is a charming romantic movie about a carefree jazz musician (played by the charismatic Steve McQueen) who has a brief romantic affair with a shop-girl (played by the cute Natalie Wood) and inadvertently gets her pregnant.
Natalie Wood, scoring her third and final Oscar nomination, and Steve McQueen, in their only on-screen pairing, shine in their realistic, touching portrayals as two working class Italian-Americans who find themselves in a dilemma after a one-night stand.
"Oh, how they build things up - in the books and all the movies - 'how the world comes to an end the moment your lips touch mine' - how they brainwash you." Natalie's large, luminous eyes draw the viewer in, as does Steve's tough-guy vulnerability, which Angie exposes, with her charming line, "You know, if you didn't try so hard to play against it, you could be a pretty decent kind of a person."Love does win out, in a rather unconventional but fabulous climax - it's utterly right and I'm amazed that this film is becoming difficult to find and has never really gotten the recognition it deserves.
Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen are well-teamed as an accidental couple who find themselves in a real jam: she's pregnant.
Unfortunately, every time Robert Mulligan's film heads correctly (the abortion sequence, Angela's brother's interference, the Colombo family dinner, Barbie's apartment, etc) in the direction of possible groundbreaking, uncharted drama it afterward veers OFF-COURSE into endless Natalie Wood histrionics!
Love With A Proper Stranger casts Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood as two Italian-Americans from New York City who have a casual affair and a permanent reminder of same.
On TCM's website there are over 2630 people who have expressed their interest in seeing this film released on DVD and it is currently ranked #26 on their most asked for list.The plot of the film: After a one-night stand, Angie (Natalie Wood) finds herself pregnant and she informs Rocky (Steve McQuenn) that she wants an abortion.
In any event, Mulligan's direction is superb but that is hardly a surprise since he was a master when it came to sensitive character dramas.The film stars Natalie Wood in a phenomenal and wonderfully natural performance as Angela Rossini, a Macy's pet shop employee in her early 20s who comes from a strict Italian-American Catholic family in New York City.
The scene is certainly well acted by Wood and McQueen but it is too big a change from the earlier parts of the film.
Love Natalie and adore Steve McQueen whom I still think is and was the best looking actor ever. |
tt0047434 | The Runaway Bus | When heavy fog wreaks havoc among air travellers throughout southern England, outspoken Cynthia Beeston (Margaret Rutherford) - a forceful proponent of "Positive Thought" - insists on being taken from London Airport to Blackbushe Airport, where she might be able to fly to Dublin. Harassed airline employees find emergency relief coach 13 and reserve driver Percy Lamb (Frankie Howerd) - so hapless he cannot find his way around the airport, much less the roads - to transport her. She is joined by mild-mannered Henry Waterman (Toke Townley), pulp-thriller addict Janie Grey (Belinda Lee) and Ernest Schroeder (George Coulouris). To satisfy a regulation, stewardess "Nikki" Nicholls (Petula Clark) is assigned to shepherd them. Rounding out the party is airline first officer Peter Jones (Terence Alexander), who hitches a ride. Unbeknownst to most of them, robbers have stolen £200,000 worth of gold bullion from the airport bonded store and hidden the proceeds in the boot of the coach.
Two of the crooks are caught; under questioning by Inspector Henley (John Horsley), one breaks down and admits the gold was stowed on the coach and that the mysterious and notorious "Banker" is the mastermind. Henley informs Percy by radio, but the fog is so thick, Percy has no idea where he is. In mid-call, Peter pokes what Percy thinks is a gun into Percy's back and tells him to keep driving. They wind up at a deserted booby-trapped village used by the Army for training.
When Schroeder finds a Sten gun, Peter grabs it. Schroeder then informs him that it does not work, and produces a pistol of his own. After a scuffle, it turns out that Peter is working for airport security, while Schroeder is a policeman. Miss Beeston - the Banker - ends up with the gun, and her henchman Henry tries to start the coach. Percy saves the day, having removed the rotor from the engine, and knocking the pistol out of Miss Beeston's hand with a stone. | satire | train | wikipedia | runaway fun in the fog.
This is a great comedy film,with a large number of British stars on their way up including later pop star Petula Clarke who these days lives in france.
The whole set up hinges on the fact that a fog covers the south east England and a Gold bullion robeery has been waiting for this very thing to happen.
Master mind the Banker a most deadly crook who is not disccoved till the end of the last reel, and who the players hold a sweep stake on who it is.
Frankie Howard is just great and when he climbs a post to find the way only to discover the words 'wet paint', its a laugh a minute.
A film to watch over and over as you discover some thing new each time.
Pity we can not have fims like this these days simple entertaining fun..
Excellent Black & White - Murder/Comedy/Horror.
This film is a must see for any fan of the following movies: The Cat And The Canary (Bob Hope), Any Agatha Christie Movie (Margaret Rutherford ONLY!), Ask A Policeman (Will Hay, Harbottle & Albert), OH!
(Sid Jmes & Kenneth Moore), The House In Nightmare Park (Frankie Howard).
Brilliantly shot movie, fog rolls in and creates a real feeling of horror.
Add to this brilliant performances by Frankie (Very Young) and Margaret Rutherford.
Watch this film in bed when it's dark outside!
Subsitute bus driver (Howard) takes a group of passengers from the airport (where its very foggy) to another destination.
Once the bus sets off we hear news of a robbery (done by THE BANKER) bars of gold bullion have been stolen and the other place the police think the gold could be is in the boot of the RUNAWAY BUS.
Frankie loses his way the thick fog and soon the RUNAWAY BUS is in the middle of nowhere!
The small number of passengers are all behaving very odd for various reasons but is one of them THE BANKER?
Frothy comedy mystery out of Southall Studios..
British comedian Frankie Howerd, best known to TV fans as the star of the historical satire Up Pompeii, makes his feature film debut alongside Margaret Rutherford, George Coulouris, Belinda Lee and English songstress Petula Clark.
Howerd plays Percy Lamb, a novice bus driver, who, as London is submerged in thick fog, is assigned to drive the number "13" coach from London airport to another a couple of hours away.
With his half dozen or so passengers along for company, Percy promptly gets lost!
For in the boot is a load of stolen gold bullion and the master criminal known as "The Banker" is amongst them and will do anything to get their hands on the loot.
It's written and directed by Val Guest whose writing work for the likes of Will Hay, Arthur Askey and The Crazy Gang puts him firmly on the list of classic British comedy writers.Safe and inoffensive fun is The Runaway Bus, very much along the lines of Walter Forde's The Ghost Train (Guest writing there too), it zips along apace and is awash with gags both visually and orally.
Maybe somewhat surprising, considering all those involved with it, it's probably with its "who is it" core where the film is at its best.
Blending comedy with mystery thriller elements can often be a tricky task for some film makers, but thankfully here Guest and his team play it right.
There's no obvious hints to who the "baddie" is, thus the element of surprise is high, and the staging of the second half of the movie at a fog enveloped army training range makes for a nice atmospheric feel.
Rutherford of course is the standout performer, while Howerd is only hinting at the ability that would in the years to come make him a much loved comedian in the United Kingdom.Widely available on DVD now, it will be annoying to some that the transfer is rough and not afforded a clean up.
Full of snap, crackle and pop, it does carry a bit of old fashioned value in that respect.
A first-class load of spooky fun.
One of the foundation stones of conventional movie wisdom is that only seven possible story scenarios are suitable for a mass audience.
Recently, screenwriter Blake Snyder has expanded this concept to ten: Monster in the House, Dude with a Problem, Fool Triumphant, Superhero, Buddy Love, Out of a Bottle, Institution, Golden Fleece, Rights-of-Passage, and Whydunit.You'd think that Mr Snyder had taken The Runaway Bus as his model, for Val Guest was inspired to use all but one of the above basics in constructing his heavily-laced plot: Monster in the House?
Yes, a big problem.
He's lost his way in the fog with a bus-load of eccentric passengers.
Yes, there's a girl on the bus.
Two girls to be precise: perky, petite-as-a-picture Petula Clark and emptyheaded-but-wow-of-a-figure Belinda Lee!
Not quite the sort of addiction that Snyder implies, but cranky-as-a-hoot-owl Margaret Rutherford certainly gives that impression.
The characters find themselves in a "prison", and even the airport itself is virtually cut off and isolated.
And Whydunit is actually a Whodunit here and this is the number one element of Guest's scenario.
In fact, comedy really takes a second place to the mystery.For what is to all intents and purposes his movie debut, Frankie Howard seems most fortunate to have gained a big assist from writer/producer/director Val Guest who has surrounded him with a fine cast and great production values.
Oddly, although the movie won critical praise, it did only moderately well at the British box office.
Howard's comic gifts are considerable and he comes across as a comedian with a genuinely original and amusing style.Producer Guest was taking no chances, however.
In addition to Frankie, he has cast Margaret Rutherford at her eccentric best, Petula Clark (no, fans, she doesn't sing in The Runaway Bus, but you can't have everything), Belinda Lee (inclined to over-enthusiastically over-act in this, her first feature film, but who's complaining?), Toke Townley (a first-class character actor who spent most of his career playing bit parts), and perennial Hollywood heavy, George Coulouris.
Although he doesn't share a single scene with his wife, Margaret Rutherford's real-life husband, Stringer Davis, has a small role as an airport official and one of the funniest lines.
Explaining that the emergency bus can only be used in an emergency, he's told that at the reception desk an old lady is haranguing the staff with an umbrella.
I love his laconic reply: "That's an emergency!"Producer/writer/director Guest has also hedged his bets with the screenplay itself by making the mystery and thriller angles of the story as intriguing and suspenseful as other episodes are chucklesome and amusing.
The identity of the mystery "Banker" is cleverly disguised, whilst superbly film noirish photography and grand-scale art direction (that must have strained Southall's comparatively small studio space to the limit) contribute splendidly to the spooky atmosphere..
Too funny; ved-dy excellent British comedy.
Full of stodgy British laughs from almost fifty years ago, this movie was excellent to watch when there was nothing else to do.
See an incredibly young Petula Clark (it took me a while to recognize her), Margaret Rutherford as the stereotypical English grandmother complete with fox fur and parasol, but especially the laughs are had by Frankie Howard, virtually unknown to American audiences.
As the bus driver of a bus with about a half dozen passengers who are stranded in one of hte legendary London fogs, Howard gets the best laughs just trying to find the bus in the fog to begin with.
The movie does valley out but it is interesting to watch to the end.
Petula does not sing tho.
This was a fun movie, if for nothing else then to see an aged, non-HOllywood film with non-Hollywood actors..
That Eternal British Fog. Frankie Howerd who for some unexplained reason never got big stardom on the big screen made a very funny feature film debut where he plays a bus driver in The Runaway Bus. In fact part of the plot is that he's driving the bus for the wrong company.It's supposed to be a regular bus, but a very pushy stewardess for British Overseas Airlines Corporation (BOAC) played by Petula Clark manages to dragoon Howerd into driving a shuttle bus that BOAC has for its passengers.
Nothing is flying at Heathrow because of the fog, but the company will shuttle some passengers to another airport where they can make connections.One of them wants to real bad because they've just stolen several gold bullion bars from the Bank of England and they're trying to affect a getaway.
The problem is just who among the passengers is the thief?
And the suspicions are not just confined to the passengers.Complicating things is the fact that Howerd in the fog manages to drive the bus to an abandoned village that the British Army uses for war games.
Believe it or not, it's all both pretty funny and suspenseful at the time.
Such various and sundry characters as Margaret Rutherford, George Coulouris, Terence Alexander, and Belinda Lee are all passengers on the bus.
They all deliver performances well within their typecasting range.Howerd never got big screen stardom on either side of the pond.
His real fame was on the small screen in the United Kingdom.
For me this was a nice introduction to his brand of comedy.
I liked it and I think so will you..
Fun movie.
A young Frankie Howerd is hilarious, as is the interplay between Margaret Rutherford and Toke Townley.
The young female airhead who keeps saying stupid things gets a bit annoying very quickly, but that's the only drawback.
I must confess I have never recognized Petula Clark as the stewardess - she's a relatively good actress whatever else she is.
And its so nostalgic that it all takes place in a fog...it's been so long that I've been in England that I miss it!
It's an enjoyable film and I recommend it to anyone who likes mystery stories or British comedy..
Excellent vehicle (ha ha) for Howerd's humour.
Certainly not one of the classic 50s comedies, but it allows Frankie to give full reign to his unique talent.
There are rather too many unbelievable plot twists and many of the characters are two dimensional, but there are some good chuckles.
Nice to see a young Petula, and also Belinda Lee, one of the many blonde bombshells of the 50s who were hyped as Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe.
Disappointingly, if you enjoy watching 50s films for their shots of towns and villages in the post war period, this one seems to have been shot almost exclusively in the studio and backlot Verdict : If you are a big fan of Frankie Howerd's style, go for it..
Classic and typical post-war Brit comedy.
If you love the old British comedies of the post-war years, such as those starring Peter Sellers and Alec Guiness, then this movie is right up your alley.
Runaway Bus contains all the trademarks of great English comedy: eccentric British characters, fast and witty dialogue, and, what I think makes them really funny, the British habit of saying things in a much more sophisticated and complicated way than us slangy Americans ever would.
All enjoyable and innately funny.Anyway, there are no obvious stars in this film, like those gentlemen mentioned above.
This was my first exposure to British star Frankie Howerd (even his name is spelled funny), and once I got used to his never-ending parade of facial contortions, I found him quite amusing.
Margaret Rutherford is the only actor (-tress) I recognized, and she played her quirky strong-willed role as wonderfully as ever.The pacing of the film is quick, but what I think really makes this movie above par is that you are never sure about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
You will definitely change your mind multiple times, and the script does a wonderful job of leading you down one path only to change direction a few moments later.
You think you know who did it, but then you are sure you are wrong.
The surprises and one-liners come fast and furious all the way to the final line.This is a fun film full of classic British motifs.
Pretty dire..
Pretty dire but just about watchable.
A rather strange film too.
I kept getting the feeling that I was watching two films at the same time: one a rather dull and silly crime thriller, and the other a Carry On film that Fankie Howerd seemed to think he was in.
Just watch the movie and them imagine it without Frankie Howerd.
It's almost like they started making the film as a regular crime thriller but then had second thoughts, so brought Frankie Howerd in to liven things up, and quickly wrote a few gags and lines for him..
Clever comedy/thriller.
Must watch again to get all the intricacies of this very clever comedy/thriller, saved from being dull by Frankie Howerd's unique persona.
Must see more Val Guest films!.
Painfully unfunny and foolish British comedy....
If the sight of MARGARET RUTHERFORD poking everyone around with her umbrella and making an overbearing nuisance of herself is your idea of a fun comedy, THE RUNAWAY BUS is your ticket.A British comedian by the name of FRANKIE HOWARD mugs his way through most of the broad comedy which involves a group of passengers stuck in the London fog at an airport where nothing is functioning.
He's the bus driver who gets them away from the airport in heavy fog.
The plot gets thicker when some gold bullion is stowed aboard the bus along with a bunch of odd passengers.
PETULA CLARK, in a non-singing role is a perky airlines clerk.
GEORGE COULOURIS adds a bit of menace as a mysterious man.The absurd ending is completely incredible.
Typical British misfire with its humor only engaging enough in uneven stretches of comedy.An easy one to skip, even if you're a Margaret Rutherford fan.
Definitely not a comedy for all tastes..
I cannot imagine what people saw in this film.
Frankie Howerd is irritating to me, not because he was more gay than Liberace (no problem there) but because the movie is not about him being gay.
His character is supposed to be straight, but he was such a bad actor that he behaved all the time like a drag queen.
The first few minutes of him --coming in and out of a window while complaining like Jim Parsons on steroids-- painfully last forever.
Clumsy Howerd wasn't even capable to decently imitate driving; the mimic he does with the bus' steering wheel is incredibly idiotic.
And throughout the film he keeps playing his one-note supposedly funny character, which manages to ruin the other film-noir plot the producers threw in.
If forgiveness is granted to Howerd on the argument of his not being an actor but a comedian, then he should have been a comedian (i.e. funny).
This is not what we foreigners have in mind when we praise British humour.
Margaret Rutherford adds another insufferably rude character to the screen.
The sole redeeming factor here is the beauty of an unrecognizable young Petula Clark as the stewardess, and Belinda Lee's sex appeal.
Regrettably not reasons enough to like the film..
Remember Smogs?Those terrifying combinations of factory smoke and fog that were eventually eradicated by the Clean Air Act?Well,if you're old enough to have experienced them,"The Runaway Bus" may be just up your street.
Set in the halcyon days when London only had one airport and it was actually called London Airport,"The Runaway Bus" relies heavily on plot no 5 in the Movie Writers' Handbook,the travelling companions in peril perhaps best exemplified in its earlier incarnation "Stagecoach".
A bus containing a master criminal on the run with gold bullion gets lost in the fog.The bus is driven by Mr Frankie Howerd,a comedian of such peculiar talents that he is almost sui generis.His outrageous personae are only approached by those of his near contemporary Mr Kenneth Williams who lacked Howerd's bombastic streak.
Outstanding amongst the passengers is the equally eccentric Miss Margaret Rutherford who,strangely,a few years later was to win an Oscar for her performance in another film about London Airport in the fog - "The V.I.P.s".
Stalwarts of British stage,screen and TV happily rhubarb around adding to the fun.
In 1957 Mr Howerd found the transition from his true medium - radio - to the movies an uneasy one and "The Runaway Bus" suffered as a consequence.Watched with half a century's hindsight and nostalgia it seems an amusing,and,considering that almost all the cast have gone to the great rehearsal room in the sky,almost poignant.
Lightweight comedy mystery feature.
THE RUNAWAY BUS is a lightweight British comedy feature with some nice mystery and thriller aspects in the mix.
The story is set on a foggy night of the year, the location an airport transport bus which is taking the usual diverse group of passengers to a remote location but struggling to find a route through the obscured country roads.
There's a bit of a light Agatha Christie feel as it becomes apparent that at least one of the passengers is merely masquerading and actually a robber involved in the theft of some gold bullion.
This is a notable feature for the always likeable Frankie Howerd, playing the replacement bus driver involved in all manner of pratfalls and goofy humour; his brand of comedy acting is well established even by this stage of his career.
The film is low budget but has lots of humour and a very good supporting cast.
Margaret Rutherford is the loudmouth, Terence Alexander a shady rival.
Petula Clark is very young, unrecognisable in fact as the friendly but pushy stewardess.
George Coulouris is another shady character, and there are bit parts for film regulars Marianne Stone and Sam Kydd. |
tt0310154 | In This World | Jamal and Enayatullah are Afghan refugees in a camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. They travel to Quetta, and thence to Taftan on the Iranian border. They pay people smugglers to assist them over the border; on their first attempt they are stopped by Iranian police and returned to Pakistan, but their second attempt is successful. They travel to Tehran and then to Maku, in the Kurdish part of Iran, from where they cross a mountain range on foot to Turkey. In Istanbul they meet a group of other migrants, and they are taken to Italy inside a shipping container. The container is not ventilated, and most of the refugees, including Enayatullah, are suffocated to death. Jamal survives and lives in Italy for a time. He then steals a woman's purse and buys a rail ticket to Paris. From there, he goes to the Sangatte asylum seekers camp and with a new friend, Yusef, he crosses the channel by stowing away on a lorry. Finally, he arrives in London, where he calls his uncle to say he has arrived but that Enyatullah is "not in this world". The film ends with images of the Peshawar refugees. | sentimental | train | wikipedia | Eclectic English film-maker Michael Winterbottom has produced his finest work to date with 'In this World', a pseudo-documentary account of the attempted journey of two Afghani refugees to London.
Their journey, of course, is no sort of holiday.Winterbottom steers clear of direct politics, but we see (along with great suffering) numerous examples of the small ways in which human beings can be nice to one another - the contrast with the xenophobic hatred of the Daily Mail is unspoken but clear.
Motivated by a news story about 58 Chinese immigrants found suffocated in a container at Dover, In This World by Michael Winterbottom is a passionate tribute to the nearly one million refugees a year who are willing to take enormous risks to seek a better life.
Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2003 Berlin International Film Festival, the film follows two boys, Jamal, 16 (Jamal Udin Torabi) and his older cousin Enayat (Enayatullah) on a perilous overland journey from an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan to seek economic security in the West.
Shot in documentary style with a digital camera strapped to the back of cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, the film is fictional but is drawn from a true story and mirrors the desperate conditions of untold thousands whose faces we never see.
The story line is simple: two Afghan refugees, dispossessed in their land, struggling to survive (on 1 US $ a day, search for new life in a promised land - either the United Kingdom (London) or the USA.We are all aware of the prejudice meted out to those of middle Eastern descent by the leaders of these 'first world countries'; we are also aware that war and the rampage of war leads to dog-eats-dog scenario.Without preaching, the director takes us (through an involvement with the young leads, apparently not trained actors) through this world, moving from Afghanistan, to the East (Iran, Pakistan), and landing in Europe (Turkey, Italy, England).What struck me throughout was the single-mindedness displayed by the younger actors, as they have to cope with a world at once alien and familiar to them.
There are moments of intense kindness by strangers, balanced by the manipulation of others who are motivated by greed and an unempathetic bureaucracy too.Acting is naturalistic: there are some brilliant cameo shots - and Winterbottom has achieved a Herculean task; the film comes across as a real, hands-on documentary that is unscripted, and where events unfold before one's eyes.Aided by voice-overs and a montage of black and white images, this has a feel of historic truth, a sense of actuality about it.
Films like "In this world" show us the journey taken in search for the promised lands.
But it is merely representative of the many such stories that happen every day in this cruel exploitative business of people smuggling.This film makes it's point without being ponderous or preachy.
I felt I was there with these beautiful unfortunate young men on the horrendous journey to escape their life of poverty in a refugee camp.
The family of the Afghan Enayat and his cousin Jamal decides to send them illegally to London to have a better life.
However, the long journey locked in a container with other families separates the cousins and on 09 August 2002, Jamal has his asylum application refused in London."In This World" is a bleak docu-drama from the great British director Michael Winterbottom.
The realistic story of the long and dangerous journey of the cousins Jamal and Enayat from Pakistan to London and to the Other World is simply amazing, with two amateurish actors in the lead roles living the reality of their people.
The claustrophobic scene of the refugees locked inside the small container is so anguishing that made me nervous in my couch at home, Rambo III" is "dedicated to the brave people of Afghanistan", in accordance with the final quote of Sylvester Stallone; but the homage of Michael Winterbottom is much more scathing and sharp.
I'm not very good at that, and there are better places to find them (in fact, I think it's better to view it without knowing the plot).What I do want to explain is how the concept is executed, and the effects it creates on the audience.Though I said this is a serious film, I don't mean it's a film that can only be understood by the super-intelligent.
The DV handheld camera and documentary feel is there all the way through the film, but at the start there was a quick voice over explaining a few things about the location.
Winterbottom and cinematographer Marcel Zyskind capture young faces and their action creditably (the young sibling who follows his brother as he leaves the refugee camp) at times and then slip up to the most shoddy camera-work soon after (local Pakistanis staring at the camera, shadows of vehicles carrying camera equipment on road sequences).
Is he trying to make a statement on cultural values across borders?I feel Winterbottom could have served better purpose if he had retained the elements of documentary and discussed the problems of refugees than dramatize the journey itself.
"In This World" is yet another exceptional film from Michael Winterbottom, who seems to be one of the best directors from the UK these days.
In This World charts the journey of two Afghan refugee brothers who leave their camp in Peshawar, Pakistan to seek a new life in London.
The epic voyage of Jemal and Emayat is an archetypal refugee journey from East to West; in a film lasting just 90 minutes, director Michael Winterbottom weaves together a taut and powerful narrative, encapsulating the encounters and journeys-within-journeys that characterise refugee lives.
From Peshawar to Sangatte (where would-be migrants to Britain crowd the French coast), the coherent and transfixing narrative brings together the names and places associated with countless refugee journeys.On Jemal and Enayat's journey there are so many glimpses of the world around some enlightening, others mysterious that you could watch this film again and again and be fascinated by new details each time.
Although Winterbottom rarely lets the pace of the film slacken indeed, he hardly has the option in such a wide-ranging and ambitious undertaking snatches of conversation, bickering and camaraderie develop the two brothers' characters: they feel like real people.
Jemal's humorous stories are particularly important in this regard, and, for me, the parodying of creation myths in these tales also suggests a much-warranted poking of fun at Western audiences, who often take a condescending interest in 'quaint' traditions.Through the use of a voice-over in the early stages of the film and recurring resort to a map to help chart the brothers' journey, Winterbottom adds overtly documentary-style elements to his film.
I still remember how much some of his movies like Jude or I want you had affected me, but this time the great film-maker from England has exceeded my expectations.
At times where racism is everywhere, Winterbottom dares to go to "other side" and make a film about the poor people from Afghanistan who suffered the most when Bush and his allies bombed their already very poor country.
How these refugees go to Pakistan live in tents and everything they have to go through when they decide to search for a better life in one of the world's biggest cities like London.
It's not that we don't know about these things already, it's just that we tend to forget them.Last year it was "Lilja 4ever" that made me more of aware of the problem of child prostitution and this year it was "In this World" who made me wonder if there is a way that I could help all these unfortunate people.
Stories like "In this World" and Lilja 4ever" (which I recommend to anyone who believes this film is important and a must-see for everyone who wants to be called a human being) can really change the world and make us better people.
The story, as it appears to unfold, is about a man wanting to travel from Afghanistan to London, through sometimes treacherous Mid-East countries, and the young guide who agrees, for a price, to take him there.
This movie made me feel very uncomfortable, mainly because it blurs the boundaries between documentary and feature film.
Had it been a genuine feature film based on a true story, it could have been a great movie.
However, the introductory comments turned it into a documentary style movie and keeps you wondering how can the film team let this happen, why do they not interfere?
As Winterbottom reveals in the additional footage and comments, the film crew intended to shoot some kind of road movie (paraphrase).
This review is for the moviegoers who love animals and don't particularly enjoy watching snuff films ("snuff" meaning any film where animals or humans are actually killed at the filmmaker's discretion).If live beheadings aren't your thing (animal or human), then you might want to miss this one.First off, "In This World" is a work of fiction, despite its documentary approach which might fool people who are casually flipping channels.
Make no mistake, every scene was scripted, the people are actors, and everything we see is dictated by the director Mr. Winterbottom.About 10 minutes into the movie, I suppose to convince us of the authenticity of refugee life (as if we hadn't gotten that from the first 10 minutes of wordless images of the harsh environment), Winterbottom feels the need to stage a water buffalo being slaughtered.
The human smuggling drama unfolds steadily with a few good plot twists, as the 2 main characters trek across two continents (mostly by land) toward their destination (London).Streamlined film-making on location, combined with the use of very talented untrained actors, makes the "movie" seem more like a well-done, dramatic documentary.
Michael Winterbottom's docudrama gives us a glimpse at what goes on behind the scenes when people try to emigrate to better their lives.
It is a wonder he was able to capture so candidly the world in which the would be immigrants live and what motivates them to leave a land where no opportunities exist.The father of Enayat was naive in thinking that because his son wanted to go to London, it was going to be an easy proposition.
They live in a primitive society but it is obvious that they realize there is a big world out there where one can make a living with better conditions.The film becomes a road movie about all the difficulties Jamal and Enayat encounter along the way.
In a camp in Peshawar, the father of Jamal and Enayatullah pays for his sons to leave the country and travel to London to start a new life.
However neither Jamal nor Enayatullah are prepared for the extra costs and the hardships they must endure on their way.When I heard about this film, I thought it was a proper documentary and I was a little disappointed to find out that, although the `cast' are real people, that this is actually a staged drama to reflect a true story.
With the level of hysteria around refugees at the minute, this film is going to be worth seeing despite it's flaws, it is important that the voiceless have a voice.On this issue I am not liberal - I believe that the UK should open their doors for people who's countries pose a danger to themselves either political or humanitarian.
Anyway, despite this the film still touched me because it is a human story at the end of the day - regardless of my political beliefs Jamal and Enayatullah are people and it is moving to see the sort of thing they (and thousands like them) go through.Of course this whole documentary/drama thing was a problem for it and it spoilt the delivery somewhat.
Though mind you, Grisoni also has the pointless `hide' on his cv, so he's a mixed one.The direction is as good as one would expect from a filmmaker who had access to a lot more in the way of resources than many other trying to make this film for real would have.
However the fact that it is a drama posing as a documentary means that the vast majority of the scenes feel staged and fake (which of course they are in the context of this film).
IT may possibly be both, but unfortunately it is not actually a great film.The plot centres around a young Afghan boy who accompanies his older cousin as his uncle organises to smuggle them to London.
We follow these boys through several countries and see how they travel and how the mechanics of people smuggling works.What we don't see is any real insight into the reasons behind the smuggling, nor any insight into the emotions of our protagonist (or any of the other refugees we meet along the way.)Instead we see scene after scene of trucks travelling down roads and boats sailing in waters when what we should be seeing is how these refugees are feeling and reacting to their predictament.
Who, indeed, are these people - i know as little about them at the end as I did in the beginning.A great deal of time passes in the film, but there is no sense of movement here.
What killed the people who got killed.It also suffers from trying to be both a documentary and a fiction film, falling somewhere slightly to the middle of both.
So again impact is lost.It is good to see refugees being portrayed onscreen, but this film felt more like a imitation of third world cinema (one which didn't know the people it represented very well) than groundbreaking new British film making.
Michael Winterbottom's In This World is a heart-breaking portrayal of Afghan refugees.
The film begins in a refugee camp of Pakistan.
Movie's documentary-like structure seems little bit uncomfortable in the beginning but once we get familiar with the characters and scenario, it's a great ride.
Based on the true story of two young Afghan refugees and their journey towards a best place on the earth for their better future.
This, documentary style adventure- drama of a British movie about illegal migrants from various refugee camps from middle-east chronicles as theirs lifetime voyage begins.
He managed to extract the best from the non-professional actors and made it a one of a best movie of all time about illegal human migration.Jamal and Enayat are two Afghan refugees from the camp located on the Pakistan border.
With all the hurdles would they reach their destination or not is the remaining tale to explode.We have heard many stories like this but this movie gives you a real experience with almost the realistic images in front of you.
His best films have fused dreamlike imagery - often drawing on Bergman and Kieslowski as primary influences - with an almost-documentary-like sense of time, place and character.
This façade of the real, which is a fictional account based on fact, is so successful that whenever a character died on screen, the people who I viewed the film with questioned whether or not Winterbottom was creating some kind of art-house snuff.
It works, Winterbottom, along with his cinematographer Marcel Zyskind, create some of the most beautiful images of contemporary British cinema.In this World is a film both moving and compassionate without ever feeling the need to rely on cloying sentiment or exposition-by-numbers.
Like the works of those individuals, this is important, intelligent, imaginative and above all else, serious film-making, which should be experienced by as many people as possible..
The film is a very great journey from Pakistan to the UK, and a very realistic portrayal based on true events of the things people will do just to find human freedom.
The film is a great representation of the hardships of life that refugees face.
The sometimes poor acting doesn't harm this film at all, it rather adds to the authenticity of the movie to make it able to experience it as a semi-documentary rather than as drama.
A very unique road movie, In This World is the story of two young illegal immigrants' clandestine trek from Peshawar to London.Too poor to fly, the sixteen year old Jamal and his older cousin Enayat, leave their native village in Pakistan to travel by land to England as illegal refugees.
Winterbottom unfortunately steers clear of the social/political sphere which makes In This World more of a travelogue of a refugee.
Though the migration of refugees has made good fodder for quite a few of the developing world's film industries.
It lacks the drama of a good fiction film, while being too contrived to be a documentary..
Two Afghan boys - played by non-professionals using their own names of Jamal and Enayatullah - are seen trying to fulfil their dream of a new life in London.
Filmed on digital video and using only available light with the characters mainly speaking their native Pashto, there is location shooting in Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Italy, France and Britain, so the whole thing looks and sounds like a documentary.This is bold film-making by director Michael Winterbottom that successfully engages our concern for economic refugees, but leaves one feeling saddened and powerless..
Presented as if it were a documentary, which would lead one to believe that the cinematographer (and possibly the director), stood idly by while some of the characters died of suffocation in transit aboard a sealed trailer, "In This World" would be more effective if it acknowledged openly that this was a work of fiction based on the realities faced by Afghan refugees trying to make their way from camps in Pakistan to the West -- in this case to London.
Michael Winterbottom's "In This World" follows two Afghan refugees, 16-year-old Jamal and older cousin Enayatullah, on their trek from Pakistan to England in search of "freedom" and a "better life".
Like Winterbottom's "The Road To Guantanamo", "World's" fiction but masquerades as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, the director using digital cameras, jagged editing and various cinema verite techniques to achieve a sense of unfolding reality. |
tt3831810 | Big Driver | Tess is a cozy mystery writer who has a speaking engagement at a library in Chicopee, Massachusetts. After the event, the librarian who had invited her, Ramona Norville, tells Tess to avoid Interstate 84. She gives Tess the directions to Stagg Road, a presumably safer shortcut to Tess' home in Connecticut. However, on the shortcut, Tess' Ford Expedition rolls over nail-studded pieces of wood which lie across the road, giving her a flat tire. The incident happens by an abandoned Esso gas station.
Shortly afterwards, a big man (Tess guesses he's 6' 6") in a pickup offers to assist Tess and change her tire. At first, the trucker seems to be eager to help, but he soon darkens. Tess realizes that the driver had set out the road hazard as a trap. He knocks Tess out and proceeds to beat her and brutally rape her several times, before finally choking her to unconsciousness. She later wakes up, but feigns death as he stashes her body in a culvert and drives away. After the man has left, Tess escapes, but not before discovering three other murdered women, all victims of the same culprit, dead and in various states of decomposition in the outlet pipe. Tess escapes to try to find some help, but as she walks, she worries that the attack will create a scandal. She realizes that people will say that she was "asking for it" and her career or name as an author would be dragged through the mud. She decides that she cannot mentally endure even more trauma, and instead makes her way home without telling anyone about the assault.
The next day, while recovering her vehicle at a bar called the Stagger Inn, a place near the abandoned Esso station, Tess speaks with Betsy, who works at the bar. Tess fabricates a story about her injuries and tells Betsy a man helped her. Tess describes the man who helped her but in reality is inquiring about her rapist. Betsy asks "Was he big, or REAL big?" Betsy then tells Tess that a man called "Big Driver" matches Tess' description. Tess decides to use the detective skills she acquired while writing her novels to find her rapist, 'Big Driver'.
Tess discovers that Big Driver's mother is the librarian Ramona Norville, who had initially given her the directions to Stagg Road, and deduces that Ramona intentionally directed her to the trap laid down by Big Driver. Tess goes to Norville's home and, after confirming that Norville was indeed guilty of intentionally directing Tess into the trap, kills Norville. Tess then finds Big Driver's address and goes to his house. She lies in wait and shoots Big Driver after he arrives home. It is only after he is dead that Tess determines that the man she just killed, Big Driver, was not the man who raped her. Big Driver was the even larger (6' 9") older brother of the man who raped her, "Little Driver". Stunned, Tess nevertheless drives to Little Driver's house and kills him too.
Unsure of Big Driver's involvement in her rape, and overcome with guilt over possibly having murdered an innocent man, she writes out a confession and prepares to kill herself. At the last moment, however, she decides to go back to Big Driver's house to look for evidence. And, in fact, she finds the purse taken from her the night of the rape, confirming Big Driver's complicity in her rape.
Tess comes to terms with her sins and goes home, finally beginning to feel peace. | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0106873 | Fatal Instinct | Ned Ravine, who's both a police officer and a lawyer (who often defends the people he arrests), believes that he knows everything about women, and says that he'll throw away his badge if anyone ever proves him wrong. While on a stakeout, he encounters a seductive woman named Lola Cain; the next day, Lola shows up at his law office, saying that she needs him to look over some papers she's come across. Meanwhile, Max Shady, who was just released from prison after seven years, starts stalking Ned, planning to kill him for failing to successfully defend Max in court.
Ned's wife Lana and her auto mechanic Frank, with whom she's having an affair, start plotting to kill Ned in order to collect on his accident insurance, which has a triple indemnity rider; if Ned is shot, falls from a northbound train, and drowns in a freshwater stream, Lana will collect nine million dollars.
Lola gets Ned to come to her house to examine the "papers", which are actually a laundry receipt and an expired lottery ticket, and the two of them end up having sex in various wild ways (while falling down a flight of stairs, in the refrigerator). The next morning, Ned says that they can never do that again because he loves his wife; this drives Lola to start stalking Ned.
A few days later, Ned takes the train to go to a legal symposium; Lana and Frank are also on the train, and so is Max. When the train passes over a lake, Lana shoots Max 36 times with a revolver, mistaking him for Ned, and he backflips through the door to his death; Ned thinks that Lana had acted to save his life. He arrests Lana, and then defends her in court, getting her cleared of all charges. Lana later kills Frank, believing that he was going to abandon her, by pinning him against a wall with his power drill; Lola witnesses this, and starts blackmailing Lana.
Ned confronts Lola, and learns that she and Lana are identical twin sisters; after Lana had smashed Lola's face with a shovel, the doctors had given her a whole new face, causing the man she loved to leave her for Lana (who now looked more like Lola than Lola herself); Frank was the man's son. Lola's plan from the beginning was to get revenge on Lana by seducing her husband and ruining her marriage.
Later, Ned's secretary Laura Lingonberry tells Ned about Lana's plans to kill him, having figured it out herself. Upstairs, Lana is attacked by Lola, who drowns her in the bathtub. While Ned goes upstairs to investigate, Laura's abusive husband (whom she'd escaped from three years ago) comes in and confronts her; she kills him with a frying pan. Lola and Ned fight, and Lola falls to her death from the second-floor landing after Ned pushes her back with a powered-up hair dryer through a broken handrail (which Lana had sawed off earlier). As Ned and Laura embrace each other (and Ned throws his badge away), Lola and Lana come back to life and attack; Laura shoots them both. Ned and Laura marry a few days later. | revenge, neo noir, murder, romantic | train | wikipedia | Boy was I wrong, I didn't think I'd like it because I thought Armand Assanti was a real serious actor and he wouldn't be funny but 5 minutes in to it when he put that hot dog in his jacket pocket I didn't stop laughing.
A wild spoof of suspense and film noirs, I appreciated this silly film a little more than most being a fan of "noirs." As with any comedy, the movie is a combination of genuinely laugh-out-loud gags and sight scenes and genuinely stupid lines.
Many parts of this movie parrot scenes from Fatal Attraction, Body Double, etc.
It takes several viewings to catch most of the inside jokes.Armand Assante is the smooth private detective and Sherilyn Fenn is his attractive and loyal secretary.
It may lack the "quality" feel of e.g. The Naked Gun, but I think it's almost as funny.The film looks great, and the jokes aren't as much of a hit-and-miss affair as you could fear.
Naturally it's almost essential that you've seen most of the films it takes a crack at (Double Indemnity, Body Heat, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Sleeping with the Enemy just to mention a few).But what really elevates Fatal Instinct above similar efforts is the brilliant performance from Armand Assante, who displays a comic timing that I never would have guessed he had.
He plays his completely oblivious-to-everything-that's-happening-around-him detective with such dead pan seriousness, that it's impossible not to laugh (the scenes with his skunk little Neddy are hilarious).
Carl Reiner, a man that knows about comedy, is the man behind this spoof on the noir genre.
Mr. Reiner, working here with David O'Malley's screen play, has created a film that parodies movies like "Double Indemnity", "Basic Instinct", and "Fatal Attraction", among others, with great style.The result is a film with some clever lines spoken by the cast as though they are acting in the prototype movies that Mr. Reiner is spoofing, with great panache.
Armand Assante is excellent as Ned Ravine, a man who is a policeman and lawyer and who does some excellent dancing in those red stiletto shoes his character seems to love.
Sean Young has some good moments in the film."Fatal Instinct" is a film to watch with a lot of friends.
He is so clueless that he doesn't see that his wife (Kate Nelligan)is having an affair with a mechanic(Christopher MacDonald), or that his secretary (Sherilyn Fenn) is deeply in love with him (She also has an abusive ex-husband that's looking for her).
She also wants Ned.This film spoof "Fatal Attraction," "Basic Instinct," and every film noir movie ever made.
Not only is it funny, it also has the beautiful Sherilyn Fenn which is very nice of course :) I highly recommend you see it, because even though I didn't "laugh my *** off", it was such an amusing movie to watch!Jens.
After sitting through countless comedies and parodies with gross and often times just plain bad jokes (try scary movie) one might wonder if it is actually possible to have a really brilliant spoof without insulting humor.
The selection Mr. Carl Reiner made in this film "Fatal Instinct" is nothing short of incredible.
Taking a cue from the film parried here ( Fatal Attraction) from the moment it begins, you will begin laughing, so one had better have a good grip on his chair.
What they achieved is memorable in various films, like airplane and Horror Movie.
Sherilyn Fenn as Laura Lincolnberry, Kate Nelligan is Lana Ravine and Sean Young playing Lola Cain.
I don't understand how a person can watch a very funny and entertaining movie like this and then go on IMDb and give it a low rating!
This movie obviously spoofs, or parodies (please forgive me if I don't know the difference!) noir movies and murder thrillers like Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction, hence the title.
I enjoyed movies like the Naked Gun, Airplane and Dumb & Dumber and love Abbot & Costello, ha ha, chuckle here and a laugh there, but this one, not even comparable to these.
And believe you me, you've NEVER seen an erotic thriller like Reiner's "Fatal Instinct".
If you've seen "Airplane!" or the Naked Gun movies, then you know what to expect here.
You don't have to know the erotic thrillers being spoofed to enjoy this Carl Reiner film.
This is a funny spoof in the ranks of the Naked Gun series, Airplane!
and Spy Hard, where Armand Assante plays attorney/cop Ned Ravine, whose wife Lana (Kate Nelligan) is having an affair with a mechanic (Christopher MacDonald) and is plotting to murder her husband for the insurance money.
Meanwhile, Ned is seduced by femme fetale Lola Caine (Sean Young) and his secretary, Laura Lincolnberry (Sherilyn Fenn), has a crush on him.The acting is well done and contributes to the hilariousness of the film, which spoofs a handful of murder mysteries and thrillers including Sleeping with the Enemy and Basic Instinct.
Sean Young does a humorous imitation of Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct and Sherilyn Fenn does a great Sleeping with the Enemy spoof; it made me crack up at the towel-lining scenes!
This makes you appreciate the humor more.There isn't much plot to the story, though, and I wished some of the characters elements, including the abusive husband parody from Sleeping with the Enemy, have been emphasized more.
If you're stuck on what to watch but want a good laugh, this film is for you!
Of course, back then I hadn't seen the movies it was spoofing, such as Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, and Sleeping With The Enemy.
The kind of humor when the cast acts seriously while the gags speak for themselves worked well for movies like Airplane, Naked Gun, and Hot Shots, but not for this movie.
Sean Young looked like she was trying to have fun with it, and is pretty convincing in some scenes.
The movie contains quite a lot of silly scenes, and that can be funny from time to time.
There are numerous laugh-out-loud jokes and scenes throughout the movie (like when the characters suddenly begin talking in Yiddish), yet there are those that desperately try to be funny but aren't (such as the entire court room scene near the end).
This movie is considerably funnier if you have watched the dozens of movies Fatal Instinct is spoofing.
You'll merely sit there not realizing that you've just seen a comedy bit.As for the rest of the movie, it's filmed on what appears to be a shoe-string budget.
The storyline is ridiculously boring, and there are some spoof jokes that seem incredibly out of place and unfunny (such as when Sean Young's character takes the Ravine family rabbit for a roller coaster ride, a la Fatal Attraction).Good jokes in the dialogue and original, if cheap, side gags distract from a poor overall screenplay.
This movie is probably even better than one or two of the Naked Gun films.
Sporadically funny movie spoof.
Put the two words together and you have "Fatal Instinct", a sometimes funny comedy spoof of sexy suspense thrillers such as "Fatal Attraction" and "Basic Instinct" with a little "Body Heat" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" thrown into the mix as well as other movies of this genre.
"Fatal Instinct" isn't the best of movie takeoffs but it does have some moments that made me laugh.
The funniest thing about this movie is watching Armand Assante do comedy.
Sean Young is also very funny as the blonde bombshell who's also the femme fatale of the picture.
Kate Nelligan and Sherilyn Fenn don't fare quite as well as Young (as Assante's evil wife and secretary, respectably), but it's still fun to see them here in this movie.
Over the years Brooks has fared better at comedy spoofs than Reiner has, but "Fatal Instinct" is at least better than Brooks' last two movies: 1993's "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and 1995's "Dracula: Dead And Loving It").
Cheating wife plots to kill her busy husband in this sporadically funny spoof of cop movies and sexy thrillers such as "Fatal Attraction." You would think you'd expect something better from Carl Reiner; at least I was..
I have seen this colorful parody movie twice now and the first time it was allright though I never felt it was great.
This movie spoofs so many movies though, there ARE a few really funny moments and laughs-just look at the title!The movie features an incredible cast and it was fun to see some of my faves BUT(and this is a big but) when I saw it again I really found it kind of boring.
I think at the time it came out it was funny but it doesn't hold up well and having seen alot more parody movies since then, I'll admit some of the jokes here aren't very good.
It maybe ok to watch as a late night or if one just likes this type of movie in general(which I do!) but there are really better spoof movies around..
Spoof comedy with Armand Assante pulling a Leslie Nielsen.
Carl Reiner tries his hand at an "Naked Gun"-styled spoof of crime-thrillers, such as "Basic Instinct" and "Body Heat", but the results are full of cheap gags and silly smut.
Armand Assante is the befuddled cop, Sean Young is the femme fatale, Kate Nelligan is Assante's two-timing spouse, Rosie O'Donnell is...Rosie O'Donnell.
All the characters play the "straight" role well, and they need to, because it's "deep thinking" humor, but also very funny.
Armand Assante wasn't the type of actor you would have expected to be good at this type of comedy - but I think he is brilliant as the straight-faced Ned Ravine.
Not all the jokes hit the mark but most of them are funny enough to win you over.My favourite line comes from the judge played by Tony Randall.
Fatal Instinct is better than most spoof movies that I have seen and I think it was very funny..
The multi-talented Carl Reiner blows the crime-drama genre wide open in this film, but the results are nowhere near as funny as intended.
This over-the-top takeoff on movies like "Fatal Attraction," "Basic Instinct" and numerous B movies tries much too hard.
It announces its intentions with tough-guy voice-over narration delivered by the main character, Ned Ravine (Armand Assante), who is a lawyer/cop and an intended murder victim.
If you didn't think that was funny, all I can tell you is that it is probably funnier than 95% of the gags in this film.
I will admit that a couple of the gags here and there elicited a few chuckles out of me, but for the most part, I kept watching this film wondering why a production assistant didn't pull Carl Reiner aside and say, "Sir, this isn't funny.
The elder Reiner, who is also no stranger to funny and often times memorable films ("The Jerk" (1979), "The Man With Two Brains" (1983)), probably felt the same pain as Rob after releasing this forgettable mess of a film."Fatal Instinct" is a comedy that is a spoof, but is sometimes unsure of just what it is spoofing.
Of course, there are many references to scenes in "Fatal Attraction" (1987) and "Basic Instinct" (1992), hence the name of the film.
Scenes from other such thrillers like "Sleeping With The Enemy" (1991), "Body Heat" (1981), and "Cape Fear" (1962 or 1991) are also obviously repeated.There are two problems with this films repeating scenes from these movies.
Simple referencing of such scenes does not make them funny.Second, the film is rated PG-13, which means kids can see it.
Because "Basic Instinct" and "Fatal Attraction" were R-rated movies that both came close to being NC-17, kids would not (or should not) have been able to see them.
Therefore, any jokes about, or references to, these films, regardless of whether or not they're funny, are going to fly over kids' heads.
If you're going to spoof R-rated movies, why not go edgier with the on-screen gags?
Kids probably would not want to see the movie anyway, so why did the filmmakers not even think to make this movie R-rated?When the film is not reenacting femme fatale shots from movies adult audience members probably have already seen, it seems as though it inserts infantile gags in an attempt to be "The Naked Gun" (1988).
Armand Assante is a good dramatic actor, but in this movie, it seemed as though he tried way too hard to be Leslie Nielsen.
It had very good actors in it that tried way too hard to be funny, and looked stupid as a result.
The writer of this film seemed to be so busy naming erotic thrillers that the audience never cares about the fate of the characters in THIS movie.
If they hadn't made their awful spoof movies, which are far more guilty of repeating pop culture moments, "Fatal Instinct" would probably be the worst parody film of all time.
With the opening sequence there is a glimmer of hope but roll on a few minutes and it soon becomes clear that this is going to be well short of the mark of decent spoofs like Airplane, Naked Gun and Hot Shots.
Some of the cast were totally underused especially John Witherspoon who is extremely funny and might have added that something which was definitely missing from this film.I should have went with my Instinct after the first few minutes and stopped watching, that i'm afraid was my Fatal mistake.
In another scene, putting flowers in water takes on a whole new meaning.Numerous other jokes in the style of movies such as 'Airplane!' show up.
As with all good spoofs i enjoy it each time I watch it..
I have seen a few spoof movies, and this is definitely one of the better.
It has very much the same type of humor for a spoof movie, and it delivers some great laughs if you're into this type of movie.
The movie is a treat to fans of the spoof genre, but most other people probably won't like it.
This film was great, much better than those naked gun pictures.
If it wasn't for Sean Young looking like a fox, this movie would suck!.
There's really only one thing I can say about this picture, besides the fact that Armand Assante is better at comedy than you'd expect him to be: I am not a fan of Sean Young.
The movie is not good at all, but I can stomach it simply to see her hot body every time I watch.
I don't care that this movie is a comedy full of cliches, I would have had Assante's Ned Ravine end up with her at the end if I'd been writing it.
all in all very funny spoof movie!
Fatally Funny: Hilarious Comedy Out Of The Early 90's.
Fatal Instinct (1993): Starring Armand Assante, Kate Nelligan, Sherilyn Fenn, Sean Young, Christopher McDonald, James Remar, Tony Randall, Michael Cumpsty, Clarance Clemons...Director Carl Reiner...Writer David O'Malley Released in 1993, this comedy spoof film is top notch in much the same lines of The Naked Gun/Leslie Nielson movies and or the earlier Airplane!
Armand Assante (yes a serious actor in a comic role really works although they could have easily used Leslie Nielson for the part) stars as the victim of the scheming Lola Cain (Sean Young) who will stop at nothing to see his marriage ruined.
Like the title suggests, the movie is a cross between Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct.
Many can easily dismiss it as cheap comedy but there are some genuinely comic moments, such as Armand Assante and Sean Young's lovemaking scene, the final part of the movie is funny too.
Shameless spoof of other movies, somewhat funny..
This is a parody of such movies as 'Basic Instinct' and 'Fatal Attraction', and others with strained male/female relationships.
A spoof of the erotic thriller genre in the "Naked Gun" mold, "Fatal Instict" must have been funnier back in 1993.
The cast is certainly game: Armand Assante is perfectly deadpan, and the women (devious Kate Nelligan, sweet Sherilyn Fenn and slinky Sean Young) are terrific.
FATAL INSTINCT is a side-split-tingly funny spoof of film noir dramas, in the AIRPLANE/NAKED GUN mode that offers affectionate winks at films like FATAL ATTRACTION, BASIC INSTINCT, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and CAPE FEAR, offering consistent laughs thanks, in part, to the self- assured direction of comedy icon Carl Reiner.
FATAL INSTINCT is a side-split-tingly funny spoof of film noir dramas, in the AIRPLANE/NAKED GUN mode that offers affectionate winks at films like FATAL ATTRACTION, BASIC INSTINCT, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and CAPE FEAR, offering consistent laughs thanks, in part, to the self- assured direction of comedy icon Carl Reiner.
Armand Assante is surprisingly funny as Ned Ravine, a cop and a lawyer who is being cheated on by a scheming wife (Kate Nelligan), being pursued by a sexy client (Sean Young)and being loved from afar by his faithful secretary (Sherilyn Fenn).
Armand Assante is surprisingly funny as Ned Ravine, a cop and a lawyer who is being cheated on by a scheming wife (Kate Nelligan), being pursued by a sexy client (Sean Young)and being loved from afar by his faithful secretary (Sherilyn Fenn).
Nice cast in a sometimes very funny spoof of erotic thrillers that were appearing at the time.
Fatally cheesy and instinctively funny..
The movie `Fatal Instinct,' is a campy film noir (color) comedy that parodies famous film noir pictures from the past fifty years.
This film is an evolutionary step up from Reiner's past film `Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' which was a black and white film noir comedy.The Players: (Some spoilers ahead)Armand Assante plays Ned, a married obtuse cop/lawyer who has no children and at the rate he is going, never will.
Sean Young plays Lola Cain, the ice pick wielding femme fatal trying to aggressively seduce Ned.Kate Nelligan plays the conniving red headed unfaithful two-timing (three-timing) wife who makes`Stanwyck' look virginal. |
tt0089034 | The Doctor and the Devils | Dr. Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton) is a respected 19th-century anatomist lecturing at a prominent medical school. He is deeply passionate about improving medical knowledge, a pursuit for which he believes "the ends justify the means." Unfortunately, due to the laws of the time very few cadavers are legally available to the medical profession, necessitating the use of graverobbers or "Resurrection men" by the medical establishment to procure additional specimens. Dr. Rock's young assistant Dr. Murray (Julian Sands) is given the task of buying the bodies, for which he is authorized to pay a small fortune, particularly for fresher corpses. When alcoholic miscreants Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Broom (Stephen Rea) overhear details of the arrangement, they begin to murder the locals and sell their bodies. Gradually, Dr. Murray becomes more suspicious of the string of fresh bodies turning up at the medical school, but Dr. Rock dismisses his concerns. Meanwhile, Murray has begun to fall for beautiful local prostitute Jennie Bailey (Twiggy), who soon becomes the target of Fallon and Broom's murderous enterprise. When Jennie's friend Alice (Nichola McAuliffe) turns up dead in Dr. Rock's dissection room, Murray realizes what is happening and heroically rescues Jennie from a murderous Fallon. Both killers are soon arrested, but Broom agrees to turn state's evidence against his former partner, and is set free, unrepentant. Fallon is executed by hanging. Dr. Rock, for his part in the killings, is the subject of widespread public outrage, but ultimately not punished or censured by his colleagues. The film ends with Rock pondering his responsibility for the horrors and concluding, "oh my God -- I knew what I was doing." | violence, dark, gothic, murder, historical | train | wikipedia | Things take a turn for the worst when the slum of Robert Fallon and Timothy Broom find out there's good money in the job, and go one step further by providing on every occasion a 'fresh' corpse for the unconcerned doctor.
I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed by this Mel Brooks produced Gothic take on the true exploits of the infamous grave robbers of the 19th century, Burke and Hare.
Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Julian Sands, Twiggy, Stephen Rea and Patrick Stewart.
And Rock's the boy that buys the beef."At the film's closing, Dr. Thomas Rock(Timothy Dalton)proclaims that he has become a ghost story that frightens children and questioned how it had gotten so far.A revisionist take on "The Body Snatcher"(..a marvelous film produced by Val Lewton), this film has Dalton portraying a scientist whose skills in anatomy are unsurpassed thanks to his intense study of dead bodies.
He soon enlists the aid of graverobbers Fallon and Broom(Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea)to bring him fresh bodies for proper research not knowing they are supplying him with victims they murder.
Julian Sands plays Dr. Murray, Rock's assistant, who falls in love with a prostitute named Jennie(Twiggy)and discovers when he goes to see her how Broom and Fallon get their corpses so fresh.The whole business of delivered bodies provides a special moral dilemma within the story(..which worked quite well in "The Body Snatcher").
Macklin(Patrick Stewart, whose role and character is underwritten)who wishes for his unusual methods to be grounds for dismissal.The major moral crisis, though, comes when a deranged Fallon attempts to murder Jennie and is sought after by Dr. Murray where Rock's illegal researching in accepting bodies murdered might soon be discovered.
While he only wishes to advance anatomy to save lives, his accepting murdered bodies is indeed considered immoral and unlawful.While the material of the film might seem familiar, considering it just really feels like a remake of "The Body Snatcher" and is just difficult not to think of the previous film while watching "The Doctor and the Devils", Fisher's marvelous direction makes up for it.
Dr. Rock uses his assistant Dr. Murray (Julian Sands) to buy corpses for his experiments from body snatchers paying a little fortune for the cadavers.
When the alcoholic scum Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) overhear the conversation of grave-robbers about Dr. Rock, they decide to supply fresher corpses that worth more to the doctor, killing the poor inhabitants.
The story of Burke and Hare is one of horror's all time classics and has inspired some great films such as The Flesh and the Fiends and The Body Snatcher, among many others.
The film has a period setting which it carries off very well, and the excellent cast all turn in great performances which helps to ensure that The Doctor and the Devils always feels like a very polished and professional production.
The names used in this movie are not the real life names of the people involved - for some reason, Doctor Knox has become Doctor Rock and Burke and Hare are now Broom and Fallon, but anyone that knows the story of Burke and Hare will know what to expect.
It soon becomes clear to the doctor that the bodies aren't being taken from graves, yet he continues to accept them to test on...The Doctor and the Devils is not the best film to be based on this classic story; though I have not seen every film it inspired, I am sure that The Flesh and the Fiends remains the best; though this is certainly an excellent take on it.
The film is directed by one of Hammer's best directors, Freddie Francis, and Francis creates the period style excellently; there is nothing about the setting or atmosphere of this film that doesn't make you think that it's all taking place in the Victorian era.
Overall, The Doctor and the Devils is an excellent and sadly overlooked take on the classic story of Burke and Hare and while it may not be easy to come by - this one is certainly worth the effort!.
Based on the Burke and Hare vivisectionist murders, this film has a lot of the feel of the old Hammer movies though for the most part it is played quite a bit straighter.
This is a grim, oppressive, stylish take on the Burke and Hare story that has also inspired such films as Robert Wises' "The Body Snatcher".
As has been pointed out, this production by Mel Brooks's company Brooksfilms is clearly inspired by Hammer films of the past - right down to the use of renowned cinematographer and sometime director Freddie Francis.
It stars a distinguished Timothy Dalton as Thomas Rock, a doctor / researcher / instructor frustrated with having to settle for the bodies of hanged men for study purposes.
So he's supplied with bodies by grave robbers including despicable lowlifes Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea), who recognize the profit to be made from such an activity.
Now, when it becomes a matter of bodies needing to be as "fresh" as possible, Fallon and Broom turn out to be willing to turn to murder to achieve the right product.The wonderful group of actors also features Julian Sands as Murray, Rocks' young associate who falls in love with world weary prostitute Jennie Bailey (Twiggy), Phyllis Logan as Rocks' wife, Sian Phillips as his sister, Beryl Reid as old Mrs. Flynn, and Patrick Stewart as Professor Macklin.
Inspired by the tale of 18th century British body-snatchers Burke and Hare and their benefactor Dr. Alexander Knox, noted Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas wrote the screenplays for The Doctor And The Devils in 1953 shortly before his death.
Timothy Dalton, himself a Welshman, plays anatomist Dr. Thomas Rock as a man so passionate and desperate to learn more about the human body that he resorts to paying grave-robbers to do so.
Believably playing versions of the infamous body-snatchers are Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea as Robert Fallon and Timothy Broom, respectively.
The supporting cast is just as splendid as well including Julian Sands as Rock's troubled assistant Doctor Murray, Patrick Stewart as fellow anatomist Professor Macklin, Beryl Reid as one of the body-snatchers victims, Phyllis Logan as Rock's wife, Siân Phillips as Rock's troubled sister and the singer Twiggy as Murray's prostitute girlfriend in a performance that proves every once in a while a singer can actually act.Period dramas rely heavily on their production values almost as much as their cast to bring them to life believably with this film being no exception.
In particular the production design of Robert Laing and Imogen Richardson's costumes come together to bring to life the two clashing worlds of the film: the clean and cultured world of Doctor Rock and the dirty, grimy world of Fallon and Broom.
Written by Thomas, with work done by Ronald Harwood, the script is an intriguing fictionalization of the tale of 18th century British body-snatchers Burke and Hare and their benefactor Dr. Alexander Knox.
The film also looks at Fallon and Broom, men of the grim and filthier side of London who take up body-snatching and indeed murder for a bit of Doctor Rock's money.
It is the scripts exploration of how the cultured, nobly minded but possibly amoral Doctor Rock is, in his own words, brought down into the slime that bred Fallon and Broom that lies at the heart of the film rather then the murders and body-snatching of "the devils" he employed.The Doctor And The Devils is not only an intriguing fictionalization of the tale of 18th century British body-snatchers Burke and Hare and their benefactor Dr. Alexander Knox but also a fine piece of period drama.
To top it all off, there's a nice cast with Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Rea, Julian Sands, and...um, Twiggy.So, with all of this, why doesn't the movie work better?
This is the third historical grave-robbing film I've watched after THE BODY SNATCHER (1945) and THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS (1960) for the record, other cinematic versions of the same events out there are the Tod Slaughter vehicle THE GREED OF WILLIAM HART aka HORROR MANIACS (1948) and BURKE AND HARE (1972).
While certainly the least of the three I'm familiar with (due perhaps to its graphic wallowing in the lurid details of the plot), it's pretty good for a product of its time (incidentally, the mid-1980s produced an unexpected but all-too-brief outburst of Gothic Horror which also included Franc Roddam's THE BRIDE [1985] and Ken Russell's Gothic [1986]).The film was produced by Mel Brooks' company which had also been behind David Lynch's THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) which, incidentally, had marked Freddie Francis' own return to being a director of photography!
Timothy Dalton as the overzealous doctor has a couple of good scenes in the first half, but he is clearly overshadowed by the more flamboyant turns of Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea as the nefarious night diggers.
It's based on an original, unproduced script by celebrated Welsh playwright Dylan Thomas adapted here by future Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood; curiously, the names of the characters have been changed from the real ones of Knox, Burke and Hare so had been the case with THE BODY SNATCHER, for that matter, but that one had the excuse of being based on a Robert Louis Stevenson novella!
Nice retelling of the Burke and Hare murder case, which was about 2 low- life lads in the early part of the 19th century selling off bodies to an all too eager Doctor Of Anatomy.
In murky old Edinburgh, Scotland, during the 19th century, anatomy professor Timothy Dalton (as Thomas Rock) lectures neophyte students by day and experiments on cadavers at night.
Alcohol-soaked grave-robbers Jonathan Pryce (as Robert Fallon) and Stephen Rea (as Timothy Broom) provide Mr. Dalton with bodies, but he needs fresher corpses for better experimentation.
Dalton's blond assistant doctor Julian Sands (as Murray) inadvertently encourages murder and hooks up with former skinny 1960s model Twiggy (as Jennie Bailey), playing an cockney prostitute.
Executively produced by Mel Brooks, this film has some advantages – a stylish look due to good costumes, sets and accessories is obvious.
But the story, adapted from an old Dylan Thomas screenplay, is dreadfully boring.***** The Doctor and the Devils (10/4/85) Freddie Francis ~ Timothy Dalton, Jonathan Pryce, Twiggy, Julian Sands.
Grave robbers supply a doctor (Timothy Dalton) with bodies to test on.Coming from a screenplay by Dylan Thomas with modifications from playwright Sir Ronald Harwood, directed by experienced horror director and cinematographer Freddie Francis and produced by Mel Brooks.Now let us mention the cast: besides Dalton, we have a pre-Trek Patrick Stewart as a higher-up doctor who suspects Dalton of doing something wrong, and Julian Sands as Dalton's assistant.
Unquestionably one of the most fascinating real-life murder cases in the history of mankind is the story of William Burke and William Hare; suppliers of fresh human cadavers for surgeon Robert Knox to study anatomy upon.
The screenplay was completed by poet Dylan Thomas (in the 1950's already), who changed the names of the characters but sticked truly close to the timing, setting and accurate little details of the murders.
The whole depiction of the murderers as well as their victims (prostitutes, beggars, ill people and drunks) is depressing and raw, yet amazingly accurate and even truly disturbing without becoming explicit or gory.Despite being mainly an American production (with comedy legend Mel Brooks as the unlikely producer) and released during the flamboyant horror period of the mid-80's, "The Doctor and the Devils" truly feels like a good old-fashioned and solid British Gothic movie.
It has a good cast, including Timothy Bottoms, Jonathan Pryce, Twiggy, Sean Rea, Patrick Stewart, Sian Phillips, Beryl Reid, and Patricia Neal (whose name I did not note in the cast - she was the mother-in-law of Dr. Rock).
For THE DOCTOR AND THE DEVILS is the retelling of the Burke and Hare story.As such it lacks the conciseness and tensions of the fictional retelling via Val Lewton and Robert Louis Stevenson of THE BODY SNATCHER (still the best version of the story), and the best historical account, MANIA.
It has been retouched here to make it more approachable as a movie project - which explains why it finally made it to the screen.The story does show how the murders were committed by Burke and Hare (Fang and Broome: Pryce and Rea), and even goes in greater detail about the luring of the victims and the method of suffocation used.
i really enjoyed this movie.i found it very stylish and atmospheric.i liked the dull,dreary look of the film.it was very appropriate in this case.i also liked the setting:Edinburg,Scotland in 1820.this movie was adapted from an original Screenplay by the poet Dylan Thomas.the script was written by Ronald Harwood.to me,this movie felt like something that Edgar Allen Poe would have written.i mean that in a good way.the general premise of the movie is as follows:Doctor Thomas Rock(Timothy Dalton)is an anatomy instructor at a local school.he is supplied his cadavers,or dead bodies,via the deaths of convicts who have been executed.however,two petty criminal lowlifes,named Timothy Broom(Stephen Rea)and Robert Fallon(Johnathon Pryce)find out they can profit by bringing bodies to the Doctor themselves and getting paid.from there,things begin to take a disturbingly chilling turn,but i won't reveal more.anyway,for me,this a genuine old fashioned ghost story that really works.there's no gore to speak of,but plenty of tension and suspense and some chills.if this seems like your bag,you might want to give "The Doctor and the Devils" a try.9/10 for me.
The pervasiveness of alcoholic excess as a way of driving off the demons of poverty and hopelessness has seldom been shown in more graphic detail.The truly appalling characters of Fallon and Broom are portrayed with utter conviction by Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea, with excellent support from other British television and movie stalwarts such as Patrick Stewart and Sian Phillips.
Former model Twiggy turns in a very moving portrayal of a young prostitute ,hardened by life at too early an age to accept the love of an earnest young medical student (Julian Sands.) Where the film falls down is in its mixed presentation of gruesome historical reality, lurid horror movie story telling, and the desire to have the film be a class act like something for the BBC.The nasty reality of the real life crimes of Burke and Hare is hardly something that could be overdone, in even the most Grand Guignol of horror movies.
That film was called 'The Doctor and the Devils', and is based on real events from a few 19th century murderers in England.
The film centers mostly on one Dr. Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton), who is a a professor and doctor who examines and studies the human body.Dr. Rock wants to further the science and research of the human body, while others think that his methods aren't exactly kosher, including Professor Macklin (Patrick Stewart), who constantly tries to expose and stop Dr. Rock.
Since Dr. Rock is needing more and more dead bodies to do his experiments on, he enlists the help of Robert Fallon and Timothy Broom (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea), who hear about the "good" doctor's needs.
'The Doctor and the Devils' is a great look with one hell of a cast and crew at some of the most horrific murders ever to grace the newspapers, and it still holds up thirty years later..
For all intents and purposes, "The Doctor and the Devils" is a Hammer horror film.
For all intents and purposes, "The Doctor and the Devils" is a Hammer horror film.
A strong English cast directed by Freddie Francis while surrounded by a period piece atmosphere completes the successful formula for such a film.Thomas Rock (Timothy Dalton) is a young anatomy professor who feels his hands are tied to make new discoveries for the advancement of science.
Rock needs fresher specimens to work with, and two grave robbers (Jonathan Pryce and Stephen Rea) will do what it takes to provide fresher corpses for the professor – at a hefty cost."The Doctor and the Devils" is rated R for sex and nudity, violence and gore, profanity, alcohol and smoking, and frightening and intense scenes.
He helmed many a Hammer movie and uses the same ingredients to put together "The Doctor and the Devils." Screenwriters Dylan Thomas and Ronald Harwood takes the Burke and Hare tale and puts his own spin on it..
In order to prove his scientific theories he acquires the services of the body snatchers Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Broom (Stephen Rea) who turn to multiple murder to provide him with the raw materials for his research purposes - fresh corpses.
But, things go horribly wrong for them after they pick a local prostitute called Jenny Bailey (Twiggy) as a potential victim, whom one of Rock's assistants, Dr Murray (Julian Sands), is in love with and his intervention not only saves her life but brings the pair to justice.
Nevertheless, the first rate cast does fine work with Pryce and Rea of exceptional note as Burke and Hare, here renamed as Fallon and Broom.
In the acting stakes, only Julian Sands and Twiggy slow the work down as the medical man and prostitute who fall in love, only the latter rejects him because she does not believe that because of her background she can fit in to being an upper class doctor's wife.
Ronald Harwood's script was based on an original screenplay by the poet Dylan Thomas, which at one time was due to be made as a film starring Sir Michael Redgrave and directed by Fritz Lang (and later Nicholas Ray).
"The Doctor and the Devils" is a slow and very underwhelming horror drama.**SPOILERS**Needing corpses for his anatomy class, teacher Dr. Thomas Rock, (Timothy Dalton) asks grave-robbers Robert Fallon, (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom, (Stephen Rea) to supply him with fresh corpses for his class. |
tt2770480 | Remember Sunday | The story follows the characters of Molly (Bledel), a struggling waitress, and Gus (Levi), a jewelry store employee. Gus and Molly meet through a chance encounter when Gus is at Molly's diner waiting for his best friend. Molly sees Gus reciting notes into his pen recorder and when he goes to take a phone call she leaves a message on it for him. Soon after, Molly and Gus begin to date. Molly does not yet realize it, but Gus is unable to make new memories due to having had a brain aneurysm years before. As a result, he forgets the day's events every time he goes to sleep. Molly soon finds out that he has been recording all of their conversations on his pen. Gus tries to explain, but Molly mistakes it for being a disturbing and creepy habit. A few weeks later Molly returns to the apartment to find Gus's sister Lucy who explains everything and gives Molly the file folder Gus had filled with mementos and notes of their time together. Molly visits the hospital where Gus is under observation and introduces herself as his girlfriend. She shows him the folder so he can learn more about their relationship. We learn that prior to having his aneurysm, Gus was meant to be the next Einstein working at Caltech and the Mt. Wilson telescope in southern California. Molly takes Gus there, where he visits with his old colleagues. While visiting, they let him know that his work will help them to better understand the universe. Molly also meets Gus's ex-fiancee (one of his former co-workers) who explains why things had ended between them and warns her of the difficulties that any sort of serious relationship will have. Gus also tells Molly to leave him if an operation to fix his brain damage does not work. Gus's sister tells Molly that Gus has actually already had this operation, but it did not work. That night Molly sees a note on Gus's laptop to ask her to marry him the next day. Molly deletes the note after reflecting on what Gus had told her to do and Gus wakes up the next day without any memory of her. Molly continues her life with almost a quarter million dollars that she finally received from her great aunt's inheritance. With those extra funds she pays off her student loans and achieves her long standing dream of starting her own flower business. One day, while working at a wedding, a shooting star appears and Molly is reminded of Gus. She visits him at the jewelry shop he works at the next day. He recognizes her name from an envelope he had kept containing an antique ring that had belonged to Molly's great aunt. Shortly after they had originally met, Molly had come to the shop and had sold the ring to Gus for $200 that she had desperately needed. At the time the ring was in bad shape and missing half its stones. Gus had repaired the ring and kept it to return to Molly someday at no expense. He gives it back to her and she begins to cry tears of happiness and hints to him that they know each other. Molly asks Gus if he would like to go out for coffee with her and says she knows a great place. | romantic | train | wikipedia | if you like romantic movies that keep a serious tone, but don't try to make you cry at every opportunity, then you may like this one.Give it a 8 out of 10, but has king of an open ending which is not my favorite way of finishing a movie..
The struggle of a family or a person with a mental illness is a real difficult issue to cope with, and this movie showed that struggle in a wonderfully inspirational way.
Thank you for a great movie with real substance, hope and encouragement..
I'm not generally one to like these Hallmark movies.
Obviously Alexis Bledel is pretty and talented and this character could easily be a "grown up" Rory, however the writing was good enough that it kept her from sinking into that familiar role too much.
The guy, who I've never seen before in anything, was convincing enough as his character, Gus. This was an interesting take on a familiar formula and played out as more of a drama than anything.
But I recommend it in any case since it's just a feel-good all around movie..
This one is among the better ones, well-acted by leads Zachary Levi and Alexis Bledel, and a terrific supporting cast.
I s'pose this type of ending works well with the overall theme of the movie, but...let's put it this way: with an ending like that, one can only hope there'll be a sequel!
Second, it suffers a problem which is common among many Hallmark movies - the soundtrack is intrusive.
Other Hallmark movies suffer far worse from this problem than this one does, so if I could, I would have deducted only a half- star for this problem.
but, in fairness, this movie has a more sound morale.Zachary Levi played a good leading man in the movie, along with the appealing leading lady, rightful for romantic movies girls can swoon over.
but, i like how there was sound presentation and development of the different views and characters of the two subjects; how their inclination also reflect their perspective.
Levi and Bledel make a good romantic couple in Remember Sunday.
Zachary Levi is Gus, a former astronomer who suffers from a malady that causes him to lose memory of recent events but still know of what he did before he got that way.
Alexis Bledel is Molly, a waitress who's been unlucky in love and is waiting for her inheritance to come so she can open up a flower shop.
Taking place and filmed in New Orleans, which is a two-hour drive from where I live, I thought this was quite a touching drama with occasionally some good humor that also took a realistic look at how heartbreaking Levi's character can be when he makes Ms. Bledel promise something because of his condition.
It was just such a nice surprise to hear that song being played in a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" TV movie.
Molly (Alexis Bledel) is a lonely waitress who tries her luck with Gus (Zachary Levi) a jeweler's assistant.
Gus is absent-minded, preoccupied, suffering a brain aneurysm which rob him of his short-term memory.
He keeps this a secret from Molly which leads to a misunderstanding.This is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie.
This delivers the expected romantic love story.
Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi are both TV veterans.
I really love Zach Levi, and I love romance films, so I just had to watch this one.
The first time I watched it, I thought "That wasn't too bad for a TV movie" and truly, it isn't bad, it's just not great.The acting is great, (of course!), the characters were interesting and sympathetic, but the writing was mediocre at best, in my opinion.
The strongest part of the whole film was the premise and the plot - except I felt the reveal was badly done - Alexis's character reacted so unrealistically that they really should have thought of a better way to do the reveal.
I wish I could watch this movie done with a strong script, and I'm sure I'd give it 10 stars.
Zachary Levi's performance is real.What I mean by this is that Zachary is able to convey emotion in a way that unifies his character with us, the viewers.
His frustration, passion, and love resembles the similar emotions faced in real life.
His performance pulls us in as if we were experiencing his struggle, his triumphs, his life.Levi's performance in " Remember Sunday" reminds me of his days as a nerdy computer geek in "Chuck"(I highly recommend watching it).
Please don't be turned off by this movie being a Hallmark film.
Most Hallmark movies come off as having bad actors and repetitive story lines.
This surprisingly thoughtful romantic comedy about a brilliant scientist who after a stroke can't keep his memories of that day after a night's sleep.There is a Groundhog Day humor to his forgetfulness but when things get more serious the plot still works out in a realistic way.
Zachary Levi is quite good and handles the role well.
Alexis Bledel is winsome here and you root for them to work out.Worth a watch - it's A list quality both in terms of acting and story for a TV movie..
I don't remember when I watched a film that made me feeling like this.I was truly moved, touched and teared.
sincere to the bone.Well I ended up purchasing this film for future watching.
I know I will return to it for many many times.I wholeheartedly recommend this film for everyone!
Every morning at 6, Gus wakes up to real New Orleans jazz on his clock-radio, and a pair of enthusiastic morning hosts (we never see what they do on the radio station on weekends, but anyway).
And he sees a note saying he lives in New Orleans, and a file folder with the large message telling him to read it every morning.Then Gus goes out and jogs, and the fiddle player knows whether he is on time or late.
But for anything more recent, he must rely on all sorts of reminders, including post-it notes, files, and the ever-present pen that he uses to record messages and reminders, and software on his computer that translates what he records into words that appear on the screen.Although he was an astronomer who worked with Lauren and others at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, and his work could be compared to Einstein's, Gus had an aneurysm which affected his hippocampus (that's part of his brain) in such a way that every time he goes to sleep, he forgets everything he learned the previous day.
There is also Bernadette upstairs from Gus, who cares a lot about him, and has to tell her son Max not to swindle Gus, who does NOT owe him money.Molly is in college but heavily in debt until the delay in getting her inheritance is resolved.
Molly sells him a valuable ring that belonged to a relative; she wanted to sell a watch but Gus knows it's a fake.
Gus knows he wants to date Molly and gives himself plenty of reminders.
Molly likes Gus too.
But Gus doesn't dare tell Molly the truth.
Especially since Gus, without his memory, thinks Jolene is Molly on several occasions.
Jolene blames too many women in Gus' life.So will it work?
What will happen when Molly knows the truth?When they were still on the air, "Gilmore Girls" and "Chuck" were among my favorite shows.
And Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi each played my favorite character on their respective shows.
So this movie has to work, right?
I prefer the New Orleans jazz that starts each day for Gus, the good country song that was playing in Molly's restaurant, and that fiddle player--who is a talented actor as well as musician.
A cross between "Memento" and "Fifty First Dates", "Remember Sunday" stars Zachary Levi as Gus, a talented astrophysicist who has suffered a brain aneurysm.
Here director Jeff Bleckner turns Gus' memory problems into the lover's desire for continuity and permanence.
Gus, we learn, wishes to be with Molly (Alexis Bledel), a young florist.
Every time Gus meets and falls in love with Molly for the "first time", his memory of her is wiped away 24 hours later.
I enjoyed it tremendously, the film is taken the problem seriously, while adding a touch of romance and even as a guy I felt the chemistry the two actors have in this film.
Alexis Biedel is very likable in the film and portrays Molly in a way that makes you believe you could fall for her daily.
Zachary Tir(I think that is how you spell his name)is also great in this, you really feel for his dilemma and when things start to dwindle for him you feel bad.
First of all,Alexis Bledel and Zachary Levi displays very nice acting.
The film has everything about properties of drama and romance.Hence,i'm sure it will have good time for you.
But,I have to say that plot is same as "50 first dates",also fiction is different.Lucy Whitmore's characteristic change with Gus's character.They are same,they have memory problems.They do not remember one day ago.They face this problem and they fight this situation.
the subject of this interesting theme supported a beautiful subject and beautiful movie came out.You feel soaking up the romance.
Quite frankly a real surprise but you gotta love Zachary Levi here.
SO I saw this on a free channel a few days ago actually on a Sunday I saw this movie and the real reason why I watched it was because it featured Zachary Levi whom you may know featured in my favorite movie of ALL time Tangled as the voice of Flynn Rider aka Eugene Fitzherbert.In Remember Sunday the hottie plays Gus Gil Water,who suffers from a memory loss condition that he can only remember the past but not what happens now as for every morning at 6:00 am when he wakes up,he finds a folder saying read me and he carries what looks like a ballpoint pen to help him remember what happened that specific day.
Problem arises when he meets a girl called Molly played by Alexis Biedel from Tuck Everlasting who has had a string of men in her life and she never met the right guy to be with.
So she serves Gus his coffee and notices that his been acting funny as she has no idea that he has memory loss.
So you can probably guess that they are going to fall in love so let me point out what I liked about it.
First is the chemistry between Levi and Biedel which was so cute,second was the story which was in my surprise very endearing,the third thing was Zachary Levi who played his charcther so well you gotta give him credit for that and I kept wishing that he should star in more romantic movies and he did so I hope he keeps up the good work and people should take this guy seriously his a great actor and I have to thank Tangled for making me become a fan of his.
Okay, so if you don't like chick flicks: DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE.Don't get me wrong, I love Zachary Levi and I don't mind watching romance movies once in a while.
But in the movie he for some reason totally forgets about her, or he remembers but has made a note about it - but that would only make him a cheating bastard so I don't know what would be the best alternative really.I for some reason find the role of Alexis extremely annoying too and I don't understand what Gus (Zachary) sees in her besides that she's cute.
But if you like cheesy romance movies where the characters say cliché stuff like "I wish I could freeze this moment forever" or the guy and the girl just *happen* to both collect the same Star Wars pez toys - this movie is definitely for you..
I watched this movie when it first came out.
The main characters are Gus and Molly.
Gus has suffered from a brain aneurysm that destroyed his short-term memory and forced him to give up his old job, so he's moved back to his hometown (New Orleans) where his family can help him.
Molly is a lonely waitress who meets Gus and starts to like him, not realizing that he has to write and record things everyday so that he doesn't forget her or things that she has told him (this causes a few conflicts along the way).
Although Gus loves her, the absence of short-term memory makes it very difficult to build a relationship.
Gus's family eventually reveals the problem to Molly (and the fact that it cannot be fixed), and she learns more about his background.
The cycle of Gus forgetting Molly, and falling in love with her again the next day, continues all the way to the abrupt ending (not my favorite way for a movie to end, but it's realistic in this case)..
This was a simple, corny, straight-ahead TV film, lacking in the crass sex and violence (that I normally like), but it does touch the heartstrings in that old school way.I enjoyed the likability of both lead actors.
Both were Simple, mostly pretty honest and ethical.Other reviewers mentioned the resemblance here to people suffering from Alzheimer's, but I'm not informed enough to know if the disease in this TV film even exists.There were a few things in the plot that were hard to believe.
In that scene near the ending, the always-hopeful and optimistic Molly is sort of testing Ben's memory by dropping a few lines or quotes he himself had uttered before.
Alexis Bledel has been an underrated actress, unfortunately, though she keeps trying to do roles, like this one, that are a bit out of the ordinary.A point that many reviewers brought up was that the ending was open ended/unsatisfactory.
The ending was actually beautiful but a little subtle.Spoiler Her last words are "I will wait for you Gus".
a guy named Gus meets a girl which he falls in love with her daily because he has memory problems.
I hate what romance movie do with me this is incredible the way he look at her everyday the way he love her how he talks about his passion how molly memorize his quotes this is what I want someone who knows his passion this is truly an amazing movie with a wonderful story which means sacrifice even though its made just like 50 dates but I think remember Sunday is better the way they look at each other they really know how act dammit ACTors why do you do this to me this movie really shows how love can do a lot to a person i really liked the way he shows the suffer of people who have ammisa its just amazing and those two actress makes great chemistry.love is incredible don't you just love love ).
For most of the movie I had a feeling I was watching an outtake from the Gilmore Girls (the couple of episodes of which that I watched I found supremely annoying).
(Actually, as I was writing this review, I checked the casts of the two, and it turns out that Molly had indeed "starred" in G.G.!) Producers/scriptwriters, here's a clue for you: NOBODY TALKS LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE!!!
2) Characters routinely goof up but everything works out great.
Meanwhile, most people in the real world would have to contend with inconsiderate drivers, get fined for vandalizing public property, wait a quarter hour for a tram, and at the end they'd be out of breath and reek of sweat for the rest of the day.Or take Molly's college paper.
They really could have put some more effort into the musical score.In fairness, the movie does not insult us with a happily-ever-after ending and does make it clear that if Gus and Molly's relationship - such as it is - is to survive, a lot of sacrifice would be needed.
Sentimental film where a young scientist, with great potential, suffers a brain aneurysm leaving him with a total short-term memory loss.
He must rely on recordings and notes so that he doesn't forget recent events in his life.He meets a young waitress who has just broken up with her boyfriend.
Naturally, there are the misunderstandings in the film, when our hero doesn't tell the girl about his impairment, and when she sees the recorder, she thinks he is some sort of pervert sending messages about her throughout the internet.It's really a sad commentary on what can happen to a young person in such a dilemma.
It was filmed mostly in New Orleans, a city I called a second home for most of my life.
Watching it felt like I was back there again.I like Alexis Bledel, and she happens to be a Houstonian.
She is Molly , searching for her path in life.The other main character is played by Zachary Levi (TV series 'Chuck') as Gus , who works in a jewelry repair job.
But we find that Gus has a most interesting back-story.
He was an Astrophysics genius, some even calling him the next Einstein, when he suffered an aneurysm in a particular part of his brain, which resulted in his losing the ability to form new memories.
Thus he can remember his past life, and his scientific work, but when he meets Molly, when he wakes up the next day his memory of her and anything they did or discussed is wiped out.Gus learns to cope by making notes and taking a few photos.
But it is of course frustrating when he meets Molly again each time, he knows she must be his girlfriend, but he has no memory of it.
Mostly pleasant movie because of the actors.SPOILERS: At one point Molly takes Gus on a "field trip". |
tt0089841 | Prizzi's Honor | Charley Partanna is a hit man for a New York crime organization headed by the elderly Don Corrado Prizzi, whose business is generally handled by his sons Dominic and Eduardo and by his longtime right-hand man, Angelo, who is Charley's father.
At a family wedding, Charley is quickly infatuated with a beautiful woman he doesn't recognize. He asks Maerose Prizzi, estranged daughter of Dominic, if she recognizes the woman, oblivious to the fact that Maerose still has feelings for Charley, having once been his lover. Maerose is in disfavor with her father for running off with another man after the end of her romance with Charley.
Charley discovers that the mysterious woman, Irene, is a "contractor" who, like himself, performs assassinations for the mob. He flies to California to spend time with her and quickly falls in love. Unaware she is married, Charley also carries out a contract to kill Irene's husband, Marksie Heller, for robbing a Nevada casino. She repays some of the money Marksie stole and in Mexico marries Charley.
Charley is unaware that Irene is suspected by the mob of having the rest of the money Marksie took. A jealous Maerose travels there on her own to establish for a fact that Irene has double-crossed the organization. The information restores Maerose to good graces somewhat with her father and the don.
Dominic, acting on his own, wants Charley out of the way and hires someone to do the hit, not knowing that he has just given the job to Charley's own wife. Angelo sides with his son, and Eduardo is so appalled by his brother's actions that he helps set up Dominic's permanent removal from the family.
Irene and Charley team up on a kidnapping that will enrich the family, but she shoots a police captain's wife in the process, endangering the organization's business relationship with the cops. The don is also still demanding a large sum of money from Irene for her unauthorized activities in Nevada, which she doesn't want to pay. In time, the don tells Charley that his wife's "gotta go."
Things come to a head in California when, acting as if everything were all right, Charley comes home to his wife. (A famous line from the movie, spoken by Charley, is "Do I marry her? Do I ice her? Which one of these?") Each pulls a weapon simultaneously in the bedroom. Irene ends up dead, and Charley ends up back in New York, missing her, but consoled by Maerose. | romantic, comedy, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0071129 | Amarcord | A young woman hanging clothes on a line happily points out the arrival of "manine" or puffballs floating on the wind. The old man pottering beside her replies, "When puffballs come, cold winter’s done." In the village square, schoolboys jump around trying to pluck puffballs out of the air. Giudizio (Aristide Caporale), the town idiot, looks into the camera and recites a poem to spring and the swirling, drifting "manine."
At the hairdresser’s, a Fascist has just had his head newly shaved when Fiorella arrives to accompany her sister Gradisca (Magali Noël), the village beauty, to the traditional bonfire celebrating spring. As night falls, the inhabitants of Borgo make their way to the village square where Fellini presents his comic characters: the blind accordion player (Domenica Pertica) relentlessly tormented by schoolboys; Volpina (Josiane Tanzilli), the stringy blond nymphomaniac; the stout and buxom tobacconist (Maria Antonietta Beluzzi); Titta (Bruno Zanin), the rosy-cheeked adolescent protagonist based on Fellini's childhood friend; and Aurelio (Armando Brancia), Titta’s father, a construction foreman of working-class background. Modest and reserved, Aurelio responds in frenzied anger to Titta’s pranks while Miranda (Pupella Maggio), his wife, always comes to her son’s defence. Miranda’s brother, Lallo (Nando Orfei), lives with Titta’s family, sponging off his brother-in-law. In tow are Titta’s grandfather (Peppino Ianigro), a likeable old goat with an eye on the family’s young maid, and a street vendor, Biscein (Gennaro Ombra), the town’s inveterate liar.
Giudizio sits an effigy of the "Old Witch of Winter" in a chair on the stack and Gradisca is given the honour of setting it aflame. Lallo maliciously removes the ladder, trapping Giudizio atop the inferno. "I’m burning!" he screams as the crowd dances gaily round the bonfire and schoolboys run amuck exploding firecrackers. From a window, the Fascist bigwig (Ferruccio Brembilla) fires his pistol into the air. "I feel spring all over me already," says Gradisca in ecstasy.
The local aristocrat and his decrepit wife raise a toast to the dying flames. Schoolboys drag Volpina near the cinders then swing her back and forth in rhythm to the blind accordionist’s tune. A motorcyclist roars through the glowing coals in a mindless display of exhibitionism. Black-clothed women scoop the scattered embers into pans as the town lawyer (Luigi Rossi) appears walking his bicycle. Like Giudizio, he addresses the camera to explain choice tidbits of the town’s history. A florid suite of raspberries interrupts his charming pedantry and he departs in a huff.
Zeus (Franco Magno), the red-haired crusty schoolmaster, presides over an official class photograph. After showing us a wall hung with the portraits of the king, the pope and Mussolini, Fellini serves up a sequence of classroom antics involving Titta, Gigliozzi (Bruno Lenzi), Ovo (Bruno Scagnetti) and Ciccio (Fernando de Felice), the class fat boy who has a crush on Aldina (Donatella Gambini), a lovely brunette. If the schoolboys are stereotypical delinquents, their teachers are ridiculous. During her inane lessons on Giotto’s perspective, the art teacher (Fides Stagni) dips a breakfast biscuit in milk. Expanding her voluptuous chest, the feral-faced maths teacher (Dina Adorni) demonstrates an algebraic formula. Clicking tongue and palate to pronounce a syllable, the Italian teacher (Mario Silvestri) is reduced to hysterics by Ovo’s parody of him. Myopic religion instructor Don Balosa (Gianfilippo Carcano) wipes his glasses and drones on while half the class sneaks out for a smoke in the toilets.
"Fu Manchu!" cries Volpina, prowling on a sunburnt beach. When workers at Aurelio's construction site invite her to join them, the foreman promptly sends her off. Mortar, an old brick-maker, is asked to recite his new poem entitled Bricks:
My grandfather made bricks
My father made bricks
I make bricks, too,
but where’s my house?
Aurelio replies with a homily on the virtues of hard work. During dinner with his family, Aurelio explodes when news arrives that Titta urinated on the neighbour's hat. The ensuing squabble builds into a delirious domestic fit.
Titta and his gang follow Gradisca on her promenade under the arcades and, when that proves fruitless, flatten their noses against an irate merchant’s shop window. Lallo and his fellow Don Juans spot a carriage-load of new prostitutes on their way to the local brothel. The news spreads like wildfire to the town's male population.
The main concerns of Don Balosa, who doubles as the town priest, are floral arrangements and making sure his schoolboys avoid masturbation. At confession he warns Titta that "Saint Louis cries when you touch yourself." Given his fantasies involving the busty tobacconist, the sensual math teacher, the fat-bottomed peasant women on bicycles, Volpina the man-eater and Gradisca whom he tried to grope at the Cinema Fulgor, Titta complains that it can’t be helped.
A dirty dust cloud announces the visit of the federale during a parade led by the local gerarca. Following behind him are the maths teacher and her colleagues, rejuvenated by Fascist rhetoric. Now in uniform, Lallo joins the parade shouting "Mussolini's got balls this big!" In a wild daydream, Ciccio stands before the giant face of Mussolini, who blesses him and his "Fascist bride", Aldina. Surreptitiously wired into the bell tower of the town church, a gramophone plays a recording of the Internationale but it is soon shot at and destroyed by gun-crazy Fascists. Owing to his anarchist past, Aurelio is brought in for questioning and forced to drink castor oil. He limps home in a nauseous state to be washed by Miranda. We discover later that it was Lallo who betrayed him.
In a series of fantasy sequences at the Grand Hotel, Gradisca is encouraged to bed the Fascist high official in return for government funds to rebuild the town's harbour while pimple-faced Biscein recounts the night he made love to twenty-eight women in the visiting sultan’s harem. The Grand Hotel also provides the backdrop to Lallo’s gang of mother-controlled layabouts who obsessively pursue middle-aged female tourists.
One summer afternoon, the family visits Uncle Teo (Ciccio Ingrassia), Aurelio’s brother, confined to an insane asylum. They take him out for a day in the country but he escapes into a tree yelling, "Voglio una donna!" ("I want a woman!"). All attempts to bring him down are met with stones that Teo carries in his pockets. A dwarf nun and two orderlies finally arrive on the scene. Marching up the ladder, the nun reprimands Teo who obediently agrees to return to the asylum. "We are all mad at times," sighs Aurelio.
The town's inhabitants embark in small boats to meet the passage of the SS Rex, the regime’s proudest technological achievement. By midnight they have fallen asleep waiting for its arrival. Awakened by a foghorn, they watch in awe as the liner sails past, capsizing their boats in its wake. Titta’s grandfather wanders lost in a disorienting fog so thick it seems to smother the house and the autumnal landscape. Walking out to the Grand Hotel, Titta and his friends find it boarded up. Like zombies, they waltz on the terrace with imaginary female partners enveloped in the fog.
The annual car race provides the occasion for Titta to daydream of winning the grand prize, Gradisca. One evening the buxom tobacconist is about to close up shop when Titta tries to cadge a cigarette. She ignores him but he catches her interest by boasting that he can lift her. Daring him to try, she’s aroused when he succeeds. Setting her back down, he goes to sit breathlessly in a corner as she draws the shop's iron shutter and exposes a breast, overwhelming Titta by her sheer size. The teenager’s awkward efforts end with him being suffocated by the very objects of his desire. Losing all interest, she sends him away after giving him the cigarette for free.
On the cusp of winter, Titta falls sick and is tended by his mother. "This will go down as the Year of the Big Snow!" announces the lawyer peering out from behind a snow bank. As Gradisca makes her way to church in the town square, Titta follows in hot pursuit and is almost run over by the motorcyclist bombing through a labyrinth of snow. On a visit to comfort his ailing mother in hospital, she tells him that it’s time he matured. A friendly snow fight breaks out between Lallo, Gradisca, and the schoolboys but is quickly interrupted by a piercing bird call. They watch mesmerized as a peacock, on the rim of a frozen fountain, shows off his magnificent tail.
Titta wakes to find the house in mourning: Miranda has died. Locking himself in his mother’s bedroom, he breaks down and cries. After the funeral he walks out to the quay just as the puffballs return drifting on the wind. In a deserted field with half the village present, Gradisca celebrates her marriage to a balding pot-bellied officer. A man raises his glass and exclaims, "She’s found her Gary Cooper!" Someone asks, "Where's Titta?" "Titta’s gone away!" cries Ovo, as Gradisca drives off with her carabiniere to the tune of the blind accordion player. | cult, flashback, psychedelic, humor, satire, prank | train | wikipedia | Like life itself, the movie can be perplexing and enigmatic, sometimes magical, sometimes, in the face of the political climate and history, frightening as "simple people just trying to live get caught up in the times they were themselves creating".
I don't think any film I've ever seen has so completely captured with such profound insight and simplicity the experience of losing a parent: The visit by the father and son in the hospital in which the mother realizes the awesome finality about to approach, and the son is blissfully unaware in his adolescent "immortality", and the total feeling of quiet and emptiness as the father sits at the dining room table, formerly filled with joyful, loud, noisy life--now emptier than could have ever been imagined before--this whole sequence comes as a powerful conclusion to a stunning film.
About 10 Fellini-films later I read that this won the academy-award for best foreign picture, which I never expected, but think is quite rightly.
Federico Fellini's "Amarcord" is perhaps the flamboyant directors most entertaining and autobiographical film.
"Amarcord" is filled with memorable and eccentric characters including a blind accordianist; a foul-mouthed midget nun; a buxom tobacco store owner with a penchant for young men; a lascivious and gaseous grandfather; Volpina the town nymph; Theo the sexually-repressed, mad uncle; and an ever present dim-witted street vendor.
After repeat viewing, I can understand why many viewers may not like Fellini, especially his so called "later films" "Amarcord" may seem too crowded, too loud, too vulgar, too bawdy, and too self-indulgent.
But so is life loud but tender, vulgar but touching, self-indulgent but full of humor, love and compassion to the film's eccentric characters.
It's been said a lot about memorable scenes and images in "Amarcord": yes, the famous peacock that spreads its plumage on the snow, a magnificent ocean liner that is been greeted by the townspeople, a local tobacconist a woman of such size and proportions that it could be simply dangerous for the teenage boys to try and make their dreams about her come true.
I love "Amarcord" always have perhaps, Fellini played all the right notes for me or more likely, Nino Rota wrote his best musical score for the film which could be the best score ever.
And Magali Noël as object of every man's in Rimini desire Gradisca ("Help Yourself").Wonderful film by the power of his magic, by the light of his memory, the great master saved the town where he was young and happy.
His films following that seemed utterly pretentious, as if the director had lost his touch and was trying desperately to figure out what people had liked so much about his films (the exemplary masterpieces being La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, and 8 1/2).
Amarcord, like those films, is quite flamboyant - the colors are orgasmic, as they were in those three bad films, the sex is exaggerated (sort of as if these films all took place in that fantasy world where Guido from 8 1/2 had his harem), and the characters are sort of typical or stereotypical.
In all his best films, Federico Fellini absolutely loves his characters.
"Amarcord" (which means "I remember" in the Italian dialect of Emilia-Romagna, the region in which Fellini was born and where the film is set) is one of the most dazzling, personal films you'll ever see.
In the corners of the mind there are memories....bitter, sweet, scary, embarrassing, wonderful....and they topple out unexpectedly and for little reason at any moment.Such is Fellini's treatment of this film.
I really wanted to like this movie; I am a great Italophile and thoroughly enjoyed Fellini's "Satyricon," but "Amarcord" was a major disappointment.
I had to force myself to watch "Amarcord" to the bitter end and will definitely wait a while before taking out my next Fellini movie..
Not just one person, but a whole group of people living in a small coastal town in Italy 1930s.It may not be his most dazzling or mesmerizing film, but Amarcord is Fellini's most personal journey.
While this film certainly has some poignant points about life, it is mostly the work of a great artist who has reached an age where he can view his childhood memories from a detached, nostalgic point of view.
Visual splendour and humor abound, and it is a thoroughly delightful watch but I still like Fellini more, when he is more personally invested in the problems of his characters, as in Dolce Vita or 8 1/2..
Federico Fellini's 'Amarcord' is a chaotic, grotesque yet sentimental portrayal of an Italian childhood maybe not so different from the director's own.
A particularly interesting scene has them burning "the witch", and there's a little bit of a mishap (or maybe it wasn't a mishap).Anyway, "Amarcord" is another great movie from the man who may have been Italy's greatest director in history.
In fact there is sharp satire at the heart of the film, indicated by the punning title - "Amarcord" is the local dialect for "I remember" (used in preference to the Italian "Mi ricordo") while "Amaro" is Italian for "bitter".There is considerable brutality among the laughs - a man is maltreated by the Fascists, a small boy tries to kill his infant brother with a rock in an aside the casual viewer might miss.
It is a sort of blockage, an arrested development during the phase of adolescence
That is, this remaining children for eternity, this leaving responsibilities for others, this living with the comforting sensation that there is someone who thinks for you (and at one time it's mother, then it's father, then it's the mayor, another time Il Duce, another time the Madonna, another time the Bishop, in short other people): and in the meanwhile you have this limited, time-wasting freedom which permits you only to cultivate absurd dreams the dream of the American cinema, or the Oriental dream concerning women; in conclusion, the same old, monstrous, out-of-date myths that even today seem to me to form the most important conditioning of the average Italian."One can only speculate on what Fellini would have made of Berlusconi.Apparently the film as we see it was originally planned as part of a larger-scale project in which a man in the present day retreats into a nostalgic reminiscence of his adolescence.
Fellini gives us a series of memories, fantasies, and dreams in the vignettes which make up his semi-autobiographical film 'Amarcord' ('I Remember').
It was not any influence of adults; the films were filled with amazing characters, each having an entire life of their own/ like they had waited & waited & waited for FELLINI to bring the cameras & just film us- I noticed that the crazy guy in the tree screaming" I want a woman!" Was repeated by Merchant/ Ivory in "ROOM WITH A VIEW"- don't know the significance- we never did it growing up- this is a great film- sit back & just enjoy.
Translated as 'I Remember', the great Italian director Federico Fellini's Amarcord is a series a comedic vignettes that look back at his childhood in a 1930's coastal town.
Apart from the film's brief focus on the rise of fascism, this is Fellini at his most satirically light, with his usual mocking of the bourgeoisie making way for some amusingly childish humour and some beautifully photographed scenes.True to Fellini's style, Amarcord is occasionally outrageous and always flamboyant.
For me, this is not Fellini's finest moment - that would lie with 8 1/2 (1963), arguably one of the finest films ever made - but this is still one of the most accurate depictions of memory and beautiful ode's to nostalgia I've seen.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com.
Reassembling through a succession of little vignettes his youth memories in a small town named Borga, Fellini paints the flamboyant portrait of colorful and eccentric characters, so different yet so united that the town feels like a character.
It's sad to see Gradisca hailing the Duce, unaware of the chaos he'll bring Italy to, and even sadder to see Aurelio, Titta's father, a brave communist working-man being harassed by the fascist police.Titta's family is another remarkable example of Fellini's capability to create characters that rapidly grow in our hearts, delirious and poignant in the same time, like so many clowns of life's circus act.
And still, it's a Fellini's film with its share of music, the nostalgia inducing tone of Nino Rota, parades and processions.And like many coming-of-age stories, the film follows a clear cycle, one year, starting with the arrival of puffballs floating in the air, announcing the spring.
Sex has been so trivialized that even the scene where Titta literally suffocates in the tobacconist's breast is more innocent than any clip from today's television.Indeed, "Amarcord" is the eulogy of a lost innocence, it ends with these Felliniesque parties where Gradisca leaves the town, after having found the love of her life, but somewhat, as the beaches gets empty, I was sad to see these people I shared this two-hour slice of lives leaving the screen.
Well, I liked looking into the old Italy of Fellini's childhood and observing all the interesting and quirky characters--I am a sucker for these elements.
perhaps the best coming-of-age film ever, Amarcord gets a standing ovation at precisely the 100:00 minute mark (check it yourself) as every young mans dream comes true, in this case, 100 times over.
A peacock in the middle of a snowstorm seems to hit the upper limit of fantasy (or memory), so Fellini swiftly takes the film to an end with the sequence of Gradisca's marriage to a carabinieri, an end so "soft" that looks like the dissolution of a dream, as characters and landscape gently fade out.
It is the kind of movie that is a gift for the viewer.Interestingly I haven't liked any other of Fellini's films to this extent.
What struck me, however, was that after this film's success, other well known directors made movies (Francois Truffaut's "Small Change" and John Boorman's "Hope & Glory," for example) that seemed to be following Fellini's either reminiscence theme and/or its focus on childhood.
I guess knowing that Fellini did it first really solidified the worth and value in my mind of "Amarcord." I believe that anyone who likes movies should see this film as it has much of what comprises a memorable cinematic experience..
A nostalgic look at a year in the life of a small Italian coastal town as told by the master at the height of his powers.It is a work of art providing a feast for the senses as only Fellini can.
He gave his audience images that would not leave their mind: a snowball fight in the middle of a town suddenly interrupted by falling peacock feathers in a snowstorm, a man being tied to the rope and thrown up into the air like a kite, a young boy walking through a foggy forest and silently watching an escaped bull walk past, an adolescent sucking on the enormous breasts of a voluptuous woman, an entire town going out to sea in canoes to meet an enormous boat, a midget nun climbing a tree to retrieve a mad uncle, the image of a dirty Saraghina sitting in a dirty green dress on the beach looking back at a young boy and smiling, two teenagers getting married with the blessing of a giant Mussolini, and the entire town burning their furniture.
Other reviewers here have said enough about AMARCORD, a film with wonderful and nostalgic atmosphear of life in a small town.
The greatness of Fellini's film is in its capability of mixing masterfully comic and grotesque moments with some scenes plenty of sadness.But "Amarcord"is not,as someone wrongly said,the narration of director's childhood,therefore a poetic and ironic vision of pre-WWII Italy seen with the eyes of an adolescent,whom everyone of us can identify in.
Fellini's nostalgia trip to Italy in the 1930s.This film has something for everybody.I think that everybody can recognize them self in some scenes.The film is a comedy and it´s VERY funny but it´s also a fantastic beautiful film and a bit sad.The cinematography is masterful,the music is excellent by Nino Rota.The film has wonderful characters.A warm and fantastic film to watch over and over again.5/5.
The film overflows with images both vulgar and dreamlike, colorful small characters, moments both hilarious and sad, all seamlessly interwoven forming the background of a year in a small town in 1930's Italy.
I have a faint memory of starting to see one of his other films and not lasting fifteen minutes, but I read Amarcord was his best work and rented it last night.The vignettes were somewhat amusing at first.
"Art House" cinema).This 1973 film's erratically disjointed sequences were so hastily slapped together (thanks to Fellini's obvious directorial incompetence) that they inevitably defied any real logical coherency at all.To say that I was completely floored with disbelief to find out that "Amarcord" had actually won an "Oscar" for "Best Foreign Film" of that year would truly be an understatement like no other..
Amarcord is an episodic coming of age film from Federico Fellini.
Depicting what happens in an Italian little village in the middle 30's, Federico Fellini's AMARCORD is, at the same time, a sweet remembrance and a sarcastic and humorous satire.
Of course the entire plot circles around TITTA (Bruno Zanin), but characters like MIRANDA or AURELIO, his parents, or even GRADISCA, his muse, are very important as well.Here Fellini does a film which is pure, intense, sarcastic, at parts grotesque, but essentially humorous and real!
Amarcord, Italian for "I Remember," is a colorful and artistic film from famed Italian director Federico Fellini.
We grow to love the characters in the film and we watch their larger-than-life stories unfold before our eyes in a beautiful and enticing way.
This film makes its own rules and paints itself up as an incredibly spirited tale of joy, love, and even bittersweet remorse for a town that only could have existed the way it did in the time period it did.It isn't difficult to see the personal level of this film that Fellini includes.
Amarcord isn't self indulgent and it doesn't lose track of its heart and soul which makes it such a pleasurable experience.Fellini takes some liberties with the narrative style of this film as it is told in a very free-form way.
Amarcord (1973) is Fellini's great synthesisa synthesis on multiple levels, an ensemble of synthesis, the masterpiecethere are many things that he wants to communicate herethis film is like a fruit, the fruit of a lifetime experience and thought and dreamingthe opportunity itself.
There is no plot, only seasons and memories.At once sentimental and unrealistic, Amarcord has a dream-like quality and you will in some ways remember your childhood, classroom pranks and different experiences when you watch this..
Although I have not seen everything Fellini has done, this film jumps out for me as his best work.
And unlike a couple of Fellini's other films it really isn't as confusing as I first though; his works at times are like those poems read one year and then taken again years later work on another level.
Amarcord (1973) *** (out of 4) Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Film, this Fellini comedy is considered by many to be a masterpiece but I'm afraid I wasn't that impressed by it.
I've never really warmed to the films of Federico Fellini, but I absolutely loved "Amarcord."Fellini's trip down memory lane is a nostalgic, episodic film about growing up in a small Italian village during the Fascist days of WWII.
Having watched and loved La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2 and La Strada previous to Amarcord, I was understandably expecting good things for this film.
The acting is excellent, Magali Noel is the standout lightening up the screen with her allure and acting talent.Overall, Amarcord is a wonderful film, while it wasn't my first Fellini movie, I'd say this is a good enough introduction to the work of a master director.
Undoubtedly Fellini's most accessible work (to modern audiences, that is), "Amarcord" ranks right there with "Giulietta degli Spiriti" as the director's best in my view - a funny, sad, dreamlike and altogether beautiful film that may well be autobiographical.
Here, as in almost every other film by the director, the story is about peoples' lives and their own personal conflicts, as seen through the eyes of a teenage boy in a Italian village during the World War II.
not having seen any movie by Italian director Federico Fellini before,i had no idea what to expect.thankfully,i had my experience from viewing this film was positive even pleasant.it takes place in the mid 1930's in a small Italian Seaside village,and offers a slice of life of the people who populate the village.there are many very humorous moments throughout, some subtle and some quite over the top.it also has its touching moments,as well.it also makes fun of Fascism(the political system of the time)in a none too subtle way.overall,the film is quite cheeky.i found it quite entertaining and would recommend it for foreign film buffs.for me,Armacord is an 8/10.
Even when moments are presented in a tame or natural way, they're always followed up by a moment of movie magic you wouldn't have expected.Amarcord isn't one of my favorite films, but it definitely ranks very high on the list.
Amarcord is one of Fellini's masterpieces of his young days growing up in a coastal Italian town in the 1930's (under the watchful eye of 'Il Duce' & the rest of that sub element).
Amarcord is a fictionalization of Fellini's life as a youth growing up in Fascist Italy.
Amacord is such a melancholic film, it made me feel sorry for Fellini, for the things he had to endure during those early years of his life. |
tt0110442 | Major League II | In the previous season, the Cleveland Indians won the division title by beating the New York Yankees in a one-game playoff, but were defeated in the ALCS by the Chicago White Sox.
The success of last season has changed the attitudes of the Indians. Pitching sensation Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn has become a media sensation and as such is now more concerned about his public image than his pitching, causing him to lose the edge on his fastball. Instead, he begins to rely on highly ineffective breaking balls, to which he gives nicknames such as "Eliminator" and "Humiliator." Home run hitter Pedro Cerrano becomes a Buddhist and adopts a more placid, carefree style as opposed to the angry and aggressive player he was before. Center fielder Willie Mays Hayes is still as fast as ever but is more concerned with hitting home runs and his movie career, which saw him star in an action film that was a flop and resulted in him spraining his knee. Aging catcher Jake Taylor has also returned and conceited third baseman Roger Dorn has retired and purchased the team from its previous owner, Rachel Phelps. One of his first acts as owner is to sign Oakland Athletics all-star catcher Jack Parkman, which forces Jake to compete for his old position. Jack Parkman is an arrogant jerk who thinks this team is a joke. To further complicate things, minor-league catcher Rube Baker has also been invited to camp despite his inability to throw the ball back to the pitcher with any consistency.
As the team breaks camp, Taylor discovers that although he has made the team, he believes there is no way that manager Lou Brown is going to carry three catchers as Parkman and Rube have also made the team. Lou, after being confronted by Jake, informs Taylor that he is not going to carry him as a player but as a coach. While initially upset over being forced into retirement and with the small amount of job offers he gets, Jake elects to take Lou's offer and join the coaching staff.
Once again, the Indians start slow as Cerrano's religious conversion causes him to struggle, Hayes refuses to play even with the slightest injury, Vaughn's control problems continue to plague him and Parkman's ego poisons the clubhouse. To make matters worse, Dorn has been unable to keep up with the franchise's finances and is forced to do strange things to bring in money, such as covering the outfield walls with advertising. Eventually, Lou reaches the end of his tolerance regarding Parkman and decides to suspend him after Parkman criticizes the team in the local papers. Parkman then informs Lou that the suspension is moot as he has been traded to the White Sox. Lou confronts Dorn for not consulting him about the trade. Dorn explains that he could no longer afford to pay Parkman's salary and had no choice but to trade him. In return, Japanese import Isuro "Kamikaze" Tanaka, a gifted left fielder with a penchant for crashing into the fence, is sent to the Indians.
Finally out of options, Dorn sells the Indians back to Rachel Phelps. Rachel keeps Dorn on as the Indians general manager and his first order of business is to re-activate himself as a player. Rachel doesn't need the money; she has more than enough. She bought the team back as revenge for ruining her plan to move the team to Miami and now since this team is in last place, she has another chance to bring it back and watch them go down in flames for good. Lou suffers a heart attack in the clubhouse due to his frustration over the team's performance and Jake is given the reins of the team.
Things come to a head during a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox. Rube is hit by a pitch in his ankle and Hayes is called upon to run for him. Hayes refuses to do it, which angers Jake. Vaughn chimes in, which causes Hayes to bring up his own struggles and the two begin fighting. Soon, the entire team gets involved and begins fighting each other, resulting in everyone being ejected. After the game, Tanaka criticizes Cerrano for not having any "marbles" due to his struggles and Hayes makes a wisecrack at Baker about his injury, while Rube chastises Hayes and the rest of the team for their lack of passion. Inspired by the speech, Hayes volunteers to run for the injured Baker in the bottom of the ninth inning of the second game and promptly steals second, third and home to tie the score. Cerrano, also inspired, demands that Jake insert him into the game to pinch hit and he responds by hitting the game-winning home run.
The win sparks a hot streak that the Indians ride all the way to a second straight division title, clinched by beating the Toronto Blue Jays on the last day of the season. Despite the team's hot streak, Vaughn continues to slump as his ineffective breaking pitches have caused him to lose confidence in his best pitch, his fastball. To make matters worse, he refuses to finish games he starts and has allowed the fans to get into his head.
In the ALCS, the Indians square off in a rematch with the White Sox and win the first three games of the series. This inspires Rachel to give the team a phony pep talk before Game 4, which is purposely designed to get in the heads of the players and distract them. It works, as a still struggling Vaughn gives up a game-winning home run to Parkman in the bottom of the ninth. The White Sox then defeat the Indians in the next two games, forcing a seventh game in Cleveland.
The night before the game, Jake goes to visit Vaughn at his home and tells him that he might be called on to pitch in relief in Game 7. Vaughn nonchalantly tells Taylor he will be ready, which infuriates Jake to the point where he lashes out at Vaughn. He calls Vaughn out for having lost his edge and not having his head in the game and tells him that he is of no use to the team if he continues playing the way he is. Before Taylor leaves, he tells Vaughn to find his edge if it has not already escaped him.
The White Sox jump out to an early 2–1 lead in Game 7 after Parkman bowls over Rube on a play at the plate, taunting him as he struggles to get up. With the Indians down by one, Hayes reaches base on a walk and taunts Parkman by saying he is going to score on the play without sliding. Rube then lines a drive to the left field corner and Hayes rounds the bases and heads for home. The ball gets to Parkman first, but Hayes, making good on his promise not to slide, hurdles over Parkman and lands on home plate. Parkman responds, however, by hitting a three-run home run in the seventh inning and the White Sox take a 5–3 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Although the Indians get a runner on, two quick outs are recorded and Jake is forced to make a strategic move he had tried to avoid the whole season. Although Dorn is still on the active roster, up until this point, Jake refuses to put him into a game and even mocks him for signing himself. The pitcher on the mound for the White Sox has had great success against Dorn in his career, but always pitched him inside. Based on that, Jake sends Dorn to pinch hit and "take one for the team" so the tying run can get on base. Dorn takes a pitch in the back and is pulled for a pinch runner, eventually being forced to the bench despite his best efforts to stay in.
Cerrano steps in, having apparently reverted to his more placid self. He greets Parkman, who reminds him that his team is still losing the game. After taking two pitches and being impressed by them, Cerrano's teammates begin shaking little bags of marbles at him. The Cuban slugger amazingly is able to find a balance between the calmer and the more angry sides of him and drills the next pitch over the fence to give the Indians a 6–5 lead. As he steps on home plate, Cerrano emphatically tells Parkman, "Look at the scoreboard now, grasshopper!"
The game is not over yet, as the go-ahead runs reach base with two outs in the top of the ninth. Jake calls on Vaughn to get the final out and to everyone's amazement, Vaughn takes Jake's message to heart and has apparently rediscovered his edge. To further this, he tells Jake that he does not want to pitch to the batter he was called upon to face. Instead he wants another shot at Parkman, who is on deck. Jake cannot believe what Vaughn is suggesting, as an intentional walk will load the bases. Vaughn states again that he wants to face his old nemesis one more time. Convinced, Jake hands Vaughn the ball and he walks the batter ahead of Parkman to bring him to the plate with a chance to drive in the go-ahead runs.
Vaughn throws a fastball that Parkman swings through for strike one, then follows with another fastball that Parkman fouls straight back. With two strikes on him, an impressed Parkman dares Vaughn to throw it a third time. Vaughn fearlessly complies telling him that if he gets a piece of it he can rename it, while Rube attempts to get back at Parkman and taunt him the same way he had been taunted earlier. Vaughn delivers one more fastball and Parkman swings through it, striking out to end the game and send the Indians to the World Series. Phelps' plan to get rid of the players and move the team to Miami fails once again. | comedy | train | wikipedia | I don't know why the harsh rating, I mean, despite the fact that a few actors were replaced, I thought that Major League 2 was a decent comedy.
I liked how they showed that most of the guys changed, it was so human and added a real story.The boys are back for the next season, this time Rachel has sold the team to Roger and he is in charge.
Major League 2 is a good comedy if you just let go of the first one, I know that most don't want to since the first was so original and a great comedy as well, but just give it a shot as it's own movie.
Okay, the original "Major League" (1989) was a great movie and the surprise hit of 1989.
Unlike alot of other sequels, most of the original crowd is back (including Charlie Sheen as Rick Vaughn and Tom Berenger as Jake Taylor), save for Wesley Snipes, whose role of Willie "Mays" Hayes is reprised by then-up-and-coming Omar Epps (who pokes fun at Snipes' then-rising career as an action film star in a very funny sequence with Jake Ventura).
The original film focused more on the story of a bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes trying to have "one last good day in the sun" playing for the struggling Cleveland Indians.
"Major League II" seems to like to jump quickly through the story, however, so you don't get as much of a sense of what's on the line for the team like you did in the original.
He appearance midway through the film (combined with alot of other mid-mark plot changes) makes it seem like the writers and director changed their minds on the story halfway through making the film and tried to weld it all together into something cohesive.There are alot of great lines in this film though and some truly funny parts.
Announcer Harry Doyle is outspoken as ever, but I think he made a bigger impact in the first movie.Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Tom Berenger, James Gammon, Margaret Whitton and Bob Uecker reprise their roles with relish.
But aside from that, it really isn't as bad as it's being made out to be.In my opinion, the biggest flaw was that it was supposed to be the `very' next year, but in reality the movie was filmed five years later.
Instead, Major League did what was predicted and made a sequel that is (a) PG and not on par with the original and (b) doesn't include all of the original actors.I could tell from the beginning of the film that director David S.
Snipes is replaced with Omar Epps, who is decent, but not as funny as the way Snipes portrayed the character of Willy Mays Hayes.The plot: The Indians open up next season confident because of their big surprise last year.
Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Sheen), the team's star player, has quit sporting his bad boy image and now has a cleaner act.
And the team's oddball player Pedro Cerrano (Haysbert) has converted to Buddhism and is way more of a relaxed player.Major League II is more or less a remake of the first film with some new little perks.
When it comes to baseball movies there isn't a whole lot of originality.
As well as the character of the Indians announcer Harry Doyle (Uecker) who has a major alcohol problem throughout the season while announcing the games.
The obsessed, fair weather Indians fan played by Randy Quaid is nothing but annoying as well.Several things drag Major League II in the gutter, but it still is a fair sequel.
I feel this is the best sequel to Major League we're going to get.
Ward wants the film to be titled Major League III, even though chronologically it's Major League IV.Regardless, I feel Back to the Minors will conclude the series good or bad.
This could've all been avoided if we just left the film alone where it was; a funny and clever baseball comedy.Starring: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Omar Epps, David Keith, Margaret Whitton, James Gammon, and Bob Uecker.
Also, this film is missing Wesley Snipes as he is replaced by Omar Epps which he would have been okay had he been in the first one, but after seeing Snipes in the role I did not really care for the recast.
The film focuses more on Charlie Sheen as Ricky and he has some funny moments as does Randy Quaid as a disenfranchised fan.
This movie is basically a dumbed-down version of the original.Most of the original crew is back, except for Willie Mays Hayes' sudden transformation into Omar Epps (who tries too hard to be Wesley Snipes).
Roger Dorn now owns the team, Jake Taylor is a coach and both Pedro Cerrano and Rick Vaughn have gone soft.
The premise of the movie is basically the same as the original "Major League." The team was good at the end of last year, starts out lousy and now is trying to get to the playoffs again.I won't go into the ridiculousness of a catcher who can't throw a ball back to the pitcher being on a Major League roster or a right fielder who practices yoga-type exercises in the field during play.
Like I said, I wanted to like this movie but I just couldn't."Major League II" is a rehashing of the original with the same basic plot and less comedy.
I personally loved the original "Major League," and feel it's a classic among sports movies.
You have no manners!" And how can we have a kick-ass sequel without the return of Charlie Sheen as Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn?!!!
When Wild Thing finally returns to his old ways (don't worry, I'm not giving anything away) you just want to jump up and cheer like you're at the game yourself and sing along to "Wild Thing." The coach (James Gammon) returns and has a funny subplot in which he passes out from a heart attack, getting sent to the hospital and not being allowed to watch baseball since doctors feel it'll be detrimental to his health.
Its basically a weaker version of the first film so I can't say its a bad movie but I can't say I liked it either
In addition, they have also acquired a veteran catcher by the name of "Jack Parkman" (David Keith) and a rookie at the same position named "Rube Baker" (Eric Bruskotter) to replace "Jake Taylor" (Tom Berenger) who has moved to a coaching spot.
However, things aren't necessarily as good as they seem as the players they counted on have all lost their spark and to make matters even worse Roger Dorn overestimated his investment and has had to resell the team to--of all people--Rachel Phelps.
All things considered then, while it wasn't a great film by any means, I suppose it wasn't necessarily that bad and I have rated it accordingly.
Major League was funny, engaging and exciting and the baseball was reasonably realistic.
Instead, he wrote, in my opinion, one of the most incisive and thorough looks at behind-the-scenes major league baseball that Hollywood has ever produced.If you approach this movie from a drama perspective, rather than solely a comedy one, you will see that it addresses what motivates (and hinders) big-league players, not only in baseball, but in all professional sports.Of important note was; the effect that romantic partners can have on the individual's performance, the role (and prevalence) of psycho-therapy as a much-resorted-to tool in the player's arsenal, the need for money as impetus-to-perform and the need to just be a a part of baseball (Jake Taylor's eventual concession to go from player to coach).
For Rick Vaughan, it was to live every moment like it could be his last.., and to forget about tomorrow.The skull-duggery and chicanery in M.L.B. were not shied-way-from in this movie: The general manager still had a vendetta against the team and wanted it to lose (probably for financial reasons).
The disgusting, vile hate that spews from some "fans" mouths is even worse that that displayed by Quaid.A brilliant-if-exaggerated example of the psychological role in athletic performance is that characterized by the catcher (Rube Baker, played by Eric Bruskotter): He needed a distraction to prevent him from thinking (and worrying) too much when he threw the ball back to the pitcher.Athletes use these devices all the time, and many infielders have lost their fear of the ball with similar psychological tactics.Vaughan decided to allow passion back into his life, and was all-the-better for it.
I wish they had given Hayes a bigger role in the movie, he perhaps learning a mnemonic to break a batting slump.The funny parts kept Major League II entertaining, but anyone who knows baseball can realize that this movie is much, much more.
James Gammon as the team's manager was the ideal casting choice, and his short scene when Tom Berenger visited his home is one of the most memorable baseball scenes I have ever seen in a movie.
I would have liked Major League II to have gotten a little deeper inside Vaughan's head...Just a couple more scenes where perhaps Nikki, perhaps the shrink, perhaps the kids.., help Rick find out why he started hedging his bets in life.
When he intentionally walked the utility player to get to the slugger Parkman, we knew he was again "throwing his A game".Without becoming melo-dramatic or insisting on turning the movie into a serious baseball drama, David Ward and R.J. Stewart gave us something of lasting value.
If you watch Major League II just looking for goofy antics, you'll probably rate it poorly.., or maybe your eyes are just getting old..
In movies like this, I personally don't really care how good the acting is or how corny the plot is (cheesy romance, ridiculous comebacks, etc) so long as it remains interesting.
Like, Will Gehring, Ph.D., I also played a character in this movie (White Sox pitcher on Opening Day who gives up long fly balls to Willie Mays Hayes (Epps)).
I think there were a few too many new characters trying to be developed in a short amount of time and it left the movie disjointed, which didn't keep the funny parts held together or the viewer continually interested.
I can't explain how anyone could get the idea that a near identical retelling of "Major League" Part I got actually be a success with any audience at all.I mean, the wisecracks and the sitcom in Part I worked - but you can't make a movie by just repeating them!!!The few new elements were quite lame, and what totally destroyed it was the terrible German dubbing job.So this a definite no no.
I like baseball movies, so after laughing wildly at "Major League" I thought i would give the sequel a try.
"Major League 2" does not have nearly as many laughs as the original, but it certainly does have it moments.
But overall this movie was fun to watch because most of the team was back from the original..
Charlie Sheen as Ricky "the wild thing" Vaughn has replaced Tom Berenger's Jake Taylor as the film's leading man, and centers around The Wild Thing basically being castrated and becoming more commercial and career seeking.
A recurring cameo by the ever funny Randy Quaid is totally wasted, Sheen and Berenger look bored.The original was hardly original (hmmm...) but it was well written and expertly performed; a real home run.
As far as I'm aware this didn't do nearly as well as the original in theaters and it's not hard to understand why.Most of the original cast returns - mainly Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen though - to once again spoof baseball.
Major League 2(1994) never expands on that relationship thus making the film less enjoyable to watch.
Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) returns but is no longer the Wild Thing.
Omar Epps is the new Willie Mays Hayes who's in love with the long ball and his B-movie role.
Major League II (1994) ** (out of 4) Lame sequel finds most of the original cast members back as the Cleveland Indians try to improve on their previous season.
To call MAJOR LEAGUE II a disappointment would be an understatement especially when you consider how great the original was.
They just casually slipped that in there like we weren't supposed to notice, but I never really could accept this as being the same character that I loved so much in the first film.As far as the comedy, it's a bit more slap-stick than the original.
They just casually slipped that in there like we weren't supposed to notice, but I never really could accept this as being the same character that I loved so much in the first film.As far as the comedy, it's a bit more slap-stick than the original.
You get "Major League II", a watchable but weak sequel to a classic film.Charlie Sheen carries this film, easily.
But the real selling point -- if there is one -- is Randy Quaid, whose "Wild Thing" taunts were just about the only funny parts in the whole film.Worse a look if you liked the original, but you might just be better off pretending this one never existed..
If you're looking for a baseball comedy, stick with the original Major League..
It's still good because of Charlie Sheen and David Keith's roles in the movie, but there's not enough baseball action.
Omar Epps wasn't bad, but he didn't have the stuff that Wesley Snipes had as Willie Mays Hayes in the first one.
Save your money and rent the original Major League movie instead.*.
(Check the ring on Taylor's finger.) But she only has 1 scene.Pedro & Dorn are both embarressments & Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Sheen) is riding down that road in the beginning of the movie but by the end, he comes to his senses with the help of an old biker flame & a bunch of could-be j.d.'s.
"Major League 2" brings back almost the entire cast from the original and adds a few new faces as well.
You got an All-Star cast of not only the BEST actor in any baseball movie ever created, yes, Tom Beringer..
(It's only fitting, because Major League 2 is itself a fun and care-free movie.) But that's not all!
(And my grandmother could have played a better Jake Taylor than the hypnotically boring Tom Berenger.) Still, I am thinking of buying this movie because I never tire of watching it..
Not nearly as funny as Major League this is still a decent enough sequel.
Omar Epps replaces Wesley Snipes and while I like both actors Snipes was better as Willie Mays Hayes.
I know some people are reading that title and thinking, "Wow, this guy's an idiot." But please, hear me out."Major League II" is the best of the trilogy, and is an absolutely hilarious baseball film for those who know the game well, and know how truly outlandish this movie is.
Outlandish, however, in a good way.First let me tell you that "Major League II" is a cult classic amongst young baseball players on Long Island.
For example, a pitcher might come in out of the bullpen to face a couple of batters, perform poorly, and then immediately get yanked out of the game...Cue someone on the bench saying, "Nice game." Others on the bench will instantly begin laughing, and then talk about another scene they think of from "Major League II." The "nice game" line is a reference to manager Jake Taylor taking Roger Dorn out of the game following his only at bat of the season...a hit by pitch.
After a hilarious "oh God!" and tumble to the ground, Dorn temporarily refuses to be relieved by a pinch runner.He eventually gives in and is greeted by Taylor, who pats him on the butt and says, "Nice game." Of course there are other classics like: "He'd need a rocket up his a$$ to get to that one!"; Jack Parkman mimicking Taylor's bad knees during the preseason; "I think I'll call it the 'Masterbator'; 'Kamikaze' Tanaka's many amusing contributions; 'Wild Thing' Vaughn's "that's enough for today" after five pitches in Spring Training...and more.Look, with "Major League II," you can't take it seriously.
Just take this film for what it is...The funniest baseball movie of all time, and quite simply, the best..
The original "Major League" had a distinct heart that's all but gone this lackluster sequel.
Retreading the first movie in nearly every way, "Major League II" takes the lazy way out and turns these great characters into cartoons for cheap laughs.
Major League II is still a good movie but by no means is it in the same league as the original Major League.The first movie ends with the Indians finally making the playoffs for the first time in 40 years.
They went onto being swept by the White Sox in the ALCS so the enemy team of this movie is now the W.Sox. The Indians big free agent pickup in the off season was a guy named Jack Parkman who while a great player ends up being a real prick and causing dissension in the clubhouse.
For people not on the team you have Randy Quaid in a good role as the heckler in the outfield, very funny.
I don't know why there's so many negative reviews for this film when I think it's just as good as the original and in some respects, even better.
It makes sense to have Charlie Sheen be the focus this time as his story is more interesting than Tom Berenger as the focus in the original.
There were enough changes in this film to make it a little different but still keep it like the original.
Then the movie actually kept its consistency when the Indians started winning, and I believe it was great all the way to the end. |
tt0066835 | Black Killer | James Webb arrives to town with a casket full of books. He discovers that the judge co-operates with the wanted O'Hara brothers, who make farmers sign over their land deeds and then kill them. The deeds are then deposited with the judge. Webb, who has presented himself to the judge as a lawyer, finds that since these deeds are not registered they will forfeit to the judge if the O'Haras are killed.
The O'Haras suspect Webb to be a government agent, but later they intercept and kill the real agent. They also raid town and kill the sheriff in anger when they don't get enough protection money.
Burt Collins arrives in town and asks for his brother Peter, who lives outside town with his Native American wife, Sarah. He kills two of O'Hara's men who cheat at gambling. He seems willing to follow the advice of Ramon O'Hara (who owns the saloon) to leave in the morning, but Webb visits his hotel room to suggest a plan.
In the morning Burt is challenged by three O'Hara men and kills them. Webb has earlier convinced the judge that according to the law he must become sheriff if none is appointed, and Burt is offered to become sheriff instead of standing trial. He accepts and the judge suggests that they share the land 50-50. The O'Haras are told that Burt is visiting his brother. They surround the house and capture the brothers when they come out. Burt is beaten unconscious and Peter is killed when he tries to stop them from raping Sarah. Then they set fire to the house.
Burt and Sarah now avenge themselves on the O’Hara gang. They get information from Consuela, a young woman who works at the saloon. In the morning after the gang’s celebration at the saloon one of the malefactors is killed by gunshots from Burt and by an arrow from Sarah. The O’Haras have Consuela taken to a mine to serve as bait to catch Burt. Burt and Sarah kill the guards with arrow and knife. They enter the cave and kill the gang member who is in the process of raping Consuela, but the girl is killed by a stray bullet.
Sarah and Burt kill the guards at the O'Hara ranch with arrow and snare. They hang one of the guards outside the window to make the men come out. Inside, Burt confronts Pedro O’Hara in the darkness of a closed room. When a man opens the door he exposes Pedro and is killed with him. Outside Sarah kills men with a rifle, until they run away, leaving Miguel O'Hara. She shoots an arrow with burning dynamite. After the explosion he cries that he is blind and then falls down.
Webb accuses the judge, who offers him 50%. When the offer is refused he takes a gun from his drawer but is killed by Webb with a gun concealed in a book. Webb picks the safe and takes papers and money. He is surprised by Sarah, who was sent by Burt to detain him, but he tricks her, takes her gun and ties her up.
Burt arrives into town with the bodies of the O'Haras and offers Ramon a choice between the gun and jail. He shoots The Mexican's rifle from his hand and shoots another man coming down the stairs. The two now fight and come out in the street, where O’Hara uses a hayfork. Webb appears and shoots down two O'Hara henchmen from the roof. Ramon goes for a rifle in a saddle holster but is shot by a gun that Webb throws to Burt.
Citizens gather around the corpses. Webb gives Burt the deeds taken from Wilson. Sarah has set herself free and arrives with a gun. Burt calms her, but still he arrests Webb for the murder of the judge, and cuffs him to take him to a judge in Canyon City. He gives back the star and answers vaguely to Sarah's question about when he will be back. At the junction to Canyon city he sets Webb free. The latter says, "You fooled me.” Burt replies that he wanted half of the money rather than the land. They separate. | western | train | wikipedia | a fairly good spaghetti western.
This spaghetti western has a very good music score and a great performance by Klaus Kinski as a strange lawyer who kills with books that have guns inside of them.
His look and mannerisms fit the character perfectly.Not only does this western have Kinski, it also has a family of Mexican thugs named O'Hara!
There's definitely nothing like a good old Italian western.This is one of those movies that will have you scratching your head a lot if you try to make perfect sense of everything that happens.
It's got style, action, violence, weirdness, and an interesting though somewhat vague storyline.All in all, it's pretty good stuff for the spaghetti western fan..
So-so Spaghetti Western with a mysterious gunman confronting vicious brothers in the town of Tombstone.
It is an entertaining Pasta western with lots of action , gun-play and fun .
The town of Tombstone is at the mercy of the five feared O'Hara brothers : Ramon (Antonio Cantafora or Michael Coby) , Pedro ,Miguel , Ryan & Slide (played by unknown actors) who torture and kill several sheriffs .
An expert gunslinger , Burt Collins (Fred Robsham) arrives in Tombstone , when his brother is murdered , Burt is immediately persuaded to take on the duties of sheriff and he then accepts , but he is really seeking vengeance .
Meantime , the cunning Judge Wilson (Dante Maggio as Dan May) is assisted by a strange lawyer , James Webb (Klaus Kinski), watching mostly in the background and who always carries two large law books with him .
Burt helped by the beautiful Indian Sarah Collins (Marina Malfatti) chases the malicious killers and the ending settle disputes by shooting .This Italian production is a moving S.W. movie starred by Fred Robsham , Klaus Kinski and Marina Malfatti .
The film deals with a mysterious stranger , become a new sheriff , who vows to clean up the town of dreaded outlaws ; and it takes on a strange gunslinger against treacherous gang : the O'Hara brothers .
This Spaghetti movie gets the usual Western issues , such as greedy antiheroes , violent facing off , quick zooms , and exaggerated baddies .
It is an acceptable , passable Western with several titles as ¨Matador Nego¨ or ¨Pistoleiro Negro¨ , or ¨Assassino Negro¨ or ¨Black Killer¨ that contains an interesting and violent plot about a sheriff seeking vendetta .
It packs crosses and double crosses , thrills , shoot'em up , violence , and results to be quite entertaining , though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs .
There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing some pursuits , crossfire or stunts every few minutes .
It's a thrilling western with breathtaking confrontation between the protagonist against the heartless enemies formed by a brutal gang of Mexican brothers led by Antonio Cantafora .
The main starring is the unknown Fred Robsahm and the popular Klaus Kinski who appears elegantly dressed and with a brilliant look , gaining a reputation for his ferocious talent and equally ferocious temper ; Kinski plays as a strange lawyer who occasionally joins in on the action with his deadly law books .
This Spaghetti is made during his Italian period when Klaus starred a lot of Westerns , later he collaborated with Werner Herzog with whom played several prestigious films .
As Kinski starred numerous Spaghetti such as : Pray to Kill and Return Alive , Black Killer , If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death , Bullet King , Shangai Joe , Clint the solitary , The Ruthless Four , Nevada Kid , The return of Clint , and specially famous resulted to be his acting in ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ .
There is a very odd implementation of shots in the camera work during some particular scenes as well as a lot of twists and turns , as the film approaches its climax , as in the final and the customary conclusion .
Atmospheric Eastmancolor cinematography by Franco Villa in WideScreen , though being necessary a good remastering and filmed in De Paolis/INCIR Studios , Italy Elios studios Rome , as usual , and El Lacio .
Enjoyable and thrilling musical score by Daniele Patucchi , including catching leitmotif .The motion picture was middlingly directed by Carlo Croccolo , under pseudonym Lucky Moore , and it was filmed in parallel with another spaghetti western , "Gunman of One Hundred Crosses" , which also was directed and also starred by Marina Malfatti along with Tony Kendall , Jessica Dublín , Mimmo Palmara , Ray Saunders .
Carlo Croccolo is usually a secondary actor and occasionally filmmaker , as he has played several films as ¨After the Fox" , ¨In Love and War¨, ¨Three man and a leg¨, ¨Yesterday , Today and tomorrow¨, ¨El Avaro¨, Via Lattea La Prima a Destra , ¨Il Professor¨ , ¨O Re¨, ¨Perdono¨, ¨The Biggest Bundle of Them All" , among others ..
Cool Spaghetti Western!!!.
A dark, gritty and to the bone nihilistic western, that is really fun to watch.
But it's blessed with many cool scenes of violence, strange dialog and good old sleazzzzz.
He does a lot of the stunt work in this movie (not just he's own).
Kinski is cool as the weird lawyer that has a strange habit of transforming he's law books into deadly weapons.
Great soundtrack and some nice cinematography gives the film good atmosphere and it's well worth the watch.
A spaghetti western that's a mixed bag.
Much of the positive that is to be found in "Black Killer" can be found with Klaus Kinski and the character he plays.
There is also some novelty that Kinski is playing a lawyer (!), though one who is handy with a gun.
Other positive things in the movie include a good musical score, as well as some good shoot-outs.
And there is a significant amount of nudity, which you usually don't see in a spaghetti western.
This isn't a bad movie, but I would only recommend it to Kinski fans and/or spaghetti western fans..
Entertaining Kinski spaghetti western.
Many spaghetti westerns had absurd gimmicks that made them memorable while at the same time subverting the iconography of their traditional American counterparts.
Perhaps most famously there was Django and his coffin, in Black Killer we have Klaus Kinski's lawyer with his guns disguised as books!
Like a lot of the spaghetti western gimmicks it's simultaneously completely silly and very cool.
On the whole though, its business as usual spaghetti western style in this movie.
We have a lawless town called, perhaps unsurprisingly, Tombstone which is terrorised by a gang of Mexican bandits called somewhat improbably the O'Hara gang.
A mysterious drifter called Burt who is adept with a fire-arm comes into town and is made new sheriff by the fearful locals.
The bandits subsequently kill his brother and rape his sister-in-law, an Indian called Sarah.
Burt and Sarah band together, with the help of Kinski's lawyer to get revenge.To be honest, the story-telling is a little confused and messy in this one.
But it ultimately is a pretty straightforward violent western.
The sexual violence is fairly unpleasant, while one of the unfortunate early sheriffs is shot several times and then killed with a knife.
It was good to see the character of Sarah get in on the retribution though – a female Indian with deadly skills with a bow and arrow made for a pleasant contrast to the typical taciturn gunfighter anti-hero she teams up with.
Kinski is good as always as the lawyer who we can only assume the film is named after.
All-in-all though, this is a pretty entertaining spaghetti western..
Mediocre Spaghetti Western.
I'm a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns, but unfortunately; Black Killer really isn't one of the best.
The thing that I like best about this type of film is the entertainment value; and that is where Black Killer unfortunately falls down.
The film is likely to be a target for many because of the fact that it stars the great Klaus Kinski, and indeed the actor the helped to make The Great Silence such a pleasure puts in a decent performance amidst a somewhat tedious movie.
The plot is all over the place, but seems to have something to do with Kinski's lawyer character (complete with gun concealing books) and a band of Mexicans.
The atmosphere is gritty, and the film features a handful of fairly nasty scenes; although it's not nearly as action packed as some of the other Spaghetti Westerns released around the same time.
You cant really expect coherency from seventies Spaghetti Westerns, of course, and it really wouldn't be a problem if director Carlo Croccolo had managed to make the action entertaining and the characters interesting; but unfortunately this didn't happen.
The title refers to the fact that Kinski dresses in black and goes around killing people; but even this theme has been done better in other films (e.g. The Grand Dual).
Overall, someone may get some enjoyment out of this; but in a genre populated by entertaining films; I can't recommend seeing this one..
A bunch of Mexican bandidos are terrorizing a Western frontier town with the aid of a local banker.
A mysterious wonky-faced stranger (Klaus Kinski) turns up.
He's got loads of books with guns in them and seems to be some sort of lawyer.
Another more normal faced stranger turns up and after killing some bandidos, finds himself the new sheriff.
This in turn causes the bandidos to go and murder his brother and gang-rape his sister in law.
You know the drill.This one tries to bring the old tired plot in line with the increasing excesses of the seventies by including nudity (hilariously random when it happens and nothing to do with anything!) and more violence and bloodshed.
The rather bloody killing of the first sheriff aside, most of the first half of the film kind of wanders round in circles while they try and establish a reason for the gunslinger to get revenge on the bandits.That said, they do also have the sister-in-law go on the rampage too – which also makes this some kind of half-arsed rape revenge flick too, but this plot has been driven into the ground and in being more extreme Black Killer ignores the tongue-in-cheek elements that make Guiliano Carnimeo's films of the same year more enjoyable.I'm guessing though that Klaus Kinski fans would like it though.
He's quite substantial here instead of the usual cameo, and is dubbed with a rather strange voice.*Pulls up chair* You know, years ago, I said to the missus I said "I like Italian horror films, and the Mad Max rip offs, so I'm just gonna collect them" I said, saying in a speaking voice "I'll never collect Spaghetti Westerns
that way lies madness." I intoned in a sexy, breathy voice to the empty room I was addressing as the missus has already left by that point.And I never did.
Klaus Kinski is a book nut and that's why I had to book myself to see this movie!
This dark movie was surprising, pretty interesting..
There are so many spaghetti westerns that have some weird film concepts.
This movie is one of those films; that deserve one more glance.
After all, there isn't a lot of western movies that has a character, James Webb, (Klaus Kinski) a lawyer that disguise his guns with books!
It was a bit surprising to find out that Klaus Kinski isn't the main lead of this movie, but more like a supporting character.
I was hoping, he was, as it would make the movie, a little more memorable.
Since, the movie doesn't really focus much on him, the movie directed by Carlo Croccolo AKA Lucky Moore goes another route with the normal often cliché concept of a mysterious drifter rescuing a fearful lawless town from bandits or gangs.
In this movie, that drifter is named Burt Collins (Fred Robsahm) who become the new sheriff of the town call Tombstone when the previous one was killed by a Mexican gang known as the O'Hara Brothers: Ramon (Antonio Cantafora), Pedro (Enzo Pulcrano), Miguel (Calogero Caruana), Ryan (Antonio Danesi) & Slide (Mimmo Maggio).
The movie was surprising very grim & violent, compare to other Spaghetti Westerns at the time.
There were some really hard to watch, brutal moments like the rape scene that might turn off, some people.
The movie also has a lot more gratuitous nudity than I thought, coming in.
Both Tiziana Dini as Consuelo and Marina Malfatti as Sarah Collins are beautiful ladies, and seeing them in the buff is a guilty pleasure, even if it didn't make any sense and seem very unnecessary.
She had a very good back story, and purpose to take revenge on the O'Hara brothers.
She was badass, most of the film, shooting arrows and stabbing bad guys in the neck.
The lead, Fred Robsahm wasn't that bad, but his character was a bit confusing and dry.
There's a very pointless and totally implausible plot-twist near the end, which perfectly summarizes the overall clumsiness of this unconventional Spaghetti Western.
About the James Webb character, I was really hoping that he turned out to be a villain, because Klaus Kinski play it off, like he was.
There were a lot of things that he did that made you question, who side, he was really playing on.
Some of the film editing was bit awkward.
It was cuts so badly, that it make it seem like two characters were in the same room when they were in two different locations.
There were some serious plot hole due to the editing like the missing redhead that was to go warn the main character, but she just basically disappears and there's no mention of her anymore.
The music by Daniele Patucchi sounds more like Australia outback than American western, it's still very impressive.
The movie was often use as stock footage for later films such as 1972's Bounty Hunter in Trinity.
This ultra-low budget gem is often badly copy in DVDs with discoloring and dirty grain film footage.
It felt like it was watching a movie in the nonstop pouring rain.
Nevertheless, it's still was a tremendously fun and action-packed gunslinger movie.
Overall: A must watch for any Spaghetti Western fan..
He appeared in many Spaghetti Westerns, some of which are widely acclaimed masterpieces by now ("The Great Silence", "Bullet for the General"...) and others still are very obscure and nearly impossible to trace down, like "Black Killer".
This ultra-low budget gem can hardly be called a masterpiece, but it's nevertheless a tremendously fun and action-packed gunslinger adventure.
The title doesn't refer to a cowboy with a dark skin color, but to Mr. Kinski himself, and he doesn't even play the lead role.
That's how proud the creators must have been for being able to cast the Klaus Kinski, ha!
Klaus plays a mysterious and freaky lawyer, entirely dressed in black and always carrying around books that contain guns instead of knowledge, and he's temporarily hanging around in the little town of Tombstone.
The remote town is under the constant siege of terror of the five Mexican O'Hara brothers, who killed no less than NINE Sheriffs in only a couple of weeks time.
The local authorities assign lone traveler Burt Collins as the new Sheriff, but the murderous O'Hara clan immediately kill his brother and rape his Indian sister-in-law.
Collins teams up with the awkward lawyer to terminate the reign of the O'Hara's once and for all.
The plot of "Black Killer" is a little too confusing and convoluted for its own good sometimes, but director Croccolo easily forces you to look past the script's incoherence and focus on the outrageous sequences of explicit violence as well as the awesomely ingenious gimmicks.
The lawyer's method of killing people is original, to say the least, and the O'Hara brothers too come up with inventive ways to viciously entertain themselves.
The gunfights and executions are quite nasty, and particularly the rape-scene is unsettling to watch, as it seems to last for several whole minutes.
Tiziana Dini provides the film with an overload of gratuitous but welcome nudity, while the rest of the cast delivers more than adequate acting performances Daniele Patucchi's musical score is very enchanting and the filming locations are overall convincing.
There's a very pointless and totally implausible plot-twist near the end, which perfectly summarizes the overall awkwardness of this unconventional Spaghetti Western.
In conclusion, "Black Killer" certainly lacks the quality and competence to rank among Italy's best Westerns, but there's more than enough stuff to recommend if you're an open-minded admirer of the genre.
Predictable But Sadistic Spaghetti Western with Klaus Kinski.
Klaus Kinski plays a mysterious attorney named James Webb who dresses like a tenderfoot but conceals firearms in his law books.
He rides into Tombstone and finds himself caught in the middle of a war between trigger-happy Mexican brothers improbably named the O'Hara and two American brothers, Peter and Burt Collins, and Peter's pretty Indian wife Sarah.
Webb serves as a catalyst to see that the O'Hara brothers are wiped out by Burt Collins and the Indian girl after the O'Haras kill his younger brother Peter and rape Sarah.
Director Carlo Croccolo's Spaghetti western is sadistic, violent, and indulges in gratuitous nudity.
The Kinski character--James Webb--lurks on the periphery, implicating a corrupt town official, Judge Wilson who is in cahoots with the O'Hara clan.
The murder of the sheriff as the film unfolds is particularly brutal.
This low-budget Italian western contains heroes who don't catch on quickly enough, and many people have to die before they go into action in the final quarter-hour to clean out the villains.
Croccolo and co-scenarist Luigi Angelo of "Judge Roy Bean" (1971) spring a last minute surprise on Webb when Burt disarms him and takes him into custody for killing Wilson. |
tt1727358 | Panic Button | Four young people win the competition of a lifetime; Jo (Scarlett Alice Johnson), Max (Jack Gordon), Gwen (Elen Rhys) and Dave (Michael Jibson) head off on an all expenses paid trip to New York, courtesy of the social network All2gethr.com. As they board the private jet, they are asked to relinquish their mobile phones and take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience.
As Jo climbs into the car she hands her daughter a cell phone so they could text each other. As she leaves a man enters her mother's house and kills the mother. What happens to the daughter remains unknown.
The four contestants soon meet; Dave, is soon to be married but has a little bit of a self-control problem around women. Jo, is a single mother who had just gotten out of rehab. Gwen seems to be a sweet girl and is a counselor on All2gether.com but doesn't take her own advice. Max is a liar and a strange guy.
As they board the aeroplane the chauffeur takes their phones. After flying, Max and Jo realises a strange door that would lead to the cockpit. Round 1 begins with a three question quiz for each player. Dave scores a 0 out of 3, claiming to have only one tattoo (no piercings), made 9 field goals, and had never seen the girl on screen when actually he has tattoo on his back and a piercing on his scrotum, made 0 field goals and got banned from playing because he assaulted a rival player, and had an affair with the girl on the screen. Jo scores 2 out of 3, claiming to drink 20 virtual alcoholic drinks online per week, claims the picture on the screen was her during her alcoholic period, and she was offline for three months because she was in therapy for her drinking problem, when actually she drinks 30 virtual drinks online per week and even more in actual life. Max scores 0 out of 3, claiming to be grade 5 on classical violin, viewed his mother's All2gether.com page the most (which Dave feels is sad that his mother has a page), and has no idea of the first thing he bought online until the alligator pulls up a picture of genital wart solution which he claims to have never bought, when actually he is still on grade 1 for failing the test several times, he has viewed Jenny's page the most, looking at her albums 237 times, and bought a container of genital wart solution after a holiday when he was 17.
Gwen is last, scoring 1 out of 3 claiming she has no idea which celebrity she is compared to the most, has no idea who the man is on the screen, and she is "Guardian Angel", when actually she is compared to Katie Brooks because of the eating disorder she had when she was 15, the boy was Neil Harris which she dedicated her All2gether page to torment him, and she was "Guardian Angel" on a helping hands counselor site. Summary, she is a hypocrite because she should take her own advice before helping others. As Round 1 ends, Dave wonders where the picture of the girl came from because it was nowhere on his page.
Jo looks out the window and stares at the storm claiming to Max that the weather over the Atlantic ocean was supposed to be clear. Max tells her there is nothing to worry about. Round 2 begins, Kiss and Tell. The alligator shows them a video of some men tormenting a man and eventually killing him. Jo reacts to it claiming she never watched it. The alligator pulls up info saying she watched it one night, again the next morning, and sent it to five of her friends saying "OMG THIS NASTY, WATCH TIL THE END!" she then claims that she is done playing the game. Gwen is next, the alligator pulls up a quiz called "What kind of lover are you?" which she took multiple times. The quiz called her a "kinky lover" which the alligator states wasn't true because she lied on half of her quiz. He then pulls up question four "How many people have you slept with" she claims it was none of his business he says it is none of his business yet she posted it on an online website for everyone to see. He then asks the question again and she sticks with her answer that it was none of his business. He then pulls up a virtual avatar site with her avatar name "Cherry Bomb" and she admits to sleeping with no one. She wonders how he knows all of this. He claims that anyone can see anything that anyone does on All2gether.com. Dave is next, the alligator says he visited videos on a Japanese website and watched some videos "Two girls and a horse", "Too young to run", etc. He then asks if Dave considered the ages of the girls in the videos and asks Dave if he remembers the video that he watched a total four times, claiming that it will come back to haunt him. Dave feels the need to defend himself, saying he isn't a pervert and that everyone watches things that they shouldn't have. Dave then goes to the cockpit door and pounds on it, the alligator tells him to sit down countless times. Dave refuses. The alligator says that since Dave has refused to go along with the rules he has forfeited. The alligator brings onto the screen all the friends of Dave and stops at Rory. the screen changes to the inside of a house, a man with a torch is walking to the door with a gun. He walks into the bedroom and finds Rory playing video games. He knocks Rory out with the gun and shoots him in the head. Max begins to tap on the screen and finds that the email is blocked. Max broke the rules and issued the forfeit. He chooses his friend Allan. The screen goes to a guy in front of a door, a man with a bat begins to pound on him, then pushes him off the railing of the stairs. The alligator assures them that the game is very real. Round 2 is over.
Jo then sees lights outside from land. She claims that they shouldn't be anywhere near land. Max pulls the screen off the wall and punches the wall and hooks the screen to power cords inside the wall. The screen pulls up and shows that their destination is not New York, but Oslo, Norway. Round 3 begins, Do or Die. They will be given an assignment and if they do not follow more deaths will commence. Jo goes into the bathroom and puts on the headphones. Her mission is not known, but if she fails to follow or tells someone her daughter would be killed. Sophie is then shown on the screen inside a bunker house. Jo comes out of the bathroom and takes her seat. Max asks her questions but she refuses to answer or look at them. Dave enters the bathroom and puts on the headsets. If he doesn't follow his fiancée, Sarah, will be killed. Dave exits the bathroom crying. Gwen is next. Gwen hesitates but does the same as the others. Instead she hears crying from her sister. On the screen it shows the man pouring petrol on her. Max is last. He refuses to go until Dave tells him to. On the screen it shows his brother, Mike, tied to a table with the man holding a machete. Max exits and they sit in silent. The alligator tells them that they have 45 minutes to complete their mission, if not their special person dies. At the 45 minute mark the plane would crash into the All2gether.com building and they would all die. Max grabs an Ax and begins to tear apart the plane. The alligator instructs Max to put down the axe or his brother will die. Max does so, but because he gave away some of his mission, the man chops off Mike's arm. Max tells the alligator that he isn't really Max. He explains that he hacked into Max's account and changed everything, that he thought they would've caught him at the airport seeing as how he was 25 and Max was 21, but they didn't. He refuses to tell them who he really is. Dave ends up furious and fights with Max. Jo instructs him to prove who he is. Max pulls out a carton of cigarettes and his passport. Dave believes he is telling the truth. He then walks into the bathroom and puts on the headphones. The alligator instructs that they have all revealed clues to their missions and the result must be consequences. Dave tells the alligator he knows who Max really is. The screen ends on a picture of his fiancée. Jo makes her way to the bar and grabs a bottle of wine. She pours three glasses and Max drinks all three. Back in the bathroom, Dave pleas with the alligator to let his fiancée go, but the alligator says that he has another task and instructs Dave to kill one of the passengers in 3 minutes. Dave grabs the axe and threatens them. Swinging it he attacks Max hitting him in the chest. Max kicks the axe away and they begin attacking each other. Dave grabs a bottle and Max grabs the axe. Dave hits him in the head and Max kills Dave. The alligator then kills Sarah.
Gwen walks into the bathroom and the alligator instructs her to put the headsets on. Gwen tells him that she couldn't do what the alligator told her but he reassigns her to seduce Max. Gwen helps Max carry Dave off so no one will look at him. Gwen takes him into the bathroom to treat his arm. She helps him peel his shirt off and cleans it with her scarf. Gwen then tries to kiss him but he pulls away multiple times. Gwen pleas with him saying that if they didn't do it her sister is going to die. They begin to make out when Max runs into the side of the bathroom to find it hollow then remembers that's where the luggage is. The alligator tell Gwen that she has failed her task, he then tells her that she must stop Max or her sister will die. She refuses to move out of Max's way and attacks him with the Axe. Jo attacks Gwen and snaps her neck. The alligator tells them that Gwen has failed her task and sets her sister on fire.
Max continues to attack the door. When he busts the door down a smell overcomes the entire plane. He finds trash bags. When he opens one it reveals Max's brother. They realize that they have been watching recordings. Max finds his laptop and Jo desperately looks for Sophie. Jo stumbles across her mother and the cockpit door slowly opens. The pilot holds a taser to them and crushes the laptop. They take the pilot down and he tells them that he is just doing what he is told because he has his family. He tells them he came home the day before yesterday and his house was torn apart. Max's vision begins to fade. Jo tells him that everyone is dead. Max begins choking. Jo helps him into a chair and tells him she's sorry that she poisoned him when he drank all three glasses of wine. The alligator shows the pilot's family on the screen. The pilot shocks Jo with the taser and goes back into the cockpit. Jo wakes up and the alligator shows her a video of a young girl taking as many pills as she could to commit suicide, Lucy Turner age 15. The alligator tells her that all four of them commented on the video, they all watched it at exactly the same time. Gwen, "Not even god can forgive you if you do this. Where will you spend eternity?", only made it worse, a hypocrite hiding behind her Christian views (her sister died by fire). Dave, "WTF!!! Another sad attention-seeking trip to causality and a stomach pump. Do it right or don't do it at all!!!!!! Hang yourself and be sure ;-)", merely mocked her agony (Sarah died by hanging), and when he shared the video, Rory committed "Dumb bitch! if i were as ugly as you i'd probably do the same. LOL!!!!!" Jo tells him that he killed the wrong person, because the man on the plane wasn't Max. He tells her that he will catch up with Max soon enough. Alan also commented on Max's shared video, "Cheer up Retard! ROFL!" But he tells Jo that she is most at fault because she sat there and watched it happen, as his little girl killed herself. That they all deserved what happened to them and their punishment was just and fit. She tells him that no one is going to care about it, that no one is going to know. The screen then changes to the camera on her. He tells her that the video is going to go viral after he removes everything about him. She demands to know what happened to her daughter. He tells her that he took out her eyes as Jo's punishment. She claims that Lucy killed herself because of him. Jo grabs the axe and busts the door down. She is sucked out of the plane as it crashes into the sea. The alligator is then revealed as he turns off the screen.
News reporters talk about how the wreckage confirms the video going worldwide. Sophie is shown in the bunker house playing with a doll, when the alligator walks in. He tells her that she is no longer Sophie, but Lucy. He introduces himself as Rupert Turner. He takes her hand and walks her out of the room into a living room where a woman (the chauffeur from earlier) and man (the baggage loader from before the flight) stand before her. The woman calls herself her mother, Annie, and the man her brother, Ed. (Sophie does have both of her eyes.) The film ends with them walking hand in hand out of the building. | revenge, murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt3070502 | Unstoppable | While moving a train pulled by AWVR AC4400CW's #777 and #767 at the Veteran Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad (AWVR) trainyard in the fictional city of Fuller, Pennsylvania, the two hostlers, Dewey and Gilleece, take ill-advised shortcuts and accidentally allow the engine to leave the train-yard on its own power without the air brakes engaged. Initially believing the train to be a "coaster", yardmaster Connie Hooper orders Dewey, Gilleece, and chief welder Ned Oldham to drive and catch up the train to stop it. When Oldham finds that the train has already passed where it was supposed to be, they realize that the train is running on full power and now poses a dangerous threat. Dewey and Gilleece manage to catch up to 777 using a high railing truck but fail to board the train in time. Hooper alerts Oscar Galvin, director of operations for AWVR, and also instructs the local and state police and sheriffs to secure all the grade crossings to prevent injury. Visiting Federal Railroad Administration safety inspector Scott Werner warns that 8 cars being pulled by 777 contain highly toxic, and highly flammable molten phenol which would be a major disaster if the train should crash or derail in a populated area. Triple 7 is also pulling around 5000 gallons of diesel fuel which also poses a serious threat. News of the runaway train soon becomes a media event.
However, Hooper suggests they purposely derail the train, but Galvin disagrees and believes they can safely stop the train by lashing it behind two slower-moving diesel engines helmed by veteran engineer Judd Stewart, slowing it down long enough for AWVR employee and former U.S. Marine Ryan Scott to descend via helicopter to 777's cab and stop the train manually. Though the lashing initially works, a sudden hard bump knocked Scott out and derailed the two diesel engines, causing them to explode, which ultimately kills Stewart in the process. They realize that 777, traveling at its current speed, will certainly derail on "Devil's Curve", a tight, elevated portion of track in the middle of the city of Stanton and would supposedly crash into a large fuel depot near the curve on the eastern side of the state. Plans are made to purposely derail the train outside the town of Arklow using a portable derailer.
Meanwhile, retiring AWVR engineer Frank Barnes and conductor Will Colson, a new hire looking to turn his life around after an incident with his now estranged wife, are pulling several cars with SD40-2 #1206 from Stanton. Though originally aware of 777 coasting away from the Fuller train yard, they are ordered at the last minute to pull into a Repair-In-Place track, making it just in time as 777 races by and clipping the last few cars they are pulling. Barnes observes that the last car on 777 has an open knuckle, which means that if they could catch up to the engine, they could couple their engine to 777 and use their own brakes to slow the train before it reaches Stanton. As Colson unhitches their cars to give them the best chance of catching up, Barnes reports his plan to Hooper and Galvin and warns them that the derailing idea will not work given 777's momentum, but Galvin threatens to fire Barnes if he continues. Given that AWVR has already given him a forced early retirement notice, Barnes ignores Galvin and sets 1206 on course to catch up with 777. As 777 passes Arklow, police attempt to shoot the fuel shutoff switch on the engine, but fail to hit it. As Barnes predicts, the train barrels through the derailers without slowing down or derailing. Hooper and Werner fully support Barnes' plan and take over control of the situation from Galvin.
Barnes and Colson catch up to 777 and attempt to engage the coupling. Their attempts to connect with 777 cause the grain car seal to break and leak grain at a blinding rate. Colson notices the locking pin on the coupler is not engaged. He attempts to kick it in but the couple again impacts 1206 and Colson gets his right foot crushed in the process. However, he is able to hold on enough to fully engage the locking pin. Barnes works his way across 777 to its cab, manually engaging the brakes on the freight cars along the way, while Colson engages 1206's dynamic brakes, which initially slow down 777, but would prove to be no match for 777's speed. They are able to reduce the speed slow enough to clear the Stanton Curve without derailing by using the independent brake, but 777 remains out of control and threatens to crash into the Stanton train yard. Despite attempting to reach the locomotive by jumping on the cars, Barnes finds his path blocked to 777's cab, but Oldham arrives in his truck with a police convoy and drives on a parallel road to the tracks. Colson jumps to Oldham's truck, and Oldham drives him up to the front of 777 allowing Colson to get into the cab and engage the brakes. 777 is safely stopped before it reaches the end of the line.
Barnes, Colson, and Oldham are heralded as heroes, with Barnes retiring (with full benefits) and Colson reuniting with his wife and child. Hooper is promoted to Galvin's former position for her leadership, Ryan Scott recovered from his injuries and Dewey goes to work into the fast food industry, indicating he was fired. | christian film | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0105450 | South Central | Bobby Johnson (Glenn Plummer) is a young black gang member of Hoover Street Deuces, or simply "Deuce". He gets paroled from the Youth Authority and he meets up with his best friend/fellow gang member Ray Ray (Byron Minns), Loco and Bear. As it turns out, Bobby's girlfriend Carole (LaRita Shelby) gave birth to his son Jimmy (Christian Coleman) while he was incarcerated. The Deuce gang goes out to a club owned by rival drug dealer Genie Lamp to celebrate Bobby's release, but Genie confronts them and threats are exchanged.
As Bobby and Jimmy attempt to return home from the party, they are approached by Genie Lamp and his bodyguard. The two force Bobby to come to Genie's apartment and snort a line of what he thought was cocaine, but is actually heroin. Genie threatens Bobby and the Deuce gang while he is incapacitated. Bobby returns home the next morning to find that Genie has given some of the same heroin to Carole and flies into a fit of rage. Bobby informs Ray Ray and the Deuce gang makes plans to execute Genie Lamp. They grab Genie in an abandoned warehouse. Despite Genie's pleas for forgiveness, Bobby carries out the execution by firing a gun through a potato into Genie's heart, and the gang flees the area as they hear the police sirens approaching. Later that evening, Ray Ray gives Bobby his "heart", a small tattoo below the left eyelid which is a symbol of full initiation into the Deuce gang and can only be earned by killing an enemy. Later, Bobby comes homes panicking over police looking for him and tells Carole to pack her things and they gotta move.
Some time later, Bobby and Carole are in hiding from the police who are pursuing Genie's murderers. Bobby looks out the window and Ken Dog, another Deuce gang member, pulls up with Loco in a brand new convertible. Ken Dog and Loco solicit the services of a prostitute who turns out to be an undercover cop and arrests them. The guys are taken to jail and Bobby is questioned by a detective for the murder of Genie Lamp. Bobby refuses to cooperate despite overwhelming evidence against him and the police allow him to see his son one last time. Bobby gets a ten-year prison sentence for the murder he committed.
Nearly ten years later, Jimmy is now with the Deuce gang, and meets with Ray Ray. Ray Ray informs Jimmy that he wants him to start stealing car stereos for him and Ray Ray will pay him for the stolen goods. Ray Ray then gives Jimmy some money and a marijuana joint.
The next scene switches over to Bobby who is in prison lifting weights, and defending his gangster pal, Loco, from a white supremacist-Aryan gang he is indebted over drugs with. Because of his interference, the Aryan gang puts a price on Bobby's head, as he inherits Loco's debt.
Over time, the film shows Jimmy stealing car stereos and selling them to Ray Ray for $20.00 a piece. While stealing one night, Jimmy is caught by Willie Manchester, the owner of the car, and is shot in the back. He is taken to a hospital where he fights for his life. When the news of this reaches Bobby in prison, he leaves the Deuce gang immediately. But not without revenge from the Aryan gang, due to his inherited debt. The Aryan gang eventually captures, assaults and attempts to rape Bobby, only to be interfered by a prison Muslim group, led by Ali. Ali agrees to pay Bobby's debt (with interest) to the Aryans, with Bobby joining Muslim group in exchange.
After months of rehabilitation and mentoring, Ali encourages Bobby to get an education and to go straight when he gets out of prison in order to be a better father to his child (it is revealed during these conversations that Ali is serving a life sentence without parole for murder, and wishes Bobby not to follow in his footsteps). Ali and his associates even remove the Deuce "heart" from Bobby's face. Meanwhile, Jimmy recovers from his gunshot wounds, but is taken to a boys home for the crime he committed because the court has declared Carole an unfit mother.
Bobby is released from prison and goes to the boys home to visit Jimmy. The two begin to talk, but Jimmy is shocked that his father has denounced the Deuce gang and will not seek revenge against Willie Manchester for shooting him. Jimmy leaves the room in anger and insults Bobby for not being the proud Deuce gang leader that Jimmy thought his father would be.
Sometime later, Bobby goes to visit Ray Ray. Ray Ray is initially happy to see Bobby saying the Deuce gang owes him "ten years of their lives" for the time he served in prison. However, Bobby is shocked to find Jimmy has run away from the boys home and Willie has been taken hostage. Ray Ray gives Jimmy a gun and tells him to shoot Willie in revenge so he can get his "heart" just like his father did. Bobby tries to intervene but gets into a fight with Bear. Bobby eventually overpowers Bear, takes his gun, and steps in front of Willie Manchester threatening to kill Ray Ray if this goes any further. He then tells Jimmy that committing a crime against a man can be rectified, but killing a man can't. He tells Ray Ray that the gang owes him ten years and can repay him by giving him back his son. Then he can give his son what the both of them (Bobby and Ray Ray) never had, a father. Bobby sees a sad look on both Jimmy and Ray Ray's faces as everyone lowers their guns. Ray Ray lets Willie go and Jimmy runs into Bobby's arms. Bobby tells Jimmy that eventually the court will let him come home and they will start their lives anew. Touched by Bobby's love for Jimmy, Ray Ray looks on as the Johnsons leave the warehouse. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0424176 | Icon | During the 1999 Russian Presidential elections, the two leading candidates are Igor Komarov (Patrick Bergin), a former Colonel of the KGB, and a retired General Nikolai Nikolayev (Joss Ackland). When a car bomb explodes outside one of Komarov’s pharmaceutical companies, and a virus is stolen from inside, an investigation by the FSB ensues. Heading the investigation are FSB agents Sonia Astrova (Annika Peterson) and her colleague Andrei Kasanov (Niko Nicotera). They come up against obstruction from the director of the FSB, Anatoly Grishin (Ben Cross).
A British Embassy worker from Moscow, Sir Nigel Irvine (Michael York), travels to southern Spain to try to find Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze), a former CIA operative, who ran double agents in the Soviet Union. Irvine tries to convince him to go to Moscow and investigate the Komarov Industries bombing. Eventually, after much persuasion, including the promisee of help in finding his Russian daughter, Monk agrees to go.
Once in Moscow, Jason finds an old friend, Viktor Akopov (Steve Speirs), whose brother Sergei, a double agent of Jason’s, was personally executed by Komarov. Viktor agrees to hide Jason from Komarov’s men. Pretending to be a friend of Sonia Astrova’s father, he gains access to her office and steals a sample of residue from the bombing, which he gives to another friend of his, Vladimir Tonkin (Valentin Ganev), a former scientist. Tonkin finds that the explosive used was Semtex H, with a direct traceable link to the FSB. When he tells Jason about his findings, he is killed by Vladimir Dorganosov (Tom Wlaschiha), the man who attacked Komarov industries and stole the bioweapon, who has since been released into a Muslim village in Dagestan.
Outgoing Russian president Cherkassov (Barry Morse) wants the biological situation in Dagestan to be dealt with internally, but later on, after much persuasion from Komarov and Grishin, he sends out an international alert to identity and contain the outbreak.
Sonia and Andrei locate Leonid Zaitzev (Theodor Danetti), a cleaner who worked at the Komarov Industries plant and saw Dorganosov steal the virus. He has gone on the run after his home was ransacked. As they question him, Grishin appears, arrests Zaitzev and fires Sonia and Andrei. Zaitzev is later killed by Dorganosov while in custody. Sonia goes home to find Jason waiting for her, and agrees to help him access the FSB network. However, they are shot at by Dorganosov, and a car chase ensues, with Dorganosov tracking them by using Sonia’s phone, until she discards it. They go to Andrei’s house, where they find him already dead.
After the chase, Dorganosov demands the rest of his payment from his contractor, who is none other than Anatoly Grishin. While they are arguing, Komarov himself arrives and orders Grishin to kill Dorganosov.
While at Viktor’s apartment, Jason and Sonia come to realise that Grishin knew about the bombing in advance, and they raid his house for information. Jason is injured and, while he is unconscious, Sonia locates his daughter Elena (Marta Kondova) and brings her to him.
While trawling through the information gained from Grishin’s computer, they come across a photograph which reveals that Grishin and Komarov are old friends; there is also a secret manifesto written by Komarov, which tells of his plans to unleash genocide on any "undesirables" in Russia. Jason realises that the bombing and the theft of the bioweapon were planned by Komarov from the beginning. The virus was released to look like a terrorist attack, allowing Komarov to be elected President, as the only candidate with an anti-terror campaign. It is also the beginning of the genocide.
Jason and Sonia go to Komarov’s Presidential opponent, General Nikolayev, who stages a press conference and tells of Komarov’s involvement in the bombing at his own facility. However, Grishin arrives and introduces Komarov, who tells of his coincidental ownership of vaccines to every virus in his facility. The move boosts Komarov’s popularity, and leads to his election.
Jason and Sonia confront Komarov’s American electoral hacker, Harvey Blackledge (Jeff Fahey), who tells them of a facility outside Moscow. Blackledge is subsequently killed by an assassin posing as a taxi driver. Jason and Sonia travel to the facility, and find that Komarov’s famous speech of "sun rays spreading across Russia" refers to his plans for genocide, with different viruses each targeting different ethnic minorities within the country. After battling to escape from the facility, Jason and Sonia find Victor dead in his apartment. Jason then travels to Elena’s house, where he is captured by Komarov’s men. After being interrogated by Grishin, he escapes with the help of Elena, and Sonia. Sonia kills Grishin and takes his phone, which allows them to locate the FSB agents spreading the viruses. After Jason secretly hands Grishin's phone to Sir Nigel, he orders the arrest of the rogue FSB agents. Komarov’s plan is revealed publicly, and riots ensue in the streets, calling for his resignation. Komarov, hidden from the public, instigates martial law. When he is spotted, he orders his men to fire into the crowd trying to get to him. Before they can fire, however, Nikolayev arrives and commands them to lower their weapons. The crowd storms the building; however, Komarov escapes down an alleyway, where he is confronted by Jason Monk and Sonia. As he tries to kill Jason, he is shot, and the crowd rushes in and kills him.
Nikolayev becomes the acting President, and Sonia is appointed head of the FSB. Jason moves back to Spain with Elena, and resumes his job hiring out a fishing boat. | suspenseful, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | I'd like to point out some positive things about ICON - the lead review here at IMDb pounded this telefilm pretty hard!
Looked realistic to me, not unlike the sequence in the recent 'Quiet American'.There were good actors: Barry Morse (still alive?) and Ben Cross.
I liked 'the Saint', 'Hunt for Red October' and 'Russia House' - films with insight into the Russian culture - and problems.
That's why the book 'ICON' and this DVD appealed to me.However, I don't know why the writers chose to stray from Forsythe's super novel, which is in my top-10 favorites.
I thought the basic novel plot was a natural screenplay: the ICON's grim political manifesto - and how it falls into Western hands.
Also, Monk's early career unfolds as the CIA loses to the Russians in the spy game before the Cold War ends.
The writers added a pretty female agent, and an ex-family for Jason Monk.Up here in Canada, PG-13 'Action' films are hard to come by ('Munich' was just released as 18-A).
So, watch it for fun -- and then read the book for the real thing..
Frederick Forsyth's books are always so intricately plotted, with twists and turns, and usually a great surprise ending.
This adaptation had none of that.So much of what was great in the book (the history of Monk and the betrayed agents; the plot to influence the outcome of the Russian election) were completely missing in this adaptation.
This film resigned itself to gunfights and car chases early on.Swayze's Monk might as well have hung a sign around his neck saying "I AM A SECRET AGENT" for all the attention that he called to himself during the film.
And with all of that attention, the amount of time that it took the bad guys to catch up to him was surprising.Granted there was some energy to this film, which is why I'm giving it a "3" instead of a "1".
It was also great to see some underutilized pros like Patrick Bergin, Ben Cross, Michael York, and Barry Morse.I hope that someday, someone will once again do justice to a Forsyth film adaptation like "Day of the Jackal" did..
At first i decided to pass it but after seeing swayze's name on the cover i thought to myself that it would be fun to see him in an action movie again.
Well to be honest it wasn't that bad of a b-movie (mini series?) and it also wasn't that good.
It at least seemed they filmed the movie in Russia which they probably did since i live next door to the country and I'd say it was pretty authentic.
Action scenes with swayze were as good as the movie got.
If you like Patrick Swayze go rent this.
As a corny sidebar, Swayze's character who is no Monk (!)has sired a Russian beauty Elena (played by the gorgeous Marta Kondova) on his previous missions to the former Commie state.
I had just finished reading the book, and was really looking forward to seeing this TV adaptation which was broadcast on the Hallmark Channel on Monday night (5/30/05).
It's too bad because this film had great production values and a good cast, but isn't the idea of turning a book into a movie (TV or film) to get the people who read the book to be part of the audience.
I just have watched Icon on DVD and despite being a great book, the movie is a weak substrate from it.
Why they maul the great story with all kind of C-film subploys which are totally irrelevant to the story is totally beyond me.Yet the filmmakers and cast do there best to make something out of it, but at the end the film was not satisfying at all.Can someone please make a decent movie out of this to show how it is done.
I'm sure that the crowds will rally for such a masterpiece novel turned into a book, not into a cheap C-movie..
I was really looking forward to it since the book Icon is one of the best spy thrillers I have ever read.
The plot only loosely resembles the one in the book, the characters are completely miscast and there's some appalling acting.
The story behind Icon is perfect for the silver screen, but I think television budgets just aren't big enough for a decent adaptation of this spectacular book.Forsyth deserves much, much better than this.
It's just some stupid anti-Russian propaganda, with a completely BS plot, not in any way related to the book.
It looks like the production team got more money from the people who ordered the movie, than they will ever be able to get from selling the movie.
The plot of the movie includes references to some of the real recent events in Russian and other parts of Eastern Europe, but puts them in such way that has nothing to do with reality.
It looks like the movie is a brainwashing instrument, which helps to portray Russia as a place populated by evil people that always dream about killing someone.
An of course there are hundreds of stupid mistakes like using the map of USSR instead of Russia when running news reports, showing a crowd with Ukrainian flags and commenting that it's Russian elections, etc.
But ill give it a try (just to prevent others from making the same mistake as i did - to watch this (awful and boring) movie.I like Patrick swayze - he did a excellent performance in films like Ghost - Dirty Dancing - Point Break - North & South (TV series), but in this movie.....
I was watching it with 2 other friends and we all agreed that this was one of the most boring films we had ever seen, and the fact that it lasts for more then 3 hours (which we didn't know) - when part 1 was over and it said "to be continued", we almost cried "nooooooooooooo, do we have to watch 90 minutes more of this movie!!!!".Its painful to see this movie: At no time do you get the impression that the actors are Russians, the action scenes are extremely bad.
GO clean your toilet, instead of watching this movie (and don't come running, crying if you do see this movie - you were pre warned!) Personally i would recommend Patrick Swayze to call his agent and have them recall this movie - its that bad..
I did not read the book but are they ever true to the novel?The cast is great.
i don't know who write scripts for movies like this one, but i would definitely love to meet one of them and talk to him a little bit.
or they just don't give a damn and write everything that they think it's interesting.a great and everlasting formula with mad dictator + 1 lonely hero (an American of course) might seem like a good idea, but come on?!
much better impression would be if he just did it in cold blood, like the real monsters do.the list of nonsense is too long, but the funniest thing is: no matter how many national TV stations there are in Russia, Russian president watch American SNN (CNN) news??
I just finished reading Forsyth's novel 'Icon'.
I acquired a DVD version of the book starring Mr. Swayze.
OK, let me first point out that to fit a decent adaptation of the novel into 2.5 hours film time would of been impossible, so I understand the teams reason to sway from the book version and differ.
Forsyth's novel was so good and real and altered the facts of reality instead of exaggerating them..
If you haven't read the book then expect a decent TV movie with a good acting cast, if you have read the book then try and forget it when watching this..
Patrick Swayze plays Jason Monk, who is an ex-CIA agent.
Patrick Swayze does a good job, but in some scenes he looks very old.
The standout performance is by Jeff Fahey as a presidential aide.In the end: If you don't mind the 3-hour running time, it's worth watching.
It's a shame that Patrick Swayze has to play in such a low budget movies.
I haven't read the book Icon, but I understand it's quite different from the film.
Given some feature films I've seen, that's pretty scary, but there we are.Icon is the story of a retired US Operative, Jason Monk (Patrick Swayze) who comes out of retirement to return to Russia and bring to justice Komarov (Patrick Bergin), an enemy responsible for the death of Monk's fellow operatives years earlier.Komarov is now running for President in the new Russia.
Working with a member of the Russian police force (Annika Peterson), he discovers Komarov's true agenda, which includes wiping out ethnic groups using biological warfare.Monk has an additional reason for returning to Russia - he has a daughter there and has learned that his wife died of cancer.
And the cast was solid: Barry Morse, who was something like 88 when he did this miniseries; Ben Cross, Jeff Fahey whom I always think of as my elevator buddy; and Michael York.Now, why do I call Jeff Fahey my elevator buddy?
The sound track was as genuine as one of a porn film.After this, we may dare to watch "Dirty Dancing" and groan for Patrick The author also wrote: Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and The Dogs of War. PLEASE tell me that Hallmark didn't produce these!.
I have not seen and heard the original version.I am no Russian, but I am learning right now.I also have no preferences for Russia, Bulgaia, the US etc.But what I have to mention is:In the German synchronisation in the whole film all Russians speak with Russian accent.
I was hopeful when I saw that FF himself was the Exec Producer but very quickly saw that the only real way that the TV movie and the book were similar were in the name and the character names only.
In my personal opinion, Mr. Swayze could have portrayed a valid Monk, however I think that in order to do the movie justice, it would have been a far longer movie, and I don't think Hollywood itself would have gone for the plot of discreditation by subterfuge.
But judging by what you said about it not being like the book, it might be disappointing for you and all the other readers.
It was a good mini series and throughout the film, you always want to see what happens with the Villain at the end.The storyline is great and you always want to find out more.
I certainly got into this film quite a lot and like I said, I wanted to see how it all ended up.
Patrick Swayze was excellent as usual in this and anyone who takes a film based on acting and storyline and not comparing it to a book, you should check it out..
First of all, I want to say the shots of Russia, with it's beautiful fairy tale like palaces are absolutely breathtaking.
Even if you don't care for this mini-series, you'd enjoy looking at the wonderful views of Russia.This mini-series is kind of mediocre story-wise, but the great performances of all the actors really blew me away.
I think Patrick Swayze makes a great action hero star and I'd like him to make more films like this.
This is a great "B" mini-series and the whole family can watch it because even though it is violent, it is not too graphic.I like this a lot, the film kept me engrossed and entertained, and some times, that's all one ever wants in an action film!.
Icon is an absolute B movie if not because of the budget for any other reason.
If nothing else Icon is a great Russian film.
I have not seen any other film that embraces modern day Russia with a great respect and treats it as good as a political thriller in the US would treat America.
The story is good enough although a little confusing at times with some scenes that are unnecessary and a little complex, most notably the opening scene which I am still a little confused about.Patrick Swayze takes the lead role as Jason Monk, an under cover operative, who is former CIA and is coaxed back into Russia with the promise of being reunited with his estranged daughter who he hasn't seen she was a little girl.
It still pains me to see Swayze look so old in the face but the guy can still move, he is in great shape and plays the action role just fine.
His acting is a little campy at times but it really is the writing and the film that is at best B quality.
He certainly shines in the role (I thought) and I think Jason Monk is a marketable character for sequels but they have a lot to change.
Joss Ackland as the reclusive Presidential candidate General Nikolayev is good in his scenes and very convincing as a Russian dignitary, Patrick Bergin is fantastic as the evil "Icon" of Russia who wants the Presidency and is behind the plot to poison different races of Russians in Hitler style.
Michael York, who unfortunately is best known as Austin Powers' boss Basil plays Swayze's boss and you can't help but remember him as Basil which kind of ruins his role.
All of them play Russian quite well and I know many complain about the cheesy accents and the fact that barely anyone actually speaks Russian when they would in reality but it's a movie that has to be done in English so to me it was just a matter of assuming they would be speaking Russian normally but in order for us to watch the movie without subtitles...it's English.
The cast is absolutely not the issues with the film but rather the reason to watch it.
The special effects and stunts aren't bad but it seemed like the production of the film and the DVD got some poorly budgeted effects which does effect your experience.
I had read the Book twice before finding out that there actually is a Mini Series on this.
If you have not read the book then you will surely like this one.
What I did not like at all was when the agent provocateur (sp ?) of Forsyth was turned into modern day James Bond.
Patrik's not bad its the role he had to do.I didn't like the Ending when Jason shot Igor.
I'd have expected the FSB agent to do it as a foreign national shooting an elected President would have been a diplomatic Faux Pas.All in all Not a bad Yarn especially if you have not read the book..
Bad Adaptation, Decent Film.
Patrick Swayze fits the role of Jason Monk perfectly and bares quite a resemblance to the character in the novel.
But the best acted part in the film has to go to Micael York for his role of Sir Nigel Irvine.
Joss Ackland also gives a good performance as the underused Russian General turned presidential candidate.Also on the plus side,the production values are high.
The locations look real and are obviously not faked and the score is one of the best i've heard recently for TV movies.Ont he downside, the film's plot and its length are a downside.
The addition of Monk's daughter and the female FSB agent are also added on to the novel's plot and are often irrelevant to the main part of the story.
The novel featured Komarov's and his army launching an attack on Moscow leading to a battle that would have been great on screen Instead it is replaced by simply having Komarov chased out by protesters and being shot by monk.
I watched the TV Movie, "Icon," from a self-video tape tonight (06-07-05)-- it was very good -- thought Patrick Swayze did an excellent job --with a "meatier" role for a change.
Whilst Swayze is still a bit wooden, he has that weary look of an old dog which is good for the part.
Another joy was the slick Jeff Fahey, love those old blue eyes.Whilst it didn't follow the book, I still rate it as an enjoyable TV-movie.
This is the perfect example of how a great book is turned into a poor film.
The direction just gives the impression that the film was made up as they went along and Patrick Swaze is so wooden you can almost see the puppet strings on his body.Spy Vs Spy films are not - or should not - be about car chases and shootings, the bad guys in this movies are really bad shots and miss the main characters even when at point blank range.Even the action shots are just a cliché with the usual mounting sidewalks and crashing through tables and chairs - yawn.I got half way through and switched off - completely bored..
A good secret agent effort from Patrick Swayze.
I have recently become a fan of Patrick Swayze after first watching him in 'Dirty Dancing' a few weeks ago.
He seemed in great physical condition for a man his age.I have not read the novel 'Icon', so I had no preconceived notions about what direction the plot should take.
The opening sequence of the film showed his failure to extract an agent after his cover was blown.
A list of CIA agents had fallen into KGB hands, yet that list apparently did not contain the cover name of Jason Monk.3.
She had features that could easily have been Russian, so casting did a great job.The plot had Sonia taking a huge chance of capture to look up daughter Elena when Monk's nerve failed.
I expect Patrick Swayze will be back as Jason Monk in the near future. |
tt0105130 | Peter's Friends | It is New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter (Fry) gather at his newly inherited country house. Ten years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe. Since then they have gone in different directions and career paths.
Peter's friends are Andrew (Branagh), now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger (Laurie) and Mary (Staunton); glamorous costume designer Sarah (Emmanuel); and eccentric Maggie (Thompson), who works in publishing. Joining them are Carol (Rudner), the American TV star wife of Andrew; and the impolite Brian (Slattery), Sarah's very recently acquired lover. Also accompanying them are Vera, Peter's long-serving housekeeper (Law), and her son Paul (Lowe).
Peter's father has recently died, and Peter plans to sell the house after this last party. Andrew and Carol's marriage is strained by the demands of her fame. Roger and Mary are recovering from a devastating personal tragedy only slowly revealed to the audience: the death of one of their children. A lonely Maggie is determined to persuade Peter they should be more than just friends, and Sarah's not as happy with her life as she appears.
The weekend does not go as planned. After a failed attempt to seduce Peter, Maggie receives a makeover from Carol and seduces Paul. Carol leaves Andrew and returns to America, and after a year of sobriety Andrew returns to the bottle. Roger and Mary reach an emotional breakthrough, share their grief and address her obsessive overprotection of their remaining child. Brian returns to his wife after realizing that Sarah is not interested in that which she already has, but only in that which belongs to someone else. In the climax of the film, Peter reveals the real reason for his bringing them all together: he is HIV-positive. The friends emerge from their own problems and pledge their assistance to Peter, and the weekend ends on a more upbeat note. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Roger and Mary have just lost a child,Maggie is trying to find a man and has her eye on Peter, who is definitely not interested,Sarah is involved with a married man and seems to have trouble getting involved with anyone who's available,Andrew and his Hollywood actress wife are having marriage problems.This movie is well acted, the script is well written,thanks to Rita Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman and the casting is excellent.
Starring Stephen Fry as Peter,Kenneth Branagh as Andrew,Hugh Laurie as Roger,Emma Thompson as Maggie,Alphonsia Emmanuel as Sarah and Imelda Staunton as Mary.With Rita Rudner as Carol..
In a way, I can see that, but where the "Big Chill" focuses on how much the characters have changed since college, "Peter's Friend's" does a good job of showing how the characters really HAVEN'T changed since then.
Just because Emma Thompson is the only one to win an Oscar doesn't mean the others are slackers!!The one thing I've had to accept, though, is that in 7 years, it has become dated--especially the reason why Peter decides to bring his old college buddies together.
And even more, I am able to relate to the story that Kenneth Branagh's wonderful alternative to It's A Wonderful Life as a holiday film.Today it makes me laugh.
And there's Andrew (Kenneth Branagh) who's unhappily married to TV star Carol (Rita Rudner).This was called a rip off of "The Big Chill".
Therein lies a possible weakness: the film has a straight-jacket feel to it, as though indeed it was too severely and strictly transposed from the stage to the screen.Very much in the vein of a `battle of the sexes', we have in `Peter's Friends' several couples meeting some years after graduating, supposedly to remember old times.
It has been just about ten years since Peter last saw his group of University friends and, after his father died, he has inherited the family manor and decided to throw a reunion party for them.
The friends come together but the tensions and problems are barely hidden and quickly come out.Opening with the type of privately educated people that I personally find very difficult to relate to, this film immediately had me on the backfoot and worried thanks to this and the sheer volume of luvvies in the cast.
Dear IMDb, Here is an excerpt of the first draft of my proposed sequel, "Who Cares About You And Your Snotty, Self-Possessed Friends Anyway, Peter?"Kenneth Brannagh (smiling coyly)Isn't my life just so terribly interesting that the world would line up to see a thinly-veiled fictionalization of it?The World (yawns)Not particularly, no.This movie is the very definition of "vanity project" by a pretentious actor-director who's canon of work seems meant to bring "culture" back to mainstream cinema but always does so in a heavy-handed fashion.
Of the film, despite an interesting concept, some good moments and a talented cast I found this film disjointed, emotionally cold, only rarely witty, and even faintly unbelievable at times --the scene where Thompson breaks down and cries is so reserved and smug it's like she can never really let go- which she never does in anything she's in anyway!It's rather as if they want to thinly satirize themselves- but only thinly, as if they take themselves too seriously to open themselves to self-mockery.
For a better take on this concept, I recommend the 1998 film "Final Cut" starring Jude Law which has the current mob of Britpack actors playing themselves in an improvised film-- often times for laughs.It's amazing how far Branagh's star has fallen since 1992 when he was The Olivier People Actually Liked.
"Peter's Friends" can be seen as a British version of "The Big Chill".
Like the American film, it deals with a group of old university friends meeting up several years after graduating.
In 1992 Peter, the son of an aristocratic family, invites his friends to celebrate New Year at the stately home he has recently inherited from his father.
Thereafter the revelations come thick and fast, the final one, involving Peter himself, coming right at the end.The comedy troupe was obviously based on the famous "Footlights" to which cast members Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery all belonged, although the rather naff sketch we see them performing might indicate why none of the fictitious characters, unlike their real- life counterparts, have gone on to become professional comedians.
I myself was a Cambridge contemporary of some of the cast, and knew Stephen Fry personally).A film like this one could easily have ended up as little more than a country-house soap opera for intellectuals.
Special mention should go to Stephen Fry as the kindly but haunted Peter, Kenneth Branagh (who also directed and produced) as the recovering alcoholic Andrew, struggling to cope with the demands of his Hollywood writing career and with marriage to the tempestuous Carol, Branagh's then wife Emma Thompson as the frumpy Maggie, Tony Slattery as the arrogant, bumptious Brian and Alphonsia Emmanuel (an actress I have not heard much of recently) as Sarah.
There is a nice contrast between Hugh Laurie's Roger and Imelda Staunton's Mary, both recovering from their shared tragedy but in very different ways."Peter's Friends" is in many ways a very British film, just as "The Big Chill" was very American.
Although it involves strong emotions, several of the characters deal with them with a typical British reserve and "stiff upper lip"; this is particularly true of Peter himself, Roger and Maggie, and to some extent of Andrew, although he loses his stiff upper lip when under the influence of alcohol.
The pair's eclectic brand of wit is, however, somewhat subdued in this bittersweet drama from director Kenneth Branagh, which concerns six college friends who reunite a decade later to catch up on old times and pick up the shattered fragments of their middle-aged lives.
First and foremost, 'Peter's Friends (1992)' boasts an excellent, intimate cast, including Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Branagh himself.
Stephen Fry seems a bit flustered in the title role, seemingly uncomfortable playing such a sincere, polite character, though there are snippets of his usual trademark flamboyance; Laurie, however, predictably excels in a tough dramatic role.Branagh shoots the film in gracefully-moving long takes, some single shots encompassing five minutes of action or dialogue.
I was (and remain) a fan of many of the actors, enjoyed Rita Rudner's comedy, and had been impressed with Kenneth Branagh's work to date.But I never got around to seeing it until recently, and now I understand why it received middling to poor reviews on its release.From the first scene following the opening montage, the entire film feels simultaneously flat and strident.
Three of the best I would pick out: (1) Maggie disrobing in front of Peter "fill me with your little babies" before he tells her he's "not in the vagina business"; (2) breakfast in the kitchen where they all hear 'bonking noises' and think it's Sarah and Brian but then Sarah comes down - Andrew says "That is one mighty long dick"; (3) Andrew gets drunk on the new year and apologises hundreds of times in the last few minutes of the movie.
It came out at a time when Kenneth and Emma were the flavour of the month and could get away with any old rubbish, hence this film.
How come that such an illustrious cast produced moments, and not just moments, of embarassingly bad acting?Stephen Fry is on the whole bearable, also Hugh Laurie, but the guy playing Sara's love interest is painful to watch.
I cannot understand the bad reviews, nor can I understand why people are comparing it to " The Big Chill" ( another great film but different).
You want everyone to be the same, but they're not.Peter invites a group of his old university friends to a party at his recently deceased father's mansion.
The friends have not all seen each other since they graduated in 1982, although have individually stayed in touch during that time.As with this type of film things don't go according to the host's plans as the lives of each member of the group are revealed - Roger and Mary have suffered an enormous tragedy, losing a baby to cot death, and as a couple are not dealing with how it has affected their relationship.
The script isn't laugh out loud funny but is witty in that way British comedy films usually are - a mix of self-deprecation, sarcasm and one liners.
I was 15 at the time, and wasn't really into a lot of the films my peers were into!25 years after it was made I still really enjoy Peter's Friends although now I can see some flaws - it is a bit of a "love-in" of Kenneth Branagh's friends, a bit too sentimental and mushy in places, as well as slightly slow in the middle.
The plot is by no means a new one - old university friends get together 10 years later and talk a lot about their lives and how they have not become the persons they thought they would.
Rita Rudner (who co-wrote the movie) is also funny as Kenneth Branagh's neurotic Hollywood wife.It's a watchable movie but there are few surprises and one can't help but feel that Branagh and Emma Thompson are not even stretching their acting muscles here.
I love all the actors in this film, and the idea of them all still being friends after so many years was nice but I sometimes thought the acting was weak in parts and the ending was quite anti-climatic.
Like a follow up or something.Also I think Hugh Laurie didn't have a big enough part, and there was too much focus on some of the minor characters such as the American wife (can't remember her name) and the sex addict's boyfriend.But a great film, with classic British (and Fry) humour, and also a great sound track!.
Knowing we were basically watching "Kenneth's Friends" with various points of similarity to the actors' real lives put an unfortunate air of "vanity project" about the movie.How ironic that comments here have commented on the extreme Britishness of the writing, when at least one of the two screenwriters was American.
Rita Rudner slipped at least one line from her stand-up act into the movie (about not falling in love), and found a way for one of the characters to praise the line too.Those who are in denial about similarities to The Big Chill are just in denial.
Branagh is fantastic (like always), Laurie doesn't get too much screen time but he functions perfectly as a husband who loves his wife but is having problems dealing with their son's death and the crumbling of their marriage.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are absolutely fabulous actors in this film.
The trailer and description made this film seem like a comedy, and in some parts it is, but it's really a touching story of a bunch of friends going through some hard times in their lives.
Peter (Stephen Fry) hosts a new year's reunion of college friends and their partners at the English country house (read: mansion) he has just inherited from his father.
Peter, excellently played by Stephen Fry, makes a courteous host, friend and confidante to all, reluctant to burden his friends with a problem far more stunning than anything his friends have been faced with (perhaps Roger and Mary's is on a par?).But I have tried and tried, and watched this film over and over and I still feel as though I have somehow missed a key scene that would help me understand Brian.
A line from him after upsetting Mary states, "It's not like me to put my foot in it" - how ironic when he spends the rest of his time in the film spoiling the moment (particularly after the revue group's lovely song by the piano) and upsetting others.
Branagh's direction leaves some direction to be desired, but it's exactly that slightly amateurish feel to it that makes the film tick.When I watched "Peter's friends" for the first time more than ten years ago, it struck me as a slow-paced movie, quirky but fun.
My wife and I fell in love with this film the first time we saw it in a small dingy cinema in Manchester, UK, on New Year's Day 1993.All of which made it more poignant for us, as the film is set at exactly that time - New Year's Eve, 1992/3.Peter (Stephen Fry) has invited all of his University 'chums' to visit him at his manor house, recently inherited after the death of his father (played in a brief cameo by Richard Briers).A flashback scene to a Cambridge footlights style review (incidentally, source of many of the actors in the flick) leads to a montage of images displayed to the music of Tears for Fear's "Everybody wants to rule the world." And it it a coincidence that the last image of the opening montage - that of John Major - cuts brilliantly to a paddock full of sheep?
What follows is very good character development, as Peter's Friends - a couple of jingle writers (Imelda Staunton and Hugh Laurie), a Hollywood actress and her script writing husband (Rita Rudner and Kenneth Branagh), a new age publisher (Emma Thompson) and a relationship-challenged woman and her latest boyfriend (Tony Slattery) arrive and start to interact.Old secrets come out, many of them relationship based ("You slept with that f**kmonster!", "You slept with Sarah!
Peter's friends have that veneer of Cambridge charm and sophistication that vanishes fairly rapidly unless they are allowed their own way all the time.Peter himself is a little more personable,but the unfortunate chap is suffering from Aids and not long for this world.On inheriting the family home from his father(actually Wrotham Park in Herts,also used in "Gosford Park"),Peter asks all his "Footlights" chums for a last get together.But ten years on,they are all carrying a lot of baggage.There is not innately an awful lot wrong with this movie and it says a lot for Kenneth Branagh's strength of character that he went on from directing this "safe" subject to the rather more challenging "Hamlet" and "Much ado about nothing" with splendid success Stephen Fry is the most sympathetic character character in the film ,all the others are fighting mental demons of one sort or the other whilst Peter has the sublime aura of peace that sometimes settles on the tragically doomed.
At the start of the movie Peter's friends gather round the piano and sing"The way you look tonight" very nicely.This scene captures the insular but rather naive and touching mutual love and dependence Cambridge Thesps display throughout their careers.
I thought it was ironic that Branagh's American arch-bitch actress wife, played by Rita Rudner, is the only character in the whole film who actually puts herself out to do something for someone else, when she comforts a distraught Emma Thompson after the latter's rejection by Peter, and gives her a makeover and new hairdo to make her feel better.
"Peter's Friends" is so melodramatic, so full of whining and crying and complaining and "I'm sorry!" The plot set-up is manipulative and the ending gets too pat.At the start, as "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" plays on the soundtrack and as important 1980s events are shown on the screen, 10 years are passing for a group of two-bit actors.
A VERY disappointing effort from a group of actors who can do and have done a LOT better, in such films as "Much Ado About Nothing," "Sense and Sensibility" and others."Peter's Friends" is not really worth your time..
Peter's Friends is directed by Kenneth Branagh.
The film stars Stephen Fry, Kenneth, Branagh, Imelda Staunton,Alphonsia Emmanuel,Hugh Laurie,Emma Thompson,Phyllida Law, Tony Slattery and Rita Rudner.A group of university friends come together again after several years apart, when they are invited to a New Year Eve party at the home of Peter(Stephen Fry).Andrew (Kenneth Branagh)brings his actress wife Carol(Rita Rudner),the pair are drifting apart but don't seem to want to acknowledge that fact.Roger and Mary(Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton)have married and have suffered the recent tragedy of the death of one of their twins, Mary is now constantly worried about the other one and can never relax because she is convinced something bad will happen him.Funny,sex crazed Sarah(Alphonsia Emmanuel)brings her boyfriend Brian(Tony Slattery).
There's also the shy and awkward Maggie (Emma Thompson)who's struggling with her romantic feelings for Peter.Over delicious food the gang realise they never want to lose touch again, especially when Peter reveals some devastating news about himself.It's easy to see why some people refer to this as a British Big Chill but unlike that film this one has some weaknesses.
Many changes have taken place in the lives of all the friends assembled, but Peter has a secret to tell......Luvvie Alert!!!!!!!!!Depending on your age and your appreciation of British TV in the late eighties and early nineties will swerve on your opinion of this film.Basically, if you like A Bit Of Fry And Laurie, Blackadder, Who's Line Is It Anyway, The Tall Guy, and any Sitcom that featured a middle class family, person, or Business,methane this is the movie for you.If you said no to the above, then you mat find this a little bit snobby, and a little bit too smug for its own good.
So frustrating to see fine actors like Thompson, Laurie, Staunton, and Branagh have so few places to go.
The only sympathetic character is Vera the housekeeper, who announces her departure towards the end - but not before some absurd scenes involving her wood-chopping son, including a chatting-up by Sarah and a woman-on-top bonk with Emma Thompson.Branagh's representation of a drunk was certainly not a performance that contributed to his later knighthood.Peter's Friends is a film, full of luvvies pretending to poke fun at themselves, but obviously without believing a word of it, and hoping to earn enough from it to keep them in the style they think their superior intelligence deserves. |
tt1314741 | Far Cry 2 | Jason Brody is on vacation with a group of friends in the Rook Islands, celebrating his younger brother Riley getting a pilot license. However, on a skydiving trip, they land on a pirate-infested island and are kidnapped by a pirate lord named Vaas, who plans to extort ransom money from their parents, and then sell them into slavery. With the help of his older brother Grant, Jason breaks out of captivity, but Grant is killed by Vaas in the escape. Jason is rescued by Dennis, who is part of the Rakyat (the island natives who suffer due to the activities of the pirates). Dennis recognizes Jason's potential as a warrior, and gives him the Tatau, the tattoos of a Rakyat warrior. Jason then helps the Rakyat in a number of missions and ends up finding one of his friends, Daisy, at the house of Dr. Earnhardt. Impressed with Jason's prowess, the Rakyat allow him to be the second outsider to enter their sacred temple (Dennis was the first being born in Liberia) and their leader Citra initiates him into the tribe, after Jason finds and returns the Silver Dragon knife, a Rakyat relic, having seen it in a previous dream. He runs a series of missions during which he rescues his captive friends Keith, Oliver and Jason's girlfriend Liza while simultaneously helping the Rakyat retake their island, helped at times by Dr. Earnhardt and Willis Huntley, a CIA agent. After a few run-ins with Vaas, Jason discovers that he is employed by Hoyt Volker, a slave trader and drug lord, and that Vaas is Citra's brother. Throughout the adventure, Jason matures into a fearsome warrior and is revered by the Rakyat, begins to enjoy all the killing, and grows more distant from his friends, especially after receiving information that Riley is dead. After Citra asks him to stay in the island, Jason returns to Dr. Earnhardt's house (where his friends are hiding and preparing their escape by boat), and tells them that he is staying, completely distant from his friends and family, leaving them disturbed. Meanwhile, Jason has an affair with Citra after she drugs him and has sex with him while he is in a hallucination.
After bidding goodbye to his friends, Jason goes to the pirates base where Vaas is. Believing that Jason was dead after a confrontation between the two, Vaas is celebrating Jason's death, although it transpires he was actually waiting for him. After Jason kills numerous pirates and reaches a warehouse, he and Vaas fight, but Jason enters a delusional state, fighting multiple duplicates of Vaas in his dream. He reaches a final Vaas, and after a brief struggle, he impales him through the chest with the Dragon Knife and collapses right besides him. He wakes up to Citra in the Rakyat's temple, and promises her that he will kill Hoyt for her. After Huntley helps him get into Hoyt's island, Jason infiltrates Hoyt's personal army with the help of Sam Becker, Huntley's fellow operative. During this time, Jason discovers that Riley is alive, but a prisoner of Hoyt. Jason works his way into Hoyt's confidence, until Hoyt eventually invites him and Sam to a poker night. After making a plan to kill Hoyt, Sam and Jason sit down at the poker game, but Hoyt stabs Sam in the throat and kills him, knowing the two are traitors. After Jason gets one of his fingers cut by Hoyt, the two have a knife fight, with Jason emerging victorious and killing Hoyt. Jason then goes to rescue Riley; he receives a call from Liza, but the signal is cut before she can say anything. Jason rescues Riley and the two escape by helicopter.
The two then fly to Earnhardt's house, but find it burning and the doctor dying on the ground. With his last words, he tells them that the house was attacked by the Rakyat, and that they have captured Jason's friends. Jason and Riley arrive at the Rakyat Temple. Jason asks Citra why his friends were captured, but she sprays him unconscious with a sleep powder and captures Riley. Citra has fallen in love with Jason, believing him to be a powerful warrior of Rakyat legend, and that she will free him. He starts dreaming of walking a fiery path with the Dragon Knife, and having Liza as a monster in his dream. He wakes up holding Liza at knife point with the Dragon Knife, and is given the choice either to kill his friends or to spare them.
=== Endings ===
If Jason kills his friends, he stays on the island and has sex with Citra in a ritual. However, Citra then stabs Jason in the chest. As he dies, Citra tells him that his child will lead the Rakyat to glory and that he "won".
If Jason spares his friends, he prepares to leave the island, telling the Rakyat and Citra that he is done with killing. As Citra begs him to stay and proclaims her love for him, Dennis is outraged for what he considers a betrayal by Jason and tries to stab him, but Citra jumps in front of Jason and is stabbed. Citra once again proclaims her love for Jason before dying in his arms, as a horrified Dennis breaks down over what he has done. Jason and his friends then leave the island by boat, with Jason narrating that despite becoming a monster from all the killing, he still believes that in some place in his heart he is still better than this. The game ends with a still image of the boat and the Dragon Knife in the beach while the credits roll. | violence | train | wikipedia | Fans of the FPS genre of gaming will probably have mixed feelings towards this game.
In many respects, Far Cry 2 shows the true potential available to users of the current generation of console platforms, but at the same time, many of the functions break no new ground, and serve no great purpose.The game is mission-based, a la Grand Theft Auto, allowing the player to roam 50 square kilometres of land, ranging from Vietnamesque jungle, to the African savanna, and everything in-between.
The player travels across the war-torn countryside on assassination missions, convoy-interceptions, and underground networking assistance.
There is always more than one way to get somewhere, which adds to the depth of the game, and detracts from the boredom of repetition so inherent in the latest Grand Theft Auto installment.
The downside to this way of playing the game is that the gamer has to do an incredible amount of travelling, and for a first-person-shooter, this can grate immensely.Currency in the game comes in the form of rough diamonds, which the gamer receives for accepting missions, but the gamer can also use trackers to find hidden diamonds.
The gamer uses the diamonds to unlock weapons from arms dealers for use on future missions.
The range of weaponry is incredible, and the varied use of multiple weapons can change the required approach to an enemy outpost (ie sneaking using silenced weapons and remote explosives, rather than going in with all guns blazing).On the groundbreaking side of things, hearing enemies communicating with one another adds realism and depth to the people the gamer needs to kill, which causes further immersion into the game.
Add to this the buddy system, where people whose lives you save end up saving yours, and you'll see that Far Cry 2 certainly offers something new to the seasoned gamer.As already mentioned, the mission-based large-map way of completing the game may impress some, but it is fully understandable why other gamers, who played the first Far Cry may be disappointed, and may see this as a nod to GTA.By far the most disappointing aspect of this game is the online mode.
It is not a terrible addition to the game, but once a gamer has played the Halo series online, or indeed the immaculate Call of Duty 4, it becomes obvious that the developers threw the online mode together, with seemingly no interest in maintaining an online fanbase.Overall, Far Cry 2 breaks new ground in realism (watching fire spread is a joy to behold), but at the same time it is clear that the developers have taken ideas (not necessarily good ones) from other titles, in an attempt to please the masses.
Whether the ideas work or not is merely a matter of opinion.
The gamer can expect a lot of travelling, almost endless carnage, and online play fit for few..
Great fun replayable and glorious graphics.
If you play all your games in 3D like I do then you will love this game.
Rarely has an experience immersed me so deeply in the atmosphere that I have actually wanted to go out and buy a ticket to visit Africa.
The story keeps you involved and you play in real time, meaning that you will be playing during nightime hours and daylight hours although you can sleep at anytime at a safe house until your preferred time of day.
IE: I would sleep until dawn then play until it started to get dark and find a safehouse etc etc.
Any seasoned FPS player must play this game.
Your weapon can become damaged during a firefight, jam and leave you vulnerable so you must be prepared at all times.
Worth every cent so as Molly Meldrum would say, "Do yourself a favour and buy this game!.
This game gives me the real feeling of far cry.
I don't care what people says but this is the best FPS experience of my life.
Attached to reality and very indulging.Many didn't like the jamming animations and weapon explosions but it makes sense when you have to traverse through rivers, desert, savannah, etc etc.
You may caught up with malaria and stuffs and weapons get rusty too over time.
Those are pain in game-play but make sense guys.
You have to drive all the way to the target point or if you don't want any enemy confrontation take bus to the nearest stop.
Why won't they pounce on your back the second they sees you.(They=everyone=enemy).Far Cry 3 & 4 are just fun play.
Nothing new as compared to any other FPS with just some funny character in it.
Loved the way background score lined up with the situation.
It's your destiny to be a creep - with an ironic twist.
In Far Cry 3, you play an average white jock who awakens his inner savage and embraces his new psychotic self.
In Far Cry 2...you are a psychotic merc with malaria.
You are sent to Africa to assassinate an arms dealer by the name of the Jackal.
The Jackal finds you passed out from the effects of your condition...realizes that you were sent there to kill him and tells you not to do try doing that anymore.
If you play on hard...death happens...a lot.
The most interesting way of doing missions are given to you from your buddies.
You don't get any extra pay from doing them the 'Buddy way' and it takes you generally 3 times longer.
There is also usually some way that the buddy is benefiting by having you do it their way.
As you gain 'History' (as it is referred to) with the buddies...your safe houses become upgraded.
However...The upgrades to the safe houses reset between acts.
Aaaaand (**spoilers) all your buddies 'go missing' in the first act.
You see them again at the end of the game when they try to kill you (that's gratitude for you).
In the second act, the amount of work you have to do to even minimally upgrade the safe houses is, at best, a waste of time.
Well...this is the game.
You play it or you don't.
With 5 fast travel points that link to each other only on a VERY large map, you find yourself fighting up to an entire platoon between each leg of your journey...and that doesn't include the people you are supposed to fight.
If you like A TON of tactical level combat then this game won't disappoint.
I wouldn't mind travelling across the map once or twice ...say if your mission was to drive some supplies to a camp somewhere.
All the time, though realistic, kills the fun for those who want more than constant gun fights with some stupid little outpost somewhere.
You would think that killing a garrison means that you can go back that way when you want to return...nope.
Go around the corner and come back and the garrison is back to full strength again...not fun OR realistic.
After a while the constant gun battles and travelling just seem to blur together and you find yourself bored.
With paying missions, you can buy better equipment and weapons.
The voice acting can be described as quick, monotonic, mumble...which works for a character that talks that way naturally.
The problem is: they ALL talk that way!
What really bugs me is having to do a buddy mission.
Travel across the planet shooting everyone in your way...do the mission...travel back...shooting the same people (because of nasty re spawn rates) just to hear some monotonic 'Thanks'.
Couldn't I just call the buddy to tell them it's done???
You get the feeling very early on that your buddies are just there to abuse your services...which, I guess, must have been the point.
Though I'm sure, with most people, a sledgehammer was a slightly too large tool for the insertion of that point.
There are some fun moments in the game; Ambushing the commander that set you up was one of them.
It's a very long (and often tedious) game that could have been pruned down to it's tastier points.
The team that made this did come up with Far Cry 3...so they did learn from this.You character starts off as just some kill-for-money goon and goes through the 99.9% of the game as that same character.
At the very end, both your character and the Jackal realize they are both scum and decide to do one last good act before (or while) ending their own life.
Here's the rub, though; If you are scum and you know it...and you are on the other side of the border with a ton of diamonds...to give away those diamonds for the greater good means that you are no longer the scum you were for the entire story.You kill yourself doing something for the greater good...and because you are scum.
Ironic..
Great graphics and poor story does not a good game make.
Sometimes fun but mainly boring, frustrating, stupid.
Well, lets examine the above in more detail.Sometimes fun: Weapons are fun to use and there's lots to choose from.
Battles are generally fun.
Running through outposts, monotonously killing NPC's every time you have a mission is ridiculous.
I noticed that if I fire my weapon, even when there's no enemies around, the music changes from "ambient" to "battle" - not terribly smart?
Frustrating: There are good mixed points with the bad and it's hard to understand why the game irritates.
Other times I because quite engrossed with the gun fights, especially towards the end.
Random save points around the area don't make sense as "quick save" can be used unless they server as a "reminder" to save.
I actually believe that I could do better.Stupid: Everyone is out to kill you with the exception of truce zones which is silly.
More time should have been spent integrating more flora and especially fauna into the maps.
While this may have been a "decision" made by the director, it made the game feel awfully two dimensional.
It makes no sense hear monkeys but never to see them.
Basically it assumes one believes the following: "Africa is a mostly terrible place", then proceeds to treat the player like a moron with a story that actually bests "Half-Life full life consequences" (google / youtube it).
While I understand that it's an FPS there's no elaboration on characters, people, places, history, future, psychology etc which is especially needed for non-linear games.
The reputation, journal, jackal tapes etc become so peripheral to the game because of the lack of immersion, they become rarely checked.
Buddy missions sometimes don't get you anything but increased history with a corpse - waste of time (apologies for the morbidity but where's the "fun"?
Genearal: Because of the above, this game feels half finished.
Two more years sorting it's negative points would have seen a much better game hit the shelves.
This game is a big step up in many ways from "Boiling Point" - it even has some attributes such as guns jamming, weather changing etc.
However, the missions in Boiling Point were better thought out from what I can remember as well as the story (and that's not saying much).
It falls down in many of the same areas - boring repetitive gameplay, travelling everywhere with everyone out to kill you and all the time, while you play the game, you feel like time is being wasted - an eternal and unsated search for the "fun" in the game.Gameplay: There's something to be said for linear gameplay - the Half-Life series is a great example of how a linear game can have excellent gameplay (and with oodles of multiplayer potential).
Regarding non-linear gameplay, Fallout is a very good example - giving players freedom but making the game so much fun with immersive environments - basically succeeding nearly everywhere FC2 failed).
Now, I know the latter is more of an RPG game, but there is no excuse ignoring what makes a game fun - not just guns and explosions and why FC1 had less story, it was linear and managed to be much more fun, for reasons outside the scope of this review.
Sadly, FC2 doesn't come close to the juggernauts that are Half-Life or Fallout.
While FC2 probably wasn't in development as long, it certainly was worked on for at least two years.
One has to ask themselves, where was all the time spent?
Unfortunately, it feels like the time was spent prettifying dawn and dusk.Few games will actually make me sit up and write a review - this is surely one of them.
If mediocre games like this are released and accepted, it's a sad day for the FPS.
For the frustration it caused me and the feeling that I wasted time playing it, my verdict has to be spend the money elsewhere, and avoid another mindless GTA'esqe, albeit pretty game..
It's hands down one of the best first person shooters I've ever played.
I loved how gigantic the sandbox world is and I don't know why people complain about how far you have to go to get to missions (it is called FARcry you know) since there is so much to do on the way, like battling your way out of ambushes or searching for diamonds or taking side missions from cellphone towers or gun shops.
There are a few weird things, like how you can swim forever without any problem but you can only sprint a few feet before you get tired and your eyesight gets all blurry, making you nauseous in real life.
The entire bit about having malaria also turns your stomach as you play and not in a good way.
But otherwise this game is simply crazy.
Do yourself a favor, though, and play it on the easy level because otherwise you will be torn to shreds during most gunfights before you even know what hit you.
Even on easy you'll end up dying several times before the gigantic story is over, so make sure you save at every last safe house that you pass otherwise you will be crying about losing your last half hour of play.
Also beware that you are not a good guy or a hero in this game, in fact you are a full fledged terrorist blowing up pipelines, assassinating people and otherwise playing double agent to the two warring factions.
As for me, I can't wait to play FarCry 3..
Great ideas buried by several large design problems..
Far Cry 2 has some gameplay mechanics that I think are better than Far Cry 3 or Far Cry 4.
Foliage physics are better than either of those games, as plants and trees can be pushed aside, set on fire, and have shredding animation when shot.
Having to unlock weapons via in game currency is a much better way of rewarding players for exploration than the FC3 and FC4 method of unlocking radio towers resulting in free weapons.
The actual game world is very large and incredibly well designed.
So, now that I got all of the positives out of the way, I want to go through the list of problems that this game has: 1.
Fast Traveling - As I said in the positives, the map in this game is huge.
Open world sandbox games need a large map, but also require a decent fast travel system.
Far Cry 2 may have the worst fast travel system I have ever used.
You are not allowed to fast travel between safe houses or major towns.
Instead, you can only fast travel between bus stations.
The main problem is that these bus stations generally are not near main mission locations, and are few and far between.
A nine square kilometer grid (the game has two of them) has only 5 or 6 bus stations.
2. Game Saving - There is no auto save in this game.
That is not inherently a problem, as there are many locations, including safe houses, ammo stores, and mission completions where a player can save.
However, due to large amounts of traveling around the map, there are many opportunities to die repeatedly on the way to one objective.
Enemies constantly respawn, and later in the game can kill you extremely fast.
This makes getting across the map a chore, which just pisses you off more that there isn't a good fast travel system.3.
These can't really be considered collectibles, as diamonds are needed to buy weapons and weapon upgrades.
The sheer size of the map makes finding all of these daunting, but to find 221 of them?
Only collecting the flags in the original Assassins Creed game is worse than this.4.
Malaria - To be clear, I actually initially thought this was an interesting idea.
Having to constantly keep medicated to keep symptoms at bay sounds like a decent added mechanic.
Unfortunately it is an incredibly shallow tacked-on aspect of the game for plot purposes.
What is unacceptable is that you have unlimited pills as long as you do not do main storyline missions.
I started the game looking for diamonds and doing contract killer missions, so my first bottle of malaria pills lasted over 15 hours of gameplay.
I then hit all of the story missions in quick succession, and went through 2 bottles in 3 hours.
This indicates that the pills themselves are merely a plot contrivance to make you do underground resistance missions.5.
The revolution missions are all the same.
Blow stuff up and kill people, then do the same for a different faction.
In dull and repetitive missions.
I think that this game has a couple of gameplay mechanics superior to the sequels, but Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 have much better overall playability and story than Far Cry 2..
An improvement of the far cry series.
Basic plot attempt to kill the jackal good missions ,and awesome missions and open world Africa the jackal is a good guy and save some prisoners.You will have fun with easy mode. |
tt0037932 | My Name Is Julia Ross | In London, Julia Ross (Nina Foch) goes to a new employment agency, desperate for work. When Mrs. Sparkes (Anita Sharp-Bolster) learns that she has no near relations, she recommends Julia for a job as a live-in personal secretary to a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes (May Whitty). Mrs. Hughes approves and insists that she move that very night into her house. Two days later, Julia awakes as a prisoner at an isolated seaside estate in Cornwall.
All her possessions have disappeared and the young woman is told she is really Marion, the wife of Ralph Hughes (George Macready), Mrs. Hughes's son. The staff have been told that she has suffered a nervous breakdown; as a result, they ignore her seemingly wild claims and her attempts to escape are all foiled.
Julia writes a letter to her only close friend and admirer, Dennis Bruce (Roland Varno), and cleverly leaves it where it can be found. The Hughes substitute a blank sheet of paper and allow her to post it, unaware that Julia has anticipated them and written a second letter. Even so, when a "doctor" comes in response to a fake poisoning attempt, she blurts out her plan to him, only to discover that he (along with Mrs. Sparkes) is in on the scheme. He is dispatched to London to intercept the letter. When the real doctor shows up, Julia thinks he's also a fake and refuses to see him. The doctor recommends she be taken to a hospital immediately, but Mrs. Hughes persuades him to come back in the morning.
That night, Julia discovers a secret passage to her room and overhears Ralph admit to his mother that he murdered his real wife in a fit of rage and disposed of her body in the sea. Julia's captors have to make it appear that she has committed suicide before the doctor can take her away.
Julia throws her gown out the window, making it look like she threw herself to her death, then hides in the secret passage. When the doctor drives up, Mrs. Hughes delays him so that her son can get to the body first. Ralph picks up a rock to ensure that Julia is really dead, but is stopped by Dennis and a policeman, who had been alerted by the letter. (The fake doctor had been apprehended in London when he tried to intercept the letter.) When Ralph tries to flee, he is shot down. | insanity | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0090098 | Summer Rental | Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester (Candy) is given four paid weeks off as an alternative to being fired after nearly causing a mid-air collision on the job and having an outburst over what turned out to be a fly covering a radar blip. He uses this time off to take his wife Sandy and children Jennifer, Bobby, and Laurie on a summer vacation from the Atlanta area to the Gulf Coast resort town of Citrus Cove, Florida, where they are beset by a never-ending barrage of problems. First they are bumped out of the front of the line of an upscale seafood restaurant in favor of arrogant local sailing champion Al Pellet, who becomes Jack's main nemesis throughout the film. Then the family misreads the address, moves into the wrong house, and are forced to leave in the middle of the night, ending up in a decrepit shack on a public beach with a constant stream of beach-goers tromping through. Jack then receives a leg injury that prevents him from spending time with his family.
Later, Jack again locks horns with Pellet, the owner of the dubious piece of real estate where the Chesters are staying after the previous owner died. Jack gives Pellet the check for $1,000 to cover the rent for the next two weeks, but Pellet tears up the check and orders the Chesters to leave the house when their first two weeks expire or he'll throw them out personally.
To avoid an early eviction, Jack challenges Pellet to a race at the upcoming Citrus Cove Regatta: If Pellet wins, Jack will pay him the $1,000 rent and take his family home; if Jack wins, he keeps the money and earns the right to stay in the house for two more weeks rent-free. Pellet scoffs at the notion that Jack could ever defeat him in a race, but accepts the challenge. However, Jack hasn't sailed for many years and doesn't even have a boat. Scully, a local saloon keeper with a pirate's mentality whom the Chesters met earlier, befriends Jack and volunteers to help him on both counts.
The bored Chesters come to life by helping Jack make his new vessel seaworthy. This motley crew is at first no match for Pellet or anybody else in the race, but tossing useless garbage overboard, a strong breeze and a large pair of pants enable Jack to enjoy a victory at sea. | comedy, adult comedy | train | wikipedia | "Summer Rental" is a very pleasant comedy vehicle from director Carl Reiner and star John Candy.
Candy stars as Jack Chester, an air traffic controller under alot of stress.
The funniest part of "Summer Rental" is the opening 5 minutes, with Candy exhibiting the kind of stress that causes his superiors to suggest a vacation.
The film loses a little of its comic edge in the second half, when Candy takes up sailing and tries to win a bet against one of the locals, an obnoxious yachtsman played gamely by Richard Crenna.
Still, "Summer Rental" is a nice little movie, with the late John Candy giving one of his better leading performances.
Karen Austin is very good as Candy's supportive wife Sandy; a very young Joey Lawrence (several years before "Blossom", back when he was starring on Nell Carter's '80s sitcom "Gimme A Break!") shines as Candy's son Bobby; Rip Torn is somewhat amusing as Scully, owner of a local restaurant on a boat who becomes Candy's good friend; and "Night Court's" John Larroquette also makes an appearence in a bit part.
"Summer Rental" is one of director Reiner's better films, and it gets to show off Candy's considerable comic talents that are sorely missed today.*** (out of four).
There's no violence, no crude sexual comedy, just the legendary John Candy doing what he did best.
John Candy is surely one of the best comics of the past 30 years, pulling this move together..
John Candy and Carl Reiner: what could be a better combo?.
For most of his career, John Candy played a bunch of rather silly roles that - while they were completely goofy - were great nevertheless.
Candy plays overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester, who takes his family on vacation in Florida.
Finally, Jack and his family decide to take one last chance to restore their dignity.I will admit that "Summer Rental" is pretty much a big excuse to be silly, but you gotta love it.
John Candy's wit and humor shines through as Jack Chester, the over worked air traffic controller who reluctantly takes a vacation to the beach with his family.
The laughs keep coming as Jack and his family spend the summer at the beach with many mishaps occurring throughout the movie.
We've watched this movie many times, but we still laugh and feel good when the movie ends.
I thoroughly enjoy watching this movie every time they show it on Comedy Central or USA or TNT.
This movie is classic John Candy all the way.
Candy has scenes, no matter how many I times I watch, that make me laugh so hard I fall from my chair.
Sure the story may be weak and a little corny with the whole boat race but it ranks up there among my favorites.It has some other memorable moments including Rip Torn's character of Scully.
This is one movie that shows how your summer vacation all goes wrong.
John Candy plays Jack Chester, an over-worked man who decides to bring his family on vacation...and fails miserably.
SUMMER RENTAL is one of the best comedies that John Candy ever did.
Typical John Candy film.
Either way, Candy rises above the material and makes the film fun to watch, but not necessarily a great film by any means.
I saw SUMMER RENTAL on cable one night and thought that it was pretty funny so I decided to rent it.
John Candy is really great in this movie and it's not too crude or vulgar like most comedies from the 1980's are.
His whole presence in the movie is totally pointless and I suspect there was a whole 'Candy's wife may be cheating on him' plot that was cut out because it just too similar Chase/D'Angelo in Vacation.We never know what happens to Richard Crenna or Rip Torn after the Regatta and we never know how the rest of the Summer Rental went.
It's like the writers knew there was no plot, chucked in this Regatta crap and thought that would be a good place to end the film when it's over.
I found that pretty weird.Although I have already made comparisons to Vacation I still feel like this film is good enough without being a copycat movie.
Candy feels more like a real guy who needs a real vacation.
I miss John Candy and wish he made more movies before he died..
A Good John Candy Film.
John Candy is despondent about his chances in a yacht race, and tells his daughter "You can't win them all".
At this moment in the film you feel all the pain ever felt by anyone who ever wanted to win just one time and show the world they could.
He knows his limits and accepts them, but this one time wants to rise above them and prove his worth.Candy is an overstressed air traffic controller who takes an enforced vacation with his family, and has a summer of things go wrong.
John Candy did that in Planes Trains And Automobiles and it was one of the finest acting jobs that I have ever seen in a movie.
In Summer Rental John gives what I would consider one of his "typical" performances.
Richard Crenna and Rip Torn are both wonderful character actors and both give Candy able support.
This is one of those films that doesn't carry an important social message, the idea is that you should just leave your brain and social conscience at the door of the cinema and just relax and have a good time watching a true comic giant at work.
Considering the current state of our world and the current state of "comedy", almost 10 years after his untimely death, I think we need John Candy now more then ever before..
The first half of "Summer Rental" is fun, with a stressed out John Candy, at the beach.
Unfortunately the rest of the movie involves a contrived sailing race with Richard Crenna playing the, all too typical, snob competition.
Compared to some of Candy's misfires like "Armed and Dangerous", this is a success, but one or two great scenes are unfortunately stretched between a lot of weak material.
Jack Chester (John Candy) is an over-stressed 13-year air traffic controller.
Jack challenges him in a yacht race using restaurant owner Scully (Rip Torn)'s old decommissioned boat.On the page, Jack is boorish and rather clueless.
Vacation on the shores of St. Petersburg with John Candy.
John Candy plays Jack Chester, a burnout air traffic controller in 1985's "Summer Rental," where he takes his family to the beaches of St. Petersburg for some r & r.
While the family has fun, they also clash with a champion yachtsman (Richard Crenna) and settle their differences in a sailboat race.Candy's always good as a comedic every-man and Karen Austin and Kerri Green shine as female eye candy (so you get the best of both worlds – older babe and younger babe, lol).
Rip Torn plays the pirate-like companion that helps Chester compete.
Summer Rental is a classic Candy that has its place amoung the 80's best..
This softly Romantic Comedy about a man's quest to find his lost youth, set right the wrongs of his life, save his family, and owe yah get away from it all, is a movie worthy of anybody who's life isn't exactly as planned.
Starring John Candy, in role only he could play, this 80's flick has the perfect balance of romance, comedy, drama, and the ocasional action sequence.
Candy gives his best shot at a humdrum movie..
John Candy sure wasn't having a whole lot of fun during his free time, and neither will you and I.
SUMMER RENTAL is a relatively harmless "family" comedy with unexpected situations that can go haywire or just perfectly normal.
The Funniest John Candy movie ever!.
John Candy plays Jack Chester, an highly burned out air-traffic controller who takes his family out to Florida for a vacation.
Great cast they got there John Laroquette of "Night Court" along with his first season co-star Karen Austin playing Candy's wife.
Joey Lawrence of "Gimme a Break!" Plenty of casts, plenty of fun, I enjoyed this movie whether it's a keeper or a rental.
The first time I was impressed by the comedy of the late great John Candy and the beauty of Kristen Dunn (Goonies).
Unfortunately the film is running on fumes after only an hour and the writers resort to a boat race to pad out the running time.
Ah, well, aside from those quibbles this makes for a good "Summer-video-Rental" but works in the off-season as well..
I think it is good film for this, to watch peoples paying with fun, meeting adventures, this is the kind of thing.
John Candy, Karen Austin and their children decide to take a vacation at the beach and end up getting into all sorts of wild situations.
Candy has a plan though to get even with Crenna by winning a sailing contest with the help of run-down restaurant owner Rip Torn and the restaurant itself.
John Candy fans will appreciate the film more than others.
Be honest, do you think a movie with John Candy can be a masterpiece?
Together with his wife played by Karin Austin and kids go to California and of course everything turns out wrong...and then after 40 minutes you should switch of your telly cos that's the best part and quite hilarious in pure Richard Pryorstyle but then darkness fall when Candy decides to take part on some sailingcontest as he found some old pirates who are giving him their pirateship (normally a fishrestaurant) to use.
Rip Torn as an old and real buccaneer pirate, hook for a hand and all, is completely wasted here, delivering such a fine performance, way above his peers, with the exception of Crenna, who isn't bad either.
This one, like Candy's Esky is a drippy, lazy comedy, that falls pretty weak, and when stacked up Carl Reiner's next flick, Summer School, two years later, that fared much better, this director truly redeemed himself.
Burned out air-traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) takes his wife Sandy (Karen Austin), teenage daughter Jennifer (Kerri Green), son Bobby (Joey Lawrence) and younger daughter Laurie (Aubrey Jene) to Florida for some much needed rest and relaxation, where, after a series of mildly amusing mishaps that threaten to spoil the vacation, they pull together as a family to settle a feud with an obnoxious local yachtsman (Richard Crenna).This mid '80s John Candy vehicle starts off very much in the style of National Lampoon's Vacation, with a series of comedic episodes in which Candy's well-meaning character repeatedly comes a cropper.
The second half of the film introduces a classic underdogs storyline that, while not exactly original or particularly funny, provides lots of wholesome, feel-good entertainment guaranteed to put a smile on the face.Candy is his usual affable self and handles the material like a pro, Austin looks uncannily like Vacation's Beverly D'Angelo (which I suspect was deliberate, given the film's other similarities), Crenna is suitably loathsome, and jail-bait Green, teen up-skirt queen of '85, doesn't flash her knickers, but does look rather fine in her bikini.
Rip Torn also puts in a fun turn as pirate restaurateur Scully, who teaches Jack a thing or two about sailing.Profanity and nudity are at a minimum (a running joke about a woman's breast implants is as rude as it gets, and she is only ever seen topless from behind), while a potential sub-plot about Sandy cheating with another man is notably dropped (one can definitely feel its presence), making the film suitable viewing for the whole family..
Fun but not John Candy's best.
It's strange to see an extremely young Joey Lawrence who plays the annoying brother opposite Kerri Green (The Goonies).Humor .5 Visual gags .5 Family fun 1 John Candy 1 Acting .5 80's memories 14.5 out of 6.
It's one of John Candy's forgotten bests...
The family are great and Rip Torn plays an excellent pirate fabrication.
I honestly played that part back several times where J Candy fly swats the window where the kid appears.
John Candy is superb in his best performance ever.
Movies such as this are an all time classic and many like to watch over and over.
John Candy became my favorite actor and I love every movie he ever made.
Summer Rental is a decent family movie that any age can watch and enjoy as a family.
Good John Candy movie!.
This is a classic John Candy movie in My opinion.Richard Crenna and Rip Torn are also in it!I don't want to spoil it but here is just a sample of what's funny in this movie!The eggs in the car,the woman that got breast surgery,the restaurant scenes with Crenna and Candy,all of the beach scenes,and last but not least the heavy set belching smurf watching man!This is a good John Candy movie that I recommend!.
Not one of John Candy's best films (nor Carl Reiner's for that matter) but still worth seeing for a few amusing lines.
Richard Crenna gives a good performance as the typical jerk and Rip Torn does his best "Captain McCalister" impression.
Being one who has experienced the family vacation, I was fairly sure this was to be a good film for me.
I commend John Candy for doing his best to make something of this film.
This is a movie about a family that goes on a vacation and rents a beach house.
A common factor between most of these films is that many of them feature John Candy.
but "Summer Rental" is very much a starring vehicle for big John, and he is the best thing about this otherwise very obvious and predictable beachfront farce.Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is ordered by his superiors to take a little time off after losing his nerve one day at work.
Jack takes the opportunity to travel down to Florida for a summer vacation with his family beautiful wife Sandy (Karen Austin), blossoming daughter Jennifer (Kerri Green), cheeky son Bobby (Joey Lawrence) and toddler Laurie (Aubrey Jene).
Jack also crosses swords with local playboy Al Pellet (Richard Crenna), little suspecting that Pellet actually owns the holiday home in which his family is staying.
Problem is that Jack doesn't even have a boat, but he solves this by persuading local restaurateur Scully (Rip Torn) to convert his floating restaurant so that it can be used in the race!This is Candy's film and he comes across affably as the parent whose determination to please his family usually ends in disaster.
Suddenly, their vacation turns into a not so pleasant experience.Jack Chester, who has made a good friend in Scully, the owner of The Barnacle, wants to rent one of the boats to teach his young son how to sail.
Little does he know who he is racing against!Carl Reiner directed this 1984 film.
He was lucky in having John Candy, a wonderful comedy actor to star in it.
The whole thing is a tribute to the late Mr. Candy, a man who died too soon, as proved by this film, that although is not one of the best that both the director, or its star made, it has some sunny moments.
Rip Torn and Richard Crenna, appear as Scully and Pellet..
The three stars are only because John Candy turned in a very game effort and was actually quite funny, only to be undone by one of the most preposterous plots ever.
The talents of Richard Crenna and Rip Torn are completely wasted, and I'm still trying to figure out what the John Larroquette character was all about.
It's one thing to direct a flop, but it's another to lend your support to something as astonishingly stupid as the second-half boat race in this film.
Warning: If you must watch this movie turn it off the second the boats line up for the regatta..
"Good 80's Summer Comedy!".
John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, Joey Lawrence and John Larroquette star in Carl Reiner's 1985 comedy.
Jack Chester (Candy) is a burnt-out, air traffic controller who decides to take a vacation with his wife, Sandy (Austin), son, Bobby (Lawrence) and daughters, Jennifer, (Green) and Laurie (Aubrey Jene).
Crenna (First Blood) plays Al Pellet, a wealthy snob who is also a 7-year boat race champion, Torn (Defending Your Life) plays Scully, Captain and restaurant owner of "The Barnacle" and Larroquette (Blind Date) plays Don Moore, a nice guy who befriends The Chesters.
This is a good 80's flick and Candy & the cast are great in it.
Jack Chester, an overworked air traffic controller, takes his family on vacation to the beach.
Jack ends up in a feud with a local yachtsman, and has to race him to regain his pride and family's respect.....It's the eighties, John Candy is the head of the family, and they go on holiday, and bump into special guest star Richard Crenna, and you get exactly what you would expect, a fun breezy comedy were Candy gets into all kinds of hi jinks.Things go awry when Candy puts a hole in Crennas boat and he forces them to move out of their summer home.
We've got one joke to pull, and that should do it!" John Candy gets the director's rapt attention at all times.
"Summer Rental" Rent -a- Laugh..
In 1985,this was the first John candy movie I paid to see and all i can say over 20 years later is it's still as funny as it was then.
That and encouraging Candy to feel if they seem real.The end of the boat race is very predictable,you know John & family are going to win.
I guess it could be a simple fun film to watch (which it is)but for a comedy with a talent like John Candy,it's so-so.
Jack (John Candy) has been an air traffic control for 13 years.
This is a fun film, made better, naturally, because of Candy's great talents. |
tt0063663 | The Swimmer | On a sunny day in an affluent suburb in Connecticut, a fit and tanned middle-aged man in a bathing suit, Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster), drops by a pool party being held by old friends, the Westerhazys. They offer him a cocktail while nursing their own hangovers from the night before. As they share stories, Ned realizes that there is a series of backyard swimming pools that could form a "river" back to his house, making it possible for him to "swim his way home". Ned dives into the pool, emerging at the other end and beginning his journey. Ned's behavior perplexes his friends, who apparently know worrisome things about his recent past which he seems to have forgotten.
As Ned travels, he encounters other neighbors. He meets 20-year-old Julie (Janet Landgard), who used to babysit his daughter, and reveals his plan to her; she joins him. Together, they have several experiences, including crashing another pool party and sipping champagne. While chatting in a grove of trees, Julie reveals that she had a schoolgirl crush on Ned, who then begins talking about how he will protect her, making plans for the two of them. Discomfited by his intimate approaches, Julie runs away.
Ned meets a wealthy older couple, unbothered by his eccentric behavior but also unimpressed by his posturing. He then encounters Kevin, a lonely young boy, who he tries to teach how to swim. They use an abandoned, empty pool, which Ned urges the boy to imagine is filled with water. The boy warms to this method, and soon is "swimming" the length of the empty pool. As Ned takes his leave, he glances back and sees the boy bouncing on the diving board over the deep end of the empty pool.
Ned fails to make more than a superficial connection with the people he meets, being obsessed with his journey, and becoming increasingly out of touch with reality. The neighborhood is full of judgmental, well-heeled people intent on one-upmanship, and Ned continues to be confused by hints that his life might not be as untroubled as he believes it to be.
Ned carries on with his plan. He walks into another party where the hostess, who seems to have had a past encounter with him, playfully calls him a "party crasher". He encounters there a bubbly girl, Joan (Joan Rivers), who does not know him. Ned asks her to join him, and Joan is intrigued until she is warned off by a friend. Ned jumps into the pool, making a big splash that grabs the attention of the guests. When he emerges from the water, he notices a cart that used to be his, being used to serve hot dogs. Ned gets into a spat with the homeowner, who indignantly claims to have bought it at a white elephant sale.
Ned then shows up at the backyard pool of Shirley Abbott (Janice Rule), a stage actress with whom he had an affair several years earlier. His warm memories of their time together contrast sharply with her own experience of having been "the other woman". Unable to reconcile his feelings with the pain he has caused, Ned wades into the deep end of the pool.
Ned continues on, showing up at a crowded public swimming pool. He is confronted by hostile local shopkeepers who ask him "How do you like our water?" (indicating surprise at his appearance at such a plebeian location), and ask him when he will settle his unpaid bills. When some of them let loose vicious comments about his wife's snobbish tastes and his out-of-control daughter's recent troubles with the law, it is too much for Ned and he flees.
Ned's journey home no longer includes any pools, and he trudges barefoot alongside a busy highway as the skies darken and a chilling rain begins to fall. Amid a downpour at sunset, a shivering, limping Ned staggers home, and finds his house locked and deserted. Peering in through a dirty window, he sees that it has been emptied of furniture, and appears to have been abandoned for some time. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0215132 | Rocky | In late 1975, the heavyweight boxing world champion, Apollo Creed, announces plans to hold a title bout in Philadelphia during the upcoming United States Bicentennial. However, he is informed five weeks from the fight date that his scheduled opponent is unable to compete due to an injured hand. With all other potential replacements booked up or otherwise unavailable, Creed decides to spice things up by giving a local contender a chance to face him. He settles on Rocky Balboa, a failed southpaw boxer from an Italian neighborhood of Philadelphia, known by the nickname "The Italian Stallion".
Rocky meets with promoter Miles Jergens, presuming Creed is seeking local sparring partners. Rocky reluctantly agrees to the match, which will pay him $150,000. After several weeks of training, using whatever he can find, including meat carcasses as punching bags, Rocky accepts an offer of assistance from former boxer Mickey "Mighty Mick" Goldmill, a respected trainer and former bantamweight fighter from the 1920s, who always criticized Rocky for wasting his potential.
At the same time, Rocky begins a relationship with Adrian, a clerk at the local pet store. He gradually gains the shy Adrian's trust, culminating in a kiss. Her alcoholic brother Paulie becomes jealous of Rocky's success, but Rocky calms him by agreeing to advertise his meatpacking business at the fight. The night before the match, Rocky starts to lose confidence after touring the arena. He confesses to Adrian that he does not expect to win, but is content to go the distance against Creed and prove himself to everyone.
On New Year's Day, the boxing match is held, with Creed making a dramatic entrance dressed as George Washington and then Uncle Sam. Taking advantage of his overconfidence, Rocky knocks him down in the first round—the first time that Creed has ever been knocked down. Humiliated, Creed takes Rocky more seriously for the rest of the fight, though his ego never fully fades. The fight goes on for the full fifteen rounds, with both fighters sustaining injuries; Rocky suffers his first broken nose and debilitating trauma around the eye, and Creed sustains brutal blows to his ribs with substantial internal bleeding. As the match progresses, Creed's superior skill is countered by Rocky's apparently unlimited ability to absorb punches, and his dogged refusal to be knocked out. As the final round bell sounds, with both fighters locked in each other's arms, they promise to each other that there will be no rematch.
After the fight, multiple layers of drama are played out: the sportscasters and the audience go wild, Jergens announces over the loudspeaker that the match was "the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring", and Rocky calls out repeatedly for Adrian, who runs down and comes into the ring as Paulie distracts arena security. As Jergens declares Creed the winner by virtue of a split decision (8:7, 7:8, 9:6), Adrian and Rocky embrace and profess their love to each other, not caring about the result of the fight. | revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0384444 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | The story is set in Persia during the 9th century AD, and begins with the Prince narrating to an unseen listener about his adventures. The Prince and the army of his father Shahraman are passing through India to visit the Sultan of Azad. The Vizier of a local Maharaja, wanting to prevent his death using a substance known as the Sands of Time, entices them into attacking the Maharaja's palace, where the Sands are stored. During the fight, the Prince loots an artefact called the Dagger of Time, and the Maharaja's daughter Farah is taken as a gift for the Sultan of Azad. Visiting Azad, the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands, turning everyone but the Prince, the Vizier and Farah (protected by the Dagger, a staff and a bow respectively) into sand creatures. The Vizier attempts to seize the Dagger from the Prince, but he escapes and eventually allies with Farah to undo the damage he has caused and prevent the Sands from covering the world, even though he has doubts about her loyalties and motives.
After navigating the palace of Azad and reaching the hourglass of the Sands in the Tower of Dawn, the Prince hesitates when following Farah's instructions on containing the Sands, unsure of whether to trust her. The Vizier ambushes them and they barely escape with the Dagger, ending up in a tomb beneath the city. Eventually finding shelter in a mysterious bathhouse, the two rest and consummate their growing feelings for each other. When the Prince wakes up back in the palace, Farah has gone with the Dagger, leaving him her bow. He follows her and only just manages to catch her as she is driven over a ledge above the hourglass by monsters. To save the Prince, Farah allows herself to fall to her death. As the Prince mourns over her, the Vizier offers him eternal life in exchange for the Dagger. The Prince refuses and stabs the hourglass with the Dagger. Time rewinds to before the attack on the Maharaja's palace, and the Prince, still in possession of the Dagger and his memories, runs ahead to warn Farah of the Vizier's treachery. It is now revealed that the Prince has been recounting his tale to Farah, and as he finishes, the Vizier enters to kill him. The Prince kills the Vizier and returns the Dagger to Farah, who believes his narrative was just a story. In parting, the Prince mentions a private word she told him during their time in the tomb, leaving her amazed. | psychedelic, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0475289 | Hack! | On a small island, a man (Kane Hodder) is chased by an unseen figure. As he stops to catch his breath, he is decapitated by his pursuer. Meanwhile, a group of teenage college students, including the social outcast Emily (Danica McKellar), Emily's love interest Johnny (Jay Kenneth Johnson), the flamboyant homosexual Ricky (Justin Chon), jock Tim (Travis Schuldt), boyish lesbian Maddy (Adrienne Frantz), stoner Q (Won-G) and girly-girl Sylvia (Gabrielle Richens), are chosen to go on a field trip to a small island. The group, along with their teacher Mr. Argento (Mike Wittlin), meet Captain J.T. Bates (Burt Young) who takes them to the island on his boat. Here, the group meet the eccentric couple Vincent King (Sean Kanan) and Mary Shelley (Juliet Landau) who they will be staying with. Mary begins to film the group on her hand-held recorder, saying that she is an aspiring director.
At night, while the group settle in and have dinner with Vincent and Mary, Mr. Argento finds he has to leave the island to retrieve some equipment. However arriving at the boat, Mr. Argento finds J.T. has been murdered. Meanwhile, the students have a bonfire on the beach. Q leaves the group only to be startled by a figure dressed up as a clown. When he tells the others the incident is ignored and everyone goes to bed, not knowing Mr. Argento has also been murdered. The following day, Sheriff Stoker (Tony Burton) arrives on the island in search of a missing hunter. He questions Vincent and Mary, but both deny ever seeing him, so the Sheriff leaves. Soon after, Tim and Sylvia sneak into the forest to have sex, but are quickly attacked by the killer who murders Tim with a chainsaw. Sylvia is chased through the forest but is eventually caught, before being locked in a cage in an underground dungeon. At dinner, Emily becomes concerned with the various group disappearances, before she realises the phone lines are down, however Vincent and Mary convince everyone there is nothing to worry about. The students again have a bonfire on the beach, while Q decides to try and search for a phone signal. He encounters the clown once again, who swiftly crushes his neck and kills him. With Q now also missing, Emily, Johnny, Ricky and Maddy enter the forest to find their fellow students. Meanwhile, Vincent and Mary are shown watching videos of various murders they have committed and filmed, revealing the couple are making a snuff film.
Sheriff Stoker, having become suspicious about Vincent and Mary returns to the island, however he is quickly murdered by the couple with an axe. Ricky and Maddy search the forest, but Maddy is soon knocked unconscious by Vincent and Mary while Ricky flees. Maddy awakens sometime later tied to a tree where she encounters Willy (William Forsythe) who sets her free and tells her she can escape on his boat. While chasing Ricky through the forest, Vincent and Mary stop to record some footage. Vincent bites a chunk out of Mary's neck which eventually kills her, before Ricky attacks Vincent but is ultimately shot dead himself. As Johnny and Emily search the forest, Johnny finally kisses her. Overhearing Ricky's death, Johnny leaves to investigate. Meanwhile, Maddy searches for Willy's boat, but instead finds Emily standing next to a water well. Maddy warns Emily about the murders, but Emily unexpectedly pushes Maddy down the well where she is impaled on a spike. Vincent emerges from a nearby tree, congratulating Emily for her performance and luring the students to the island. Vincent informs Emily that Mary is now dead, and it is revealed the pair were having an affair behind Mary's back. Johnny soon returns to Emily, but is knocked unconscious by Vincent.
Johnny awakens in the dungeon and finds Sylvia still trapped in the cage, which is hanging above a pool of piranha fish. Willy arrives and frees Johnny, but Vincent and Emily also arrive and shoot Willy in the chest with an arrow, presumably killing him. In the ensuing fight, Vincent is severely injured and Sylvia is plunged into the pool of piranha. Johnny is chased to the beach where he is caught by Vincent and Emily. However Willy reveals himself to have survived and shoots Vincent dead, but Emily quickly shoots Willy in the head, killing him. Johnny continues to fight with Emily, before Sylvia also reveals herself to have survived and she finally kills Emily. Deputy Radley (Lochlyn Munro) then arrives on the island to take Johnny and Sylvia home. In a flashback scene, Deputy Radley is shown to be involved with the snuff film, leaving it unknown if Johnny and Sylvia were saved or were murdered also. | violence | train | wikipedia | It tries to talk you into believing that it's a tribute to classic campy slasher films, it dazzles you with good production design, cinematography and some fairly decent actors, but ultimately it turns to tired slapstick and surrealism without purpose, all courtesy of the only horrifying aspect of this movie; the script!
My advice: pick any one of the 20+ classic horror movies that this movie references and watch that again, odds are good that you'll have a better time!.
Some of the actors are actually really good, but not in this film, a lot of the dialogue just makes them sound stupid.
is one of those tongue-in-cheek scary movies that thinks it's being original, witty and clever by referencing past horror classics and playing on the stereotypes and clichés of the genre, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth: loading a film with exaggerated characters named after well-known horror icons, and having them make post-modern observations and spout self-conscious dialogue is not only a very stale routine, but in this particular case also somewhat insulting to its intended horror-savvy audience, to whom these nods to the movies they love will seem extremely obvious and rather irritating.Fortunately, as tired and predictable as the format may be, the film does have its positives, in the very welcome form of juicy gore and tasty babes!
Director Matt Flynn wisely sees fit to include plenty of splattery kills, including a bloody chainsaw attack, a gory hook through the eye, and a shotgun blast to the head, and the fine selection of hotties include one time Buffy vamp Juliet Landau, the stunning Gabrielle Richens (who happily gets her ample norks out), and Danica McKellar of The Wonder Years fame, who regrettably keeps her kit on, thus disappointing the legion of pervs who always wondered what a grown up Winnie might look like in the buff.Throw in a creepy clown, killers dressed in Japanese costume for absolutely no reason, and a pool of piranha, and what you have is a very cheesy, non-essential popcorn flick that won't win any awards for originality, but which is just about daft enough, sexy enough and silly enough for it to still warrant a watch..
tries to freshen up its slasher clichés by introducing a snuff twist, but it adds nothing to the film other than some annoying shots through an old-fashioned, wind-up camera, while the way the film tempers its classical horror references (The Birds, Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) with more modern phenomena (Saw, cult TV series Desperate Housewives, reality show Survivor) feels like a desperate bid to be hip.
Shots slip randomly in and out of focus: some are a few seconds long, some scenes continue far after their end; continuity seems to have been deliberately disregarded, the music seems to be totally unrelated to what is happening on the film (I believe if you listen to your favourite album while you watch, a la Dark Side of the Rainbow, it will match up better); in one scene, it is so clear stock footage is being used that you feel a bit embarrassed.
People, it's been eleven years since Scream; surely it's time for a new horror bandwagon?In the end, while I would sincerely like to declare this film a cult classic, I cannot possibly score it in the upper half of scores - so it gets a 4, the highest score a bad film can get..
A group of students go to an island to study biology, although they all seem to like discussing horror films and almost no one wants to actually do their work.
The movie rips off other horror films -- many character names are horror-based (Argento, Carpenter, etc.) and there's countless references (the boat being named Orca after the "we're going to need a bigger boat" line was awesome).
and even if you do, it might take a special kind of humor (the film is called "Hack" -- lighten up!).Treat the movie like a game, and see how many references and rip-offs you can catch.
I guarantee you I missed some of the references -- now I have to watch it again, and I gladly would.Horror fans will also like the nudity (it's limited but it's here) and the blood.
No it's not groundbreaking in any ways shape or form and yes the characters are all stereotypes and yes the acting is a bit dodgy and yes it's riddled with clichés.But, that's sort of the point, it's meant to be a spoof on the genre.Now I'm not saying it's a great film (or maybe even a good one) by any means but personally I think it's more entertaining than for instance the 'Scary Movie' films.
At least this has a fairly coherent plot and does not rely solely on stealing scenes from other movies and putting a funny twist to them but deals more in terms with homages.It's a comedy first and horror second, and although some of the jokes are a bit on the cheap side (well most tbh) and don't always work overall it does fairly well at entertaining the 80 minutes it's on.With some decent kills as well as some overthetop twists, twists that had this been a serious movie one would have rolled their eyes over but as this is not it works at poking fun on the genre.Best bits are the scenes with William Forsythe as a good ol Scottish laddie, they are just a couple but they are pretty hilarious..
Odd slasher film.It's filled with a bunch of known actors.That doesn't make it good, of course.The students are cardboard cutouts.Stereotyped characters so they aren't so interesting.Some decent nudity however so that's a bonus.The Plot.Seven college students, who make up of the bookish Emily; friendly bad- guy Johnny; punk girl Maddy; the token gay Ricky; gangster-rapper 'Q'; British exchange student Sylvia; and football stud Tim; are picked to travel to a private island owned by the reclusive Vincent King and his film-obsessed wife Mary Shelley to study island wildlife.
But is isn't long when a mysterious killer begins killing the students one-by-one, and modeling them after gory murder scenes from numerous horror films.
apparently suffers from "Scream Sickness", a mental illness related to "Tarantino Disorder", a malady effecting too many young filmmakers these days where they think that by making annoying references to things deemed "cool" in their movie that the coolness rubs off onto their film, only the difference being that people suffering from Scream Sickness make endless references to the horror genre in particular.A personable young cast and a bunch of cameos by great character actors can't redeem such a rotten script as this.
has more likable characters, better comedy (especially how the movie often doesn't take itself seriously - which unfortunately is also a reason why the ending wasn't a surprise for me...) and more gore.but of course hack!
i don't know if the drusilla-like influences in landau's performance were on purpose but while i enjoyed the possible reference on the one hand, i also felt like these moments didn't really fit in with the way her character behaves aside from them.i have to say i only watched this because i saw juliet landau is a part of it and it is finally another horror movie that has decent picture quality (there's way too much cheap digital video sh*t coming out nowadays when it comes to horror - drives me crazy...).
everybody who knows the most famous horror movies of the last ~20 years and who can enjoy gory, slightly goofy horror comedies as well, will probably at least grin at some of the many references that you'll find in hack!
A class trip to an island turns into a nightmare as the college students hoping for a high grade to boost their GPA fall prey to their hosts, a married couple, obsessed film buffs, who record those they murder in ways associated with horror movies.This, at first, appears to be just another formula slasher.
Surprising number of recognizable faces pop up in minor parts such as Kane Hodder(..as the opening victim trying to escape from his pursuers), Burt Young(..as a crusty boat captain who takes the crew to the island), Tony Burton(..as nervous Sheriff Stoker, who worries that something dire has happened to the kids when they don't return;he has a scene with ROCKY co-star Burt Young which might bring a grin to fans' faces), William Forsythe(..as a gruff Irish island fisherman who attempts to save the day, and has some memorable exchanges with the psychos), and Lochlyn Munro(..as Burton's moronic deputy).
Lots of in-jokes such as the names of the crazies, Vincent King(Sean Kanan, whose chiseled features and clean-cut looks adds a unique dimension to his nutcase)and Mary Shelley(Juliet Landau;who's always obviously a bit weird, her camera by her side at all times ready to record even the most mundane occurrences for a "new movie").
I actually really dig the premise behind the movie.Lets say more tongue in check and exploratory of horror clichés then Scream, but not a full blown spoof like Scary Movie.Aesthetically the casting was really good.
Well the fact that Vincent & Mary Shelley are both homicidal snuff film makers who are working on their masterpiece & want our bunch of teens to star in it could cut their careers in biology rather short...Written & directed by Matt Flyn this a is a fairly good teen slasher that could have been better but could just have easily been worse.
From lines like 'was Psycho shot here?' to discussions on their favourite horror films to an Indiana Jones rip-off as someone does some fancy karate moves before someone just shoots him to bits of scenery like the boat which is called the Orca definitely as in the killer whale flick Orca (1977) then the snuff film makers base their film on other films like The Birds (1963), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) & Hellraiser (1987) among others to the way someone talks about the people on the island in terms of film clichés & several character's are named after horror film icons, Mr Argento anyone?
This constant self referential fan-boy dialogue is fun at times but does get a bit old as literally every opportunity is used to slip a film title, cliché or homage into the story.
He is never given any back-story & just suddenly turns up without any satisfactory explanation.Director Flyn does a pretty good job here, it's well made & it actually looks like a proper film which many low budget horrors can't boast.
is an OK teen slasher, forget about the snuff film angle because it doesn't feature that prominently & therefore it's a silly Friday the 13th clone which has some decent gore & some amusing fan-boy dialogue although it does get old before it's end.
is well worth a watch especially when you consider the crap that gets released these days, definitely one of the better low budget horror film from this year..
Written and directed by Matt Flynn, this medium-budget SCREAM-inspired slasher is full of horror film references and in-jokes, many of which are far too obvious, annoying and in-your-face to be even remotely amusing, while a few are kind of clever and more obscure when they aren't blatantly pointing out the film to us.
We have sweet, geeky, pretty teaching assistant Emily (Danica McKellar), good-looking nice guy Johnny (Jay Kenneth Johnson), hot big-breasted foreign exchange student Sylvia (Gabrielle Richens), obnoxious football jock Tim (Travis Schuldt), "flamboyant" gay Asian Ricky (Justin Chon), pot-smoking black guy Q (Won-G) and trashy alternative chick Maddy (Adrienne Frantz).
A friendly and equally film-obsessed couple; Mary Shelley (Juliet Landau) and Vincent King (Sean Kanan, also a producer) put the students up for the weekend and naturally, someone in the group starts killing off the others.
It seems that Mary and Vincent are actually amateur filmmakers themselves and want to shoot their own "reality horror" (i.e. snuff) movie using the students as their victims.
There are also a few expected twists you may or may not see coming.Despite the rampant clichés, countless movie references (HELLRAISER, THE RING, DEAD CALM, FATAL ATTRACTION and JAWS, just to name a few) and the often-annoying non-stop chatter about various horror films, it's upbeat, energetic, fairly well-made when it comes to editing, photography and fx and gives slasher fans the gore and nudity they expect to see.
The whole cast look like they had a good time making it and sometimes a little enthusiasm goes a long way, as is the case with this one.
Slasher horror-movie with terrible humor and acting!.
On top of that, it is done with so little grace and charm, that it's just bad taste (and not in a good horror-movie kinda way).This movie is supposed to be scary, it's not at all!
The acting is by far the worst I have seen in a long time and that is probably also because it is supposed to be that way, since it is a cliché in horror movies...
The first Scream-movie did it, because it was the first one, but to do so, you have to have a good script, timing, charm, good actors (that can actually play "bad-acting"), a good director and a final twist that gives all the clichés you have been watching a purpose.This movie has neither!
True, the film is full of cliché's and references to other horror/slasher movies and where some will say it was appropriate to the storyline, I'd say there was no originality.
Writer/director Matt Flynn delivers an entertainingly campy body count romp that displays a positively infectious love and affection for horror cinema; he sprinkles the picture with numerous witty and knowing references to such bona-fide classics as "The Birds," "Jaws," "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and "The Shining," cheerfully parodies all the tried'n'true clichés ("They always make us separate in these movies"), and pulls out all the stops for a hilariously ridiculous over-the-top conclusion while also pouring on the nice'n'nasty graphic gore with rip-roaring aplomb and even tossing in a decent smattering of tasty gratuitous female nudity for good measure.
Me and my partner rented Hack thinking that it would be quite a good/gory horror film but i was very disappointed.
I should know better by now not to rent low budget straight to DVD horror films as they are never great.
I have to say though, it was a very good idea for a horror film but it just didn't seem to work, between the bad acting and the script it failed which is a shame because it could have been so much better.
You can't wait for the various "teens" to get offed.I like William Forsythe, and this is why I'm watching this film in the first place.I have a lot of movies in my collection in which he stars, but I confess I've not seen them all.I'm still waiting for him to appear in this one, and I'm over an hour into the movie.
(By the way, if you don't have a life, the "Movie Connections" section here mentions only one-third of the direct references to other flicks and TV shows made by characters in HACK!; you can perform a public service by jotting down some more while watching the movie, and add them to the list.
Personally, I feel that it is best viewed as a humorous homage to not only 80's slasher films but of "teen movies" and pop culture, in general..Each cast member/character represents a typical teen movie cliché...
The character names alone cracked me up, most comprising of names related to famed horror directors (Dario Argento, Eli Roth, John Carpenter), authors (Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Stephen and Tabitha King) and movie characters, (Bates of Psycho, "Q" of James Bond, Johnny of NotLD, and (Boo) Radley of To Kill a Mokingbird), as well a tip of the hat to Vincent (Price) and even a appearance from everyone's favorite serial killer: Kane "Jason Vorhees" Hodder, Buffy's Juliet "Drucilla" Landau, The Wonder Years' Danica "Winnie Cooper" McKellar, and Rocky Balboa's well meaning brother-in-law, Burt "Paulie" Young and his corner man, Tony "Duke Burton..
Of course, some of these things may have been unintended, as I tend to connect the most obscure things (the first thing I thought when Maddy was hit with the brick was Krazy Kat and Ignatz), but anyone wishing to have me elaborate, feel free to drop me a messageAnyway, I found this movie to be a fun little flick, and recommend it to anyone into 80's slasher films....and a must for horror geeks into movies like "Saturday the 14th"....
Also, the writer/director seems to have a lot of love for the horror genre with his constant in-script references to horror films and character names (Professor Argento, Mary Shelley King, Sheriff Stoker, etc.).
The plot was an after thought of someone who just wanted to throw ever horror movie they had seen into one film.
I rent a lot of horror movies that are mundane, you know what's going to happen and most are basically a bore!
I Rented This Movie With Extremely Low Expectations , But I Was Greatly Surprised By How It Turned Out , The Movie Starts With Some High School/College Kids Signing Up For An Extra Credit Program , The Project Is Studying Wildlife On A Remote Island , But The Wealthy Couple That Lives On The Island Are Crazy And Making Snuff Movies , The Acting Was Good , The Special Effects Were Good , The Jokes Were Good Too , The Movie Is More Comedy Than Horror , At The End The Bad Guys Were All Killed Off And The Only Survivors Were The Deputy , The Foregn Chick , And The Main Character , I Also Like The Hidden Message Of This Movie , The Hidden Message Is Telling Horror Writers Not To Rip Off Other Movies And Come Up With Their Own Ideas |
tt0787523 | Nothing Is Private | Set in 1990 amid the Kuwait War of 1990-91, Towelhead tells the coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old Lebanese American girl named Jasira (Summer Bishil). She first lives with her mother in Syracuse, New York, but when her mother's live-in boyfriend helps Jasira shave her pubic hair, her mother sends Jasira to live with her old-fashioned and domineering Lebanese father Rifat (Peter Macdissi) in suburban Houston, Texas. Jasira is treated as a second class citizen by her overprotective father. He is strict, does not allow her to use tampons, and prefers spending time with his new girlfriend, Thena. Even her mother refuses to support her when she calls and begs for help, forcing Jasira to comply with his rules. Her father acts very disrespectful towards her and berates her for the slightest thing.
Jasira experiences a sexual awakening at her neighbor's home, which is sparked in part by adult magazines she finds when baby-sitting the next-door neighbor boy Zack Vuoso (Chase Ellison), son of Travis Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart). While Jasira is home alone one night, Mr. Vuoso comes over to retrieve one of his magazines and he ends up sexually assaulting her. Jasira befriends a classmate, Thomas Bradley (Eugene Jones), eventually becoming sexually active with him. When Rifat finds out about her relationship with Thomas, he forbids her from ever seeing him, only because he's black.
Mr. Vuoso becomes jealous of Jasira's relationship with Thomas, and, pretending he has to go to Iraq the next morning, tricks Jasira into sleeping with him. When Rifat finds one of Mr. Vuoso's adult magazines at his house, he beats Jasira, and she seeks refuge at the home of Melina (Toni Collette) (who is pregnant) and her husband, Gil, neighbors that were aware and concerned of Mr. Vuoso's inappropriate behavior towards Jasira from the beginning. While staying at their house, Gil notices bruises on Jasira's legs and Rifat angrily knocks on the door wanting to retrieve his daughter. When both Melinda and Gil refuse to let Rifat in, he threatens to call the police and claim that they kidnapped his daughter, but Gil responds to Rifat that he'll tell them about the bruises he left on Jasira. She goes to school the next day and Melina picks her up, along with Thomas. When they make it back home, they decide to have sex, but are almost caught by Melina.
Later, Rifat visits the couple along with Thena. He notices Thomas is in the house and angrily confronts him. He also reveals why he despises him. He then decides to check the house and discovers a condom in the trash. He assumes Thomas is responsible for taking his daughter's virginity and attempts to assault him. This forces Jasira to confess that she had sex with Mr. Vuoso, who is then arrested and bailed out the next day.
Thomas talks with Jasira about her abuse from Mr. Vuoso, and explains that he doesn't want to have sex with her anymore. She says she does not want to stop. One day after school, Jasira retrieves the corpse of Travis' cat, which ran off after she came by his house and was accidentally run over by Rifat on his way home. When Melina sees Jasira talking to Mr. Vuoso, she runs outside to stop the conversation, but trips and falls down on the floor, which causes her to bleed and go into labor. While at the hospital, Rifat is asked by Jasira to accompany Melina in the delivery room, since her husband won't make it in time. When Rifat refuses to stay, he finally decides to trust Jasira and let her stay and live with Melina, which makes her very happy. He leaves the delivery room and Jasira witnesses Melina giving birth to a baby girl. | comedy | train | wikipedia | If you are made uncomfortable by the honest portrayal of adolescent sexuality, racism, sexism, bad parenting, sexual assault, and sexual predation, then you will not enjoy this movie.If you are like myself and my wife, and you feel that dealing with the life of a young woman torn between cultures and divorced parents, objectified by a society that also rejects her, and as confused and eager and scared of her own sexuality as every young teen has ever been, then you feel this is one of the best films of the year.But not everyone is going to be comfortable with honesty.
A product of a mixed marriage (her mother is white, her father Lebanese) and a broken home, she lives with her strict, traditionalist dad in a Texas suburb during the time of the first Gulf War. Though shy by nature, Jasira seems wise beyond her years when it comes to exploring her burgeoning sexuality.
Yet, despite the sternness and rigidity of her father, Jasira winds up getting involved with both a black boy at school and the middle-aged family man who lives two doors down.With "Towelhead," writer/director Alan Ball returns to the theme of simmering suburban eroticism that he explored so effectively in "American Beauty" and "Six Feet Under." Indeed, it's safe to say that "Towelhead" is possibly the most perceptive, frank and intelligent exploration of teenage sexuality I've ever seen on film.
Often times, we get the sense that Jasira is using her new found sexuality - without yet fully understanding the powerful effect it is having on the males around her - to fill an emotional void in her life, a void caused by a mother and a father who are so caught up in their own lives that they have little left over for their daughter.
For while Jasira is being taunted by the kids at school for her dark skin (even though many assume she is Mexican), her own father is forbidding her to date a black boy who has taken a romantic interest in her.Ball has populated his story (based on the novel by Alicia Erian) with a rich array of complex, multi-dimensional characters, each one a unique and closely observed individual.
Yet, he clearly acknowledges that there is such a thing as going over the line, and that adults need to understand that their own desires should never be fulfilled at the expense of others more vulnerable than themselves.Summer Bishil is heartbreaking and utterly believable as young Jashira, while Peter Macdissi infuses both a sense of menace and a strangely offbeat humor into the role of her hardnosed, dogmatic father.
The ensemble cast is a standout but Summer Bishil absolutely steals this one by delivering an amazingly adult performance of an almost impossible role, and Peter Macdissi, as her father, is also excellent with a heavily nuanced complex character.I'd also like to point out this movie has more WTF moments than anything I've seen in recent memory.Another thing I was struck with is just how commonplace, how "normal" the events in this girl's life appear, and that is even more disturbing.I'd like to close by saying this movie will not be enjoyed by everyone, nor will it be understood by everyone.
Alan Ball's TOWELHEAD is as dark, and biting as American BEAUTY, but with a different slant as a young girl begins to experience the reality of life growing up in the suburbs of America.
The cast is superb, the young actor, Summer Bishil, is tremendous in her role, and the film and story resonate with a young girl wanting to be accepted for who she is, but instead has to face incidents which would impale another young girl.TOWELHEAD deals with prejudice, a multicultural American society that faces Iraq, and other issues, along with the sexuality of young men and women.
How Can You Find Yourself if No One Can See You?Plot: A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist and her strict father during the Gulf War.I got really, really, but I mean, really lucky to catch this at the Deauville American Film Festival.
You can call me whatever you want and say that I'm nuts, but that's my point of view.The film is set on the year 1991 on the Gulf War. When I first read the novel I thought: Well, this doesn't looks like a book that no one will ever adapt to the cinema.
The film goes through many different lives and stories, all through the eyes of 13-year old Jasira (played with great bravery and intelligence by Summer Bishil).
Despite having the looks of a "movie star", nobody could accuse actor Aaron Eckhart of only accepting easy and safe characters.Sure, his filmography includes the obligatory romantic comedies (No Reservations) and action films (The Dark Knight), but it also includes irreverent and unconventional films like Nurse Betty, Thank You for Smoking and Towelhead.However, Eckhart is not the leading actor in the last mentioned movie; that corresponds to Summer Bishil, who brings a brilliant performance in this excellent film.Towelhead is an audacious and incisive film experience, which makes fascinating commentaries about the grey nature of the segregation and intolerance between races, sexes and ages.Every character represents different aspects from real society, and their consistent conflicts (on the small scale from their community) evoke similar situations on a bigger scale...the scale which provokes wars, ethnic persecutions and genocide.It is ironical to think that a movie whose purpose is speaking against the hypocrisy from all kind of societies and individuals had to change its original title Towelhead (racist epithet applicable to people from the Middle East) for the more bland and innocuous Nothing is Private in order to be exhibited on some territories and festivals.I think we can also consider that fact as one more of the lessons which brings this strong but honest movie, which refuses to assign any guilt or pointing out villains in its fascinating view to contemporary world.The only complaint I have against this film is that I feel the ending should have been a bit more polished.But that is not a very important fail, and it does not avoid me from giving an enthusiastic recommendation to this brave and brilliant movie.However, that recommendation must be accompanied by a very serious warning, because Towelhead includes not necessarily graphic, but tremendously disturbing scenes, both for their intrinsic content as well as for the apparent "normality" which covers those inappropriate behaviours..
Things don't improve when she strikes an association with a neighbor family headed by a prejudiced yet overly friendly Army reservist(Aaron Eckhart,almost phoning this one in),nor when she inspires the interest(mutual,of course)with a well-intentioned and attractive black kid(Eugene JonesIII).Writer/director Alan Ball(American Beauty,"Six Feet Under")is clearly NOT shy about broaching sensitive issues,and his attempt to illustrate the cruel,arbitrary behavior that can come from racism certainly has the sufficient amount of pop and sizzle to it,but it seems like the raw,unrelenting frankness of this story borders on leering and sleaziness,not to mention cruelty.
However, adults forget about it and have unhealthy feelings for kids who are enduring it.That's the case with "Towelhead", a comedy-of-age dramedy that's unapologetically gut punching, dropping in the realms of developing sexuality and toxic bigotry without a parachute.In 1990, during the midst of the first Gulf War, shy but lovely 13-year-old Jasira Maroun (newcomer Summer Bashil) is growing up, much to the dismay of her vain, selfish divorced mother (underrated Maria Bello of "A History of Violence").
He even refuses her to get tampons, for goodness sake!It's also no fun for her being called a "towelhead" (hence the title) in school, mistaken for being Hispanic and unhealthily pursued by a married Army reservist (Aaron Eckhart, "The Dark Knight"), yet the last part isn't so clear cut.Jasira's benefactors differ in sex ed tactics, but equally care for her, regardless.
An Emmy and Oscar winner, writer-director Alan Ball ("American Beauty", "Six Feet Under", "True Blood") has neatly knitted a film that's hard to watch (especially for parents with daughters), but shouldn't be ignored because the film tells that ignorance, whether racial or sexual, is pandemic to everyone and doesn't discriminate.Bashil's in a strong "me against the world" role, being of mixed race and sexually budding.
Not a slasher-movie ,not an action movie,but after heard about it,I knew this will probably worth the rental,and after seen as a DVD premier,I sad this was a good time killer drama with some sharp themes.No question the main audience rather hate or love when they get the head wash every year,but those feels like they are not around these problems,they will get some entertainment value from this film.It was more than a year ago I had seen this film but the better scenes are still in my mind.Looks like sometimes directly funnier,but this will help for some of the viewers,the movie has two messages,the first is clear,before the ending scene,the second needs more skills..
From scene one, you'll learn not to be so quick to judge the film, anymore than you should judge the characters.With a Dickensian style to the story, a poor little blossoming outsider is kicked out of the house to go live with her megalomaniac father, who is really focused on everything else but his daughter – until his daughter disappoints him by choosing a member of the opposite race to date.
Truly disturbing movie on an Arab-American girl's coming of age story.
Its still sinking in...I had a good feeling about this one but I didn't know what I was in for...Towelhead aka Nothing Is Private is Alan Ball latest film featuring Aaron Eckhart,Peter Macdissi and Summer Bishil.Although the plot is based on a novel, you can clearly see Alan Ball's influence and what he began in American Beauty he mastered here.
Summer Bishil plays Jasira Maroun, a 13-year-old Arab-American girl who's going trough puberty and exploring her sexuality.Jasira is sent by her mother to Houston to live with her father Rafit Maroun, a very strict Lebanese man.
While trying to adapt to her new life in the suburbs, Jasira has to deal with racist classmates and her dad's lifestyle.Meanwhile she meets one of the neighbors, an Army reservist and begins a dangerous relationship with him.The performances were all top-notch.Its amazing how in such short time so many characters were deeply explored.Summer Bishil should get an Oscar for this ,unfortunaly I know this won't happen since the academy only seems to notice the big budget Hollywoodesque films.Peter Macdissi and Aaron Eckhart were great as well.I didn't knew Peter Macdissie but he impressed me...as for Aaron Eckhart he just gets better and better each movie.The film touches so many themes and issues...and most of them still generate great controversy these days !
A 13-year-old American girl, white on her mother's side and Lebanese on her father's, moves to a Houston suburb and finds her budding sexuality causing a great deal of concern among the adults.
Ball also never gets in the way of his actors, most of whom do superlative work: Summer Bishil, 18 when the film was shot, is convincingly girlish in the leading role, at once shy, curious, and seductive (she's not playing a saint by any means, which makes this narrative even more provocative); as her mercurial single father who works at NASA, Peter MacDissi is marvelously maddening, and completely unaware of it (he makes his own rules for everyone to follow, bristling with comic frustration when life doesn't go according to plan); Aaron Eckhart as a pedophiliac neighbor continues to be a courageous, intelligent actor unafraid to be a devil on-screen; Toni Collette and Matt Letscher are terrific as a grounded, free-thinking couple who live without hang-ups.
TOWELHEAD may have been the successful title of the novel by Alicia Erian on which this daring movie was based, but it seems that the title could have been altered to focus on the real issues writer/director Alan Ball addresses.
The audience for a film based on variations of child abuse and racism and prejudice and dismembered parenting and the physical coming of age of our youth may be small, but for those who had the courage to view TOWELHEAD either in the theater release or on DVD, the rewards are plentiful.
13-year-old Jasira (Summer Bashil in an impressive debut) lives with her mother Gail (Maria Bello) and the live-in boyfriend Barry (Chris Messina) until an inappropriate physical advance results in Gail's denial and Jasira is sent to Texas to live with her Lebanese American Christian father Rifat (Peter Macdissi) just as Bush's preemptive Iraq War is opening.
And also a big thumbs up to Aaron Eckhart (playing Mr. Travis Vuoso, the neighbor) in what has to be his most daring and controversial role so far, and it was a breath of fresh air to see him in a role like this."Towelhead" is the type of movie that makes a statement and dares to deal with issues that are real yet still taboo.
But unlike the past 2 films this one has to do more with a 13-year-old Lebanese American girl named Jasira(Summer Bishil) who is experiencing the life of growing up in the suburbs.
I like Aaron Eckhart and he is a great actor, but I thought his role didn't really fit him very well since he is too likable, while playing a pedophile that tries to convince himself of being good while taking advantage of a 13 yr old girl and throwing quotes like "I would've never done that thing to you if I'd knew you were still a virgin" like that makes him a better person, but at the end I sort of understand why he was good for the role.
This film wasn't even close to being good as "American Beauty" but it was a good watch, I just wished it dealt with more of Jasira's ethnicity and how she had to struggle cause of it instead of constant sexually disturbing.
A lot of individual scenes and moments work very well; Summer Bishil as the 13 year old protagonist Jasira is a formidable young talent and is quite good playing against Aaron Eckhart and Toni Collette (especially-so for the former where there are some seat-squirming scenes), as does the theme of rape/molestation.
And somehow Alan Ball can write certain characters, however limited in scope like Jasira's father (Peter Macdissi, doing the most with a one-1/2-dimensional character), with the same kind of conviction he did in American Beauty and Six Feet Under.
As far as just coming-of-age stories go it also faces tough competition from another film just from a few months ago about a girl of young middle-eastern-descent coping with sex and life in general in Persepolis.
That is just one thing as comparison; as far as the story and characters in and of themselves, no matter how much Ball tries for moments of complexity they don't fly due to the rather simplistic nature of how characters are in relation to one another and on their own, like with one neighbor family being the nasty redneck bunch with the sneaky father in Eckhart or the kind-hearted family-to-be with Collette.If it were an actual TV series, like Six Feet Under, there might be time to let the characters breathe and their situations to grow more interesting.
What we see is a world full of disgusting adults, of men incapable of taking their hands to themselves and ready to abuse little girls, both physically and psychologically (Jasira's parents also cut a very poor figure).The fact that there are no explicit nude scenes is meaningless, this is not what makes a movie indelicate, the limit of morbidity has been surpassed, the overall atmosphere is pervaded by a malicious and dangerous sense of compliance with situations that needed more care and respect for an adolescent discovering sexual desire.
In the "extras" section of the DVD the producer and director even admit to showing the film to Muslim groups- getting permission so to speak to be brave and defiantThis film is a sad tale of 13 year old JASIRA: A 1/2 Lebanese 1/2 American Girl continuously living amongst deviant adults and school peers.
The film stars Summer Bishil as Jashira Maroun, a Lebanese-American 13 year-old teenager who experiences a sexual awakening.
If you're a fan of Alan Ball's work, this film will NOT disappoint.This is a coming of age story about a 13-year-old girl discovering her own sexuality.
But either the source material was weak to begin with, or something got lost in the translation to screen by writer Alan Ball, because the story is missing any of the adult perspective that's necessary to make something told from the point of view of a child instructional.The film focuses on Jasira, who lives with her domineering, traditional and hypocritical father, who rants about "typical" Americans and won't let his daughter date a black boy, even while he whines that he's being discriminated against for being Lebanese.
The characters aren't consistent and don't make any sense, and we don't really care much about Jasira because she's played as such a drip of a character.I'm not sure what we're supposed to learn from a film like "Towelhead," other than a lot of things we already knew, like stereotyping is bad, and calling people names is not nice.
In the first 30 minutes of Alan Ball's film adaptation of Alicia Erian's novel, "Towelhead", I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep watching.
Sure, our subjects go through changes and have experiences, but all of the results are very realistic to true life.We follow 13 year old Jasira Maroun (Summer Bishil) as she moves in with her Father (Peter Macdissi) in a Texas suburb after being caught shaving her nether regions with her Mother's boyfriend (Chris Messina).
But I'm going to stick with Towelhead because a) I like being politically volatile, and b) the original title is appropriate for the film's machinations.The story is about Jasira Maroun (Summer Bishil), the sexually awakening daughter of divorced parents in America.
This is a strangely uncomfortable movie to watch--perhaps because some of the actors didn't want to be there (and it shows in their performance) or maybe directing is not Alan Balls "thing". |
tt2852376 | Heli | Heli is a young man working in a car assembly factory; he lives with his father who also works there, his wife Sabrina, his baby son Santiago and his sister Estela. His life is normal, slow, and without economic prospects, and he suffers from a troubled relationship with his wife.
Estela is revealed to be in a relationship with Beto, a cadet who at 17 is much older than her. Estela, despite Beto's enthusiasm for engaging in sexual relations, is firm in her refusal of him, out of fear of becoming pregnant. Beto proposes they marry and run away together. To do so, he plans to sell some stolen cocaine packages that a corrupt general secretly drew from a cache the army confiscated and burned in an official event. Beto hides the drugs in Heli's house with Estela's consent until the sale. However, Heli discovers the affair and reprimands his sister, locking her in her room, after secretly disposing of the drugs in an isolated water pit for cattle.
Later that night, some federal policemen storm Heli's house, killing Heli's father when he tries to defend himself thinking they were being assaulted. The officers take Heli and Estela by force (Sabrina and their son not being present at the time) and with a badly beaten Beto they try to find the stolen cocaine. When they find out Heli destroyed the package, the policemen abandon Heli's father's body on the road, and drive to a secure house where drug dealers harshly torture Beto to the point of killing him. Heli's life is spared, but Estela is taken elsewhere. The dealers hang Beto's body from a pedestrian bridge, leaving a badly hurt Heli at the scene.
Heli manages to walk back home and the local police, learning of the incident, help Heli to heal and find the body of his father. Later they take Heli's testimony; however, the police assumes Heli and his father are involved with drug dealing and decide not to help them because Heli, shaken and scared of the situation, is not willing to tell what happened nor to sign any written testimony in fear of having himself or his father framed as criminals.
Heli has to deal with the traumas inflicted by these experiences and with the corruption of the police, while his wife begins to distance herself from him due to the erratic and even violent behaviour he begins to display. After going back to work at the car assembly plant, Heli gets distracted on the job and is eventually fired. The female detective assigned to his case, after learning that Estela was Beto's girlfriend, asserts that the file of the case is closed, and makes sexual advances on Heli, which are initially reciprocated but eventually rejected.
Estela returns home, traumatised to the point of losing the speech and pregnant beyond the stage she can legally have an abortion. Heli and Sabrina comfort her, and Estela draws a map to the location she was held and raped. Heli goes there and kills the man living there. Seemingly relieved from some of the trauma, he returns home and successfully makes love to his wife, while Estela sleeps peacefully with her nephew. | violence, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0498348 | Glass House: The Good Mother | The film tells the story of Abby (Jordan Hinson) and Ethan Snow (Bobby Coleman), who lose their parents in a tragic accident and are adopted by Eve (Angie Harmon) and Raymond Goode (Joel Gretsch), two seemingly-ideal parents who have recently lost a child of their own, David.
At first things seem good, but the first oddity manifests when Ethan gets his own room with a bathroom close to the master bedroom but Abby is given a bedroom far away, up in the tower of the house. From here, Abby notices a lot of strange things; there's a bed in the basement with David's name into it and many places they can't go into, like David's old bedroom. They are not allowed to make phone calls either. Eve and Abby get into a fight at the dinner table, and Eve slaps Abby. Later on, Eve asks Abby to wash dishes. As Abby is washing them, she cuts her arm on broken glass that Eve purposely left in the sink for her. Abby did not see the glasses, since the sink was filled to the top with water, and covered in soap. Abby demands to be taken to the hospital, but Eve refuses and brings out a box of medical supplies. Raymond reveals that Eve was a nurse, and Eve makes the process as painful as she possibly can- including a shot, and stitches without any anesthetic or numbing medications. Later, Abby is seen sleeping, and Eve injects her with an unknown substance. Abby awakes, too late to do anything, except ask what the liquid is, Eve responds with "This is for pain," Abby replies, that she's not in pain, but Eve states "You will be." Abby falls asleep, quickly, suggesting that it was a sedative of some sort. Later on, Abby wakes up, and Eve tells her that she's been in bed for three days.
Ethan soon becomes almost deathly ill, and Abby soon discovers that Eve is poisoning him, and that this has occurred to all the previous foster children who died in her care. Abby makes an attempt to escape, but Eve catches her and locks her in the attic. Their parents' friend, Ben Koch (Jason London), comes over to the house to take the kids to Six Flags, but Raymond tells him that Eve took them to an art gallery. After a walk through the house Ben finds it very odd. Abby escapes through a window, then Eve comes after her. During this time the phone rings and Eve and Abby both race to answer it. Eve gets to it first, but the person on the other line hangs up. It is revealed that it was Ben, seeing if they really were gone.
After Abby tries to get away in the car again, she is stopped by Raymond, who Abby knocks out with a wrench. Ben arrives and enters the house, but is ambushed by Eve and drugged. Eve continues to chase Abby before luring her out of hiding via feigning talking to Ethan and catching her. She holds Abby over the railing, but Abby fights back and kicks Eve down the stairs. Eve takes a blow to the head at the bottom, appearing to be dead. Abby races to find Ethan, who she finds in a bathtub almost drowned to death. Abby pulls him out and Eve is standing behind her with a cleaver. She knocks Abby to the ground as Ben enters, and raises the cleaver. A shot is fired and Eve is killed, but it was not Ben who fired. It is revealed that Raymond fired the gun that killed his wife, having snapped out of his blind obedience caused by love. Raymond is arrested, and Abby and Ethan are taken to the hospital. The two presumably end up with Ben. | cruelty, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0120456 | Virasat | After completing his studies in London, Shakti Thakur (Anil Kapoor) returns to his ancestral village in India. Accompanying him is his girlfriend, Anita (Pooja Batra), whom he is in love with and wants to marry, much to the disapproval of his family. After a few days, Shakti starts to feel that nothing much has changed in his hometown and longs to leave. He tells his father that he wants to sell his share of the family's property and open a chain of restaurants. His father, the zamindar Raja Thakur (Amrish Puri), urges Shakti to stay in the village and help it progress by virtue of the latter's education, saying "A man gets an education not to become a selfish being but to uplift his uneducated brothers and society". Shakti disagrees with his father and decides to leave. He is unable to bear the animosity amongst the townspeople, particularly between his dad, Raja Thakur (Amrish Puri), and rival Zamindar Birju (Govind Namdeo) (Shakti's crippled uncle) and his son Bali Thakur.
The entire village suffers from this longstanding family feud as most of the village and its surrounding areas is divided between the brothers. Since Bali Thakur holds a grudge and always tries to one upon Raja Thakur, it puts them at loggerheads with each other.
Shakti spends time in the village with his girlfriend by re-visiting his childhood memories including a game of sticks with Bali Thakur men which he wins. They come across an old temple which has been closed off on Bali Thakur’s instructions. He insists on entering and his friend and servant Sukhiya breaks open the lock for them to look around. Bali Thakur hears of this and a brutal riot is started among the two village factions. Raja Thakur, in order to quell the situation, contemplates on apologising to his opponents. Shakti feels it should be him or Sukhiya who should apologise. When Shakti asks for Sukhiya, he learns that Bali Thakur's men have cut off Sukhiya’s hand as punishment for opening the temple and Raja Thakur's men burn down the homes of Bali Thakur villagers in retaliation. To prevent a further escalation of the situation Shakti, with permission from his father, enlists the help of his friend in the government and opens the temple for all legally. Slighted by this, Bali Thakur hires goons to break a dam protecting a part of the village faction that supports Raja Thakur. Although a female villager spots one of the goons near the dam, she does not think much of it.
The dam is damaged by explosives used by the goons which results in flooding of half the village. This results in numerous deaths including infants which deeply saddens Shakti. He spots the goon who placed the explosives again in the village and gives chase. After capturing, he hands the goon over to the police but the goon does not speak of Bali Thakur's involvement due to fear for his own family's safety.
Later Bali Thakur intimidates a villager living in Raja Thakur's area to close a portion of his land, preventing the public from reaching the main road easily. Shakti and his father invite them for talks at village Panchayat to resolve the standoff due the riots and flooding. In the village panchayat, accusations fly from both sides. With no evidence backing up the truth, Bali Thakur accuses Raja Thakur for orchestrating various attacks on his brother's family and insults him relentlessly. Disrespected and heart broken, Raja Thakur returns to his home and passes away due to a heart attack later that night. Shakti takes over his father’s duties as the head of the village.
As time passes, this incident dies down. The villagers express concern to Shakti about going around the piece of land that has been closed off and causes a much longer travelling time. Shakti reasons with the owner of the land to open it up for all villagers to pass so that their long commute is shortened. Although understanding and willing, the land owner, is afraid of Bali Thakur’s backlash especially since he has a young daughter Gehna (Tabu). Shakti assuages his fear by arranging marriage between a well-to-do person from his village to the land owner's daughter. Everybody involved happily agrees and the land owner opens up the land for everyone.
On the day of the wedding, the groom runs away, fearing Bali Thakur. The landowner and his daughter are distraught over this claiming that it is a huge disrespect to his family. He opines that even if someone marries his daughter, they have to live in constant fear. Shakti then gets permission from the landowner and weds his daughter. Although Shakti still has feelings for his girlfriend and his new bride is very shy, they overcome their awkwardness and move on. Soon, his girlfriend returns and learns the truth. Although saddened by the turn of events, she understands the situation and leaves. Shakti, too, closes the chapter about his girlfriend and starts his new life with his wife.
Bali Thakur, enraged by the opening of the land, plants a bomb during the village festival despite the pleas of his mother and own father to stop the violence. This results in deaths on both sides of the village. Both factions of the village, wanting revenge, go after Bali Thakur and his family. Shakti protects the innocent family and helps them get away from the villagers. Appreciative of Shakti's efforts to protect them Birju Thakur finally ends his enemity towards him.
Shakti eventually finds Bali Thakur and asks him to surrender to the police before the villagers kill him. Bali Thakur’s rabid hatred for Shakti makes him reject his offer of help. Bali Thakur, blaming Shakti for all his problems, tries to kill him. In the struggle that follows, Shakti accidentally decapitates Bali Thakur. Although other villagers are willing to take the blame for Bali Thakur's murder, Shakti gives himself up to the police to end the cycle of violence once and for all.
The film depicts the true meaning of education as "a tool to uplift uneducated people". | good versus evil, murder | train | wikipedia | A modern day Hindi film dealing with timeless values of the village..
Virasat is a film dealing with the archetypes of Indian rural existence.
Shakti (Anil Kapoor) is an educated son of a landowner who returns to his village.
Due to his education and city girlfriend, Shakti wishes to turn his back on the village and set up shop in the city.
Because of unforeseen and unexpected events, Shakti becomes entwined in the affairs of the village -- caught in the bonds of duty owed to his village and aging father.
Virasat is about ancient archetypes -- symbolism borrowed heavily from the Mahabharata.
His arch-enemy -- and the cause of anarchy in the village is his cousin (an allusion to the Kauravs and Pandavas of the Mahabharat).
The Mahabharat analogy is extended into the Gita -- as it becomes obvious that Shakti's dharm or divine duty is in the destruction of adharm -- as manifested/substantiated in the corporeal by his uncles family..
Outstanding.
The cast, music and direction, almost everything is perfect in this timeless drama.
An "okay" remake of Thevar Magan.
The movie Virasat is a remake of the tamil movie Thevar Magan, which starred the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and Kamal Hassan.
While Thevar Magan was an excellent movie with brilliantly etched characters and situations, and superb performances from all the actors (a rarity in most movies), Virasat gave me a feeling of being incomplete.
True, it is impossible to match Kamal Hassan and Sivaji Ganesan for their acting capabilities, but Anil Kapoor comes no where close to Kamal Hassan.
He completely lacks the grace that Kamal brings to the screen.
All the other actors have put in average performances.
A few changes (minor) have been made to the original to create it in Hindi, but the effect of the typical rural setting in Tamil Nadu to the movie as a whole goes missing.
The adaptation could have been handled better.
Without any comparisons, Virasat can be termed as a good movie that could have been made a little better, but juxtaposed with Thevar Magar, it comes a cropper.
Watching Thevar Magan (even with subtitles) will leave you feeling more satisfied than Virasat..
Anil kapoor outscores kamal hassan.
Virasaat is by far the most superior Bollywood film of 1997.Virasaat being the official reamke of "THEVAR MAGAN" comaprison with the original is inevitable.After minutely watching both Thevar Magan & Virassat I can safely conclude both Anil Kapoor & Tabbu outscores Legendary Kamal Hassan & Revathy respectively.Anil Kapoor is more restrained than kamal Hassan in his depiction of shakti Thakur.Tabbu delivers one of her finest performance which is simply outstanding.Amrish puri is superb in the role of old village patriarch.Pooja Batra is decent.Even in 2015 the performance of Mr.Kapoor looks relevant and praiseworthy.When virasaat released there was hardly any actor to match versatility of Anil Kapoor who simply carries the entire film on his shoulder ably bolstered by a brilliant Tabbu..
Great film by Priyadarshan.
Priyadarshan made great Hindi films in 1990s like GARDISH, Virasat too is another brilliant film a remake of Thevar Magan.
The film is set in a village where Anil Kapoor returns from London with long hair(perhaps hair extensions) alongwith his girlfriend Pooja Bhatra His father is Amrish Puri who is a thakur of the village and there is a rivalry between his brother Govind Namdeo who is disabled and has 2 wives and a son Milind Gunaji.
Resembling MAHABHARAT there is a feud between families and the film is well handled,There are several brilliant scenes like the flood scene, the scenes where Anil and his father have a talk, The scene in the Panchayat and the scene followed where Amrish Puri vents his anger(shot in single shot) and his death.
The drama that ensues after Tabu's marriage is stopped and Anil marrying her, the finaleDirection by Priyadarshan is great Music by Anu Malik who copied Illayaraja's tunes from the original yet was a success, Dhol Bhajne Laga, Diya Aur Baatin, Payalein Chunmum all are great numbersAnil Kapoor is excellent in his role, in the same year he did DEEWANA MASTANA and this film, he had to portray 2 shades of the character, for the initial portions he lost weight and put on weight for the second part, he is simply brilliant Pooja Bhatra(with voice dubbed by Padmini Kolhapuri) is decent in one of her first films, Tabu is fantastic Amrish Puri is fab, He always proved his worth more in strong character roles rather then normal villain roles which he did Govind Namdeo is good, Milind Gunaji is okay, Neeraj Vohra is good Satyen Kapoo is good, Sulabha Deshpande is good too Dilip Dhawan is good, The actor playing the cop(dubbed by Danny)is okay |
tt1091207 | Teenage Dirtbag | At a local IGA store, a pregnant woman is shocked to learn from an old classmate that a boy she once knew named Thayer died in a river recently. When going back to her car, the woman has a flashback of her time in high school.
The woman is Amber Lange, once a popular cheerleader in high school. Thayer Mangeres is a classmate who always sat beside Amber because of their last names. In class, they are dissecting a fetal pig. When it's time to clean up, Thayer asks people around their table how much they will bet him if he drinks the juice from the fetus. As everyone is putting their money on the table, Amber looks disgusted. Thayer then tells everybody to keep their money, implying that he won't drink it, but he then says he will for free. After the bet, Thayer asks what Amber thought. She tells him that she thinks nothing of him. Ever since that day, he's harassed her.
The next year they are put in Creative Writing and Study Hall together, which class Thayer skips to get high with his friend. For the next couple of days, it's hard for Amber and Thayer to get along. At a party that night, he eats fish that she caught earlier that day from a bowl. Very angry, Amber continually pushes Thayer and asks him why he is such a freak.
Thayer continues to harass Amber in class as a new girl named Tabitha is assigned a seat by them. Eventually Tabitha and Thayer form a friendship, and, knowing that he does not like Amber and bullies her, she does the same. By the soda machine, Thayer flirts with Tabitha, unbeknownst to Tabitha that he is doing this to make Amber jealous. When Amber walks away peeved, he stops, clearly wanting Amber's attention all along. After school, Thayer walks home. He walks in and his father shouts angrily that he got a call from the school about his actions and does not want another call from them. Thayer is frightened by his dad, and his father calls in Thayer's brother Dooley, who physically abuses him, to hold him down while his dad whips him. On the same night, Amber walks into her home, but no one is there.
Back in Creative Writing, Thayer starts to show his emotions in his poems, and Amber realizes this because she feels exactly the same way. Thayer begins a friendship with Amber by asking her questions by writing in his notebook. As their friendship progresses, so do Thayer's feelings. Thayer begins to fall in love with Amber the more they talk. During class, Thayer sends Amber signals in his poems. As Amber hears these poems in class, she knows they are about her. She's not sure if she feels the same about him because of their different social groups, although she has strange dreams of kissing him.
Thayer and Amber's lives and homes are different, even though they are both experiencing trouble. Thayer is struggling at home with his family. His dad beats him and his drunk brother does the same, but he and his sister Jeannie are very compassionate toward each other. Amber is mostly alone when her parents are gone. At a sandbar one night, Amber has sex with a school friend as Thayer secretly watches. Feeling betrayed, Thayer writes another poem about Amber, but this time it's about the night before. He starts to act rudely to her again and harasses her verbally. When the teacher realizes that he's insulting one of the students, he takes Thayer outside. Tabitha accuses Amber of being jealous of her and Thayer's "relationship." Amber, ticked off, takes out Thayer's notebook and throws it onto Tabitha's desk. After looking at a few pages, Tabitha runs out of the classroom. Everyone rushes to see the notebook, all while Amber sits there. Her life turns back to normal because she doesn't associate with him anymore. One day in the hallway, Thayer and Amber accidentally meet up. Thayer begins to yell at her, and questions why she gave away their notebook. After being nose to nose, literally, Thayer walks away without an answer from her. Amber screams, "Because I hate you!"
Thayer still has feelings for Amber, so after Tabitha mischievously attempts to spill purple nail polish in Amber's book bag, he grabs her wrist. After eating four brown tablets which Thayer tells Amber are drugs, which she doesn't believe, Thayer convulses and has a seizure on the floor. The whole class has to leave the room and Amber watches through the window as Thayer becomes unconscious. After the overdose, Thayer never returns to school. Amber's world returns to normal. Years later, while shopping, Amber meets Thayer again and is surprised to learn that he has joined the Mormon faith because he had been so rebellious in school.
The scene switches back to the present. Amber is at home calling up old schoolmates trying to find out exactly how Thayer died. No one is really sure how Thayer died, but Amber finds out that his father and brother died suspiciously, and no one seems to know where his sister is.
The scene changes again to another old memory. Amber meets Thayer again at the beach. She questions him about his Mormon mission and he informs her that he left early, to which she replies, "you don't look very Mormon." Thayer evades her questions by changing the subject. Eventually, Amber informs him that she is getting married; Thayer remains silent for a second and then starts talking about how easy it would be to fake his own death. Amber debates with him a little bit telling him that she would know that he wasn't dead, to which he smirks and says, "No, you wouldn't," and walks off.
The scene briefly switches back to the present and then to another memory when Thayer follows Amber into the bathroom of a movie theatre the same day of the beach meeting. He argues with her, trying to get her to admit her feelings, but she denies it and pretends that she doesn't know what he's talking about.
Amber eventually finds Thayer's sister Jeannie and visits her. She then visits the school and finishes writing in the old notebook she pulled out from her closet. She admits defeat, stating that she'll never know whether he was alive or truly dead. The movie ends with a scene of Jeannie looking in on Amber in a hospital room, where Amber has just given birth to a baby boy named Thayer. | suicidal, flashback | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1114271 | Thursday | The movie opens in a Los Angeles convenience store one late Monday night, where a small-time drug dealer named Nick (Aaron Eckhart) is trying to decide what coffee brand to buy. His ex-lover Dallas (Paulina Porizkova) and fellow hitman Billy Hill (James LeGros) are getting impatient and tell him to hurry up. Conflicts between Nick and the cashier (Luck Hari) ensue, resulting in Dallas shooting the cashier dead. Though the three attempt to cover up the crime, they are forced to also shoot a police officer (Bari K. Willerford) when he discovers blood on the ground.
Three days later, Nick shows up on the doorstep of Casey Wells (Thomas Jane), an old drug dealing partner who has cleaned up his life. He is now a married architect and is looking to adopt a child with his wife. Nick leaves a couple of suitcases in Casey's guest room before leaving to run some errands. After Nick leaves, Casey becomes suspicious of one of the suitcases and eventually opens it to find it filled with heroin. After calling Nick to yell at him for bringing drugs into his home, he disposes of all of it in the kitchen sink.
Ice (Glenn Plummer), a Jamaican Rasta hitman, enters Casey's house and is about to kill him, but Casey manages to persuade him to have a last smoke of marijuana. After having smoked, Ice is about to kill Casey when Ice's cell phone rings. Ice begins to rap over the phone in an effort to clinch a record deal, and Casey seizes the moment and knocks him out. Casey then ties him up and leaves him in his garage. Dr. Jarvis (Michael Jeter), a representative from the adoption agency comes to interview Casey about his fitness to be a father. Dr. Jarvis is particularly curious to know what Casey did for several years when he lived in L.A. as there is no account of his time there. Casey tries his best to cover up his past as well as his recent encounter with the hitman.
During the interview, Dallas, who wants the money that she believes Nick left with Casey along with the heroin, shows up. She scares away Dr. Jarvis from the adoption agency by telling a story about Casey's drug-dealing and murdering past. When left alone with Casey, Dallas questions him about the money's whereabouts. Angry that he cannot help her, she decides to kill him. But not before she ties him up to a chair, fellates him to force an erection, strips naked and proceeds to mount and rape him. She tells him she will not kill him until he orgasms and she plans to go on until she makes him get an orgasm. Delivering on her word, she reaches multiple orgasms, but gets no results from him. While Dallas reaches a third orgasm, Billy breaks in and shoots her, splattering her blood all over Casey, his walls and his floor.
Billy believes Casey when told that he does not have the heroin, but plans on torturing him with a saw and a blow torch anyhow, while he brags about his prowess and technique of cauterization as he sets to work. Billy is interrupted by cops ironically raiding the house next door. As Billy checks on it Casey is able to loosen the tape around his wrists and grabs a frying pan and sits back down. Billy returns and tells Casey the cops got the wrong house. As he is about to proceed, he notices something is wrong. But catching Billy off guard, Casey overpowers him, and leaves him in the garage.
Nick calls Casey from a pay phone, apologizes for everything and admits he had stolen the heroin and money from the police. After he hangs up, it is revealed to us that Nick has been shot, and is bleeding severely, seemingly about to die. Finally, corrupt cop Kasarov (Mickey Rourke) arrives with a bag which contains Nick's head. He gives Casey until 7 p.m. to find the money but tells him that he does not care about the heroin. Kasarov then sees the garage with Ice and Billy tied up and Dallas dead and unloads a magazine into Ice and Billy. He then tells Casey to throw them out as it is garbage day.
In the end, Casey calls Ice's boss and tells him that the heroin is being auctioned off at 7 p.m. at his house, setting up a gun battle between the Jamaicans and the corrupt officers. He recalls Nick's earlier words which promptly lead him to find the money and a wedding present in the spare tire of his car. He takes them, puts them in Dallas's Lamborghini Diablo car and goes to pick his wife up at the airport to presumably escape the country. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0140588 | La svastica nel ventre | The film opens with Hanna and her German soldier boyfriend making love in a field in the days before the outbreak of World War II. Once the war has broken out, the Jewish Hanna and her family are rounded up, but not before her mother is killed trying to defend the family. They are then taken to a concentration camp.
At the camp, Hanna and a female companion are gang raped by SS soldiers, leading Hanna's friend to throw herself on a barbed wire fence out of despair. Soon after, Hanna is forced to work in the "love camp" section of the camp, servicing SS soldiers. The commandant takes a shine to Hanna, and she becomes his personal lover. She is then placed in charge of a brothel for Nazi officers.
Meanwhile, her boyfriend works at a Lebensborn program, and tries to search out Hanna, thinking her dead. When they meet, Hanna refuses to be rescued and instead heads back to the brothel to kill the commandant in vengeance. Hanna then travels to a party of SS soldiers and sings a Jewish song. As they react violently, she shoots a general, before being gunned down herself. | violence, revenge, cruelty, sadist | train | wikipedia | Rather drama than exploitation.
Despite its exploiting English title "Nazi Love Camp 27" and despite the fact that this film belongs to the so-called "Nazi Camp films" (or, even worse, "Nazi porn films", although these films are all not pornographic) that were made in Italy following the success of both "Ilsa - She-Wolf of the SS" by Don Edmonds and Pier Paolo Pasolini's shocking masterpiece "Salo o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma", it is rather an anti-war drama than an exploitation movie.Unlike the other films of this notorious genre - like e.g. Bruno Mattei's "KZ9 - Lager di Sterminio" or the outrageous "Le Ultime Orgie del Terzo Reich", it focuses on a very depressing story about a young Jewish woman that gets captured by the Gestapo and deported in a concentration camp, only to be taken home by a influential Nazi general with masochist tendencies (of course he only shows these tendencies towards the Jewish woman when they're alone).
He makes her the boss of a brothel for Nazi officers, and at first, she accepts the job because it's her only way to stay alive.
Needless to say that the story doesn't offer a happy end.Although there are some scenes of Nazi war atrocities during the scenes in the concentration camp, but unlike similar scenes in other such films, they are never exploiting, but just show up the unbelievable crimes Nazi Germany committed during World War II.
The end of the film, which is a very realistic approach to this difficult topic, is pure tragedy and kicks the viewer unpleasantly in the stomach, because director Caiano manages to make one feel and hope with the tragic Jewish woman."The swastika in the stomach", how the title translates literally, is an intriguing and depressing film, but also a very powerful one that is much too rare.
In my opinion, it should have a status just alongside Pasolini's far more grotesque "Salo", because it's one of the most impressing anti-war dramas that won't let you forget the terrible things that had happened in Europe during World War II..
Kicks ass over Salon Kitty.
Let me first explain that I'm giving 7 stars for those folks who are fans of sexploitation flicks NOT serious film critics.
This is a Nazi sexploitation flick and it has not only plenty of nudity but explicit, hardcore pornographic shots as well.That said, let me point out why this is a far better film than Salon Kitty.
The two films are different versions of what is essentially the same story: a young Jewish woman during the Nazis' reign is sexually abused and exploited by the Reich eventually becoming the madame of a brothel that caters to Nazi officers where she spies for either the Nazi higher ups or the Resistance depending on which film you watch.Salon Kitty has lots of sets and costumes and clearly a much higher budget and better cinematography, but it is a silly film peopled by characters you don't care much about and whose thin plot falls apart completely by the end.
Oh, and SK also has "freaks".
You get to see naked oddities and I suppose that's a thrill for some folks.
Generally what you get is a lot of half-naked women lounging around doing not much of anything.Nazi Love Camp 27, on the other hand, has budget sets and costumes, bad dubbing, and obligatory sexploitation scenes like whippings, the lesbian warden and several hardcore penetration shots including a gang rape.
One would think that this was a thinly-veiled excuse for a porno, and to some extent it is, but it actually has a fairly coherent plot and you truly DO care about the lead character and even others.
Yes, the final scene is a bit over the top, but you're still interested in what is happening right up to the end of the film --- not just fast forwarding to the next naked part.Sirpa Lane's performance is strong and due to whatever quirk of talent or fate, she manages to convey the horror and the poignancy of her character's struggles.
This is not to say that this is a great film, again know what you're getting into -- but if you had to make a choice and see only one of these films, despite its deplorable title Nazi Love Camp 27 has much more to recommend it than just the sex in terms of character development and plot.
Salon Kitty only has naked boobs and dwarfs and amputees in nicely appointed settings..
NAZI LOVE CAMP 27 (Mario Caiano, 1977) **1/2.
This is one of the more infamous of the countless Nazisploitation Italian films produced in the wake of Luchino Visconti's THE DAMNED (1969); actually, it's the only one I've watched thus far - though earlier this year I did catch up with Liliana Cavani's THE NIGHT PORTER (1974) but, like the Visconti film, that one is best termed as Art-house.Still, for such a single-mindedly commercial effort, I was surprised by how effective this film was: after all, it was made by all-rounded professionals who had been in the business for some time - director Caiano (best-known, perhaps, for the Barbara Steele Gothic horror NIGHTMARE CASTLE aka THE FACELESS MONSTER [1965]) and screenwriter Gianfranco Clerici and composer Francesco De Masi (both Lucio Fulci collaborators).
The lead role here is played by Sirpa Lane, with whom I was only familiar from Walerian Borowczyk's legendary THE BEAST (1975): as much as I love that film, I had always felt that her contribution was upstaged not just by the horny and furry titular creature but by the nominal lead of THE BEAST, Lisbeth Hummel.
Therefore, I had no idea that she could actually act and, indeed, the whole film is anchored by her good central performance; discovered by Roger Vadim, she subsequently worked with a few other noted "Euro-Cult" film-makers - but eventually retired (after making only 10 films) and, sadly, died of AIDS at the young age of 44!
The plot sees Jewess Lane being imprisoned in a concentration camp (thus adding the 'Women-In-Prison' subgenre to the already heady mix for good measure - in fact, the film reminded me a lot of Jess Franco's contemporaneous ILSA, THE WICKED WARDEN [1977]), where she's immediately raped and later selected by a lesbian warden (apparently a given in WIP films) to serve as a prostitute for the gratification of German soldiers on leave.
About to be flogged for rejecting the advances of the warden, she attracts the attention of the Camp Commandant and eventually starts a sado-masochistic relationship with him (he frequently asks her to whip him, likes to exchange clothes with her and even wants Lane to pleasure his faithful alsation Axel - but the latter doesn't seem too keen on the idea and promptly attacks her)!!
The finale sees the Jewish girl elevated to the position of a madam in a Nazi whorehouse; the man she was in love with at the beginning of the film suddenly turns up at the establishment as a war hero - but it all ends in tragedy (though not before Lane, her Semitic origins exposed, jokes about Hitler's unemployed 'member'!).
I have to say, though, that the gimmick adopted throughout of intercutting black-and-white stock footage with the main action was rather pointless because, although the events are clearly set in 1942, we are never told where all this is supposed to be happening so that said footage could be put into perspective!
I watched the film (which is still unavailable anywhere on DVD) via a DVD-R culled from an English-dubbed VHS edition; I don't know whether it's uncut as the editing seemed quite choppy at times - but the amount of violence and nudity on display was certainly profuse (the former pretty fake but the latter rather graphic, occasionally even stepping into hardcore-porn territory)....
Not as bad as most of its ilk.
Even as a hardened Italian trash aficionado, there are two kinds of Italian movies I usually avoid.
One is the "mondo" movies that feature real animal (and occasionally human) slaughter.
The other is the "Nazi sexploitation" films which are definitely in what John Water's would call "bad bad taste" as opposed to "good bad taste".
I have seen a couple of the French Eurocine rip-offs like "Hell Train" and "Elsa, Fraulein of the SS", which were less extreme and much more laughably inept than the Italians films.
I've also seen the two serious and arty (and pretentious) films--"The Night Porter" and "Salon Kitty"--which inspired the whole misbegotten Nazi sex "genre".
I've even TRIED to watch a couple of the actual Nazi sex flicks like the one in the "Grindhouse Vol.1" DVD collection and the one that's on a disc with "Escape from a Woman's Prison", but I found them both way too vile and depressing and couldn't make it past scenes of the naked "Jewish" women dead in the shower/gas chamber covered with their own excrement (that's too much for me).I made it through this movie though, which says something about it I guess.
It is much better made than most of the others and a little more tasteful.
The director Mario Caino is not a talentless hack like Bruno Mattei, Sergio Garrone,or some of the others who crapped these things out.
It is a weird(and historically inaccurate) combination of Nazi brothel/"joy division" type film like "Salon Kitty" and a Nazi death camp type film like some of the others.
The protagonist (Sirpa Lane)is Jewish, but working at a brothel.
I'm not sure that anyone knows she's Jewish, but the movie seems rather confused on this point (one of her fellow brothel workers is named Goldberg and also presumably Jewish).
The real Nazis were nowhere near as sex-obsessed as the Italians made them out to be and they certainly wouldn't have countenanced ANY Jewish women servicing German soldiers in brothels.
Anyway, the heroine becomes involved in sadomasochistic relationship with the Nazi camp commander (after a highly contrived scene where he strips her naked and tries to entice his German shepherd to rape her, and she defends herself against man and dog with a conveniently handy bull-whip).
As a result, she rises to become head madam of the brothel where her Jewishness THEN, of course, becomes a problem.Sirpa Lane is much better than usual here, but that's not saying much if you've seen her in "The Beast", "The Beast in Space", etc.
Cristina Borghi, who later became a fairly respected Italian actress, is also in the cast somewhere--she's listed in the credits as "naked prisoner", but that really doesn't narrow it down too much.
There's a lot of female nudity and a mixture of consensual sex, non-consensual rape, and semi-consensual prostitution.
A couple naked girls get tied up and flogged, but this movie lacks a lot of the gleeful torture scenes of the others.
It's not really very erotic (if that's the intention),but neither is completely repulsive..
Movie cover displayed is *NOT* Love Camp 27.
Because of the unusual camera angles, this is one of the best and nastiest of Nazi exploitation flicks.The problem with both IMDb *and* AMAZON is, they both keep showing this movie cover with Mercedes Cambridge that is *NOT* the Love Camp 27.This has gone on for at least fifteen years, and I guess I would be shocked if I'm the first to notice.
But I've read of nobody else noticing this.
I actually bought the phony movie with this cover fifteen years or so ago, and immediately returned it because the movie is not LC27.I found a mediocre DVD of the REAL Love Camp 27, and I would welcome a pristine copy if it does or will ever exist.
Does anyone know?
Thanx for any info in advance..
One of the more thought-provoking Nazisploitation movies..
Sirpa Lane stars as Jew Hannah Meyer, whose idyllic life with her German boyfriend Klaus is interrupted by the madness that is war: Klaus is enlisted in the army while Hannah is rounded up and sent to become a prostitute in a 'joy camp'.
Plucky Hannah resists her assigned fate and is eventually sentenced to execution, but is rescued by an SS Captain Kurt Von Stein, who admires her chutzpah and takes her to be his lover.When Von Stein is tasked with operating a brothel for high ranking officers, he gives Hannah a new identity and makes her madam.
Hannah plays along, realising it might be her only hope for survival, but fate intervenes, reuniting her with Klaus and spurring her on to fight back at those who have made her life hell
Just when I think that I've seen all the sleazy Nazisploitation movies available, another one crawls its way out of the sewers, this one making an appearance on YouTube of all places, a fact that is made all the more remarkable given that it is one of the less camp examples of the genre (despite the inclusion of a lesbian commandant), a downbeat, more realistic effort replete with mean-spirited violence and X-rated sex scenes.
With events based on real-life Nazi exploits ('joy divisions' really existed, as did experiments on creating a race of perfect Aryan children), the film is not just a good opportunity to ogle countless naked women, but also a harrowing reminder of the extreme evil that mankind is so often capable of..
good.
Good movie, very 70s, you can not expect much from a film like this,, Sirpa Lane is an actress of erotic films, a nice body but nothing exceptional savant to a pornographic actress from the body disappears, but the '70s were characterized a small breasts and a simple eroticism.
Not demand a lot from these films are light years away from the movies today, the world has changed incredibly.
The plot is simple and the actors not extraordinary.
And the brunette actress has a single body, has one breast slightly bigger.
Be satisfied.
Papaya also is not great but at least these films have a certain charm ...
Download them again but then again who knows what you pretend not to them..
Sexy.
Nazi Love Camp isn't really shocking to me.
There is more acting in this.
Did the actors study the method acting in New York, along with Dean or Brando?
Maybe, There is more a story to this.A Jewish woman, very nice looking women falls in love with a Nazi.
The love they for each other is very genuine and the acting is no way wooden.
The shooting of this movie is very colorful.There is realism in Nazi Love camp.
Most Nazi's were having affairs and falling in love with Jewish women.
The heart sometimes fall for people they shouldn't, this is a very touching and I did shed some tear over, Nazi Love Camp.
Plus those German are very yummy..
Fairly decent film..
Despite being grouped with a sub genre that was known for low budget extreme gore films, Nazi Love Camp 27, is quite a very good film, saved from an exploitation banner, by its dramatic depressing portrayal of the holocaust, for instance when a gore scene takes place, sad music comes on, it also has a fairly decent budget, with a ruined city, camp and train station showed, a true rarity in Italian Nazi films.
It also has a decent crew, crime director Marinao Caino, legendary script writer Grinnafranco Clerici, and white Laura Gemser, Sirpa Lane.
Check out, the only real Nazi film...if you can find it, wft.dvds may have it, or try visualpain.com..
Anti-war nazisploitation.
While this isn't one of the infamous nazisploitation video nasties like Gestapo's Last Orgy or Love Camp 7, it would have probably made the list if they tried to release it in Britain.It is nazisploitation, make no mistake, even though it has more of a story than the similar Salon Kitty.A Jewish couple are separated by war and she (Sirpa Lane) is sent to a love camp to service German soldiers.
It includes an average of about eight breasts a minute, rape, actual penetration, lesbianism, bloody caning, eugenics, girl-on-girl,: all the features of a typical nazisploitation.Soon Hannah (Lane) attracts the attention of a Nazi officer (Giancarlo Sisti), who takes her home.
She fits right in, which is not surprising for someone who let her mother (Margherita Horowitz) die for her before she was captured.Her reunion with her beloved Klaus (Roberto Posse), who was now a German officer, was not pleasant.She ends up running a high-class brothel like Salon Kitty, without the Caberet singing.
She re-finds her identity before she dies.WWII aficionados will appreciate the extensive use of actual war footage in the film to stretch it out with little cost. |
tt0082933 | Possession | A newly separated couple Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) live in different homes. After Clyde picks up their two children, Emily "Em" (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport), for the weekend, they stop at a yard sale where Em becomes intrigued by an old wooden box that has Hebrew letters engraved on it. Clyde buys the box for Em, and they later find that there seems no way to open it. That night, Em hears whispering coming from the box. She is able to open it, and finds a tooth, a dead moth, a wooden figurine, and a ring, which she begins to wear. Em becomes solitary, and her behavior becomes increasingly sinister; she stabs her father in the hand with a fork during breakfast. That night, the house, especially Em's bedroom, becomes infested with moths.
At school, Em violently attacks a classmate when he takes her box, resulting in a meeting with Clyde, Stephanie, the principal and the teacher. Em's teacher recommends that she spend time away from the box, so it is left in the classroom. That night, curious about the mysterious noises from the box, the teacher tries to open it, but a malevolent force, the dybbuk, murders her by violently throwing her out a window. Em tells Clyde about an invisible hag who lives in her box who says that Em is "special". Alarmed by her behavior, Clyde attempts to dispose of the box. During their next weekend at Clyde's, Emily gets progressively more upset with the disappearance of the box. She begins yelling at Clyde in the hall with Hannah watching in the back. The dybbuk seems to slap Em across the face. She begins yelling, asking why he's hitting her, from Hannah's perspective it looks like her father actually does. Em flees the house, recovers the box and the dybbuk begins conversing with her in a strange language.
Clyde takes the box to a university professor who tells him that it is a dybbuk box that dates back to the 1920s; it was used to contain a dybbuk, a dislocated spirit as powerful as a devil. Clyde enters Em's room and reads Psalm 91; a dark but invisible force throws the Tanakh across the room. Clyde then travels to a Hasidic community in Brooklyn and learns from a Jewish priest named Tzadok (Matisyahu) that the possession has three main stages; in the third stage, the dybbuk latches onto its human host, becoming one entity with it. The only way to defeat the dybbuk is to lock it back inside the box via a forced ritual. Upon further examination on the box, Tzadok learns that the dybbuk's name is "Abyzou", or the "Taker of Children".
Em has a seizure and is taken to the hospital for an MRI. During the procedure, Stephanie and Hannah are horrified when they see the dybbuk's face in the MRI scans next to Em's heart. Clyde and Tzadok join the family at the hospital and attempt to conduct an exorcism. Where Em is taken to a room that has a tub full of water and a stretcher to keep Em stable during the exorcism. During the exorcism, the possessed Em attacks Tzadok. Clyde grabs Em from him, and Em runs out of the room. Clyde follows her out and finally finds her in the morgue where the lights are off. As he nears her, she starts to attack him. Clyde survives the attack, but the dybbuk is passed from Em to him. Tzadok performs a successful exorcism; Abyzou emerges from Clyde and crawls back into the box. The family is reunited, with Clyde and Stephanie's love rekindled. Tzadok drives away with the box in Clyde's vehicle. The car is hit by a truck, killing him. The box lands safely from the wreckage, and Abyzou's whispering is heard from it, the same Polish rhyme heard at the beginning of the film. | avant garde, murder, allegory, cult, violence, insanity, psychedelic, philosophical, romantic | train | wikipedia | I'm not very good at plot synopsis, and I very rarely write reviews, but this film could quite possibly be a distant cousin to David Lynchs 'Eraserhead', in that it involves a marriage gone wrong, a (perhaps) mutant baby, infidelity, and so much more that is felt emotionally rather than explained and read into.It contains the most OTT, eccentric, and brilliant performances I've ever seen, and you can't say that about many films, where the performances are unique and different.
I'm unfamiliar with the directors other work but if its even half as good as this I'll order everything I can get of his.Recommended to any open minded individual who likes films that draw attention to themselves with an utter sense of uniqueness..
I don't know what Zulawski is trying to say through the film about his own divorce from wife and country and political system, like Eraserhead it's something so personal that it pierces through bottoms of the soul to come out at the other end and speak for things that touch all of us.Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani see their marriage come crashing down and the film is not merely the death and burial but the wake before and the mourning after.
I don't like how Zulawski uses Isabelle Adjani to play different characters very calculated to be different sides of the same person, but then again I don't like movies that do that, it's like a very easy way to a quick symbolism (Ashes of Time, another film I saw recently, does that too).
It happens in that part of the city where other movies don't know how to go, the streets are different, the buildings and apartments look curiously different, and when an apartment catches on fire, there's a strange old woman down in the street corner yelling things about God ("giving the light clear, getting it back dirty") and cackling maniacally as though an end to the world is very close at hand.Both Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani give performances of a lifetime.
Beautiful, erotic and extremely disturbing, Andrjez Zulawski's film (admired by the Italian Master of the Macabre himself, Dario Argento) is an extreme assault upon the senses.Mark (played excellently and deliberately over-the-top by Sam Neil) returns home from secret government work to his wife in Berlin, cue many shots of the Berlin wall representing the couple's marital breakdown.
Surely other Zulawski movies like "La femme publique" and "L'important c'est d'aimer" have dark, disturbing moments, too, but "Possession" must be the most terrifying of them all.
It all begins perfectly normal, like something that could happen every day, anywhere in your neighborhood: Anna (Adjani) leaves Mark (Sam Neill), she confesses she found a new lover already a year ago, and then the breaking up of their marriage naturally affects their little son, too.
"I'm the maker of my own evil", Anna says once, and the evil she creates is visualized literally as a slimy demon, whereas Mark "creates" a school teacher looking exactly like Anna (and also played by Adjani), a woman so pure and innocent they go to bed together without having sex, and of course the idealized woman immediately takes care of his son ...
The torment and hysteria of destroyed love is perfectly set in a Berlin before reunification, with the wall appearing countless times in the frame: an obvious symbol that divides what used to belong together, just like the characters in the movie.
Additionally, Heinz Bennent's Heinrich is a wonderful and whimsical character, bringing an element of farcical comedy to the plot.Managing to shock and surprise as well as stupefy, Possession is a film well versed in oddity.
Possession is a film that is like it's title, taken with it's own sense of grandeur, starting off as a Scenes-from-a-Marriage-esque tale of downfall - with more ZAP and wildness in the fights the married couple have - but with something just not quite right.
These scenes feel raw and uninhibited, by the actors and by the material, which goes to such extremes of how much they hurt one another that it becomes perversely funny.Why all the camera movement in this film, especially early on, where it turns into Vittorio Storaro Time with a Red Bull chaser?
sometimes maybe TOO much force and energy.For a film like possession, excess is not something that can be kept back, but what is so fascinating is that it's so intense at times, in the husband/wife interactions, the emotional violence springing out into physical abuse (at one point a slap is then encouraged into more, an uncomfortable scene done just right), that it's fascinating because it's going into such high volume.
And as a horror film, a true horror film of the soul where it's laid bare and stripped out by a demon and f***ed with a spiky tail or something, it's bewildering, mind-boggling, and a dark pile of fun.A lot of it is the performances - Adjani worked her ass off to get that Cannes best actress win, and though there are times I can't understand her (not sure if it's the accent or the lines, like her 'fate and chance' monologue) and runs the gamut as a character who starts out flawed and damaged and gets so turned-inside-out she makes Linda Blair in the Exorcist look like a...
On the contrary, and maybe this is a flaw I think, there's so little explanation of anything in the film that by the last fifteen minutes as Sam Neill's character goes ape-s**t and the husband/wife's child just gives up.
A marriage can't slowly disintegrate if it never happened.And it's disappointing, because I really like Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, and rate them both as actors.
The over-the-top acting, goofy choreography, elaborate camera moves for inconsequential moments, closeups so tight they managed to make even Isabelle Adjani look bad, soundtrack that's completely ripped off from "The Godfather." There were quite a few laugh-out-loud moments that I'm certain weren't meant that way.Perhaps the filmmaker meant it as purely art, and it's raw emotion splattered on the screen.
Audiences are by and large uncomfortable with this type of thing, but luckily I've seen a lot of experimental/unusual cinema, so I'm acclimated to it.Isabelle Adjani is glorious in a dual role (which is a reversal of the Bunuel mindgame from 'That Obscure Object of Desire'--Instead of two actresses playing a single character, there is a single actress playing two characters.)Adjani and Sam Neill's enacting of a horribly troubled marriage is spectacular.
This sets Mark on his own course of mental illness and Neill does a good job of portraying anxiety and depression.Isabelle Adjani as Marks wife Anna is, for the most part, brilliant at portraying her character's breakdown.
The only realistic anchors in the film are the secondary characters, such as Heinrich's mother played with feeling by Johanna Hofer and Anna's friend Margit Carstensen portrayed by Margit Gluckmeister.Having said that, Zulawski does an impressive job of creating an unease through all the insanity.
Isabelle Adjani is hysterical in almost every scene and Sam Neill, who I have always thought of as a great actor, gives the worst performance I have ever seen from him.
I get the concept that you change as a person and that who you are is destroyed, but when you mix in a ridiculous plot, shoot outs and detectives you have gone in the wrong direction.I know this film has gotten a lot of fans over the years and that it will most likely remain a classic for decades to come.
The inclusion of Andrzej Zulawski's Possession on the official video nasties list during the 80s (thanks to a couple of scenes involving goop, blood, mucous, and Isabelle Adjani) has forever guaranteed that it will be of interest to avid horror fans; a shame, because if any of the 72 titles deemed unsuitable for public viewing by the BBFC actually deserved to be wiped from our collective memory, its this piece of highly pretentious, extremely irritating, and very tiresome art-house dreck.Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani play a married couple whose relationship is in tatters, Adjani having found herself a new lover or two, one of which is a slimy, many tentacled monster born of her id (or some such existential claptrap).
But while Possession may be a very personal piece for Zulawski, a cathartic movie that helped him to come to terms with his political and marital issues, I found it nothing but an utter bore from start to finish..
After finding this on a "Top 10 Body Horror Films" list, I decided to give this movie a go, based on the scant few images I managed to find online.The general idea is about a married man who is having problems with a unfaithful wife, who appears to be slowly going more and more insane as the film goes on.
The plot is a little difficult to follow but makes more sense if you track down the full 2 hour version.Contextually similar to Cronenberg's The Brood (1979) the lead female character (Adjani) gives birth to her sexual frustration in the form of a multi-phallic squid-like creature.
She appears to find comfort in this monster as her marriage to Marc (Sam Neill) bitterly degenerates.We also learn that Anna is cheating on Marc and as she becomes increasingly disturbed both the men in her life turn on each other in a desperate attempt to understand her behaviour.Skillfully directed and masterfully acted this parable on relationships rivals Jean-Jacques Beineix's 'Betty Blue' in psychotic spontaneity.
Naturally, he deduces that the ending of their relationship is down to another man; and he's not wrong - but things take a turn for the sinister when she leaves her lover for...something else.The style of the movie is superb throughout, as director Andrzej Zulawski manages to create an atmosphere that is sexy, surreal and bubbling with mystery.
The special effects are brilliant and never go over the top; the director's use of what can only be described as a 'monster' being especially well done, and on the whole; Possession is a movie that everyone should give the time of day to.
It's unquestionably a horror film and allegory, fulfilling the promise of its title.I do believe, watching it for the first time on Turner Classics the other night, it captures quintessentially Grotowski influenced acting performances, at a time period when there was the greatest awareness of his discipline and art coming out of Poland.
Unforgettable, maybe seen as OTT by some, but nonetheless true within their weirdness are they, possibly the best of the long careers of Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani.The topping on the cake is the on-screen work of the amazing German actor who passed away in October, Heinz Bennent playing the boyfriend, Heinrich; who is most interesting to watch, and one of the reasons the film is a not-to-be-missed.To not enjoy this film on all its levels, including its dark humor, is to deny yourself one of the great experiences in cinema.
It was actually included on the DPP's list of 'Video Nasties' in the UK in the early eighties.The story involves a man named Mark (Sam Neill) who arrives home after being away on his mysterious job (possibly a government secret agent) and is told by his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) that she is having an affair with another man named Heinrich (Heinz Bennent).
The film then goes into a convoluted mode of visceral frenzy.Isabelle Adjani gives an extremely powerful performance as the crazed wife, (think of Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant, and then some more) in one scene in particular in a subway she is irrationally wild.
It takes a turn for the ultra-weird when he finally realizes that there is much more to the plot than just the average cheating housewife scenario.This features some of the most non-stop, emotionally charged performances ever by Neill and Adjani, and other odd-ball characters are introduced into the mix as well, coming off so eccentric that one can only determine that this was filmed as some strange, artistic freak-show of some sort.
It was a roller-coaster of great and stupid scenes, of hysterical acting and amazing acting and a script that mingled together divorce drama and Lovecraftian body horror and zen thinking and symbolism so heavy that I couldn't possibly enjoy it.Keep in mind that this is a performance that brought Adjani a Cannes best actress award, which is totally deserved.
If you are a great artist, express yourself so that people can understand.Bottom line: a weird melange of genres that ultimately felt like a masturbatory work for the writer and director of the film.
It is the fact that on some level, you are aware it is following a story, that makes what you are experiencing all the more insane.The story is pretty much a precursor to the Lars Von Trier film "Antichrist", the main differences being that in the case of "Possession" it is not grief over a lost child that is destroying the couple's relationship, and that "Possession" is the better, if more messed-up piece (seriously!) Mark returns home in the knowledge that there is something wrong with his wife Anna, and it quickly becomes apparent to him that she is unhappy with their marriage and that she has taken a lover.
Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani are really great, and I think that a good movie does not have to be completely clear, because it allows you to think a lot, (I might mention Mulholland Drive as an example) and thats what happens with Possession.
And the fact that her sexual desire turns into a creature that later transforms into a copy of her husband makes this a movie incredable.But what made this movie disturbing outside of the film itself is the director commentary on the DVD where this man tells the story of how he made this movie and the inspiration for it.When him and his love at the time broke up (never understood what it was over) he himself began a his spiral into his interdemon.
The editing is extremely bad and annoying, it is nowhere near as gory as people make it out to be, the acting is suprisingly bad especially from Sam Neil and even Isabelle Adjani who i like, it dragged on and tried to create an arty feel to it but failed miserably.
Anna (Isabelle Adjani) leaves her house, her husband Mark (Sam Neil), her son and her lover, to live with a strange creature in an old building.
I'm glad I watched it even if I wasn't as crazy about it during the viewing.The actors go for broke (beginning with a great restaurant scene) but after a while the film began to feel one note for me until I started to numb to Adjani's impressive histrionics.
The horror of this movie is in the watching these actors screach throughout the film.
Possession (1981) ** (out of 4) Andrzej Zulawski's incredibly bizarre film centers on a husband (Sam Neill) returning home from a spy job and learning that his wife (Isabelle Adjani) is leaving him for another man.
I'm not exactly sure what the film was about and I'd say that everyone watching it will have their own feelings on the matter but I do think the director was trying to show the mental breakdown of a marriage gone wrong.
It is a movie that plays on many levels and provokes the viewer to think about what is happening.the perfomances are top notch Isabelle Adjanni has such fluid motion, her scene of possession in the subway passage is almost like a ballet.Sam Neill is also excellent as the husband posessed by love for his wife.
I don't know why Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill agreed to act in this movie, it must have been because they were young and didn't know any better, or because at their debut they didn't have much choice and couldn't refuse a role in a big picture.
Not that Isabelle Adjani isn't a good actress but she had way better movies where she could have won awards.
I agree, Sam Neil and Isabelle Adjani gave performances of a lifetime but it is not enough to make a movie good.
I didn't bother to read any other comments posted on this film because I just knew there would be nothing but very judgemental people saying how much they hated it.I do admit the film is very badly edited with lots of scenes beginning but not actually leading anywhere and almost 90% of the happenings in it are completely unexplained,like a particularly confusing scene where Neil wakes up with a beard that he didn't have previously and when he asks someone how long he was asleep for she replies "3 weeks"and the fact that it is never explained why/when/how Adjani was even possessed in the first place,nor is it seen.There are many other things that make as little sense as this and one woman-a teacher that looks identical to Neil's wife-who simply disappears from the story altogether.But apart from all these things,the film is absoloutly terrifying.The director achieves this with very dark,deeply troubled characters,all of whom are a little crazy,very dark,spooky sets,in particular Adjani's apartment where the creature lives,completely isolated streets in outside sequences and Adjani's standout performance as the disturbed wife.Definately the most terrifying movie I have ever seen,so it's a shame the version that actually makes sense is so rare..
Mark (Sam Neill) returns to his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) in Berlin and finds things have changed.
The film begins as Mark (Sam Neill) and Anna's (Isabelle Adjani) marriage is deteriorating.
I will give a huge applaud to Zulawskis impeccable directing, Adjani and Neill acting their hearts and souls out (they practically become their characters, it's almost like they stop acting and just become their roles, it's that good!) And the soundtrack that gives the movie that eerie feeling.
Mark (Sam Neill) returns home in Berlin from a business trip and his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani) is falling apart. |
tt1789074 | The Night Watch | In the prologue, which is set in medieval times, the audience is introduced to humans with special powers called The Others (Иные, иной; Inyye, Inoy). The Others are divided into two camps, with each Other either allied with the forces of Light or the forces of Darkness, and the prologue recounts a great battle between the two sides. Geser, the Lord of the Light, realized that the two forces would eventually annihilate each other. He stopped the battle and offered a truce to the forces of Darkness, led by Zavulon. To make sure each side honored its side of the agreement, the Light would have a "Night Watch" to monitor the forces of Darkness at night, and the Darkness would have a "Day Watch" to police the forces of Light during the day. This agreement maintained balance for centuries to come.
In modern-day Moscow, Anton Gorodetsky (Russian: Антон Городецкий) visits a witch named Daria and asks her to cast a spell to return his wife to him, agreeing that she should miscarry her child as part of it. Just as the spell is about to be completed, two figures burst in and restrain Daria, preventing her from completing the spell. When they notice that Anton is able to see them, they realize that he is an Other.
Twelve years later, Anton has become a member of the Night Watch and is working with the same team. On Anton's request, Kostya, his neighbor, takes him to see his father, a butcher, to get blood for Anton to drink. The father does this reluctantly, and then tells Kostya that members of the Night Watch only drink blood when they hunt vampires like themselves.
A twelve-year-old boy, Yegor, hears "The Call", a psychic call by a vampire who intends to feed on him. Anton tracks Yegor, being able to hear the call as he gets closer to Yegor, due to the blood he drank. On the way he sees a blond woman that terrifies him. Realizing she is under a deadly curse, Anton uses an ultraviolet flashlight to see if she is a vampire, but she is not. Two vampires are about to feed on Yegor when Anton arrives, and Anton kills one of them while being badly injured. A member of the Day Watch arrives and reveals that the Day Watch is aware of the murder of one of their Dark members.
Anton is healed by Geser, who notes that he could have solved things more easily by entering into the Gloom—a shadow world only accessible by the Others. After Anton tells him about the woman in the subway, he reveals a legend about a virgin who is cursed so that people and animals around her die or sicken, and that she is accompanied by a "vortex of damnation". It is now clear that the virgin, now reborn, will soon die, unless the Night Watch finds the one who cursed her. Geser gives Anton an assistant, a stuffed owl named Olga. Anton laughs and refuses, until he sees Geser throw Olga out the window, whereupon she turns into a living owl and flies away. At Anton's apartment, the owl arrives and shape shifts into a woman.
Kostya arrives and says he knows that Anton killed the vampire Dark Other. Anton and Olga track Yegor to his home, where they must enter the Gloom, as Yegor is there hiding from the female vampire. The Gloom almost consumes Yegor, but a blood sacrifice from Anton satisfies it enough for them to escape. Emerging from the Gloom, Anton sees a photo of Yegor and his mother, who is apparently Anton's ex-wife, thereby revealing that Yegor is his son. The Night Watch members, Tiger and Bear, stay behind to protect Yegor, but as soon as they are distracted, the boy escapes and follows the call of the female vampire. During this time, Zavulon is seen working on a computer prediction in which he is fighting with someone, constantly losing.
Anton and Olga arrive at a command and control center set up near the apartment of Svetlana, the cursed woman from the subway train. A vortex capable of immense destruction has appeared over her apartment and bad things have been happening to those near her. Just before Anton goes into speak with her, Svetlana tells her neighbor Gregori that his mother has died, and this sets off a series of events that will shortly cause a nuclear meltdown unless the curse is abated. Anton enters Svetlana's apartment under the guise of needing medical care and talks to her, revealing that she cursed herself on her own, which also means she is an Other. As soon as this is revealed, the curse ends and the vortex disappears. Yegor escapes the grip of the female vampire, but is caught by Zavulon, who appears on the roof. During a duel, Anton attempts to stab Zavulon, but Zavulon sidesteps the swipe just as Yegor runs up. Zavulon stops Anton's momentum, both saving Yegor's life and making it appear as if Anton were attempting to kill his son. Zavulon's assistant reads Anton's personal file aloud. When Yegor finds out that Anton tried to kill him before he was born, and that he has special powers that the prophecy says are held by the Great One, he willingly turns to the Darkness, to Anton's great dismay. An afterword describes that as Yegor has chosen the Dark, he will lead the world into Darkness, but as long as there are those who choose to fight the Darkness all around them, there is hope. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Spellbinging stories of love and loneliness during the London Blitz.
The Night Watch employs an unusual narrative structure (presumably duplicated from the novel by Sarah Waters) which begins in 1947, then flashes back not once but twice to show us how the large cast of characters came to arrive at the "end" of the story.
This device isn't simply a flashy trick; it's integral to the movie's richly layered meditation on time and circumstance.Human relationships are the heart of the story, as we see various friends and lovers couple and decouple against the background of London during the Blitz and the aftermath of WWII.
The atmosphere is dark and sensual, the music is mesmerizing, and the performances are riveting.I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at a film festival with no prior knowledge of it, and won't say anything more to spoil its wonderful surprises.
I can only say, emphatically, that it should not be missed..
Moments of greatness.
Adapting a book to the screen is tough.
You need to be brutal, cutting away entire plot lines, even characters to serve your purpose.
I haven't read The Night Watch but this adaptation shows all the signs of a too-reverential approach.
That's a shame because it gets a lot of things right, a few breathtakingly so.
In those moments, it's unlike anything I've seen.
You could pitch it as Aimee and Jaguar meets The End of the Affair but at its best it's better than either of those films.
It's Anna Maxwell Martin's portrayal of Kay Langrish that takes it to those heights.
Claire Foy turns in a wonderful performance but she has less to work with.
Unfortunately, The Night Watch is also saddled with at least one too many plot strands and a stunning miscalculation in thinking that Bath and or Bristol could double for wartime London.
I know it's hard to find much of the capital that hasn't been tarted up since 1945 but west country stone and Georgian porticos, along with hills that put Lisbon to shame, don't fool anyone.
And there are other misjudgments.
There's a technical device which is used three times.
You'll know it when you see it.
The first use is amazing, emotionally spot on.
The second is just confusing and the third downright clunky.
As is some of the dialogue.
"War changes people...
and not necessarily for the better." In a book, that leadenly expositional second phrase may be necessary.
In a film, it's amateurish.
With a firmer, more demanding hand, this might have stood as a genuinely great work.
Even as is, it's better than almost anything else you'll find on British or American TV so enjoy, despite the flaws.
You won't regret it..
good version of OK novel.
This is a feature-length adaptation of Sarah Water's book of the same name.I first came across Sarah Water's writing when I watch Tipping The Velvet on TV.
I enjoyed the series so much that I then read the book, which was a great read.
(I thoroughly recommend you read the book and watch the series - I don't think the order matters).
I guess the reason that I wasn't bowled over by this drama stems from the fact that I am not a fan of the book.
I read it a few months ago, and whilst I enjoyed it, it was nowhere near as good as Tipping The Velvet.
I think the problem being that whilst it has interesting characters, the story just wasn't strong enough and it just seemed to pootle along without much direction.Saying that though, I would still recommend that you watch this drama as it is very atmospheric and the acting is on the whole good, especially the wonderful Anna Maxwell Martin, who is always very watchable, as is Clare Foy..
A Faithful Adaptation.
I watched this quite literally minutes after finishing the book it's based on.
With that in mind, I find that it is a very faithful adaptation of the book; only changing minor elements, mainly for the sake of cutting down scenes and giving more of a conclusive ending than the book.
However, I'm not sure that this makes it a good movie.I enjoyed it thoroughly, but a lot of that was because I knew what was going on in the heads of each character in every scene.
I had the narrative of the book backing up the long silent scenes.
I feel like without knowing the book, it is a movie with sparing dialogue, and a lot of inference.
It's more like looking at a set of well-crafted paintings than a guided journey.Still, as it is faithful to a rich source, it has excellent characters, which are the main structure of the story.
I feel they did a good job with casting all-around, and in the end I felt like I got to experience rereading the book on fast-forward with new visuals..
Classy adaptation of a fine novel.
A beautifully crafted adaptation of the Sarah Waters novel of the same name.
An interesting narrative structure taken from the book, the story is experienced backwards in three periods in the characters lives, running from the post war section back in time to wartime experiences of love in the Blitz.
All of the performances are terrific, understated and subtle they convey the complex emotional landscape of their intertwining lives and a point in history when the social landscape was shifting with women finding themselves empowered by the demands and experiences of wartime Britain, releasing them from their more traditional roles and allowing them to rise to address new challenges and experiences, both actually and emotionally.
The casting, acting and beautiful camera work make this a real treat, with a lovely sense of place..
Good story, poor plot.
It had so much potential.
The actors were good, the set design was accurate as well, but with the way the plot was sequenced, it doesn't keep you on the hook.
20 minutes through the movie, your attention will start to wander.
In fact, the whole first hour had so many unnecessary fillers and the bland music score is that of a typical TV movie which adds further to the injury.
Then towards the end, when things started to get interesting and after enduring that one and a half hour, it gives you a half-baked ending.
Maybe with a better arranged storyboard, this movie would have been masterpiece. |
tt0067355 | Lo chiamavano Trinità... | Trinity, a lazy, ne'er-do-well gunfighter with an unnaturally fast drawing ability and marksmanship, is dragged on a travois by his horse to a way station and restaurant. There, he encounters a pair of bounty hunters with an injured Mexican prisoner. Trinity calmly takes the Mexican away from the two men, killing them before they can shoot him in the back. The pair reach a small town, where they witness the local sheriff, a large, burly man with a similarly fast drawing ability to Trinity, gunning down three men after they harass him for not allowing one of their criminal friends to be released.
It quickly becomes apparent that Trinity and the man, Bambino, are half-brothers. Bambino is merely posing as the new sheriff of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped, following a run-in with the actual sheriff who incidentally took the same way as Bambino on his way to his new post. Bambino is not happy to see his trouble-making brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman, who is attempting to run a group of pacifist Mormon farmers off their land with the intention of using their property to graze his own horses. The fact that these horses are valuable and unbranded explains Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother, even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition.
However, Trinity has fallen in love with two Mormon sisters and is genuinely concerned with the Mormon settlers' welfare. He persuades Bambino and Bambino's henchmen to help train the pacifistic Mormons to fight, and in the final battle, the Mormon leader finds in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that "there is a time for fighting," and the Mormons are unleashed against Major Harriman's goons, using the dirty fighting tricks they have just learned.
Bambino is flabbergasted and infuriated to learn that Trinity has given the Major's horses to the Mormons. Trinity is about to be happily married to the two Mormon sisters when he learns to his horror that being a married Mormon means actually having to work, so he skips out and goes after Bambino. But his brother has had enough of him and sends him off in the opposite direction. Trinity gets the last laugh: He directs the real sheriff, who has come looking for Bambino, in Bambino's direction, then brings up the rear by following them all. | western, cult, violence, feel-good | train | wikipedia | Trinity (Terence Hill) a dirty, dusty drifter-turned bounty-hunter comes to town to pay a visit to his horse-thieving half-brother Bambino (Bud Spencer) who's pretending to be the real sheriff.
Bambino's looking for the best way to rustle some of the Colonel's horses before he leaves and he's not interested in letting Trinity cut in.
In the meantime, the Colonel (Farley Granger) is doing some plotting of his own, not only to get rid of Bambino but also to displace some Mormons who are settling on some land he wants for his own cattle.The fights, the stunts and the gunplay Trinity and Bambino play on the Colonel's men is hilarious.
B.O.!...It's all here in this terrific film about two half brothers (Hill and Spencer) who team up to save a helpless group of mormon farmers from marauding mexican banditos and a ruthless gang of ranchers.
The movie concerns Trinity (Terence Hill or Mario Girotti) , a roguish and sympathetic gunman with fast weapon who works as a bounty hunter .
It's an entertaining Italian western with adequate runtime where there is irony , tongue-in-cheek , shootouts , numerous struggles and is quite funny and amusing .Though this was their first really big hit movie, the film was actually the fifth picture that Terence Hill and Bud Spencer had both worked on and the fourth which they both had starring roles.
Terence Hill is a good guy , hilarious and likable ; Bud Spencer is a rough , two-fisted , bouncing , grumpy man but with good heart , their characters are partially similar to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy .
The lead actors, Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, slyly parody spaghetti western stereotypes without hamming it up.
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill's absolute best movie!
Hilarious, spectacular, in perfect Bud&Terence style, with the addition of the spaghetti western settings that make it even more characteristic.
He needs Trinity's help to stop the Major from killing the mormons, and steal all the Majors' Stallions!This movie is an EXCELLENT comedy!
It's called "Trinity is Still my Name", but the best movie with both Terence Hill and Bud Spencer is "Watch Out were Mad!".(A modern-day comedy) Check them out on IMDb.com
My Comments Are For All The Terence Hill& Bud Spencer Movies.
All the characters are fun to watch and there's a real special sort of humor here.The only drawback to the film would be the extended final fight scene that goes on without enough imaginative choreography.
Bud Spencer is especially fun when he is responding to someone saying, "Good evening, Sheriff." As viewers we find out hints as to Trinity and his brother's childhood.
Sorry, but 35 years later, it hasn't really aged that well.Although it's been a long time since I've seen that one as well, probably a better Terrence Hill film than this one would be My Name Is Nobody..
Terence Hill portraits Trinity, an insolent drifter, that wants to constantly be near is brother Bambino, portrayed by Bud Spencer, "a common horse thief and not a very good one either", according to Trinity, which due to previous events is the new sheriff of a calm town...
All in two hours."The Love/Hate relationship between the brothers, clearly outlined by Trinity being the right hand of the devil and Bambino the left hand of the devil, their mother that is a whore but not an old one (!), the Mexican prisoner that killed a "Gringo" (with a very little knife!) just because "he wanted to make love to his wife" , the Mormons, Mezcall's gang, the Mormon sisters, the beans (which weren't that good anyway!), the Major and that Colt .45, The special effects are minimal, a honourable mention for the fast- forward pistol drawing technique used by Trinity :).
That said, spaghetti western stars Terence Hill and Bud Spencer (not their real names) make a curiously well-matched thin guy-fat guy low comedy team in this meandering one-thing-after- another spoof that manages to work in enough zany stunting and general rambunctiousness to be entertaining.
The out-of-sync English dubbing can get annoying at times, but the movie has a nice gritty slice-of-western- lowlife look and some nice shoot 'em up action scenes, plus Spencer and Hill manage to generate a fair bit of roguish charm.
This film, (when watched in German synchronization) is one of the best Western movies ever made.
All of that, together with good directing and acting makes this not only one of the best Western movies of all time, but also one of the best Spencer / Hill films ever.
More of a comedy, actually, "Lo Chiamavano Trinita" ("They Call Me Trinity") is one of the best from the Italian acting duo of Terence Hill (Mario Girotti) and Bud Spencer (Carlo Pedersoli).
Miglior film di terence hill e bud spencer, direi un cult.
Mythic film that started the golden stage of spaghetti-Westerns, as well as the legendary duo Spencer-Hill.Directed precisely by one of the pioneers of this genre, Enzo Barboni, here under his pseudonym, EBClutcher, as was usual at that time, like Carlo Pedersoli (Bud Spencer) and Mario Girotti (Terence Hill), this was a strategy that was used so that these films, in principle made to amuse the European public with its peculiar style of adapted western and in a certain way, parodied, also reach the Anglo-Saxon public, and disguise a little the Italian flavor of these productions.However, it is precisely that parody, carefree and also comical tone that encumbro to this genre, and in particular, to this film.Here the protagonists are not straight and honorable agents of the law who punish the thugs and bandits, but they themselves are those bandits, two brothers to be exact, one the youngest, is called Trinidad, attractive, scoundrel, sympathetic, rogue , flirt, vague and anti-hygienic, but fearsome and deadly with the revolver, they nickname him the right hand of the devil.And on the other hand is his brother, ¨the boy¨, of great stature, grumpy, gluttonous, disheveled and with strong differences with his brother, with whom he nevertheless shares the same unrivaled skill as a gunman ¨ the left hand of the devil¨.The destinies of both will cross without that they look for it, in a remote town where the boy of falsely makes happen like the sheriff, with the only intention to wait for two comrades with those who to sack the bank of the town, but the arrival of his brother Trinidad, and his particular gift of getting into trouble will completely disrupt the plans of both.What we have then, is an atypical western so far, where protas are far from being heroes, if not rather two nice scoundrels who will be carried away by events, which usually resolve shots, or hammer, Yes, always with a sense of humor and a kindness, because both brothers are really good-natured, only tanned in the harsh world of the wild West replete with gunmen, thieves, exploiters and all kinds of "actor".Very well set, of course, in Spain, specifically in Almeria, in the desert of Tabernas, where almost all the films of the genre were filmed, Barboni shows us a Far West quite realistic and approximate to how it should have been in reality, arid , dry, miserable towns exploited by greedy magnates and their thugs, fugitives, bandits, prostitutes, drunkards, people of dubious morality, disheveled.
dirty, with beards and dusty hair, the purpose was to break with the classic image of the old films of John Ford or Raoul Walsh, for a type of western as I said before, more casual, more comical.The chemistry between Spencer and Hill works like a charm and is what sustains a script sometimes hilarious and witty, but it is the connection between these two that makes the film, with a wonderful soundtrack, the initial theme is already a classic, used even by Quentin Tarantino in his tribute, which is what it is, to the genre, Django unchained.If something could be attributed to this film, it is perhaps a too long duration for what actually has to be counted, which makes in some sections a little cloying, cut ten or fifteen minutes would have benefited enough.In conclusion, great and hilarious film to which the years have not sat badly but quite the opposite, it looks with total sympathy and nostalgia.Thank you..
This movie and its sequel bring together two of the best underrated comedy duos of its time.
I have watched many Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies since but the rest have fell short of the magic they mad playing Trinity and Bambino in both movies.
Was in 1976 the very first time l'd watched this movie on TV, Since then Hill & Spencer hooked me forever, the picture as wersten is a crap, but the chemistry over the duo main characters are unbeatable, the main reason to explain such success should be that in every movies, they don't are friends properly, quite often argue each other and Spencer in always a bad temper guy, who refuses their brotherhood, a particular sub plot was when trinity realise that could marry with both mormon's beautiful girls because they acepting polygamy in their religion, but epic final when the brother Tobias was making a speech about cutting tree until be exhausted,and seeding the ground work overload, he turns your face to your distant brother trying making a right choice and suddenly disappeared, a funny scene fatefully never unsurpassed, sadly this picture in Brazil is only available in bad picture and no dubbed classic version!!!Resume:First watch: 1976 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5.
The Trinity movies are such good fun westerns.
Spencer and Hill started out with serious spaghetti westerns then moved on to the comedies they were best known for.
Probably their best known movie with the classic character of Trinity (played by Hill) who spends most of the movie wearing dusty falling apart clothes that never get washed even after he's taken a bath.Spencer plays Bambino, a horse thief, who has managed to score himself a job as sheriff in a town.
He is Trinity's brother and doesn't want him around, thus starting the amusing tradition in their movies where Spencer's characters usually find Hill's characters irritating.
You will never know what these two will come up with next.I do not like most spaghetti westerns (I find the bulk of them boring) but my exceptions are Clint Eastwood's older westerns like 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' and the comedy duo Bud Spencer & Terence Hill in the Trinity film series.If you like They Call Me Trinity then you should like the other two Trinity films: 'Trinity is Still My Name' and 'My Name is Nobody'.9.5/10.
Now let me go down the points Music Score: bad quality but at least it suits Story: it's about a guy who goes to a town and he meets his sheriff brother and they fight for farmers land from a major and he allies with mexicans to drive them out and Trinity and his brother try to teach them to defend it - The final climatic fight scene will confuse anyone about who the #### are the good guys Conclusion: better than I thought but I need to continue with this I am next going to watch the Dolph Lungren and Jean-Claudde Vanne Damme movie "Universal Soldier" pray for my sanity.
He used the least amount of energy possible when he fights--yet like any Italian western hero, he's practically unstoppable.One day Trinity wanders into a town and finds that his brother, Bambino (Bud Spencer--whose real name is Carlo Pedersoli) is the sheriff.
Most films today re-use the same old jokes over and over, and are simply not funny, though they still might be a good time.
There's nothing violent or adult about it, and it's a great film to watch with friends who haven't ever heard of it and aren't overly critical of cinematography and things of that nature.The actual story, meaning the meat and bones of it, is your typical western, with one or two slight twists.
`Trinity' is a movie that has nothing in particular that is endearing about it, yet everything it does have works together to produce a fun film.
We see all the Terence Hill / Bud Spencer movies frequently on TV here in Italy.
Trinity and Bambino were almost household names to spaghetti western buffs..
This lesser known spaghetti western is slow at times, but there are plenty of scenes that make the movie worth watching.
I recently caught the first two Trinity movies on TV, simply to confirm whether they are as completely devoid of interest as I felt when first watching them waaay back when.And.....they most certainly are!Terence Hill (the slim, blue eyed-one) is as nauseatingly coy, self-righteous and trouble-prone as I remembered.
I am by no means an expert on the 19 or so Terence Hill / Bud Spencer films.
There's just something about both of these scenes that I find very funny.But what I really enjoy the most is the way They Call Me Trinity makes fun of some of the better known Spaghetti Western clichés.
If you're a fan of these movies, you'll enjoy They Call Me Trinity's poke at Spaghetti Western conventions..
Terence Hill had been acting in movies for almost twenty years before he took the lead in "Unholy Four" director Enzo Barboni's "They Call Me Trinity" (1971) with his favorite co-star Bud Spencer.
Although it did not qualify as the first Spaghetti western parody, "They Call Me Trinity" cemented Hill's claim to fame and he became famous in his own right.
Meantime, this landmark, low-brow western slapstick shoot'em up roughly imitates the same trail as George Stevens' "Shane" with Alan Ladd and John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven." Not only did "They Call Me Trinity" turn Terence Hill into an international superstar, but also Bud Spencer and he wound up co-starring in 18 films.
In the next scene, Trinity rides into town where his half-brother Bambino (Bud Spencer) is masquerading as the town sheriff.
He stands up, belches (politely), and then the movie becomes a Spaghetti Western for another 100 minutes or so until Bud "Bulldozer" Spencer starts pounding guys over the head like a telephone pole piledriver machine.But the bean scene is amazing, ranking up there with the sequence from DJANGO where Franco Nero blows a cork into the face of some punk who disturbs his own feeding time.
(one *slight* spoiler in the last line)What a great movie, one of the best spag westerns I've seen so far.
at the end, when Trinity and Bambino (Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer) inevitably ride off into the sunset their characters are so interesting you really want to follow them and find out what's going to happen to them next.
Terence Hill plays the 'Trinity' of the title, a blue-eyed gunslinger so laid back as to make 'The Man With No Name' look like The Milky Bar Kid. Teaming up with his brother 'Bambino', a bearded giant of a man portrayed by Bud Spencer, they come to the aid of a Mormon community under threat from a greedy landowner played by Farley Granger.
This is not 'Lonesome Dove', by a long shot.Terence Hill and Bud Spencer made a slew of movies together, not all of them westerns, and not all of them watchable (see any of their cop movies for evidence), but they did have great chemistry.
All he really lacked was Hardy's trademark exasperated look into the camera.If I could ask for one improvement, it would be better choreography in the many fight scenes, but you can't expect a whole lot from Spaghetti Westerns on this score, anyway..
While, there has been spaghetti westerns films in which both Italian movie stars, Mario Girotti AKA Terence Hill and Carlo Pedersoli AKA Bud Spencer started in, together before 1970's 'They Call Me, Trinity'; like 1967's 'God Forgives, I Don't', 1968's 'Ace High' and 1969's 'Boot Hill'.
The movie was written and directed by Enzo Barboni under the name, E.B. Clucher & it tells the story of drifter, turned bounty-hunter, Trinity (Terence Hill), coming to a town, where his horse-thieving half-brother Bambino (Bud Spencer) is pretending to be a real sheriff in order, to go against a local Major, Harriman (Farley Granger), who is trying to get rid of the Mormon settlers, in an attempt for land control.
Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the quick on his feet, Hill and the powerhouse, Spencer really work well as a team, here, as the eponymous Trinity and juggernaut, older brother, Bambino despite not looking anything near like brothers.
It's no wonder, why these movie has been known as fagioli (beans) westerns.
Looking for over-the-top yet, cock-eyed logic fist-fights action-packed approached, he somewhat save the Spaghetti Westerns genre with this film.
In the end, 'They Call Me Trinity' is a must watch for any Spaghetti Western fan.
"Trinity" (Terence Hill) and "Bambino" (Bud Spencer) are brothers who just happen to meet each other in a town out in the middle of nowhere.
At any rate, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this is an amusing Spaghetti-Western comedy made even better by the performances of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.
There will always be detractors for the spaghetti Western genre, and those who deem this film as worthless and wishy-washy bargain bin value viewing, but the fact that it has spawned innumerable spoofs, sequels and imitations, and even a brief acknowledgement by Quentin Tarantino in his 2012 smash movie Django Unchained, goes to show that My Name Is Trinity is a classic in itself, and therefore has something going for it.
Starring no less than the incomparable duo of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, who are the Western version of Abbott and Costello, albeit more adept and efficient.
Small wonder that they went on to generate more movies, not just Westerns, and garnering a huge following especially in Europe, as well as spawning a sequel Trinity Is Still My Name, another one not to miss. |
tt0075909 | Damnation Alley | First Lieutenant Jake Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent) shares ICBM silo duty at an American air force missile base in the Californian desert with Major Eugene "Sam" Denton (George Peppard), who is requesting not to work with him. On their way to duty, Denton talks to Airman Tom Keegan (Paul Winfield), an aspiring artist. When the United States detects incoming nuclear missiles from the Soviet Union, Tanner and Denton launch part of the retaliatory strike. The United States is hit hard, although it manages to intercept 40% of Soviet missiles.
Two years later, the Earth has been tilted off its axis by nuclear detonations of World War III; radiation has mutated giant scorpions, the planet is wracked by massive storms, and the sky is in a perpetual aurora borealis-like state. Tanner has resigned his commission and has been scouting Barstow while Keegan, who has also left the Air Force, has been painting as an artist in one of the base's out-buildings. Mutated giant scorpions menace the area. Later an airman falls asleep in a bunk and drops a lit cigarette onto a pile of Playboy magazines, which causes the entire base to catch fire and explode, killing most of its inhabitants including the base commander, General Lander (Murray Hamilton). Keegan and Tanner are unscathed, as are Denton and Lieutenant Tom Perry (Kip Niven), who were in an underground garage bunker.
Denton has been considering going to Albany, New York to find the source of a lone radio transmission. He and the remaining others set out in two Air Force "Landmasters," giant 12-wheeled armored personnel carriers capable of climbing 60-degree inclines and operating in water. They must cross "Damnation Alley," considered "the path of least resistance" between intense radiation areas thus named by Denton. Along their journey one of the Landmasters becomes disabled in a storm (which also kills Perry) and they encounter mutated "flesh stripping cockroaches" in the ruins of Salt Lake City which eat Keegan alive. Denton and Tanner also pick up two survivors: a woman in Las Vegas, Janice (Dominique Sanda), and a teenage boy, Billy (Jackie Earle Haley), discovered in an abandoned house. Later they fight off a band of crazed gun-toting mountain men they encounter in the ruins of a gas station. Denton uses a rocket launcher to destroy the gas station.
As they continue their journey, the Landmaster develops a problem with its drivetrain and they head to Detroit. Denton comments that it was "designed to use spare truck parts", semi-trucks in particular. In Detroit they enter a large wrecking yard in search of the needed parts. A large storm comes upon the group and they take shelter in their vehicle just as a tidal wave washes them away. After the storm passes, they are adrift in a large body of water and it appears that the Earth has returned to its normal axis as the sky is clear. Using the Landmaster's amphibious capability, they reach land. As they are making repairs, they hear a radio broadcast of music and an attempt to reach survivors. After making contact, Tanner and Billy set out on to locate the source of the broadcast. In the final scene, they reach a surprisingly intact Albany and are greeted by its inhabitants. | cult | train | wikipedia | The trouble actually doesn't add up to much (look for roaches!) and the acting and storyline are at a minimum....BUT!!!!!!The following things kicked ass!:Beginning!--->creepy slow suspense as the world faces nuclear destruction!Score!--->Great music sets the tone for the scenes (saving many)Sky FX!--->tripped out!
The careful, measured tones coming from the missile base loudspeaker announcing the progress of "the war" belie the fact that at that moment scores of millions of people are being atomized as the bombs fall.However, the aftermath seems to be typical post-nuclear mis-adventure, with the survivors from the base starting out on a cross-country road trip.
Wild weather, crazed hermits, and killer cockroaches require a little suspension of disbelief, but still keep the pace going.Fans of "The A-Team" will like seeing George Peppard in a lead role, as the by-the-book superior officer who tries to keep the non-conformist junior officer (Vincent) in line.
Killer cockroaches, Jan Michael Vincent, Paul Winfield, George Peppard, giant scorpions, ultimate SUV's, inbred hillbilly types and dusty old Las Vegas where the slots still work...all combine to make a fun little, albeit cheesy, flick.As a kid this movie was a fun Saturday matinee movie and to this day, still a fun Saturday Matinee movie...grab a big bucket of popcorn, turn your brain off and have some cheesy fun....
One of the cool things is to watch two actors Jan-Michael Vincent who of course did Airwolf and George Peppard who was also on TV about the time doing The A-Team both in the movie is awesome.
Damnation Alley is set in a post apocalyptic America in world war three a band of survivors led by air-force major dent-on George Peppard following an accident at their base travel in style in a land-master which essentially is a deluxe camper van which is capable of traveling over rough terrain it has to be seen to be believed!
Jan Michael Vincent before he became famous with air-wolf the wisecracking Token black guy Paul Winfield, who suffers a fate worse than death when runs afoul of 'said Killa cockroaches' French actress Dominque Sanda as a Vegas show girl along for the ride and a Pre -breaking away Jackie Earle Haley as a waif who is adept at throwing rocks at disgruntled hillbillies!
No, you'd be better off watching an episode of either of those shows, but unfortunately I'm describing "Damnation Alley", the wildly unfaithful movie adaptation of the novel by brilliant Sci-Fi author Roger Zelazny.Now, I'm sure few Zelazny fans would disagree that "Alley" is one of the least of his works, but this film takes Zelazny's somewhat decayed fruit and manages to squeeze onto the floor whatever juice it had in it, leaving only the decay.All that remains of the book is the basic setting, the cross-post-apocalyptic-country road trip plot device (though with the book's suspenseful motivation for the trip replaced by a vague "let's see what's over there"), the "Run the storm or dig in?" scene, and a main character named Tanner.
What we get instead is mostly some people riding around the country and encountering dangerous situations that could be successfully transplanted to any time period.I likewise must disagree with those that said that the movie did a good job portraying the experience of the military officers who witnessed the end of the world at the beginning of the film.
Pretty much the only expression of angst or concern we get is when Jan-Michael puts his head in his hands at the end of the sequence, but his portrayal could serve equally well for some other movie's 50th-billing character Man With Headache.Other random things I must criticize: George Peppard's accent isn't particularly badly done, I guess, but it sure is annoying.When the one reasonably likable character makes an exit, the other characters seem not to care very much, and seem not to display any sign afterwards that they remember such a character had ever been around.As others have also alluded to, one of the most anticlimactic endings ever.But the film is not wholly devoid of charm.
The sky effects are indeed pretty neat-looking, and I'm sorry I didn't get to see them on the big screen, though the near-complete failure to try to maintain registration between moving (or even stationary!) ground and sky elements is very jarring and fake-looking.Speaking of the sky, the film also does a commendable job of recreating the bizarre, scary, and vengeful weather depicted in the book.The score is certainly not among Jerry Goldsmith's best work, but it's better than the material it underscores, and it has some kewl analog synth squawks you don't get to hear in his other work.The truck is also pretty cool, though the stretchy material connecting the two halves looks comically flimsy in the harsh environments the truck rides through.
Not surprised to hear that's the one element that does not survive on the show vehicle today.But I have to say that if you insist on watching a movie where the main characters venture out from one of the remaining safe pockets of humanity in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world in their heavily armored, missile-firing truck, and occasionally drive dirt bikes out of the back of it, you would do much better to watch George Romero's "Land of the Dead" instead.
4) Jan-Micheal Vincent has his eyes open, and George Peppard was still in his pre-"A-Team" form.But seriously, this is one of the better sci-fi "survivors versus the world" movies.
George Peppard and Jan Michael Vincent lead the cast, as two U.S Air force soldiers who survive a nuclear holocaust caused by WW3, causing the earth to tilt on its axis creating freak weather patterns (storms, floods) and mutated insects.
So a film about the end of civilization was bound to be a hit.btw if you read the original novel 'Damnation Alley' then I can't recommend this film, because the tie-in is VERY tenuous back to the film - WWIII devastates the planet, and a group of survivors from a military base build a seriously tasty all terrain vehicle with which to explore the remains of the planet.
We then jump right into the world after the war, which apparently show us that the only people surviving nuclear winter will be "B" actors-go figure.George Peppard, Jan-Micheal(Hiccup!)Vincent, and Paul Winfield head off on a road trip to stop a home made porno from reacing George's girlfriend in...wait...that's not right.
Oh yeah, they go to Albany, NY-the last bastion of civlization (snicker snicker) And on the way they meet many strange settings...well George and "Hard Livin'" Jan-Michael do...Paul gets offed by a bunch of blood thirsty cockroaches-see I told you the only thing to survive would be "B" actors.They soon meet up with a slu..I mean a woman of questionable repute in Las Vegas and a young man who I believe to be that possum looking kid from deliverance.
One revolting sequence involving blood-sucking cockroaches might have become a classic among splatter aficionados had the special effects budget been larger (when the roaches, en masse, chase Jan-Michael Vincent on his cycle, it looks like a carpet being pulled along by a wire).
''The Day After'' seemed to imply that all living things would eventually die in the aftermath of nuclear war.''Damnation Alley'' is not my favorite movie by no means, but i watch it every time it happens to be shown on one of the cable channels..
So all you people who are giving this flick 1 star, obviously you never saw the flick in the 70's when I did, with its very cool post apocalyptic scenes and its very cool RV that had missiles and could go over oceans in raging gales, and Jan Michael, and of course one of those lines you can't get iota your head, George Peppard screaming "We Got Us Some Killa Cockroaches Here!".
OK, In some ways I can see why people hate this movie, especially if it is viewed nowadays since the new era of digital movie-making.The acting was acceptable but could have been better.The cinematography was ok and, yes the "special effects" were cheezy; let's be honest here; the scorpions were back projected, and the cockroaches were plastic props dragged on the ground by strings.
Jan-Michael Vincent and George Peppard star in this movie, but the kid that turns up in the film was Jackie Earle Haley who was in Watchmen as Rorschach and suffice to say, you can definitely tell that it is him!
The effects are not the greatest in the movie, but they do make the world seem like it is in the aftermath of a nuclear war, that is, until the end where it looks like everything is pretty much normal.
There is nothing redeeming about this movie - special effects are terrible, dialogue stinks, each turn of events is so implausible that you get mad at everyone involved.SPOILER (not that it matters...) Final ridiculous turn - the entire world has been destroyed by nuclear war, but they find one area that wasn't targeted by a nuke and therefore is still a beautiful green sunny place, with no radiation and no nuclear winter and little children playing ball.
It is a perfect film for a rainy day.Future Airwolf star Jan Michael-Vincent teams up with future A-Team star, the late George Peppard as two soldiers stuck in a post-nuclear holocaust world.
I haven't read Damnation Alley but I've read some books by Roger Zelazny that I really liked - Bridge of Ashes, Isle of the Dead, Lord of the Light, and the entire Amber series - so I decided to watch Damnation Alley.I decided to give Damnation Alley 2 stars instead of one because it is mercifully short, at just over 1.5 hours long, and because it has an interesting premise even if the execution is not very good.
I had fond memories of this movie having seen it as when I was young in the early 80's, and then I made the huge mistake of watching it again recently.There is no real plot to speak of, it's a straight story of a trip from point A to point B, the acting, what little of it there was, was fairly bad, and the special effects were anything but special.I must assume most of the budget was spent building the Landmaster, because the effects were horrible, even for the period when this came out, especially when you consider Star Wars came out the same year.I would say give this a miss, especially if you saw it as a child..
It was quite effective on the big screen with stereo sound but, sadly, loses much of its potence on television.The special effects are mostly cheap looking with obvious sets in many scenes."Damnation Alley" is not even a good time waster.
If you watch Damnation Alley imagine how mindblowing Star Wars was to have appeared at that time when things like Damnation Alley were considered acceptable movies..
A short-lived 1976 TV series, Ark 11, did this whole plot-line a lot better with more pleasing actors/music/costumes.But anyway, Damnation Alley is still worth watching as I love road movies, but you will be shaking your head saying "this could have been so much better"..
The film looks very dated, taking all the cliché's about pop culture from the 1970's, CB-Radio Jargon, pour in Cold War Atomic War hysteria and mix with bad writing and hooky special effects and you can just about imagine what a "terrific" film this is.Damnation Alley has that feeling that it was made for the Lowest Common Denominator, yet 20th Century Fox spent almost twice as much on this film as they did on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
No big special effects, except for some stock footage of nuclear explosions, some pyrotechnics and varied color flavors in the sky (supposed to represent the variations in the Earth's atmosphere).Sometimes, for a movie to be good, you simply don't need millions, just simply a solid story and fine acting.
The special effects here are embarrassingly bad; for a frame of reference, consider that this is the same year that the studio, 20th Century Fox, also released "Star Wars."Still, this ridiculous movie rises above its failings with some elements that were damn good.
Wikipedia has some interesting information on the back ground for "Damnation Alley" -- the radioactive skies effect actually took up 10 months of post- production, despite a final result that paled in comparison to "Star Wars." It was a troubled production, and its story is interesting reading.Seriously, I had fun with "Damnation Alley." If it isn't quite a "classic," the it's at least a really fun movie to which I'm sure I'll return.
The characters include domineering tough guy Denton (George Peppard), cheerful Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), leading lady Janice (Dominique Sanda), easygoing Keegan (Paul Winfield) and teenager Billy (Jackie Earle Haley).The odd lack of continuity creates some guffaw-inducing WTF moments; watch as switches are made from real people to dummies.
If my memory serves me right, then in 1977 the mighty Fox had two Sci-Fi projects in production, one being this manure, for which for the reasons that my mightily limited upper head cannot possibly fathom, the aforementioned Fox honchos had lavished with literally sacs of money, probably expecting it to become the number one blockbuster hit of, well, eternity, and the other one, so the legend goes, for which one George Lucas had to literally beg on the street corners, probably also having to perform in the circuses like some sort of a beastly apparition from the freaky incidents of nature around the states to finance and secure what eventually turned out to be the cinematic phenomenon that has turned H-Wood on its head, setting new standards for this business to say the least Well, to go back to the topic at hand, namely, this ultra-ugly duckling of a film, The Damnation, claiming to derive its premise on some sort of a Sci-Fi literary classic penned by R.Zelazny, is your ultimate pleasure killer, that long sought-after missing link in the Parnassus of the dreadful,wasteful, a product of such disgustingly low taste that it is inconceivable what kind of ˝humanoid˝ could denigrate himself so much to sit and watch this for, well, 30 seconds It is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic road-movie, you know, after a nuclear Armaggedon , a bunch of four soldiers, decide to go to Albany in order to find survivors, and on their way they experience the following incredible events: they find a woman (no sex is even hinted at, naturally, these guys are totally de-sexualized), a teen boy, a car junk yard, and, as a sole 'action' scene, they manage to survive a biblical flood that happens suddenly and totally illogically-it must have something to do with the Earth's axis being tilted or something, and ,finally, arrive to their desired destination with people cheering and having fun, as if the nuclear exchange hasn't occurred, and the movie ends !
Despite this calamity, a group of survivors at a missile bunker(among them George Peppard & Jan Michael Vincent) must take to the road in armored RVs after the bunker is accidentally destroyed, where they encounter weird weather, hostile people, and killer cockroaches...all the while trying to reach the safe haven of New Jersey.Strange film has a good cast, and effective action scenes(not to mention an impressive RV, the film's highlight) but an ultimately silly and absurd story, that doesn't bother with things like plausibility and scientific accuracy.
Based on the post-apocalyptic novel "Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny, the film version shares almost nothing with the book other than the title.In the film, a band of World War III survivors from the 123rd Strategic Missile Wing in the California desert set out across a devastated America in an armored, 12-wheeled "Landmaster" vehicle in search of a faint radio signal from Albany, New York.
Along the way, they encounter freak storms, ragged survivors, and yes, those infamous "killer cockroaches.""Damnation Alley" definitely has its strong points, most notably the first 20 minutes, which features perhaps one of the most chilling depictions of the start of World War III , as the crew of the 123rd SMW watches helplessly as the war begins and ends in a matter of minutes before their eyes.On the down side, the film also has a wealth of weak points, most of which are after the survivors begin their journey.
We see Jan Michael Vincent ride back to the base on a motorbike with a girl riding on the back, when they get attacked by giant scorpions, a special effects sequence that is one of the most embarrassing I've ever seen in a movie.
Another thing we never actually see happen in the movie, although later he is offered to drive the armoured vehicle.We then get the inevitable evil survivors scene, where they run into three hicks who survived the nuclear war as well, and who try to rape the lady they picked up in Vegas.
Along the way Winfield and Niven are lost and Peppard and Vincent pick up Dominque Sanda and Jackie Earle Haley best known for the Bad News Bears.Other than some special effects that were OK, nothing more, there's not much else to recommend Damnation Alley.
George Peppard (The A Team) and Jan-Michael Vincent (Airwolf) star in this post apocalyptic road movie.
Star Wars cost half as much to make as Damnation Alley, was produced in the same year and makes this turkey look like an amateur film made by high school students.
Damnation Alley is what you get when you try to make a post-apocalyptic movie on a very low budget.The story takes place after a nuclear war, something that was chillingly real back in the 70's.
"Damnation Alley" didn't win any Academy Awards and it's not on any list of the greatest movies, but it is a gritty tale of survival in a post-nuclear war world and has several good scenes.Lt. Tanner (Jan-Michael Vincent), Keegan (Paul Winfield) and Maj. Denton (George Peppard) are Air Force personnel who survive a nuclear war in their California bunker. |
tt0040525 | The Lady from Shanghai | Irish sailor Michael O'Hara (Welles) meets the beautiful blonde Elsa (Rita Hayworth) as she rides a horse-drawn coach in Central Park. Three hooligans waylay the coach. Michael rescues Elsa and escorts her home. Michael reveals he is a seaman and learns Elsa and her husband, disabled criminal defense attorney Arthur Bannister (Sloane), are newly arrived in New York City from Shanghai. They are on their way to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Michael, attracted to Elsa despite misgivings, agrees to sign on as an able seaman aboard Bannister's yacht.
They are joined on the boat by Bannister's partner, George Grisby (Glenn Anders), who proposes that Michael "murder" him in a plot to fake his own death. He promises Michael $5,000 and explains that since he would not really be dead and since there would be no corpse, Michael could not be convicted of murder (reflecting corpus delicti laws at the time). Michael agrees, intending to use the money to run away with Elsa. Grisby has Michael sign a confession.
On the eve of the crime, Sydney Broome (Ted de Corsia), a private investigator who has been following Elsa on her husband's orders, confronts Grisby. Broome has learned of Grisby's plan to actually murder Bannister, frame Michael, and escape by pretending to have also been murdered. Grisby shoots Broome and leaves him for dead. Unaware of what has happened, Michael proceeds with the night's arrangement and sees Grisby off on a motorboat before shooting a gun into the air to draw attention to himself. Meanwhile, Broome, injured but alive, asks Elsa for help. He warns her that Grisby intends to kill her husband.
Michael makes a phone call to Elsa, but finds Broome on the other end of the line. Broome warns Michael that Grisby was setting him up. Michael rushes to Bannister's office in time to see Bannister is alive, but that the police are removing Grisby's body from the premises. The police find evidence implicating Michael, including his confession, and take him away.
At trial, Bannister acts as Michael's attorney. He feels he can win the case if Michael pleads justifiable homicide. During the trial, Bannister learns of his wife's relationship with Michael. He ultimately takes pleasure in his suspicion that they will lose the case. Bannister also indicates that he knows the real killer's identity. Before the verdict, Michael escapes by feigning a suicide attempt. Elsa follows. Michael and she hide in a Chinatown theater. Elsa calls some Chinese friends to meet her. As Michael and Elsa wait and pretend to watch the show, Michael realizes that she killed Grisby. Elsa's Chinese friends arrive and take Michael, unconscious, to an abandoned Fun House. When he wakes, he realizes that Grisby and Elsa had been planning to murder Bannister and frame him for the crime, but that Broome's involvement ruined the scheme and that Elsa had to kill Grisby for her own protection.
The film features a unique climactic shootout in a hall of mirrors involving a multitude of false and real mirrored images in the Magic Mirror Maze, in which Elsa is mortally wounded and Bannister is killed. Heartbroken, Michael leaves presuming that events which have unfolded since the trial will clear him of any crimes. | murder, bleak, intrigue, atmospheric, romantic, suspenseful, storytelling | train | wikipedia | After all, you do not go to an Orson Welles movie to see a nice simple little plot and a burnishing of the image of a happy-ever-after star
You go to see theatrically heightened characters locked in conflict against colorful and unusual settings, lighted and scored imaginatively, photographed bravely, and the whole thing peppered with unexpected details of surprise that a wiser and duller director would either avoid or not think of in the first place
As usual, as well as directing, Welles wrote the script and he also played the hero a young Irish seaman who had knocked about the world and seen its evil, but still retained his clear-eyed trust in the goodness of others
Unfortunately for him, he reposed this trust in Rita Hayworth, whose cool good looks concealed a gloomy past and murderous inclinations for the future
She was married without love, to an impotent, crippled advocate, acted like a malevolent lizard by the brilliant Everett Sloane
There is a youthful romanticism underlying it all, and this quality came into exuberant play in "The Lady from Shanghai." Before the inevitable happened, Welles escaped to a final triangular showdown in a hall of mirrors, which has become one of the classic scenes of the post-war cinema
Welles did not miss a chance throughout the whole film to counterpoint the words and actions with visual detail which enriched the texture and heightened the atmosphere
His camera seemed almost to caress Rita Hayworth as the sun played with her hair and her long limbs while she playfully teased the young seaman into her web.
There's no point in photographing a scene on a real boat if you make it sound as though it all happened in front of a process screen...At the start of the picnic sequence...in the temporary score, we used a very curious, sexy Latin-American strain...This has been replaced with a corny "dramatic" sequel--bad stock stuff...This sort of music destroys that quality of strangeness which is exactly what might have saved Lady from Shanghai from being just another whodunit...There is a big musical outburst after Grigsby's line, "I want you to kill him." This is absurd...The Hawaiian guitar music which comes out of the radio...was supposed to be corny enough to make a certain satirical point.
Orson Welles' "The Lady From Shanghai" does not have the brilliant screenplay of "Citizen Kane," e.g., but Charles Lawton, Jr.'s cinematography, the unforgettable set pieces (such as the scene in the aquarium, the seagoing scene featuring a stunning, blonde-tressed Rita Hayworth singing "Please Don't Love Me," and the truly amazing Hall of Mirrors climax), and the wonderful cast (Everett Sloane in his greatest performance, Welles in a beautifully under-played role, the afore-mentioned Miss Hayworth--Welles' wife at the time--at her most gorgeous) make for a very memorable filmgoing experience.
The story in The Lady from Shanghai has the prime elements of a film-noir: average-Joe lead, femme fatale, conspicuous supporting characters, and a comprehensible if somewhat convoluted plot structure.
It is an entertaining ride, and it's filled to the brim with Welles' unique gifts as a director, but there are scenes that tend to just not work, or don't feel complete in what was Welles' full vision (the latter is unfortunately too true- executive producer Harry Cohn and the Columbia execs are to blame for that).Welles co-stars with his then wife, the profoundly gorgeous Rita Hayworth, as Mike O'Hara, an Irish worker who can and does get angry at the right people.
Yet as the plot unfolds, O'Hara is drawn into a scam that Grisby is planning for insurance money, with results that I dare not reveal (although they have been discussed over and over by others).Whatever liabilities pop up here and there in the mystery part of the story (and those few noticeable moments where shots were studio dictated), the performances and the look of the film are what remains striking after over fifty-five years.
The Lady from Shanghai is worth checking out, especially for Welles, Hayworth, or film-noir buffs (fans of the Coen brothers might find this fascinating as well).
This film is a flawed Welles, but worth every minute of it because one can see the greatness of perhaps America's best motion picture director of all times!We can see the toll it took on Orson Welles the filming of this movie.
The finale at the Funhouse and House of Mirrors showcases Welles brilliant direction.All in all, the mood and atmosphere of this film noir and the periodically brilliance of Welles fail to make up for the choppy viewing experience of this erratically, over-edited movie.
I personally think that while it maybe started off as a quickie stop-gap thriller for Welles, he unquestionably picked it up and ran with it as only he could and even if Harry Cohn and his cohorts did hijack the finished article in the interests of commerciality, Welles' talent and verve transcend even the skewered and compromised cut we see here.Sure there are lots of strange, even occasionally surreal aspects to the film, Welles' "Oirish" accent, that he's almost always in three-quarter profile facing the left, the massive close-ups and occasional crazy-cutting, the talking in Chinese to name but a few, but it also contains memorable, bravura scenes which only Orson could devise, like his deconstruction of the clichéd courtroom scene, his and Rita Hayworth's rendezvous at the aquarium with massive shape-shifting marine life glowing and glowering behind them, the upshot in the Chinese Theatre and of course the terrific climax in the hall of mirrors.The motives of the characters and consistencies of the plot are at times seemingly thrown to the wind but somehow you're swept along, rather like Welles Black Irish Michael O'Hara, like a cork on the sea and left at the end deposited on the shore, breathless, confused but exhilarated.
And there's more, those close-ups showing the sweat, dread bewilderment and blankness of his characters' faces, the great dialogue, especially the analogy of humans with sharks, the little dots of humour with the various reactions of the public in the gallery of the court scene ("You're kidding, right?") and the chase scenes so reminiscent of "The Third Man", to name but a few.Someday I'd love to see the film Welles had in his head, but then you could say that about almost all his projects going right back to "Citizen Kane".
At the point in time that The Lady from Shanghai was being made, the marriage of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth was disintegrating.
This may have soured him on the picture as he joined the legion of studio bosses who saw Welles's vision of independent film making a threat to their power.Stage actor Glenn Anders plays Sloane's partner Grisby who is one slimy dude, he winds up a corpse.
The way it veers from telling a story to suggesting one, the way it shows reactions by heightening them to the point of surreal drama, the way scenes that are improbable and invented and made fabulous, as in some kind of dream, all of this is great movie-making, and makes for an interesting movie, too (the one not always leading to the other).If you asked Godard, he would say this is Welles's best film, and I'm inclined to at least see why.
And this is what the main character experiences, the man called Michael played by Orson himself (with a terrible and irritating accent that is an attempt at a brogue).There are fascinating tidbits behind the movie, but maybe the one that you need to know for it's layering of meaning is that the leading woman, Rita Hayworth, had just ended a relationship with Welles.
Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister (Rita Hayworth), a somewhat naive seaman Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles) joins a sea cruise along with a seductive and amoral wife , her lawyer husband (Everett Sloane) , his colleague (Glenn Anders) and ends up mired in a complex murder plot .
At the final takes place a riveting and known climax in the hall of mirrors at San Francisco's old Oceanfront Playland .Noir film with a twisted and offbeat intrigue in which an Irish man becomes involved a pawn in a game of killing .
Orson Welles' decision to have Rita Hayworth cut her hair and bleach it caused a storm of controversy, and many in Hollywood believed it contributed to the film's poor box-office returns .
Evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and White by Charles Lawton Jr , including usual lights and shades from Noir Cinema .Lady from Shanghai was well directed by Orson Welles , a genius who had a large and problematic career ; though Orson Welles' original rough cut of this picture ran 155 minutes, numerous cuts made by Columbia Pictures executives included a shortening of the famous "funhouse" final ; in fact these scenes were supposed to be unscored, to create the sense of terror.
This could be well have been THE definitive film noir of all time, had not the Columbia Studios cut so much of Orson Welles's original.
What we are left with is a flawed, yet brilliant film that showcases the overwhelming talent of Welles as an actor/director and Rita Hayworth as a serious dramatic talent.'The Lady From Shanghai' is film noir at it's most sizzling and confusing.
Welles, with an uneven accent, portrays Michael O'Hara, a journeyman Irishman, who, after a fateful encounter with the seductive, dangerous Elsa Bannister (Hayworth, in a GREAT performance)finds himself virtually coerced into accepting a job as a crewman on her and her crippled husband's (Everett Sloane) yacht.
It is also an unlikely success, but sometimes films come together despite their mishaps and disparate elements--"The Wizard of Oz" comes to mind.Reading the trivia notes in IMDb about the film, one would have to say that the odds were against TLFS being a consistent and successful entity, but somehow it became a wonderful piece of art noir.Starring Rita Hayworth as Elsa Bannister, the beautiful wife of a very successful but bitter attorney played by Everett Sloane, the story is told by central character Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), a tough but vulnerable seaman with a fatalistic point of view.
The film is really a mystery about the true nature of Elsa, but it hinges on a point of law (like "Double Indemnity") that is questionable, but irrelevant in the biggest scheme of things.Welles' decision to cut and color the luscious locks of his estranged wife Hayworth was severely criticized at the time, but for my money it gives her a look that is more severe, more dangerous, more inscrutable--but just as beautiful--adding to her mystery.
Revered as an exemplary film-noir by today's cinephiles and critics, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI was a calamitous project of prodigy Welles battling with Hollywood studio system, so much so that its behind-the-scene anecdotes (including the fickle relationship with his then wife Hayworth, they divorced in 1948) have somewhat eclipsed the film itself.The plot is rather convoluted considering that there are only four main characters involved, Welles plays Michael O'Hara, an Irish sailor in New York, gets involuntarily smitten with the titular blonde Elsa (Hayworth).
But it will undergo an unexpected turn in terra firma, yet, at any rate, Michael ends up as the fall guy.Narrated by Michael's sedate voice-over, and it is his angle we closely follows, the film imposes a distinctly visual allure of its chiaroscuro atmosphere, sharp facial close-ups with grotesque mannerism, or striking silhouettes between tête-a-tête, up until the climatic shoot-out in an abandoned Fun House, highlighted by the hall of mirrors where the all the masks and lies are bared, and leaving audience for a second, wonder who will be the sole survivor, out of its dashing and juxtaposed editing proficiency, it is an indelible flourish in Welles' machination, in fact, this 92- minute original theatrical edition has been vastly re-edited by the decisions of Columbia Pictures executives, whereas Welles' original cut runs around 155 minutes, that's why Welles is uncredited as the director, so one might conjecture what could have been, if everything had went through according to Welles' idea thoroughly.A shortened masterpiece, one might call it, in its succinct characterisation, the film depicts the underbelly of a world full of sharks, lines like - "Everybody is somebody's fool", "The world's greatest criminal lawyer could also be the world's greatest criminal", or "I don't know how to fire a gun", says a coy Elsa.
A wandering seaman joins an odd couple - aged millionaire husband and glamorous wife - for a bizarre cruising journey that ends up in a murder plot.Ineffably silly story tarted up with brilliant cameraworks, good performances and undeniable flair; this now strongly reputed, heavily expressionist film noir thriller betrays uncertain handling and hasty production, so that it finally gives the impression of being found out while making.
From the offbeat decision to change Rita Hayworth's hair, to the weird behavior of some of the main characters, to the bizarre courtroom scenes, all set off with Welles's trademark assorted camera angles and other techniques, it is fascinating to watch even if it does not come up to the standard of Welles's best films.The story is often overshadowed by the atmosphere, but it's interesting in its own right, with Welles playing a young man whose ego and whose infatuation for Hayworth's character allows himself to become entrapped in a web of deceit and crime before he realizes everything that's involved.
The finale with its special effects is an impressive bit of film-making, and it also is very appropriate in setting off some of the main themes of the story.Though it is fair to criticize this movie for its faults, it's still a distinctive classic that deserves to be seen and remembered..
Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles) himself doesn't really know what is going on, he is as confused as the viewer is, and that is wonderful to watch as he is pulled all over the place by pretty much everyone in the film.
Obviously being pulled by the heart strings by a femme fatale of such beauty as Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth) has its moments, but you just know that things are going to go pear shaped.So many wonderful things in the film, it has Welles visual style all over it, see a scene in an aquarium that is marvellous and the ending sequences in a fun house are majestic on the eye.
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is proof that the great genius Orson Welles could direct a "mainstream" movie if he wanted to.
Engrossing film noir scripted & directed by Orson Welles about an Irish drifter (Welles) beguiled by the beautiful wife (Rita Hayworth) of a successful attorney (Everett Sloane).
***SPOILERS*** "The Lady from Shanghai" is undoubtedly Orson Wells' best Film-Noir movie even though at the time of it's release back in 1947 he was very upset with how the studio, Columbia Pictures, edited the films final print without his knowledge or permission.
An interesting, original, maybe even unique plot; beautiful Rita Hayworth (I heard that this is her only movie where she was blonde) and magnificent Orson Welles (it is unbelievable how easily this man can change his voice); great visual beauty of the movie; some good dialogues - those are the good sides of ''The Lady from Shangai''.
Like a lot of Orson Welles directed films, The Lady from Shanghai was a victim of studio meddling leaving it rather choppy.
Both are set in the sea, both have crippled husbands of beautiful young ladies playing mind games with innocent men, & in both the director's wives play important roles.Anyway, like almost everyone else who commented here, I too found this movie long on style but short on story (tho' I don't know if Harry Cohn is to blame for that!).
The cast are all dislikeable with the exception of Rita Hayworth's character and Orson Welles affects an annoying Irish accent throughout the film.
It just seems like a film with disjointed camera angles to make things look weird and a very under-played, calm Orson Welles.There are good scenes, eg, the finale in the Amusement Park; and bad scenes, eg, the court scene towards the end of the film which is played for humour and is unrealistic.
The hall of mirrors conclusion is a classic scene and is well known even if you haven't seen the film.Welles is good as star but his Oirish accent is a little thick at times, at occasionally he has been re-dubbed really badly.
Harry Cohn was fearful for Rita's image and held back the release of this movie for one year.The plot concerns an Irish sailor, Michael O'Hara, who falls in love with Else (Hayworth, stunning with short blond hair).
What a sad life for such a vibrant beauty.Any film that Orson Welles directed is worth seeing, and "The Lady from Shanghai" is no exception.
The romance material, for which the Aquarium serves as one backdrop, is interestingly tempered with a kind of unease throughout the film, but on the other hand, that makes the romance never quite work as romance.Surely serious Welles fans will appreciate The Lady from Shanghai much more than I did, and of course it's worth a watch if you love Rita Hayworth.
Orson Welles, one of the most celebrated film makers in history, directed, acted, as well as wrote this movie like he did so many others.
This classic Welles film will having your guessing what going to happen till the very end.This film is a murder mystery with a dynamic plot with lots of twist and turns.The lighting in this film is what makes it so mysterious and suspenseful.Up until there at sea the whole film is very dark shots except for every time the soon in on Rita Hayworth's face.
This classic film noir has it all – a tight script, great scenes on location, and the seductive and beautiful Rita Hayworth.
If you are a fan of film-noir or Orson Welles, this is a great watch.. |
tt0096402 | Voyage of the Rock Aliens | A guitar-shaped spaceship and Robot 1359 (voiced by Peter Cullen), search the universe for the source of rock and roll music. He finds it on Earth. 1359 wakes the crew to visit the planet. A rocket telephone booth lands in the town of Speelburgh and ABCD (pronounced "Absid") (Tom Nolan) with his group of aliens exit. The humanoid aliens force robot 1359 to take the form of a fire hydrant. Only the Sheriff (Ruth Gordon) witnesses their landing, and she becomes obsessed with alien invaders.
Dee Dee (Pia Zadora) is a singer in high school who is in love with Frankie (Craig Sheffer), the leader of Speelburgh's local high school rock band, The Pack (Jimmy and the Mustangs). She sings of her heart's desire to best friend Diane (Alison La Placa). Dee Dee's dream is to sing with the band; Frankie loves her but does not want her to sing with them. Meanwhile, a giant creature with tentacles lives in nearby Lake Erie, a product of environmental pollution, and it periodically extends its arms throughout the town.
As the aliens, played by the rock band Rhema, search the area, they encounter Dee Dee, Frankie and The Pack at the local maltshop. Absid literally loses his head over Dee Dee (i.e. he explodes and needs to be put back together by his crew) and decides to win her heart. Meanwhile, his cohorts search for specimens such as flowers, leaves and cow chips. STUVWXYZ (pronounced "Stovitz") (Patrick Byrnes) stumbles across the path of two crazed mass murderers, Chainsaw (Michael Berryman) and The Breather (Wallace Merck), who recently escaped from The Speelburgh Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
Feeling dejected by Frankie's refusal to let her sing, Dee Dee succumbs to the charms of Absid, who asks her to be the singer of his band at the Heidi High Cotillion Dance and Battle of the Bands. Frankie and The Pack arrive at the school to keep the aliens out... but they cannot stop them because of the aliens' powers: they teleport into the bathroom through the toilets. Dee Dee finally gets her chance to sing at a battle of the bands between the aliens and The Pack, with the very jealous Frankie furious that Dee Dee has switched sides.
Absid and Dee Dee sneak off to the lake. While the tentacled creature searches the banks, Absid tries to convince Dee Dee to fly back to his planet. Hesitating, she agrees to visit the ship, but discovers once there that she'll have to give up all human emotion to live on the alien's planet.
Meanwhile, Diane encounters Chainsaw at the high school. The crazed killer intends to make her his next victim, but his rusty chainsaw breaks down. Love blooms as Diane helps Chainsaw fix his chainsaw.
Bolting back to her true love, Frankie, Dee Dee finds him cornered in a school hallway by the Breather. Frankie manages to fend off his rival, only to be attacked by the monster from the lake, which has gotten loose and surrounded the school with its tentacles. With his chainsaw now repaired, Chainsaw rescues everyone.
In the end the aliens board their ship and Absid decides to leave the humans "a little alien persuasion." He fiddles with the buttons in the booth and clears away all of the town's pollution. He also turns the brutal Pack into a group of boy scouts. The creature leaves town, the skies clear, flowers bloom and Frankie and Dee Dee sing and dance into a smogless sunset. | absurd, murder | train | wikipedia | To watch this movie is akin to reliving the eighties only through MTV news updates.
There are so many things "right" about this movie.
Baby.Rock 'n' Roll is misleading, but it's more like New Wave vs.
Name another film that that happens in please because I would love to watch it.If you do not like this movie you obviously hate the eighties and everything associated with it.
Just know that I care about you.Voyage of the Rock and Roll Aliens changed my life.
And not just in regards to my fantasy wife becoming Pia Zadora.
In many other equally profound ways.If you have the chance, snatch this movie up and give it a viewing..
If anyone has questions about this movie please let me know, I was in it.
I also co-wrote several songs for it.And yes, this movie is about as cheesy as you can get.
The bands featured in the movie are Rhema and Jimmy and the Mustangs, I was in Rhema.
Pia was a delight to work with as was the whole crew and cast..
Pia Rocks!.
Even though the special effects rarely rise above amateurish, even though the acting, at places, can best be described as 'cardboard', and even though the final production lacks the polish of a comparable film, say 'Grease', this film is definitely worth the time.This film has several things going for it, definitely.
First of all, there are some pretty decent actors in the film and some talented singers as well.There are few who are both decent actors and talented singers, but this in itself doesn't ruin the movie.Musically, watch for the sequence 'nature of the beast'.
It is a bit overplayed, and stylistically overdone, yet still quite entertaining.Much of the comedy in the movie falls rather flat, but there a few shining moments mixed in.
At the point the female victim helps the homicidal maniac repair his chainsaw is really where the movie begins to hit its stride and the various elements come together.Throughout the film, Pia Zadora is a joy to watch.
In this film, she comes across as a wonderful singer, as well as a passable actress who seems completely to buy into her character.
This is definitely not a trivial task, as the plot as a whole is rather hokey and the monster in the film looks really cheap and rubbery.
Don't expect 'Grease' going in, and you won't be disappointed coming out.
And BTW, look for Pia's duet with Jermaine Jackson on 'When the rain begins to fall' at the beginning of the movie.
I don't think it has anything to do with the rest of the movie, but it is a cute little rock video..
After a few years I took the videocassette "Voyage of the Rock Aliens" out of the shelf.
Blow the dust away and start watching the movie!
Pia Zadora!
O.k. the movie is awful, but the music is great.
You must see the film as a lot of music-clips put together in one movie.
If you like the music of the 80's and enjoy songs like "When the rain begins to fall", "Little bit of heaven" or "Let's dance tonight" it's your movie!.
Maybe not a good choice to watch when sober but when your smashed....
Craig Sheiffers preformance in the film is fantastic.
Look out for the music video starring Jermaine Jackson at the begining of the film that has absolutley no refrence to the movie whatsoever.
Plotless, goofy, lighthearted, audacious, uplifting, spirited - in short, the most fun movie I've watched in months!
I don't even like musicals, but this one had me constantly tapping my feet on the floor.
Pia Zadora's acting won't win any awards, but she's appropriately bright and perky here, plus a terrific singer.
This may be the most cheesy movie ever.But it always makes me happy.
It shows the 80s in fun and light hearted style.if this movie had came out in 83 or 84 it would have been a hit..
When Pia Zadora was rising to fame in the early 1980s she was always sold as a coquettish sexpot, from posing nude for Oui magazine to starring as Stacy Keach's teen temptress daughter in "Butterfly." Even her first album, "Pia," had the former Broadway performer heavy-breathing her way through soft pop songs, as if whispering into a lover's ear (until a chorus of back-up singers barges in, drowning her out).
As a result, Pia Zadora was a Hollywood joke before the '80s hit their midway point, with 1983's release of "The Lonely Lady" the punchline.Things started to turn around by 1985, but before they did there was 1984's barely released musical comedy "Voyage of the Rock Aliens," a last ditch effort to establish Pia as a movie star.
It's a step in the right direction for Pia, playing to her strengths — singing and light comedy — rather than trying to present her as a barely-legal seductress.
Unfortunately, even though she's stepping in the right direction, the movie she's in stumbles."Voyage" is the story of a rock n' roll obsessed aliens (portrayed by the band Rhema) who, after a screening of the video for Pia's duet with Jermaine Jackson, "When the Rain Begins to Fall," beam down from their guitar-shaped spaceship to the town of Speelburgh (insert eye roll here).
Pia plays Dee Dee, a cherubic high school hottie dating Frankie (Craig Sheffer).
The aliens, dressed like they hail from the planet Chess King, have a hard time fitting in until they introduce the teens of Speelburgh to their synth-heavy, New Wave-ish sound and before you know it they're being invited to play at the Heidi High cotillion.
Then the aliens' blond commander ABCD (pronounced "Absid") gets one look at Dee Dee and literally explodes with desire.
Once re- assembled, he decides the quickest way to win Dee Dee's heart is to allow her to perform with the aliens.Also: Michael Berryman escapes from the local Hospital for the Criminally Insane, going on a chainsaw murdering rampage while the late Ruth Gordon pops up from time to time as a clueless sheriff, because why not?
Though "Voyage" is a comedy, it's seldom funny in the way its makers intended (only Alison La Placa, as Dee Dee's best friend, gets any genuine laughs), and not nearly as funny as the drama "The Lonely Lady." There is some fun to be had at Craig Sheffer's expense as he lip-syncs "Nature of the Beast" while slinking around the woods and jabbing his cheekbones at the camera, and Pia's otherworldly fashions (complete with an unflattering side ponytail held in place with a spool) will inspire some embarrassed titters.
Still, "Voyage" will produce more groans than guffaws.And then there's the music.
I liked Rhema's song "21st Century" well enough, and Pia does all right with "When the Rain Begins to Fall" and "Little Bit of Heaven" (both songs hits in Europe), but otherwise the music ranges from forgettable to out-and-out terrible.
Not helping is "Let's Dance Tonight," a retread of one of Zadora's cheesiest efforts, "Rock it Out," down to pushing the star aside so back-up singers can shout the chorus over and over again (which amounts to shouting the song's title, over and over again).
No wonder people were so astonished when she belted out pop standards on the 1985 album "Pia & Phil".
"Voyage" isn't the worst movie in Pia's filmography.
It is, however, the worst in many of her co-stars': La Placa, Berryman, Gordon, the band Rhema.
Even Sheffer, whose credits include such gems as "Killer Virus" and "Merlin: The Return," probably winces when reminded of his lead role as Pia's bubble-butted boyfriend.
Pia in a Campy Cult Musical!.
This movie is an obscurity but I was lucky enough to find it at my local independent video store and I am a big fan of Pia Zadora so I rented it.
It is actually a musical, though very campy and goofy and by no means polished or well-done.
However, the atrocity of the film-making is what makes it so much fun to watch.
Pia Zadora does her best as Dee Dee, the love interest who wants to be a rock star and she has many hilarious musical sequences, perhaps the best being "Real Love" and the hit duet "When the Rain Begins to Fall" with Jermaine Jackson.
If you like a good flop and some strange 80's new wave music, then rent this and you will be laughing and scratching your head for days..
But I like the song!.
Voyage of the Rock Aliens is perhaps the goofiest of Pia's movie ventures.
It features the arrival of some extraterrestrials who look an awful lot like a 1980's pop music group.
Pia is the rockin' teenaged diva who becomes the center of conflict between the aliens and the town's local band of rock and roll rebels.Tacked on to the beginning of the movie in a rather strange framing sequence is the video for the song "When the Rain Begins to Fall," a duet between Pia and Jermaine Jackson.
Jackson doesn't appear in any of the rest of the movie..
There are a few things wrong with this film,but that I won't detract from the score.
The music in this film is a spectacular array of AOR and New wave,something you won't hear in a film's soundtrack nowadays.
The fashion was very new wave,that's just fabulous,they dress better than people nowadays.
However,the movie lacks a plot,storyline and is really spontaneous.Let's just put it this way,it's just one giant music video.
I don't really know much of the people that were in this movie,but as far as Pia Zadora and Jermaine Jackson,I can say they have spectacular voices and,from this film and these two came one of my most favorite songs of the year,"When the rain begins to fall".
A must see if you want to appreciate new wave fashion,and music,or if you're just a die-hard Jermaine Jackson fan,or Pia Zadora fan..
"Voyage of the Rock Aliens" is certainly an oddity.
Conceived as a spoof of various genres of b-movies, Curb Records got involved and turned it into a vehicle for many of their musicians.
A production team was assembled that included people who'd worked on films such as "Dr. Strangelove," "A Hard Days Night," "Star Wars," "Deadly Blessing," "Staying Alive," and "Swamp Thing," amongst others.
The result is a completely off-the-wall low budget movie populated with actors who weren't really actors and featuring beautiful visuals, an offbeat production design, catchy songs...
and a completely random music video with Jermaine Jackson that was synthetically (and confusingly) inserted into the film as an afterthought.The story concerns a group of aliens who come to Earth and find themselves strangers in the even stranger land of Speelburgh, which is filled with greasers, kooky cops, psycho serial killers, and a slimy sea monster.
It's there that one of the aliens (Tom Nolan) falls in love with an aspiring singer (Pia Zadora).
Or will her jealous greaser boyfriend (Craig Sheffer) stand in their way?!There's something so endearingly tacky about the whole thing that it's downright charming in the way so many similar cult movies are ("Rocky Horror," "Beach Party," "Xanadu," "The Apple," "Earth Girls Are Easy," etc).
The characters are quirky and unique (Spyder Mittleman and Patrick Byrnes are both particularly noteworthy for their campy performances), the songs and dances are as '80s as it gets, there's more seemingly random WTF moments than you can shake a stick at, and it seemed like everyone was having a lot of fun screwing around and devouring the scenery.The problem is the film is not very well known.
In Europe it had a slightly more substantial release since Pia Zadora's music was popular.If any American DVD distributors are reading, this one's crying out for a widescreen special edition release.
Pia Zadora is my new favourite 80's leading lady.
The acting is bad, every joke falls flat, and the aliens are annoying beyond belief!
I like the songs a lot.
Bizzarely many of them are badly re-recorded versions of Pia's own songs.
This is most obvious in 'A Little Bit Of Heaven' which she sings here with the alien commander Absid.
Fans of trashy 80's movies will love it!
Pia's outfits rock too!
I'd give the plot 1/10, the acting 1/10, the feel-good factor is at least a 7/10, and the soundtrack is a 10/10 or 1/10 depending on your taste in music.
Watch out for Pia's all singing, all dancing performance in the ladies room!
Breasts in a PG Movie.
Aliens come in a space ship shaped like a V shaped guitar, in search of goof rock.
That rock is actually gay Pia Zadora 80s pop, but hey.
The come in a high school in a little city named Speelburgh, and there the main alien is in love with the main pussy (Pia Zadora).
However, he has the coolest rockabilly boyfriend (Craig Sheffer, also a gang leader in The Road Killers) which is the best high school gang leader I ever saw on film.
Perfect musical almost plot less.
High school gangs, choreography with lowered panties, tits in a PG movie, robot alien who turns into a fire hydrant, aliens who don't fit in, rockabilly vs.
gay rock battle of the bands Run DMC vs.
Aerosmith style, Craig Sheffer too cool too be true, monster from the local radioactive lake, Michael Berryman (Pluto from The Hills Have Eyes) as a lunatic escaped from the local asylum rampaging around school with a chainsaw, but he's actually nice and hooks up with the school's sexy female greasemonkey, silly and lovable songs and choreography, perfect clothes, especially female, crew members being turned into people from toys via a machine, everything and all.
Great movie..
This is the worst musical in the history of time..
It really doesn't matter, this movie sucks on every level, so by all means, watch it!
Frantic 80's Rockabilly/psychobilly (well, somewhat frantic) is just a lot cooler than toecurling 80's electronic awful 'rock'.Also, 'When the Rain begins to fall' has been a long time favourite of mine.
It's used twice, the first time in a totally unrelated videoclip featering Jermaine Jackson Himself, the second in a tagged-on unrelated musical number with the bad-boy-turned-good lipsynching Jermaines part.In short, watch it, you'll be amazed..
My niece's favorite movie!.
If I were to assemble the ingredients necessary to make a really bad movie - I mean so bad it lowers your IQ to watch - I would list (1) made in the '80s, (2) bad science fiction, (3) failed comedy, (4) lame rock musical, and, uh, oh yeah, (5) stars Pia Zadora.
you have "Voyage of the Rock Aliens".
That's not "rock" like rocks on the ground; that might've been worth watching.
No, this is "rock" like rock 'n' roll.
And I mean BAD rock 'n' roll.
(From what I hear, it's not Pia's worst, either.*) Except for a few moments of unintentional humor this is certainly one of the hardest films to watch that I've come across.
It appears to be little more than a Pia Zadora vehicle, and that vehicle is on a collision course with a tree.
A rock alien, that is.There's a music video sequence that Pia does with Jermaine Jackson near the start of the film that has nothing to do with the plot.
Unrelated music video sequence with the least-popular Jackson.
The events in the video are never referred to again, nor do we see Jermaine Jackson again.
(There's an "up" side to it after all!)I guess the Devo-like aliens' scenes are the easiest to watch.
Can you guess how the other aliens' names are spelled?I think the producers were going for a "Grease"-in-space feel, or maybe a "West Side Story"-in-space feel.
The turf war between Frankie & the Pack and the aliens is decided by a battle of the bands in the little town of (ugh) Speelburgh.
You'll have to watch to find out who wins!-----* Those who know say "Lonely Lady" is her worst.
Am I the only person to have seen this film?
Cheesy as you like, the music's not very good, the jokes are lame and the acting just isn't.
Then I saw Pia Zadora and Jermaine Jackson in a popular video, then some 80's new wave freaks in a starship with a robot, singing melodies from earlier years (now that i know that the movie is from '88 and i thought i was from 84).
Then there's this beach, with other group singing and Pia Zadora dancing...
really the only place i ever enjoyed Pia Zadora was in Naked Gun 1/3.
DON'T EVER LOOSE YOUR TIME WATCHING THIS VIDEO !.
Sci-Fi Musical Comedy with Pia Zadora.
The title of this review does let you know pretty much exactly what you're in for.This is, despite many flaws, quite a lot of fun if you're in the right mood.
Yes, the SFX are clunky, the jokes and visual gags misfire most of the time and the music is pretty weak.
The music video with Pia and Jermaine Jackson has precisely no place in the movie's plot, so that's sort of a plus point in this reality.However, the sense of energy and fun, especially from Pia Zadora, keeps the nonsense ticking along and Michael Berryman's chainsaw maniac subplot is amusing.
And you could cut yourself on Craig Sheffer's cheekbones.As Eighties sci-fi musicals go, 'The Apple' is easily far worse than this..
The Jermain Jackson/Pia Zadora opening music number is a spectacle of retardation.
Two other equally bad musical numbers worth seeing are the walking on the moon love song and the nature of the beast song.
The rest are not good enough and not bad enough to endure.
If you like this type of 80's musical trash I recommend you see much more entertaining movies like Get Crazy with Malcom McDowell (sp?) singing rock music (whew boy!) and Club Life with Dee Wallace singing 80's pop (ouch!). |
tt0123179 | Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol | Dickens divided the book into five chapters, which he labelled "staves".
=== Stave one ===
The story begins on a cold and bleak Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an old miser, hates Christmas and refuses an invitation to Christmas dinner from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him in order to provide food and heating for the poor, and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.
At home that night, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth, entwined by heavy chains and money boxes, forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has one chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and he must listen to them or be cursed to carry chains of his own, much longer than Marley's chains.
=== Stave two ===
The first of the spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood and youth, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The boyhood scenes portray Scrooge's lonely childhood, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr. Fezziwig, who treated Scrooge like a son. They also portray Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle, who ends their relationship after she realises that Scrooge will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on a recent Christmas Eve.
=== Stave three ===
The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joy-filled market of people buying the makings of Christmas dinner and celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage and in a lighthouse. Scrooge and the ghost also visit Fred's Christmas party. A major part of this stave is taken up with Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die soon unless the course of events changes. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware the former above all and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare.
=== Stave four ===
The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. The ghost shows him scenes involving the death of a disliked man. The man's funeral will only be attended by local businessmen if lunch is provided. His charwoman, his laundress, and the local undertaker steal some of his possessions and sell them to a fence. When Scrooge asks the ghost to show anyone who feels any emotion over the man's death, the ghost can only show him the pleasure of a poor couple in debt to the man, rejoicing that his death gives them more time to put their finances in order. After Scrooge asks to see some tenderness connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the passing of Tiny Tim. The ghost then shows Scrooge the man's neglected grave, whose tombstone bears Scrooge's name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to the ghost that he will change his ways to avoid this outcome.
=== Stave five ===
Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He spends the day with Fred's family and anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay and becomes like another father to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge began to treat everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | The thought of being alone on Christmas deeply saddens me, and I think it goes back to seeing little Ebenezar Scrooge left behind in boarding school while all the other kids had families to go home to for Christmas.I cried just like Mr. Magoo's older Scrooge did when he saw himself as a kid singing:When you're alone, alone in the world When you're alone in the world Blown-away leaves get blown in the world Swirled-away leaves get swirledA hand for each hand was planned for the world Why don't my fingers reach?
I could still remember the "razzleberry dressing" lines and the disembodied mouths singing the "Despicable" song some 30 years later when I finally saw it being broadcast again, and was able to record it off the air.
Over the past ten years I've watched that tape repeatedly, and never cease to be amazed at the portrayal and the remarkable music and lyrics.But it wasn't until I got the DVD version as a Christmas gift that I realized nearly ten minutes had been cut from that broadcast version.
Imagine my delight to watch the DVD and "discover" three whole scenes (including two complete songs) that I'm sure I hadn't seen since the original prime time airings in the 60's.
I saw this last year for the first time in at least 30 years, and also still remember parts of it from when I was a child (razzleberry dressing, the "Despicable" song in the junkshop, and the achingly poignant "All Alone in the World").
My 8 year old really enjoyed it, a great intro to the classic story.
I join the many other writers who remember and treasure "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" with great fondness.
I just watched the new DVD of `Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol,' and it seems as good a representation of the program as we're ever likely to see.
Those of us fortunate enough to grow up in the late 50's remember Mr. Magoo with a special warmth, and this version of "A Christmas Carol" is the main reason.
Mr. Magoo, thanks to the avant-garde UPA animation and the unparalleled voice talents of Jim Backus, emotes as effectively as a real person.
The songs could not be better; they are Broadway quality and are sung with a heart-felt enthusiasm that adds as much to the film as the actor's voices.
The film has been released on DVD, and this offers an extremely good-looking presentation of "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.".
It has a certain nostalgic flavor that its creators could not have forseen.Like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" should become part of the annual Christmas TV programming tradition..
I half-joked to my wife that they should just call it Jim Backus's Christmas Carol.In any case, the one scene that I looking forward to seeing has been cut out of this version.
Commissioned and sponsored by Timex, it first aired on NBC on December 18, 1962.[4] Although the special led to The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo television series, the studio ultimately found it could not adapt to the rigors of mass-producing cartoons for television.The program was broadcast as a TV special many times during the Christmas season from the 1960s through the 1980s—though not always on NBC—before being released on VHS in 1982 and on DVD in 2001.
For the 2012 holiday season, NBC, which last telecast it in 1969, announced it would return the special to the air for the first time since the 1980s; it aired on NBC on December 22, 2012 even though it was heavily edited for the addition of more commercials including opening and closing wraparounds scenes, the finale scene of the musical as well as the end credits and other crucial scenes being cut from broadcast.
While my favorite live action version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL is George C.
Scott's 1984 version I would have to say that even that good film comes in second to this wonderful film.Charles Dickens certainly wrote a story that would be retold in various forms 100's of times.
However, MISTER MAGOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL really captures the viewers imagination both young and old alike.
Children, much like myself 25 years ago, really respond to this films animation and great songs.
Also, for all those that think RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER was the first animated Christmas special, think again it was this film.Lastly, I firmly believe you will like this film.
I was four years old when this cartoon film premiered on television, but even though I am now 48, I still recall being transfixed by Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.
It's part of the staple of Christmas shows I watch every Christmas...Home for the Holidays, Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th St and Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol.
Here is the first animated one, after reading the original last year(cost 25 cents)I was surprised to find out that the cartoon version took great pains to preserve much of the exact wording of the novel.
One particular scene always gets me- the ghost of Christmas past's(a young boy or girl)face turns profoundly sad when Scrooge/Magoo sings "why such a lonely beach" and it seems like the ghost understands Scrooge's sadness.
When you are a kid, there is NOTHING scarier than the ghost of Christmas future, and nothing more desolate than Scrooge/Magoo on the grave singing "I'm all alone in the world" with the camera panning the cemetery.
I just recently saw again this old beloved (for us baby boomer generation) Mr. Magoo cartoon version of "A Christmas Carol".
The moment when Mr. Magoo sings "and on the tree a star of shining Christmas gold...", well I just felt this lump in my throat, and the tears well up....what a beautiful, beautiful version of this fable....improbable as it seems...it is the best version of "A Christmas Carol" ever made!
There are even some acting and dramatic details that outshine the previous classic versions...This is the only Scrooge that in the beginning shows his rapturous love of money- -in the very catchy song celebrating the jingle/jangle of coins.
This all adds up to an adaptation of the Dickens story that is joyful, heartbreaking and surprising real: the cartoon characters--including the simple/poignant depiction of the Cratchit family seems somehow more real and affecting than the other adaptations portrayed by Real people!!) In the versions with real people portraying these Dickens characters--they often come across as cartoonish, artificial and over-the-top.
Funny thing is, the Magoo version was the FIRST version I ever saw of "A Christmas Carol', shortly after it's original airing.
If you think you wouldn't like it because Mr. Magoo isn't one of your favourite animated characters, please think again and give it at least one viewing.
Scott films are easily the best live-action versions of the Dickens classic, but this one has a special place in my heart, partly because I was seven when it was first broadcast and therefore pretty susceptible (I remember crying at "The Lord's Bright Blessings" at the end), and partly because as an adult I can appreciate the first-rate songs by Broadway giants Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (they also wrote "Funny Girl").
The musical score by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne is the very best set of songs ever to accompany the tale.
The BEST musical version of Dickens' classic!
Jule Styne's score ( and he wrote 70 Broadway musicals during his lifetime) achieved an unforgettable blend of Barbara Chain's "freely adapted" Dickens classic into a perfect 52-minute holiday entertainment.
All these years later, this is very likely the best animated version of the Dickens classic you'll ever see.
It has just the right combination of laughter and tears, and Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's songs, written concurrently with their work for "Funny Girl," are the icing on the cake.Jim Backus left the world an indelible legacy of laughter when he created Quincy Magoo, but proved here that he could wring more than a few tears with him, as well.
Her song, the bittersweet "Winter was Warm," is one of Jule Styne's best and has become something of a semi-standard over the years.Again, this is a great Christmas treat, and a perfect introduction to Dickens classic for the youngsters, as it was for me..
All the voice performances in this production were wonderful and Jim Backus as Scrooge, Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit and June Foray as The Ghost of Christmas Past were especially fine.I urge all fans of animation and Christmas specials to give "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" a second or third look and discover the wonder, warmth and originality of this often overlooked animated classic.Happy Holidays!.
Mr. Magoo had his own cartoon show when I was a child seeing the character in this movie brings back memories of a simpler time.
And some of our happiest memories involve this humorous and entertaining Mr. Magoo version of the Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol." In the 70's the show was broadcast on what was then known as the Superstation, TBS.
Many times we'll be talking, then for no reason whatsoever, slip into a scene from "Magoo." For example, if a breeze comes up, we'd say, "Must have forgotten to lock the cellar door..." Overall, "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" is one of two holiday classics I absolutely HAVE to see each Christmas (the other being "A Charlie Brown Christmas").
As a small child I loved Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol.
It's too bad that the major networks don't show this true classic each year at Christmas time.
From reading the user comments, it is nice to hear that so many other people enjoy this classic animated Christmas story as much as I do.
A great cast headed by Jim Backus combined to make this one of the all-time best animated Christmas TV specials ever.
The only thing that's a little off-putting (This may be a spoiler) is that the Ghost of Christmas Present appears before Christmas Past, but that's a minor detail and they made it work.Anyway, this is a very good adaptation of A Christmas Carol and I highly recommend it, especially now that it's finally on DVD..
Last thing it is just great a true Christmas classic to enjoy!.
Jim Backus uses his voice as Mr. Magoo, the four eyed actor, in this special where he plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the Charles Dickens character, forever immortalized in all sorts of holiday tales.
Just like the story of a Christmas Carol, there are three ghosts and Marley, the predecessor who warns Scrooge to change his ways.
Okay, this version is not the best out there but it's timely and good for kids and adults and fans of classic animation.
Another delightful animated rendering of the famous Ghost story with a Christmas message for everyone, especially the young in heart.
He plays the role fairly straight and is still amusing as that old skinflint who develops a love for mankind after visited by three spirits.JACK CASSIDY makes a fine Bob Cratchet, especially since he's gets to lift his splendid voice in song in tunes that have a definite Broadway sound to them.
No competition for the Alastair Sim version, but a great way to introduce the kids to a timeless story -- my 4 and 2 year-olds love it!.
For over twenty years my Grand-daughter and I have watched this film every Christmas Eve. Too bad they don't produce more like this..
I know this will sound hard to believe for those familiar with Mr. Magoo, but this is the best filmed version of the Dickens classic.
Best kid's Christmas Carol, animated or otherwise..
Even those who are not Magoo fans (like me) will enjoy this version.
Definitely belongs on the shelf with other animated classics like The Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas.
An animated, magical, musical version of Charles Dickens' timeless classic "A Christmas Carol", starring the nearsighted Quincy Magoo (Jim Backus).In 2002, TV Guide ranked Mr. Magoo number 29 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.
Truly one of the most amazing versions of the classic Charles Dickens story....at the ripe middle age of 45 it moves me as if I was still that young child so many years ago.I was lucky enough too own it on laserdisc and last year i got it on DVD....truly a must have.
I've had a VHS copy of this wonderful version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL for as long as I can remember--or at least as long as I've had a VHS player ;)--and I watch it every year on Christmas Eve.
MAGOO'S CHRISTMAS CAROL is, to me, the absolute best musical re-telling of this story.
He is then visited by three spirits of Christmas.This is a straight forward version of the classic Dickens.
When the camera pulls back in Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol to reveal the "audience", it does distance us from the source material.And the source material, for what it's worth, is surprisingly faithful to Dickens.
It doesn't really effect things too negatively, but it does feel like a rather obtuse decision.There are better animated offerings of A Christmas Carol (seek out the Oscar winnings 1971 version with Alastair Sim for one) but this is a nice, gentle, introduction to the story for youngsters..
Christmas reminds me of Mr. Magoo because I LOVE watching the video my dad got when I was a little girl.
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962).
Not Xmas Without Watching It. I love Mister Magoo and this is My favorite animated Christmas movie!!
There are many great, even classic, animated Christmas specials, like the best of Rankin/Bass and 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'.
'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol' is, as well as one of the first (the first?), among the best ones for me and one that has always held dear to my heart.
All the important details are here and it captures the spirit of the story perfectly, so it doesn't disappoint as an adaptation even with its own spin (very like the Muppet and Mickey Mouse versions of 'A Christmas Carol', also have a fondness for them).'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol' fares quite well in the animation.
Furthermore, the writing is very funny, as well as heart-warming and very touching, like 'A Christmas Carol' should be.
'Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol' adapts the story incredibly well, despite having Mr. Magoo in it the spirit of the story is intact as well as its heart and the impact of the best scenes.
Unlike most folks reviewing this film, I did not grow up in the 1960's as a kid, and so I did not really watch much of Mister Magoo at all as a child.
And yet despite that, there's something about "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" that keeps me coming back year after year, ever since I first discovered it, as an adult no less.
But there's also something else about Magoo's Christmas Carol, something timeless; heart.
From hearing the little Tiny Tim utter the famous line, "God bless us, everyone", to the emotional lyrics of the radiant songs of the film, this little short has all the things that make Christmas special.
If you're looking for a nice, little version of "A Christmas Carol" for your kids or even for yourself, check it "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol." You'll be glad you did.
Mr. Magoo is one of my favorite cartoons characters, and this special is now another Christmas favorite; I had watched it two times.
In the first TV special for Christmas, Mr. Magoo plays the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical stage production of "A Christmas Carol," one of my favorite Christmas stories.
I thought the songs were great, and so is the animation.I'm afraid there is nothing else to say about this special other than I really love it!
I love it better than "A Flintstone Christmas Carol," when it comes to a Christmas special about a stage version of Dickens' holiday story..
Somehow over all these years I never knew that there existed a Mr. Magoo version of "A Christmas Carol".
So, it was with great expectations and excitement that I sat down to view my DVD version of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol".
Now if you forget what Mr. Magoo's eccentricities are supposed to be and don't expect a comedy, you are left with an animated, musical version of "A Christmas Carol".
I caught this version of Christmas Carol just last year, at the age of 38.Normally I like the first versions I will see of a story.
Now I do like the Albert Finney musical from 1970.there are also two animated versions; one I believe is from 1972 (both Past and Present are represented by Father Time characters), the other is an utterly creepy version with the scariest jacob marley I have ever seen.I am also completely unfamiliar with the original Magoo cartoons.
I state them in reference to the titular work under review and, mind you, I have seen every film and telefilm 'straight' version of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol, plus almost every humorous take on it- be it spoof or satire, from lame musical adaptations to modernized updates to the brilliant reworking of the tale in the first season of the great American television sitcom, The Odd Couple.
But, the animated Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol is the best version ever of the tale, and that includes Dickens' own often too heavyhanded morality play itself.
I just stated that Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol is 'one of the finest examples of television cartoonery ever made,' and that is incorrect.
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol.
Unlike a lot of Magoo fans, I actually didn't grow up with "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol", and so this was a delightful special to be experiencing for the first time.
Besides that, this Christmas Carol adaptation (with even songs performed; my favorite is "We're Despicable (Plunderer's March)") is surprisingly faithful.
*Spoiler/plot- Mr. MaGoo's Christmas Carole, 1962.
Famous actor, Quincy MaGoo is in a Broadway show playing Ebeneezer Scooge in the Dicken's Christmas Carol play. |
tt0091818 | Radioactive Dreams | A nuclear war breaks out in 1996, expending the world's entire nuclear arsenal, except for one missile. Two children, Philip Chandler (John Stockwell) and Marlowe Hammer (Michael Dudikoff), are abandoned by their fathers in a fallout shelter cut into the side of a wooded mountain. The pair grow up in the shelter, with 1950s detective fiction and swing music as the guiding force in their learning. Fifteen years later Marlowe succeeds in digging out the cave entrance. The pair give each other haircuts, dress in suits, and go to rejoin the world.
Philip narrates their adventure on their first day out:
"My name's Philip, and this is going to be a yarn about me and my pal, Marlowe. About the day we got out of this shelter and went off into the post-nuclear world. Now, as excited as we were about leaving the shelter, it was still a joint that held fond memories. I mean, it was the only world we'd ever known. Where I practiced my magic, Marlowe, his dancing; where we both dreamed of becoming private eyes, just like the one's we'd read about."
Marlowe hopes to find their fathers, but Philip is disgruntled that they never returned, and presumes that they are dead. The mountain is now devoid of trees. The first people they find are a trio of radiation burned "mutants" chasing a beautiful woman, Miles Archer (Lisa Blount). They rescue Miles, who kisses Marlowe as a distraction and steals his gun. This backfires, as she drops the activation keys to the last nuclear missile. Miles leaves, and the pair are immediately attacked by a biker gang of bald women in red wigs. Afterwards the boys discover the activation keys, which bears their fathers' names. This excites Marlowe, but disturbs Philip.
They rescue another young woman, Rusty Mars (Michele Little), from a group of armed children Philip nicknames "disco mutants". She takes a liking to Philip, and leads the two of them to Edge City which is plagued by gang warfare. Rusty takes them to a dance club, where they are captured by cannibals. They want the nuclear keys, and to eat the young men, a rarity of uncontaminated meat. Although Rusty helps them escape and apologises, Philip doesn't trust her. Just after they part ways the pair meets up with a friend of Miles' who also wants the keys. After he is dispatched Miles shows up and takes them to her hideout. There she tells them about the purpose of the keys. Miles then threatens to kill them, but they escape.
Rusty has followed them to the hideout, but is attacked by the child gangsters. The pair chase them away, but Philip still doesn't trust her. He wants to shoot her, but is out of bullets. After Rusty apologises again for lying to him and originally handing him over to the cannibals he says, "That was a million years ago, and I got a short memory. In fact, I don't even remember who you are".
The pair resolves to rid the city of the gangs and keep the keys. They go to an abandoned warehouse, using themselves as bait, in the hopes that the gangs will kill each other before killing them. For the most part, the plan works. However, the bosses of the child-gangsters are in fact Philip and Marlowe's fathers. Before he dies, Philip's father tells him that the past does not matter. In the end, the only gangster left standing is Miles, who has the keys. She shoots at them, and misses, but startles Marlowe into shooting and killing her.
The film ends with Philip letting go of the angst which he had nursed for 15 years. He adopts Marlowe's "silver-lining look on life". The two demonstrate Marlowe's tap-inspired "post-nuke shuffle" to the crowds of the city. In the closing narration, Philip explains that they plan to set up shop as detectives, but that first he will find Rusty and see if he can repair his relationship with her. Of the keys, he says that he and Marlowe hid them in a secret location, because "you never know, in a tight jam a nuclear missile just might come in handy". | comedy, cult, satire | train | wikipedia | I belong to the first category: 2 kids growing up in a nuke shelter with a large collection of detective novels deciding to be the post apocalyptic worlds first dicks, The Atomic Dicks!
B-movie queen Lisa Blount pops up in this weird mix and singer Sue Saad gives a few nice songs like the excellent title song "Radioactive Dreams", the soundtrack certainly deserves to be released.
Having only been previously exposed to Albert Pyun's 90s-era direct-to-video low-budget action garbage, I picked up "Radioactive Dream" expecting a futuristic crapfest like "Nemesis" or "Omega Doom".
I was surprised to discover this movie is not only original, but extremely funny and entertaining.Michael Dudikoff (in an effectively humorous role the same year he kicked off his B-action career with "American Ninja") and John Stockwell ("Christine", "My Science Project", and now a director of motion pictures) play Marlowe Chandler and Phillip Hammer - a couple of real dicks!
Having been raised on 50s pulp detective novels (hence their names) while confined to an underground bomb shelter, they emerge 15 years after a nuclear war has turned the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Purely by accident, our two heroes end up in possession of the two keys that can launch the last nuclear missile in existence, and when this fact is discovered after they reach the last outpost of civilization - Edge City - they find themselves on the run from every mutant gang in town.This movie's pluses include a colorful variety of characters, many based on specific stereotypes from different eras (pulp detectives, disco mutants, greasers) as well as cannibals and giant rats; general goofiness in both the action sequences and the heroes' trying to get acquainted to the changed world; a most excellent 80s soundtrack; and George Kennedy to boot.
But this movie does end with the coolest two-man song and dance number ever.In short, don't let the Pyun credit fool you.
All right, so it's another tidbit of trashy 80s post-apocalyptic fluff, but it's really the cream of the crop and has a great soundtrack, fun sets and costumes, tongue-in-cheek writing and acting, cannibalism, swing dancing, love, innocence, mayhem, violence, and plenty of silly 50s references...
Philip and Marlowe (ha, ha) leave the bomb shelter after basically their whole entire lives, and emerge into a radioactive wasteland, to search for their fathers.
Essentially, it is a half-baked post-apocalyptic comedy about two Hardy Boys-esquire young guys (John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff) who see the world for the first time.
They run into various zombies, 80s bondage/biker chicks, a genuinely creepy butcher, and several other zany and morally ambiguous characters as they search for their father.Like a lot of Pyun's films, it doesn't take any effort to level the ground for the audience.
Or maybe it was hard to understand that the movie WAS going on without any real plot lying underneath its surface.
If it were trippier and filled with more complex weirdness it could have been more watchable, but it still needed better characters and more fun.There is a dance number at the end that is pretty amazing though .
This is that rarity amongst post-apocalyptic cinema - a film that dares to show people trying to enjoy life in the ruins of civilization.
Although it's eighties heritage shows through in an overzealous use of neon, tacky dance-rock and the frankly dodgy nightclub scenes, any film that can combine a nuclear war with disco has to be applauded.Our heroes emerge after a childhood in a bomb shelter.
Convinced, therefore, that everyone wears sharp suits, talks like a hipster and goes down after one swift punch to the jaw, they embark on their journey back to civilization.Although the film starts by gently mocking the conventions of post-apocalyptic cinema (disco dancing midgets in white suits for instance (no, I'm not making this up!)), the bravery of the script dwindles, and about half way through it degenerates into the very generic twaddle that it sets out to mock.
If you are a cult film fan, then all the pain you have to endure with a movie like this is just part of the fun.
I have been a sort-of fan of this film for a long time, as it was an attempt (no matter how misdirected) to like two of my favorite genres of film.
It begins with sort of a comedic premise, it works well as a strange sort of slapstick comedy (with Michael 'American Ninja' Dudikoff turning a surprisingly good performance).
They then enter the world after the bomb and thier innocence is confronted by a series of unpleasant challenges and betrayals (some that are surprisingly un-funny, but not bad).
Then the film ends in a dance number...OK, it's wierd, but I honestly believe that anyone who has an appreciation for strange film will really enjoy this movie.
His name is Albert Pyun and his movies are crap.
There was a hope in me during the movie that Michael Dudikoff would die a horrible death.
No matter what I say, you will see it if you want to, but I can not imagine an intelligent person that would consider this a good movie..
I don't know what happened to Albert Pyun between this movie and Cyborg, but I like *this* Albert Pyun.
This one made a post-apocalyptic/film-noir/comedy/adventure.
George Kennedy as the b-movie, small-role-character-actor king of kings.
Radioactive Dreams is comparable to both 'My Science Project' and 'City Limits,' two dirt-budget science fiction films with great ideas and a decent cast unfortunately trampled by a nickle-shooting budget.
Ironically, they all starred or co-starred John Stockwell.Granted, Radioactive Dreams, was at least an interesting plot (which is the only reason I gave it a 2-star rating).
Two idyllic young men not coincidentally named Phillip and Marlowe (Stockwell and Dudikoff) abandoned by their fathers grow up in a bomb shelter following the nuclear destruction of their planet, decide it's time to leave the shelter and live out their 1950s comic-book inspired fantasy of being two of the greatest private detectives (which of course, lends to a running gag).
Only, when they get outside, their idealism is quickly floundered when their chivalrous assistance of a young girl chased by nuclear mutants inadvertently leads to dangerous and disastrous flirtations with the 'darkside.' The girl, as it turns out, leaves them custody of a pair of highly-sought keys that control a nuclear missile (ironically) and thus, like Sam and Frodo in Lord of the Rings, they've got to keep these keys from getting in the wrong hands.
It involves a lot of warehouse footage, bad acting (especially an abundance of girlish screams from Dudikoff), cheap effects, a sappy ending involving a little-expected parental reunion, and a longer-than-necessary finale.
The mid-80s atmosphere could have provided all the necessary spunk and attitude that would have provided the perfect touch to a unique story as this (Phillip and Marlowe are not the only ones trapped in a cultural generation of their own...I particularly love the deadly disco kids a penchant for cursing), but once again, a scrap shooting budget posed lots of limitations not to mention.Worth it a shot at least for the story, but otherwise, it's about the same muddle film as City Limits (though certainly not as bad).
The concept is 2 guys who have locked up in a bomb shelter for twenty years or something reading Noir detective books from the forties.
They come out of the bomb shelter in post nuclear world with Humphrey Bogart attitudes and clothes.
The concept of this...for lack of a better word, Film is the story of two guys raised in a bomb shelter after being kidnapped by bank robbers Fat Guy from Cool Hand Luke, and Other Guy not in Cool Hand Luke.
Don't just watch Guys and Dolls, sniff paint fumes, and decide to make a movie.So these guys run around...and...ARRGHHHH...pains me...to...remember this film...must...struggle on...must warn society...The story isn't the only thing holding this flick back...it's a technical nightmare.
The action unfolds in 2010, almost 15 years after the world has blown itself up, Only one missile born nuclear weapon is left, and whatever mutant survivor holds the Keys to its launch controls will have the power of ultimate obliteration.
The world is threatened again!, Phillip and Marlowe two guys trapped in a bomb shelter for more then a decade with nothing else but canned food and 1940's detective books are the only hope.
Loved the film, and great music Starring John Stockwell from "Christine" also with Michael Dudikoff from "Bachelor Party" , Michele Little From "My Demon Lover" and George Kennedy from "the Naked Gun films", All up I give it 8 out of 10.
the actors are good, but the movie is just bad.
The only thing I really liked about this movie is Michael Dudikoff.
He and John Stockwell play two teens who have grown to maturity inside a bomb shelter with nothing but Philip Marlowe novels, and when they finally set foot out into the post-nuke future, encounter everything from a mysterious woman to some really ugly creatures.
I just liked watching Dudikoff do comedy for a change (his teenage girl-like reaction to discovering that a giant creature hanging from the ceiling is alive is hysterical) and show off some cool dance moves at the end.
John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff star as two private dicks who emerge from a fallout shelter in the future after the bomb has dropped, once there we witness our two heroes fight mutants, midgets, cannibal hippies and a terrorist group, they've also grown up on 50's style literature and music so their whole "Gee whiz" attitude contradicts the mean world outside.
Michael Dudikoff who would become a B.movie level star after American Ninja, really grates the nerves as his over the top shrieking never approaches the funny but always is annoying.
Indeed you pick any Dudikoff movie on the video shelf and chances are you will not find a performance of his that reaches this level of bad.
(See City Limits, which is even worse than this) Also there is no action which is the only way one can handle such a movie premise, after all it's about two sleuths who save the world, give us some action!
Sadly Pyun treats this as a drama and induces slumber on the audience forced to witness this travesty.So what you have is Dudikoff's worst performance, Stockwell in his comfort zone and George Kennedy at his most embarrassed.
The ending is somewhat diverting but once again this is a movie that has a great first act and nothing but sheer boredom after.
The movie is somewhat bizarre but really this is strictly for die hard Dudikoff fans, who've watched American Ninja 4 too many times.
I can enjoy a good B-class movie.
It's an ambitious effort , but made so badly it makes you want to commit suicide.This is a half-baked post-apocalyptic comedy that mixes "Mad Max" with noir movies and comic books.
The dialogues are annoying.On the plus side the acting is surprisingly decent , especially from John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff.
It's an Albert Pyun movie !
Writer/director Albert Pyun's first foray into post-nuke sci-fi/action cinema remains to this very day his single most novel and idiosyncratic entry in that sub-genre.
It's a wickedly wacked-out black comic tongue-in-cheek end-of-the-world oddity which fuses vintage 40's film noir conventions -- morally upright gumshoes with a strong personal code of honor that's constantly being challenged by every twisted turn of the convoluted jigsaw plot, fetching femme fatales, evil criminal underground figures, hard-boiled introspective narration, assorted just-looking-out-for-themselves opportunistic low-life dirtbags double and triple crossing our amiably guileless heroes, dense, smoky, shadowy lighting, a gritty urban setting teeming with violence, corruption, treachery, and unremitting moral blackness, a fiery big gun-blasting shoot-out ending -- with a raucous, spiky, nose-thumbing 80's funk-punk sensibility.John Stockwell and Michael Dudikoff are utterly engaging as Phillip and Marlowe, a pair of cloddish, wet-behind-the-ears, pork-pie hat and trenchcoat-wearing innocents who pattern themselves after laconically cool private eyes after spending most of their lives reading pulpy crime thriller books in a subterranean nuclear fall-out shelter.
Coming above ground on April 1st, 2010, the bumbling pair, unaware that they possess the two keys for the last functional MX missile in existence, are totally unprepared for the harrowing experiences they have when they finally venture into the brutish, bombed-out post-apocalyptic world.
The key folks who mercilessly chase after our boys are lethally enticing, cold-blooded fugitive dame Miles Archer (marvelously played to the nasty, "don't mess with me Buster!" nines by imposing, statuesque tall drink of luscious blonde water Lisa Blount), feisty tart with a heart Rusty Mars (tasty brunette dish Michele Little), and vicious mob kingpins Dash Hammer (a superbly steely Don Murray) and Spade Chandler (the always invigorating George Kennedy), who are the two dastardly dudes who dumped the guys in the shelter back in 1996.Loaded to the vibrant, head-bursting brim with grungy clothes fashions, equally grotty set designs, gnarly make-up f/x by Greg ("Vamp") Cannom, stylishly dim cinematography by Charles Minsky, a first-rate wild'n'wailing New Wave soundtrack (the groovy theme song especially smokes), a generous sprinkling of thrilling frantic action, a very dark sense of warped brash humor, dynamic direction, wittily right-on homages to classic 40's literary fiction and film noir movies, spirited performances, punchy pacing, colorfully quirky characters, and enough inspired oddball ideas for at least a dozen pictures, "Radioactive Dreams" cooks with a maniacally stoked, hopped-up vitality that's both funny and enjoyable in equal measure, therefor making this welcome change-of-pace lampoon a refreshingly offbeat delight..
The eighties, some of my favorite movies have come from this time and most of them failed to find an audience.
Such films as Buckaroo Banzai, Streets of Fire and Radioactive Dreams found new ways to tell classic stories and over the years Streets and Banzai have both developed cult followings but sadly Radioactive Dreams has never been able to find its fan base.
It may be because it has never been released on DVD, it could be the terrible music number that grinds the movie to a halt just when the excitement should be building but perhaps it is just too odd.The story is the standard hard boiled detective yarn with the dick trying to play several sides against each other and discovering the danger of putting their trust in the wrong person.
At least it would be standard if not for the Post-Apocalyptic setting and the fact that our heroes have spent almost their entire lives locked up in a bomb shelter and have picked up all they know about the world from reading detective novels.
These changes allows the characters to actually grow from kids playing a game to two guys trying not to become cynics in the face of a world were everyone only consider their own best interests and everyone is expendable.One of the problems with the film for first time viewers is the way that the tone changes from a pretty light hearted beginning to a much darker conclusion.
It is a fun, very entertaining entry in the Post-Apoc genre and needs a DVD release so it has a chance at building new fans..
Made in 1985 when the whole world lived under the shadow of the bomb and the Cold War looked like it would never end.
In fact not only is it not a joke its the day the world ends with Nukes aplenty going off.
Fast forward 15 years from that nightmare to April 1st, 2001 and we are introduced to a couple of people living underground who survived the bombs.Mainly the story is about Phillip and Marlowe, however that pun is intended as they are 2 guys who dreamt of become Private Investigators so its a post apocalyptic film noir.
It's so noir the movie even starts in black & white but it immediately changes to colour once the guys leave their shelter and drive into the outside world.I knew I recognised the face of Phillip (John Stockwell) and it was because I remembered him playing the role of best friend Dennis in the horror movie Christine, the guy playing Marlowe (Michael Dudikoff) appears to be the worlds greatest bit part actor having been in nothing of any importance.The helpful trawl tells you the guys are Phillip Hammer and Marlowe Chandler (ignore how their billed in IMDb.com, its wrong) and they'd grown up in a shelter full of 40's memorabilia and sleazy detective novels hence the stupid noir style names.We also learn about a power struggle over 2 keys that could fire the last nuke left on Earth.
The guys discover the keys and the name on the case that contains them is Dash Hammer - Phillips father, so they set off to discover if he is alive or not.After a bizarre encounter with Disco Mutants & a girl called Rusty Mars they finally enter Edge City, the closest thing to civilization.
(His flashback to his childhood is extremely inaccurate as its a very well known fact that looking directly into a nuclear blast burns out your retinas so he should actually be blind).Setting off in 40's outfits that fit them perfectly (stolen from the Disco Mutants, thats what was inside the 2 packages they were carrying) Phillip & Marlowe sucker the gangs following them into a trap in the hope they will all kill each other in the confusion.There's a nice twist about the identities of 2 of the Mutant leaders which is followed by an extremely pointless battle scene (why bother fighting for something you already have?) which ends up with the keys in Miles' possession.
The film is pretty boring, there are lots of periods of nothing happening interspersed with rapid paced action that doesn't last long then a bit of dialogue to following and the cycle continues from start to finish. |
tt0051825 | Knighty Knight Bugs | King Arthur is sitting with his Knights of the Round Table, complaining about hard times that have befallen the kingdom ever since the Black Knight stole the Singing Sword. He asks his knights—among them Sir Osis of Liver and Sir Loin of Beef—for a volunteer to get the sword back. The knights complain that the Black Knight is invincible and has a fire-breathing dragon guarding the sword. King Arthur angrily demands to know if the knights are all chicken, and is dismayed when he hears clucking and sees chicken feathers flying. Bugs, dressed as a court jester, dances in and tells King Arthur that "only a fool" would be crazy enough to go after the Singing Sword. The King agrees ("A good idea, fool."), and tells Bugs that he has to get the singing sword, or else face being executed ("Put to the rack, burned at the stake, and beheaded"). Bugs at first laughs at the idea, but then starts crying when he realizes that the king is serious.
At the castle of the Black Knight—shown to be Yosemite Sam dressed in black armor—there is a fire-breathing dragon that belongs to Sam, but the dragon has come down with a cold from allowing its fire to get low, and thus, is prone to fits of sneezing, causing jets of flame to shoot from its nostrils. Sam feeds the dragon some coal to fuel the dragon's internal fire, and then goes back to taking a nap on his chair. Bugs sneaks in to the castle, past Sam and the dragon and to the chest where he pulls out the singing sword. He openly wonders why it's called a "singing sword" and finds out when it starts vibrating, via a musical saw, to the tune of "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine". Sam wakes up and chases Bugs, but Bugs slams the door in Sam's face, causing his armor to fall off. Sam then wakes up the dragon ("Wake up, you fire-breathing lizard!"), who unintentionally breathes fire on him ("And stop breathing on me, you idjit!").
Bugs runs outside the castle, chased by Sam on the dragon. Bugs ducks into a hole, and Sam slides off the dragon when trying to stop. Bugs then runs back to the castle and raises the drawbridge as Sam approaches, causing Sam to fall into the moat. When Sam demands that Bugs lowers the drawbridge, Bugs lowers it right onto Sam's head, who yells in a muffled voice to raise it back up again. A flat Sam shouts: "Okay, rabbit! You've forced me to use force!" Sam then uses the dragon to pull a catapult in place, gets on it and launches himself to the castle, but misses the window Bugs is looking out of, flattening his front (In a "cramped" voice, Sam declares: "You'll pay for this, varmint!"). Next, Sam lassos a rope around one of the battlements of the castle, but as he is climbing up, Bugs whacks Sam on the head with a mallet ("Now, let's see if I remember. Head down, left arm stiff."), causing Sam to slide down the rope outside of his armor.
Thinking the coast is clear, Bugs sneaks out of the castle. Sam and his dragon are hidden behind a rock waiting for Bugs, but the dragon sneezes on Sam again, alerting Bugs to their presence. Bugs then runs back into the castle, followed by Sam and the dragon. Bugs runs into a room, Sam and the dragon follow, then Bugs sneaks out and locks the door to what is now shown as an explosives room. Surrounded by all kinds of explosives, Sam tries to keep the dragon from sneezing again ("Aagh! Don't sneeze, you stupid dragon, or you'll blow us to the moon!"). As Bugs walks away from the castle, the dragon sneezes again, and the tower Sam and the dragon are in takes off like a rocket, flying towards the moon (Sam glares at the befuddled dragon and says, "Dragons is so stupid!"). Bugs waves goodbye, saying: "Farewell to thee". The singing sword picks up on this and starts humming "Farewell to Thee" as Bugs walks out of sight, ending the cartoon. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | Rabbits of a round table..
We all know King Arthur, but what if Bugs Bunny was his court jester?
Quite simply, the king - disappointed at his knights chickening out (in more way than one) - would send Bugs to fetch the Singing Sword kept by the Black Knight, aka Yosemite Sam. And that's just what happens in "Knighty Knight Bugs".
Specifically, when Bugs finds the Singing Sword, it literally starts singing, and Sam comes after him with his pet dragon.
But Bugs tricks them and takes over the castle, leading Sam to pull several embarrassing stunts attempting to re-enter.
I really liked Sam's plan to "sail over the wall".
All in all, they created another classic cartoon here..
"Don't sneeze you stupid Dragon, or you'll blow us to the moon".
This is an above decent cartoon, but it is not the best Bugs cartoon.
I do agree with everyone here that while this is very enjoyable, I am not sure whether the Oscar was deserved or not.
Personally the chief weakness for me was the dragon, while relevant to the story, he turned out pretty useless.
The dialogue is good, but Yosemite gets the best lines somehow, and Bugs while on top form as well is a little underplayed here.
That said, the animation is consistently excellent, the gags particularly with the drawbridge were very funny and the music is wonderful.
And so are the vocals from Mel Blanc, who pretty much immortalises the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Overall, not the best, but definitely one I'll see again.
8/10 Bethany Cox. Solid Effort, But Was Academy Making Up For Lost Time?.
I agree with the reviewers here: this was good, but "the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award?" That is ridiculous.
I can only surmise that it was similar to what has happened to many famous actors.
They had never won an Academy Award so near the end of their careers, the Academy gives them them on Oscar to make up for past omissions.
Here, "Bugs" gets rewarded for years of service, in reality.
By the end of the 1950s, Bugs' great career wasn't far from being over.This is a funny, beautifully drawn cartoon worthy of praise; it's just not exceptional.
In a nutshell, court jester Bugs Bunny makes a fool out of the Yosemite Sam a.k.a. The Black Knight, the latter guarding the treasured "singing sword." Bugs has to get past the knight, his dumb dragon - who has a cold and a sneezing problem!
- to get the sword and return it to the good guys.Some of the jokes are inventive, some are old, but the story entertains all the way.
It's also 30 seconds shorter than most LT Bugs Bunny episodes.
Overall, it's still a solid effort..
The Oscar Winner.
I think this cartoon truly did deserve an Oscar it was hilarious.
I especially like when Yosemite Sam/The Black Knight shoots himself out of a cannon and crashes into the wall and when he gets flattened by the drawbridge.
Classic line: Sam: "Don't sneeze, you stupid dragon, or you'll blow us to the moon." Sure enough, that's what happens.
Highly recommended..
Looney tunes classic.
This cartoon (Oscar winning animated short for that year) is just out and out hilarious.
I have a weakness for Yosetime Sam, here as the Black Knight trying to get into Bugs' castle.
Of course he fails with hilarious results.
If this doesn't make you chuckle, check your pulse..
A good cartoon, but an Oscar-caliber effort?
I'm not so sure about that.
This short is the only Bugs Bunny short to grab an Oscar.
While it's a good cartoon, I don't think it was the best cartoon of 1958.
It wasn't even the best Bugs Bunny of 1958 (Hare-way To the Stars was).
This is a very good cartoon, of course.
It's just that there were much better ones released in 1958.
At least Bugs got an Oscar, even if it was for something that wasn't among the better of "his" work.
The same can be said for some acting winners.
Recommended..
"Ok, rabbit.
Ya forced me to use force.".
This is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award.
This may seem strange to a lot of people because there were so many better Bugs shorts that weren't even nominated for Oscars, let alone won.
But we have to keep in mind this was only up against the rest of the animated shorts from 1958 and the competition that year might have been pretty slim pickings.
As a matter of fact there were only three nominees that year instead of the usual four so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.
I've seen all three nominees and I can say, for my money, this is the best of the three.
I can't readily think of another 1958 cartoon but I do know that the quality of animation across the board was declining by the late '50s.
There would still be some great stuff to come but the best days of WB, MGM, and even Disney shorts were behind them by this point.Oscar talk aside, this is a very good Bugs Bunny cartoon.
It takes place in the time of King Arthur, here represented as a silly old man.
Arthur asks for a volunteer among his knights to retrieve the Singing Sword from the evil Black Knight (Yosemite Sam) and his fire-breathing dragon.
All of the knights are chicken so King Arthur orders court jester Bugs to retrieve the sword.
If he refuses, he'll be tortured and beheaded!
Bugs goes to the Black Knight's castle to complete his task and Sam obviously tries to stop him.
Now, reading back over what I just wrote, this sure doesn't sound like a funny cartoon, does it?
It actually has a lot of clever bits and great gags.
The idea of Arthur and his knights being cowardly is pretty funny, I thought.
But the short's strength lies in the Bugs vs Sam stuff.
If you've ever seen a Bugs/Sam cartoon before (and I'm sure you have), then you know how much fun these two going toe-to-toe can be.
It's very funny with good animation, lively music, and solid voicework from the always reliable Mel Blanc.
The scenes of Black Knight Sam trying to get back into the castle are hilarious.
Funny stuff with the dragon, too ("Dragons is so stupid!")..
A decent cartoon that somehow won an Oscar.
Friz Freleng's 'Knighty Knight Bugs' is an Oscar winning cartoon which, though a tad overrated, is solidly entertaining throughout.
Jester Bugs Bunny is sent to recover the Singing Sword from Black Knight Yosemite Sam. The set up and ensuing antics immediately bring to mind two other cartoons, Chuck Jones's 'Knight-mare Hare' and Freleng's own 'Sahara Hare'.
While Jones's cartoon shares the same medieval setting, 'Sahara Hare' features a similar storyline as Sam pursues Bugs and finds himself attempting to gain entry to a building in which Bugs has barricaded himself.
'Knighty Knight Bugs' is an improvement on both its forerunners, offering a far more charming depiction of medieval times than in Jones's feeble effort and improving on the gags in 'Sahara Hare' with some consistently amusing if hardly uproarious sequences.
Also reminiscent of 'Sahara Hare' is Sam's relationship with his beast of burden, a camel in the former cartoon and a dragon in this case.
In both cartoons, this relationship is one of the best elements and results in some very funny lines and animations.
All in all, 'Knighty Knight Bugs' is an enjoyably pedestrian cartoon in which being able to see the gags coming doesn't hinder the viewer's enjoyment of their good timing.
Surely not worthy of its Oscar but certainly worthy of being viewed by any cartoon fan..
Not really deserving of being Bugs' sole Oscar winner but still quite enjoyable.
Bugs Bunny comes across a great castle where he finds the treasure of a singing sword.
He attempts to get away with it only to find that the castle is protected by Yosemite Sam and his fierce (?) fire breathing dragon.
When Bugs gets control of the castle, Sam has to try and take it back - without too much success.This cartoon is the only Bugs Bunny effort to have won an Oscar and, while I believe he deserved to have one of his shorts win such an award I don't think that this is the one that he deserved it for.
The plot is fairly usual for Bugs fair and is pretty enjoyable all told - he outsmarts Sam as always and it is generally pretty funny.
The animation is bright and colourful but the material is not as sharp as one would have hoped and Sam actually hurts himself more often than Bugs causes it directly by being smarter.Having said that Sam is still a good foil for Bugs and he makes him a stronger character.
Bugs is as enjoyable as ever even if he is less active and tricky than he usually is.
The dragon is pretty much a non-event and isn't really that good - acting more as a thorn in Sam's side than anything else.
Overall this is still an OK cartoon but it is far from Bugs' best and it doesn't deserve to be the one that he won his award for..
This won an Academy Award?.
All right, it's not totally surprising this Looney Tunes episode won an Academy Award - what is surprising is that it has been the only Bugs Bunny episode to have an A.A!
I agree with ccthemovieman-1, it was silly to rate only this an A.A and not other episodes.
Episodes like "Mad As a Mars Hare" and "Bugs and Thugs" deserve an A.A more than this.Despite what I said in my previous paragraph, I do think this is a good episode.
It has good humour and surprisingly good slapstick (the timing is very good), the King Arthur theme works well and gives a good setting to the episode and the "quest" theme for Bugs also gives a good tone to the episode, amid all the slapstick there is indeed a brave quest being done here.
This short also has one of my favourite Looney Tunes endings, it is quite calm and peaceful (this is NOT a spoiler).A singing sword has been stolen from the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur wants to send one of his knights to go and recover it.
None of them are brave enough to face the Black Knight (Yosemite Sam) who stole it and turn, literally, chicken.
Then Bugs Bunny, a jester, turns up on the scene and there is a funny plot turn...
I recommend this to people who like Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam teaming up and becoming different characters and to people who like a King Arthur theme in a Looney Tunes episode.
Enjoy!
Knighty Knight Bugs.
It is quite surprising that only five of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies films won Academy Awards, and even more surprising that only one starred Bugs Bunny.
Most people would hope and assume that What's Opera, Doc?
would have been nominated for and won an Oscar, but it doesn't matter, this medieval themed cartoon is a good choice.
The story sees King Arthur saying that one of the knights of the round table should recover the Singing Sword, stolen by the Black Knight, but they have turned chicken.
The fool/jester, Bugs, comes in laughing saying only a fool would go, and the King says he will go, under penalty of death.
So we see the Black Knight, Yosemite Sam, in his castle sleeping with his dumb fire-breathing dragon, that can't help sneezing and breathing.
Bugs manages to get the Singing Sword easily, but then he has to escape, and when the knight and dragon chase him, he runs back into the castle and shuts the gates.
The Black Knight tries a catapult and rope to get into the kingdom, until Bugs sneaks out across a long plank of wood.
They spot him and chase him into a tower of explosives, where Bugs shuts them in, the dragon sneezes fire, blowing them up to the moon, and the film ends with Bugs walking away with the sword singing.
It won the Oscar for Best Short Animated Film.
Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies were number 20, and Bugs Bunny number 10 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons.
Very good!.
You can't go wrong with this cartoon!.
Directed by the wonderful Isadore "Friz" Freleng, "Knighty Knight Bugs" is an Academy Award-winning Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon set in medieval times.
King Arthur orders his court jester (Bugs) to retrieve the so-called "singing sword" from the clutches of the Black Knight (Sam).
The Black Knight has an explosive temper, but he ain't no match for Bugs!
There is one sequence from "Knighty Knight Bugs" that I find especially amusing.
Sam rides atop his fire-sneezing dragon in pursuit of Bugs.
The dragon makes a sudden stop at a moat crossing, causing Sam to bump forward on all the dragon's scales and fall into the water.
Dashing back to the crossing, Sam orders Bugs to lower the drawbridge, which he does.........right on top of Sam!
I must compliment the fine vocal talent of Mel Blanc in "Knighty Knight Bugs", not only for the voices of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam but also for those of King Arthur and his various noble knights.
The music score of Milt Franklyn is quite commendable, too, particularly during the opening credits and the chase scenes..
Dragons is so stupid!.
Wow, what a wonderful cartoon.
Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny have always been a good pairing and make cartoons hilarious.
Friz Freleng really took it home this time with the academy award.
Friz actually won four Academy Awards.
The funniest part for me was when Yosemite Sam told the dragon not to sneeze and he did and the some castle turned into a rocket and lifted off..
Bugs in the Middle Ages.
"Knighty Knight Bugs" is a 6.5-minute short film from 1958, so this little cartoon will have its 60th anniversary soon.
World War Ii was over at this point for a long time and so Freleng Foster and Blanc were really unpolitical again with their work here.
And it was one of their biggest successes as it won an Academy Award.
Bugs is ordered to get a Singing Sword for his King, but Sam protects it and this is one of the rare occasions where I can understand Sam as Bugs is basically a thief or maybe I should say his King as what he tells Bugs will happen with him if he does not get the sword.
Add a dragon into the mix, even if he is mostly more like a horse in here and you have this cartoon in a nut-shell.
Some of the action and dialogues were funny, but I don't think it's anywhere near Warner Bros' best.
Worth a watch for cartoon fans, but the Oscars may have been a bit too much.
I recommend checking it out..
Most people have heard of Sir Percival or Sir Gawain .
. during their Medieval Literature Class, but how about Sir Osis of Liver?
Osis is just one of several new wrinkles Warner Bros.' Looney Tune folks iron on to the patchwork of the Arthurian Legends in their KNIGHTY KNIGHT BUGS outing.
Death, of course, is the Number One Theme running through the Age of Chivalry.
As Queen Guenevere qualifies her prospective escort to the Fair in CAMELOT, she asks "You'll pierce right through him?" to which Sir Sagramore replies, "I'll barbecue him!" Bugs Bunny goes Sagramore one or two better in dispatching Yosemite Sam's "Black Knight" here.
First, Bugs pounds and drowns Sam. Then he flattens and folds him.
Next Yosemite is stalled and walled.
Finally, Bugs acts as judge, jury, and executioner, blasting Sam out of the docket via turret rocket.
Since there's no screeching plus-sized ladies around to signify the conclusion of KNIGHTY KNIGHT BUGS, the Looney Tunes animators substitute a warbling broadsword for this final obligatory part of their take on the Dudes of the Round Table. |
tt2103264 | Emperor | Brigadier-General Bonner Fellers is sent to Japan as a part of the occupation force. He is tasked with arresting Japanese war criminals, including Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Before he departs, he privately orders his Japanese interpreter, Takahashi, to locate his Japanese girlfriend, Aya Shimada. After arresting Tojo, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur informs Fellers Emperor Hirohito can be tried as a war criminal. Doing so could lead to a revolt, but the American people want the Emperor to stand trial for Japan's actions. MacArthur gives Fellers ten days to investigate the Emperor. When Takahashi informs Fellers that Aya's Tokyo apartment was bombed. Fellers orders him to investigate her hometown, Shizuoka.
Fellers and his staff compile a list of people who were with Emperor Hirohito when the war started. Because none of the Japanese who are friendly to the Americans are among them, they resort to enticing Tojo to give them information. During a visit to Sugamo Prison, Fellers demands Tojo give him three names. He, instead, gives one: Fumimaro Konoe, the former prime minister. Fellers goes to Konoe's home and asks him if the Emperor was responsible for starting the war. Konoe gives no conclusive evidence, but directs Fellers to Kōichi Kido, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. While Fellers waits to meet with Kido, he recalls the time before the war when Aya suddenly returned to Japan. Takahashi informs Fellers Kido will not show up.
Fellers recalls his 1940 visit to Tokyo when he reunited with Aya, then an English teacher. He learns Aya returned to Japan after her father became ill and died. In a banquet at MacArthur's residence, Brigadier-General Richter informs Fellers that MacArthur will not look bad to the American public. After the banquet, Takahashi informs Fellers Shizuoka was bombed; Fellers immediately travels there. He is devastated by the damage and orders Takahashi to find a list of the dead.
Fellers recalls his visit to Aya's uncle, General Kajima, for help with a paper on the mindset of the Japanese soldier. Kajima insists if America and Japan were at war, the Japanese would win because of the Japanese soldier's sense of duty to the Emperor. When Fellers returns to Tokyo, he decides he must interview Teizaburō Sekiya, a member of the Privy Council. Sekiya, like Konoe, does not give any evidence to exonerate the Emperor.
During Fellers' interview with Kido, he discusses the time before the Japanese surrender. The Supreme Council's deadlock between those in favour of surrender and those who were not led the Emperor to address the Council. Because there were strong militarists in the army, the Emperor made an audio recording of his order to surrender. Before the recording could be broadcast, the militarists attempted a coup and attacked the Imperial Palace. The Emperor and Kido survived and broadcast the recording. Unfortunately for Fellers, the other witnesses committed suicide and all records were destroyed, leaving him only with Kido's testimony. Kido informs Fellers the Emperor's role is, in actuality, a ceremonial one and the Emperor was influential in ending the war.
Fellers decides to visit General Kajima, who was also Aya's uncle. He explains to Kajima the Japanese people are selfless and capable of great sacrifice as well as unspeakable crimes because of their devotion to a set of values. Kajima does not know if the Emperor is guilty, but he notes his role in ending the war. He gives Fellers a box of folded letters written by Aya to Fellers and learns Aya died in an Allied bombing raid.
Fellers concludes it cannot be determined whether the Emperor is guilty or innocent, but his role in ending the war was significant. He gives his conclusion to MacArthur, who is displeased because of the lack of conclusive evidence. Fellers argues the Emperor should be exonerated as the Allies agreed they would allow Japan to keep him as the head of state. MacArthur orders Fellers to arrange a meeting between him and the Emperor. Before the Emperor arrives, Fellers informs MacArthur of his role in diverting Allied bombers away from Shizuoka. MacArthur replies because no American lives were lost because of it, he will turn a blind eye. When Emperor Hirohito arrives, he offers himself to be punished rather than Japan. MacArthur states he has no intention of punishing Japan or Hirohito and wishes to discuss Japan's reconstruction. | flashback | train | wikipedia | Very interesting story about General Fellers who is given the impossible task to investigate the Emperor's role in the lead-up to war,.
This nice movie tells a fictionalized account based on the actual life story of US Army Brigadier General Bonner Frank Fellers who served under General Douglas MacArthur .
On the staff of General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy lee Jones), the de facto ruler of Japan as Supreme Commander of the occupying forces, a leading Japanese expert, General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) is charged with reaching a decision of historical importance: should Emperor Hirohito be tried and hanged as a war criminal?
Interwoven is the story of Fellers' love affair with Aya (Eriko Hatsune), a Japanese exchange student he had met years previously in the U.S. Memories of Aya and his quest to find her in the ravaged post-war landscape help Fellers to discover both his wisdom and his humanity and enable him to come to the momentous decision that changed the course of history and the future of two nations.This is a good drama war with emotion , suspense , thrills , culture clashes , and historical events .
Excellent cast gives good acting as Fox who plays Bonner Fellers, a general who's sent to Japan to decide if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged for war crimes ; starring alongside him is Eriko Hatsune as Aya Shimada, a woman Fellers romanced years earlier, and Tommy Lee Jones as legendary Us military figure General Douglas MacArthur.
This true life story was one worthy of big-screen treatment .The picture is well based on true events , these are the followings : After the war, Fellers played a major role in the occupation of Japan.
Soon after occupation began, General Fellers wrote several influential memoranda concerning why it would be advantageous for the occupation, reconstruction of Japan, and U.S. long range interests to keep the Emperor in place if he was not clearly responsible for war crimes.
Emperor (2012) In his rule over Japan as Supreme Commander of the occupying forces after World War II, General Douglas MacArthur was probably as benign a dictator as history has recorded.
MacArthur's decision became the lynch-pin of his policy there: to respect the cultural differences instead of seeking to override them, and to try to bring together the best that both Japan and the western powers had to offer.The movie deliberately avoids clarifying which emperor the title refers to.
The film strongly hints that MacArthur had already made up his mind about the treatment of Hirohito, which he almost certainly had, but wanted Fellers to supply the rationale for his decision.The film has three threads that run throughout: MacArthur's occupation of Japan; Fellers' investigations leading to his written opinion; Fellers' search for his Japanese friend amidst the post-war chaos.
MacArthur is, historically, the man who made the real decisions, and, especially as played by Jones, a figure far more fascinating than Fellers.By contrast, the part of Fellers (Matthew Fox of "Lost") seems dull, unfocused, and even clumsy, particularly considering the crucial days in which it is set.
The contrast between the real beauty of Japan and the wartime devastation is particularly effective.This movie has many good things going for it, particularly Tommy Lee Jones (and MacArthur himself).
Starring Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas MacArthur and Matthew Fox as MacArthur's subordinate officer General Fellers, it is set against the backdrop of the early occupation of Japan by U.S. forces after World War 2.
Jones' MacArthur assigns the task to Matthew Fox's character as he is an expert on Japan - now Fox's character has only 10 days to investigate the Emperor's involvement and come to a decision.
In the meantime, the viewers also see flashbacks from Fellers' past, and there is a subplot involving Feller looking for his lost lover.Tommy Lee Jones is plainly having lots of fun as the blustering larger- than-life Douglas MacArthur, and Matthew Fox delivers a good performance with moments of extreme intensity.
The film was shot in New Zealand and Japan (in fact it's the first movie to film inside the Japanese Imperial Palace) and it's gorgeous - the ruins of bombed out Tokyo are especially impressive, and of course the Imperial Palace as a backdrop is fascinating.The quibble I had with the movie is that it tries to create a sense of urgency and suspense, but since it's based on historical events it largely fails.
For that alone the film is well worth watching.The setting of the film is 1945 when General MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) steps onto the shores of Japan as the Supreme Commander of the occupying forces.
Assigned to rebuild Japan after the war MacArthur selects General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), a man with a history with Japan before the war, including a love affair with a Japanese student Aya Shimada (Eriko Hatsune) in America before the war: Aya returned to Japan when relations with between Japan and the US began to dissolve and Fellers followed her for a futile attempt to overcome differences between cultures and impending historic changes, to investigate whether Emperor Hirohito (Takatarô Kataoka) should be tried and hanged as a war criminal.
The plot is straightforward: General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) is hired by General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) to investigate the role of Emperor Hirohito (Takataro Kataoka) during World War II, to investigate whether the Emperor should be tried as a war criminal.
However the film is about a lot more than just conduct during war; it is a story of cultural adaptation, as Fellers comes to know something about Japanese attitudes towards the conflict, and how they differ significantly from those embraced by the Americans.
In the fine biographical movie MacArthur which starred Gregory Peck as the controversial general only a small part was devoted to the years as Supreme Commander Allied Powers in charge of the occupation of Japan.
Matthew Fox is General Fellers and he's got another mission for himself, to find an exchange student from Japan from his youth and whom he knew up to the declaration of war between the USA and Japan.Tommy Lee Jones plays MacArthur and while he doesn't have that majestic cultured voice that MacArthur had, he still creates a good impression of the imperious general who had a dislike of civil authority.
He faced until the surrender the distinct possibility of being overthrown himself by one of his siblings.Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones and the Japanese cast are perfectly cast in their roles and I recommend this film as good entertainment and for those with an interest in the Far East..
I was a little surprised with the romantic subplot, since I was not expecting that but I enjoyed it.Peter Webber's film takes place right the Japanese surrender in World War Two. General Douglas MacArthur has a tough choice here.
Matthew Fox as General Bonner Fellers also does a good job as he puts together a report stating his beliefs about Hirohito.Overall, Emperor is a great film, especially from a historical perspective.
It's a thoughtful and (for the most part) balanced view of the dilemma facing MacArthur and the American occupation of what to do about Emperor Hirohito at the end of the Pacific war.
The American public and the Justice Department want the emperor tried as a war criminal and most likely hanged, while MacArthur knows he needs the emperor and his mystical appeal to the Japanese as a veritable god to effect the enormous political and social changes that he and the occupation authorities are planning for post-war Japan.
The 10-day evaluation period comprises a search for Hirohito's associates to solicit exonerating information about the emperor's wartime culpability and constitutes the focus of the film.Tommy Lee Jones plays Gen. MacArthur and he conveys the necessary swagger and command presence (see "The Fugitive") that the imperious general wore like a second skin.
Matthew Fox makes a very conscientious Gen. Fellers, and the Japanese actors, who are obscure to us but famous in Japan, do a marvelous job of portraying dignified, protective, demure (dare I say it: inscrutable) imperial officials who cannot explicitly exonerate the emperor but neither can they point to incriminating evidence.
In the film Gen. Fellers uses Hirohito's role in overcoming Japan's August 1945 Cabinet deadlock by directly speaking to the Japanese people to "endure the unendurable" to justify maintaining the emperor's role in post-war Japan, and MacArthur agrees which allows him to meet with the emperor, have that famous photo taken with just the two of them, and then proceed to unify the Japanese under the emperor's continuing presence to effect his reforms and to make Japan a U.S. ally in the post-war world.It is interesting to note that some of the same political (cold-war) issues were confronted in Stanley Kramer's "Judgment at Nuremberg"; some of the U.S. occupation officials in Germany were advising the prosecutors to be lenient with some of the Nazi judges on trial because Germany was going to be needed as an ally against the Soviets.
Following the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, American forces lead by General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) and General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) are tasked with finding out if the Emperor of Japan is guilty of war crimes.
General Fellers' story is one of the least known but most compelling stories of World War Two, and while the film takes several steps away from the truth, it brings to light both what the American military power and the Japanese culture had to go through at the end of one of the most internationally volatile periods in history.
Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones play polarising American WW2 army generals to a tee in Emperor, the compellingly true story of the aftermath of the war in Japan, and the concerted US effort to compile enough evidence to convict Japanese Emperor Hirohito of war crimes.
Trained on a seldom-acknowledged aspect of mankind's greatest battle, Emperor infuses a grand story with intimate relationships, making for a superb addition to the voluminous library of war on film.While Tommy Lee Jones relishes in playing every Tommy Lee Jones character ever (stealing all the best lines in the process) as the hard-nosed but cunning General MacArthur, Fox delivers a more grounded and arresting performance as Bonner Fellers, a man torn between his moral obligations and his duty to the army, and to an American public crying out for blood.
Director Peter Webber infuses a romantic subplot with Fellers' Japanese girlfriend Aya (Eriko Hatsune) neatly, filling a role but never interjecting into a story that, quite frankly, is underscored by the power of men post-war.
Its box office takings were predictably low and it was in theatres so briefly that I had to catch it on DVD which was certainly a worthwhile endeavour.In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur was made Supreme Commander in American- occupied Japan and one of his first and most momentous decisions was whether or not to execute Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal.
The acting is first-rate with Matthew Fox (best-known for the TV series "Lost") giving a sensitive performance as Fellers and Tommy Lee Jones perfectly cast as the swaggering MacArthur.
That place went to General Bonner Fellers (played by Matthew Fox.) Fellers was the American general who played a key role in investigating war crimes and making recommendations on charges to MacArthur.Ostensibly, the movie deals with the question of whether Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal.
That aside, the movie provides an interesting glimpse into the Japanese culture of the era, the reverence the Japanese held for their Emperor and the practical difficulties that would have been created by a trial.The movie weaves some of the quasi-historical narrative around the war crimes decision with a fictional story of a past romance between Fellers and a Japanese woman named Aya, that began at a college in the United States.
History buffs should have a very good time with "Emperor," an unusually interesting look at Japanese/American relations in the aftermath of World War II.Matthew Fox, of "Lost" fame, plays Brigadier General Bonner Fellers, the man whom General MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) has personally put in charge of determining whether or not the disgraced Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal (i.e., did he order or sign off on the attack on Pearl Harbor?).
Throughout the course of his investigation, Fellers is forced to find a way to deal with a culture and a people that, while they may appear modern on the surface, have their roots planted firmly in the ancient values of loyalty and shame.Even Feller's rather clichéd romance with a Japanese woman before the war nicely contributes to the themes the movie is exploring..
The latest Emperor brings Tommy Lee Jones playing the legendary General Douglas MacArthur along with Matthew Fox as General Bonner Fellers, but do they have the story to bring this historical story to life?
Emperor follows the end of World War II following the surrender of the Japanese as General MacArthur takes on the role of defacto ruler of Japan as General Fellers sets out on an investigation to determine if the Emperor of Japan should be tried and hanged as a war criminal.
The second involves a staff officer in MacArthur's entourage, one, General Bonner Fellers( Matthew Fox) who takes to his given assignment with great vigor, all the while recalling his past involvement with a beautiful Japanese woman named Eriko Hatsune (Aya Shimada).
It's about a lower level general investigating if the emperor is a war criminal, but most of his time is spent looking for his Japanese girlfriend.
The focus is on whether to charge Emperor Hirohito with war crimes and Japanese culture.
Emperor mixes fact with fiction and introduces a clichéd love story subplot which detracts from the film.The film follows US Army Brigadier General Bonner Frank Fellers (Matthew Fox) who spent time in Japan before the outbreak of the war and ordered by General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) to decide whether Emperor Hirohito regarded as a living god by the Japanese should be tried and hung as a war criminal.
In the mean time the US Forces are rounding up the guilty men who were in power in Japan when it allied itself with the Germans.Mixed with this interesting aspect of the plot is a dull romance angle of trying to find a Japanese student he fell in love with in a messed up post war Japan which has just been nuked.The machinations and politicking regarding whether the Emperor should be tried is fascinating and helped by a broad, brash performance by Lee Jones.Matthew Fox though is rather hindered by the script which fails to make his character interesting because of the fictionalized part of the story.
Fellers, played by Mathew Fox, has been advised by MacArthur that he and the American public want to see Hirohito stand trial as a war criminal.
There are a number of flashbacks, as Fellers tries to understand their love affair in the context of the differences between western and Japanese culture, something that has been done a number of times in films.
After the Japanese surrender, General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) is part of General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones)'s delegation.
Much of this anger was directed at Emperor Hirohito who was seen as the instigator of the war.General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the occupation force in Japan and tasked with the job of finding and arresting war criminals.
MacArthur knew what the execution of Hirohito would do to the Japanese people and desperately needed an excuse to spare him.The film follows the efforts of General Bonner Fellers who, under MacArthur's orders was placed in charge of this difficult job.
Fellers though has another very personal mission: Discovering the fate of a young Japanese woman he had fallen in love with before the war and tried to protect after being placed in charge of strategic bombing missions against Japan by rerouting them away from where she lived.Several people share their stories with him of what happened during the war, including his girlfriend's uncle who had served in the military in the war.It is rare for government officials to act wisely and even more rare for film makers to produce such a fine work as Emperor!.
You might have heard that what few Scenes Tommy Lee Jones as General Douglas Macarthur has in this Lightweight Misfire can be Bonafide Theft, the other side is that Matthew Fox who's on Screen most of the Time gets Blown Away by almost Everyone He Stands Beside.That's not going to Bode Well for this Talky, Dry, and Deluded Movie that is about the Investigation into Japan's God Emperor and just how much Guilt should be Assigned to a Deity.
It is a Film that has Lost its way along the way, Insisting on making much of an Interracial Affair as a Metaphor for the Post War Coming Together of the former Enemies.The Film works just Fine when it Attempts to Understand the Emperor and His Role in Military Affairs with Interviews and Investigations, but Overlaying the Interesting Aspects of all this is a Miscast Fox and a Deadly Droll Love Story best left to Something Else.There are some High Spots, like the End when Macarthur and the Emperor Exchange Eye Contact, but getting there is so much Ridiculous Romping that does nothing but Siphon the Enormity of the Events and Render them the Stuff of Popular Romantic Fiction..
Therefore he should be hanged as a criminal.There is a telling scene where a Japanese leader tells the American investigator, General Fellers, (played by Matthew Fox) who leads the team charged with deciding on the fate of the emperor that none of the US, British, French or Dutch leaders had been tried for bombarding, terrorising and conquering Asian countries which had then become part of their empires. |
tt0119893 | Photographing Fairies | In Switzerland in 1912, photographer Charles Castle (Toby Stephens) and Anna-Marie, his fiancèe, are married in an Alpine church. The following day, they are walking in the mountains when a snowstorm closes in. They are returning to the village when a crevasse opens and Anna-Marie falls into it. Charles tries to pull her out but he loses his grip and she dies. During the Great War, Castle serves as an army photographer in the trenches of France. He is photographing corpses with his assistant Roy (Phil Davis) when a mortar lands close by. Roy returns to the trenches but Castle seems unconcerned and continues photographing. He returns to the trenches just before the mortar explodes.
After the war, Castle and Roy run a photographic studio in London. Castle specialises in photographic trick work, including photomontage. He attends a lecture at the Theosophical Society, where Arthur Conan Doyle is examining a projected image of the Cottingley Fairies. Conan Doyle seems convinced they are genuine, but Castle stands, publicly debunks the image and hands out business cards to the audience.
At his studio, Castle is visited by Beatrice Templeton (Frances Barber), who shows him a photograph of her daughter. She is convinced that a mysterious shape is a fairy, but Castle dismissed the idea. However, he investigates the photograph, sees the shape laterally reflected in the girl's eye and makes multiple large prints to discover how the picture was made. Unable to explain or debunk the photograph, Castle hastily travels to see Beatrice in a village called Birkenwell, where upon arrival he sees and recognises Templeton's daughters, Ana (Miriam Grant) and Clara (Hannah Bould), and follows them to their home. Beatrice tells Castle that the photograph no longer matters – she has seen the fairies. She asks him to meet her at the great tree in Birkenwell Woods the following day.
At the appointed time, Castle walks to the great tree, where Beatrice is waiting. Before he arrives, she removes her hat and shoes then climbs the tree. When he arrives, Castle discovers Beatrice's removed clothing, then finds her lifeless body on the ground. After making a statement at the local police station, Castle encounters the Templeton girls, who are greeted by their father Nicholas, a Christian minister.
Nicholas reluctantly allows Castle to remain since the girls seem to like him and he is concerned about their behavior. Castle discovers that Beatrice had been documenting her daughters' odd behavior, and in her notes finds that she had been experimenting with a distinctive rare flower. Having already noticed Ana and Clara consuming the flower themselves, Castle takes some himself and discovered that it allows him to see the fairies that Beatrice and her daughters saw.
Castle calls in his business partner and assistant to set up a photo shoot using his most advanced equipment. After consuming the flower again and having them photograph the experience, Castle concludes that fairies do exist, and that the flower allows the brain to slow down enough so that they can be seen and interacted with, as they normally move so fast that only the most advanced of cameras can photograph them. Castle's obsession comes to a head when one day, a fed-up Nicholas starts burning his equipment; although Castle is too deep under the flower's influence to initially care, he flies into a rage when some of the fairies drift too close and catch fire. Castle assaults and kills Nicholas and is subsequently arrested.
Refusing to defend himself, Castle is found guilty and sentenced to hang, while Ana and Clara are put into foster care, though they seem to care little about the situation. Castle bids farewell to his associates and faces his death without fear. The final scene returns to the Alps, where Castle is trying to save Anna-Marie. This time he is successful in pulling her back up to the path, and they embrace and continue walking. | psychedelic, fantasy, murder, suspenseful | train | wikipedia | Following a visit to a Philosophical Society meeting where he debunks the mystical by explaining tricks of the camera along side Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he is approached by a woman who has taken a photograph of her daughter with a fairy standing in her hand and is asked to try and disprove the pictures using empirical logic and the modern camera obscura.
Photographing Fairies is as surprising and touching a movie as it is haunting.
High-quality cinema at its best - great acting, a clever story, superb special effects, spell binding soundtrack, and an intriguing examination of the religious and philosophical questions we all face.
Toby Stephens gives a stunning performance as a character, Charles Castle who radiates Humanity and feeling, portraying the personal conflict of a man grasping for understanding years after the tragic accidental death of his wife on their honeymoon.
Its challenge is to the basis of belief itself, and begs to ask a single daunting question "What if heaven were as real as a place?" Much of the magic that makes Photographing Fairies such a resounding success is the elements of love / death / and the longing to recapture ones state of personal grace.
Plot finds Stephens as photographer Charles Castle, a level headed man who took delight in debunking the Cottingley Fairies pictures as being fake.
Released the same year, that film was called Fairy Tale: A True Story, a very nice film in its own right, but this is a very different animal.
Very much a unique film, Photographing Fairies has a number of words that frequently crop up when reading about, or discussing it.
Ultimately it's the word mystical that best sums it up, with the film weaving together intriguing premise's that in turn are played out with gorgeous visuals.
The movie poses many questions as it explores the likes of paganism, animism and the role of hallucinogens in bringing to life a world beyond the physical one we all know.
Refreshingly, we the audience are not fed the answers, and the film is all the better for it.More known for his work on music videos, Nick Willing blasted out of the directing blocks with this as his debut big screen offering.
Emily Woof (Velvet Goldmine/The Full Monty) also shines bright in the difficult (spiritual) romantic role, while the child actors are thankfully adorable and never annoying.A film to capture the imagination of those with an open mind or for those with a leaning to the mystical, Photographing Fairies is a little gem.
I happen to have a fascination with fairies so I figured this would be an interesting film.
Indeed I was right The first film I saw pertaining to the story of two young girls photographing fairies was FairyTale: A True Story which was cute but I constantly found myself yawning and wondering when it would end.
He sets out to find the truth, if fairies really do exist, and along the way he ends up discovering a world so precious and sacred that he'd do anything to keep it safe from harm.
A few years ago I stumbled across this book by Steve Szilagyi (quite a name he got himself there), I read it a couple of times, thought it was an entertaining story with some interesting themes...
Really brilliant use of slow motion, not just for kicks, as a gimmick, even though it looks ravishing as well, but actually done in a meaningful way with regards to the plot (though that's easier to see if you've read the book).The writers have changed a lot with regards to the plot; shuffled around, condensed, introduced new scenes/characters, and so on, but that's like it should be.
There is also the inherent problem a book like this one poses when turned into a movie; how do you visualize ideas and thoughts.
Film is a literal medium, and so it can't hide things the way language can, this film proofs that by coming up short in some of the books most magnificent sequences (but it improves on others); this isn't a fault from the filmmakers, what can they do after all, but it is a problem when they've chosen a story that is essentially more about mystical/spiritual question (going all new age here) then it is about the literal discovery of fairies.
Photographing Fairies (or Apparition as it was tagged by our local Pay TV provider) is on such movie.Toby Stephens plays Charles Castle (Stephens to me has some strikingly similar traits to Hugh Grant), who tragically lost his wife on the Swiss Alps.
The movie chronicles his struggles to come to grips with her death and how the possibility of an afterlife (I don't wish to give the story away)makes him obsessed to prove that there is such an afterlife.I was impressed by Stephens in this movie and am sure that bigger things will come his way.
Woof was very good in the Woodlanders and continues her fine form here.Ben Kingsley is also commanding in the movie and his counternance to Stephens desire to prove the existence of the fairies is the keystone of the movie's conclusion.I tend to like movies that have story lines that I have not come across before.
Appropriately, in a film full of echoes and symbols, this long shot out from Castle's wife's iris recalls his later, obsessive, photographic enlargement of another eye: that of one of the girls photographed with fairies.The death of his wife then reduces Castle further, through grief and shock, to a state almost like that of a somnambulist.
He walks through life, hovering between the shades, oblivious to fear and the concerns of the real world - as evidenced by the unexploded bomb he encounters without any sense of danger, ticking like the time piece he keeps to remember his wife.
Even when a new sexual relationship becomes a possibility, later in the film, he cannot rejoin this aspect of life though spiritual malaise.This thread is continued later in the scene later where Castle enters the church to hear a sermon by the bereaved Kingsley.
Now he appears, bloodied like a victim in Macbeth, as the pale ghost at the ceremony..Castle's attempt to photograph fairies, spirits who hover between life and death, is obviously an attempt to capture something back from the spirit world that has captured his wife.
Such is the delicacy and subtlety of the films structure and symbolism, however, that at the end one could feasibly argue that Castle actually died with his wife on the mountain and - rather like in The Occurrence At Owl Bridge Creek - what has happened since the opening scenes has just been the dream of a dying man!Performances are generally excellent (although Ben Kingsley's wig and stare are slightly disconcerting).
Only at the end of the film does recognise that the bass-motif is an altered element of the famous Beethoven slow movement which plays throughout the last few scenes.
For a short while, fairies will exist in the small world containing only you and this movie..
Leave it to a British production company to bring to film an extraordinary story of the occult at a mature, intelligent level and in a spellbinding scenario tell the truth about the nature of spiritual reality
all that there really is.
One of the best movies I have ever seen in my life and believe me I have seen quite many.With Beethoven's music this film becomes nearly perfect.It's shocking from start to end and what an end it is!
Don't let the title fool you into thinking that this is some children's movie about fairies.
Instead it's more about the dangers of "seeing is believing." The movie dances on the question: Are these fairies real or am I hallucinating?
Whenever any of the characters becomes enticed by the fairies or uses piety as a shield, they end up causing grief for the others.Like many British movies, "Photographing Fairies" is elegant, formal and very carefully put together.
This film features many of the same characters as FT, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, two cute little girls, and the Theosophical Society, and theme, we are taken on a very dark journey that explores use of halluciongenic plants as a way to view the fairy folk.
There are no fairy tale happy endings here.Go ahead and rent this film and FT.
The reviews were merely making fun of the rather unconvincing fairies rather than looking at the film as a whole.
In fact I was not tempted to see it at all but ended up watching it while doing work experience as an usherette in a local cinema.The fairies are not the latest in technology but it is a small yet intensely beautiful and haunting film that I suspect could only be made outside of Hollywood.
What follows is a tale of obsession, magic, faith, violence and loss.The acting is superb and intense (Ben Kingsley plays a wonderfully malevolent vicar).
How can anyone watch this and not be struck dumb.The music is so haunting that it will reverberate in your head and soul for days after.How fantastic not have to endure "shoot em up" themes but to let fantasy run its course leaving you disturbed but in a wonderful way.This film is on a par with "Out of Africa" as my "dumbstuck" movies.The film ends but you can't move, your senses are so overwhelmed that you will be unable to regain reality for some time.This is a film for those who enjoy wonderful music and appreciate a plot that stirs emotions, imagination and the intellect..
It's hard to reallydescribe the movie -- part love story, part fantasy, with a little bit ofthe Big Question over exactly what the afterlife is.
Thecinematography is absolutely picturesque, almost like watching aMerchant Ivory production, but with a bit of fairy magic thrown in.Ben Kingsley is an interesting addition to the cast.
This film was inspired by the famous "Cottingley Fairy" photographs, where, in 1917, two girls produced pictures which they claimed showed fairies at the bottom of their garden.
In this film, a cynical photographer, still grieving over the death of his wife, becomes obsessed by some photographs which he believes show genuine fairies.The films well made, but it is very slow-moving.
The atmosphere is very somber, in fact the whole thing is surprisingly bleak.This had the misfortune to be released around the same time as "Fairy Tale: A True Story", which was also based on the Cottingley photographs, and was far more successful.
(and anyone disposed to fast forwarding nudity, the only sex scene in the movie has an important line at the end and you will miss the whole effect (which is great) if you skip it).
Photographing fairies is a film that juxtaposes Edwardian life with the supernatural and the advent of photographic technology.
Nick Willing's 1997 film has a stellar cast Toby Stephens plays the young ex-army photographer who after experiencing grief goes on a long emotional journey as he come to terms with the loss of his wife.
Stephen's character is still searching for the love of his life and I feel still questioning the absoluteness of death.
If you enjoyed the Harvey Keitel/Mel Gibson film "Fairy Tale: A True Story" but yearn for something more in the vein of dark fantasy...
And, yes, there are real fairies in this movie...
Not for children, this moving, beautiful film tells the story of hope and faith in a world where death is the common denominator.
If you love fairies, good acting, romance, and a tight story, this film is for you!.
This movie was beautifully filmed, wonderfully acted, and the story was excellent.
It will remind you of the times you were small and played at fairies yourself and make you wonder if maybe they were really there..
Not at all a children's movie despite the fantasy premise, this is surprisingly quite a dark mystery tale, even if it is a bit too whimsical for its own good.
The film puts a unique spin on ideas about fairies, and it has some things to say about believing what one wants to believe.
He leads you through this lovely story and makes you believe there is another world beyond where we exist.
He had a great supporting cast Emily Woof, the beautiful Rachel Shelly, Ben Kingsley the little girls..
It had an endearing love story of a man obsessed with the wife he lost embedded in this mystery of the fairies.
Yet this film is so much better than most movies I see today.
It has a good story line, mysterious and intriguing, great acting, what can I say but do watch it if you haven't seen it you will be pleasantly surprised..
When my husband called from the video store asking if we should rent this movie, I thought it was the recent film "Fairy Tale" but the title had been changed.
Whereas "Fairy Tale" had a very short run in the US, this movie did not and I've never heard or seen any of the actors before except Ben Kingsley & Edward Hardwicke (son of actor Cedric Hardwicke).
Photographing Fairies is a deceptive title for a film that is more than a simple tale of two little girls who claimed to photograph little flying sprites in rural Birkinwell, England.
Templeton's wife Beatrice approached Castle with the photograph offering evidence of fairies with their young daughters.
Wonderful period costuming, locations, and soundtrack have been commented on by others and all in all, Photographing Fairies is worth the watch..
I thought it was a repeat of the other fairy film, realised it wasn't and it thoroughly captivated me through to the end, by then you have an idea what may happen.
It just seems a shame the 'love interest' in the film ends up unrequited, or did I miss something?
It's also a beautiful movie about photography, one that sees its magic and its illusionary character from a very different angle than Antonioni's "Blow-up", but then marginally comes to similar conclusions about the art.(By the way, I believe that the "factual error" pointed out on this board, that photography has always been forbidden in British courts, is actually a purposeful licence rather than mistake: Charles is bombarded by flashes the same way like when he tried to capture the fairies, and the sound also resembles the actual bombings from the WW1 sequence.
It therefore makes a very nice touch.) Another great asset of the story is that we never know what is what - I keep wondering which world and which story is real: the one that we are immersed in after Charles recovers in Switzerland, or the one that unites the beginning and the end: the attempt at saving the wife's life.
He is blind when he is being treated in Switzerland, and all the main story may as well be his ravings when he's dying: we never see him regain sight and walk, we are moved to the trenches immediately, and he does not behave like a living man there.And maybe Charles is a fairy to begin with?
The inverted sequence of the ball, the mystery of the door - all this points at some unrealistic touch to the main storyline.The actors are superb; I wish Toby Stephens played more characters like this, his Charles is an absolute masterpiece, particularly in the last scenes.
The girls are fine (both Emily Woof and Frances Barber give really grasping performances), and so is Edward Hardwicke Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - a nice touch in the story, which is after all based on the hoax that played such a prominent role in his life..
The second reason was that I'd seen that other fairy-movie based on the same events involving a photograph showing a true fairy at the beginning of the 20th century.
That movie was FAIRYTALE: A TRUE STORY and was released the same year as PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES.
Even though I recall liking FAIRYTALE a little bit more, I still have to say that Nick Willing made an astonishingly beautiful debut with PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES.The movie is part love-story, part fairy-tale mystery, part drama and that's what slows the general development towards the final conclusion a bit down.
The acting was very decent all the time, especially Toby Stephens playing Charles Castle.
The movie has a very nice musical score by Simon Boswell, but it does feel a bit too dominant at times.
There were quite a lot of elements in the story I liked (the flower used as a drug to alter perception, the origin of the fairies,...) and I also liked the ending.
Sadly the real world isn't perfect, end of story.
This is a metaphysical fantasy, a type of story I'd like to see more of in films.
(It is not a dramatization of Conan Doyle's fairy folly, although Doyle is a character in the story.) Unlike most films it presents a conflict of philosophies of life, death, sex, and religion, through characters representing the opposing viewpoints.
But this film is far from poor, it tells a type of story I particularly like, yet I disliked it very strongly.
Two girl cousins claimed to have seen fairies and took photographs with them.
Their claims generated a lot of interest and followership including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who believed their stories after subjecting the photographs to authentication tests.It was later in the 80s that the cousins admitted the photos were fake after advanced technology in computer and photography showed discrepancies in the pictures.However, this film is still a gem.
I'm neither an attention seeker nor depressed but PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES is not a great film.
The movie is beautifully filmed and the props are great, as is the acting (NOTE: supporting cast is particularly noteworthy).
In the end though, PHOTOGRAPHING FAIRIES either is trying to do too much or, alternately, is not sure what it wants to do! |
tt0074695 | Cross of Iron | The movie opens with a German children's song, "Hänschen klein", mixed with black-and-white footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to color and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner (James Coburn), during which his men capture a Russian boy-soldier (Slavko Štimac).
An aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), is posted as a new battalion commander in the Kuban bridgehead on the Eastern Front in 1943. Stransky proudly tells the regimental commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason), and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel (David Warner), that he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross.
When Stransky meets Steiner for the first time, he orders Steiner to shoot the boy prisoner in strict observance of a standing order. When Steiner refuses, Stransky prepares to shoot the boy himself, but at the last moment, Corporal Schnurrbart (Fred Stillkrauth) saves the boy by volunteering to do it. Later, Stransky informs Steiner that he has been promoted to Senior Sergeant, and is puzzled by Steiner's nonchalant response. Stransky also discovers that his adjutant, Lieutenant Triebig (Roger Fritz), is a closet homosexual after Stransky surreptitiously sees Triebig stroking the cheek of an enlisted orderly, Josef Keppler.
While waiting for an anticipated attack, Steiner releases the young Russian, only to see the boy killed by advancing Soviet troops. As Stransky cowers in his bunker, Lieutenant Meyer (Igor Galo), the respected leader of Steiner's company, is killed while leading a successful counterattack. Steiner is wounded in the same battle trying to rescue a German soldier and is sent to a military hospital to recover. There, he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy (in a dream sequence prior to waking from a coma), and has a romantic liaison with his nurse (Senta Berger).
After he has recovered, Steiner is offered a home leave but decides instead to return to his men. When he arrives, Steiner is informed that Stransky has claimed that he, not Meyer, led the successful counterattack, and has been nominated for the Iron Cross. Stransky named as witnesses Triebig (blackmailing him with his homosexuality), and Steiner. Stransky tries to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim by promising to look after him after the war. Brandt questions Steiner in the hope that he will expose Stransky's lies, but Steiner only states that he hates all officers, even those as "enlightened" as Brandt and Kiesel, and requests a few days to ponder his answer.
When his battalion is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not notify Steiner's platoon, abandoning them. Making their way back through now enemy territory, the men capture an all-female Russian detachment. While Steiner is busy, Zoll (Arthur Brauss), a despised Nazi Party member, takes one of the women into the barn to rape her. She bites off his genitals and he kills her. Meanwhile, young Dietz, left to guard the rest of the women alone, is distracted and killed as well. Disgusted, Steiner locks Zoll up with the vengeful Russian women, taking their uniforms to use as a disguise.
As the men near the German lines, they radio ahead to avoid friendly fire. Stransky suggests to Triebig that Steiner and his men be 'mistaken' for Russians. Triebig orders his men to shoot the incoming Germans; only Steiner, Krüger and Anselm survive. Triebig denies responsibility, but Steiner kills him and goes looking for Stransky.
At this moment, the Soviets launch a major assault. Brandt orders Kiesel to be evacuated, telling him that men like him will be needed to rebuild Germany after the war. Brandt then rallies the fleeing troops for a counterattack. The same children's song plays again, until the final credits.
Steiner confronts Stransky and, instead of killing him, offers him a weapon in order to see "where the crosses of iron grow". Stransky accepts Steiner's "challenge", and they head off together for the battle. The film closes with Stransky trying to figure out how to reload his MP40, while being shot at by an adolescent Russian soldier who resembles the boy-soldier released by Steiner. When Stransky asks Steiner for help, Steiner begins to laugh. The laughter continues through the credits and pictures of civilian victims from World War II and later conflicts. | boring, cruelty, murder, realism, anti war, cult, violence, flashback, historical, sadist | train | wikipedia | The carnage occurs in the choreographed slow motion which Peckinpah made his signature.James Coburn turns in one of his finest roles as Rolf Steiner, a highly decorated NCO who leads a German reconnaissance squad.
CROSS OF IRON has a much better script.Maybe the battle scenes of SPR are slightly more gory but at best they`re only as good as the ones in this film.
James Mason plays the battle hardened Colonel whilst David Warner co-stars as his cynical aide de camp.Using the limited time and budget to it's fullest extent, Peckinpah created a very stylish and action packed film.
What I liked about this movie was the fact that Coburn, Warner and Mason didn't bother to use fake Teutonic accents.If you're a viewer of war films or a Peckinpah fan, this has to be on top of your list.
I don't know if the story is based on true facts, but the movie certainly gives a good idea of what the war at the Eastern Front was like, especially after the Germans had suffered a major loss in Stalingrad.
This was perhaps the most devastating line to be fighting on during World War Two, and as expected there is a lot of death and gore, not to mention filth, sweat and treachery.James Coburn plays a German soldier with an almost God-like air of invincibility about him.
The story follows ace platoon NCO Steiner (Coburn) as he holds together his elite but war-weary men & deals with his officers: wise Colonel Brandt (Mason), dissolute adjutant Kiesel (Warner), heroic Lt. Meier (Galo) and weaselly Lt. Triebig (Fritz).
Hardest to deal with is his company commander, the ambitious, arrogant Captain Stransky (Schell) who transferred from the comfort of France to the horrors of the East to, as Kiesel notes, achieve 'spiritual domination' of the war, symbolized by his obsession with winning the Iron Cross.
Peckinpah's operatic violence contrasts with the crushing, unmanning action depicted in versions of 'All Quiet in the Western Front.' To balance making a film about the most demonized military machine in history, Peckinpah is at pains to depict ALL the major German characters, even Stransky, as anti-Nazi.
'Cross of Iron' is a unique work, either as a war film, an action movie or even a Peckinpah work..
When Colonel Brandt (James Mason) gives the order to leave the position in the front, Stransky does not retransmit the order to Steiner's squad, and they are left alone surrounded by the enemy and having to fight to survive.The impact of "Iron Cross" in the 70's was amazing and even thirty years later and having watched this movie for the third time, it is still one of the best war movies of the 70's.
How they worried about their buddies, how they disliked they superior officers, how, they fought for their comrades, as opposed to fighting for Hitler, as historians would have you believe.Stg. Steiner, played by the late James Coburn, is a very disillusioned German soldier, who doesn't care about moving in the ranks.
Stransky is seen by Steiner as an iron-cross-seeking jackal, who cares only about obtain said medal, even if it cost the lives of the men.The war scenes are awesome...chaotic ...just like real war.
I saw some of the comments on this movie, and I shook my head in disbelief...this is perhaps the best WW2 movie ever made, and I'm in good company in recommending this film; Orson Welles said "Cross Of Iron" was the best film about fighting men ever made."Saving Private Ryan" may get tons of plaudits, but apart from a diligent art department getting hold of the proper uniforms and equipment, and the docu-drama camera-work, Spielberg's work is just another one of his cheesefests with a visceral opening scene.
Top Hollywood actors such as Coburn and Mason blend in very well with a great German supporting cast (Klaus Lowitsch as the unit slob, Corporal Kruger, is particularly good) but it's the ever excellent David Warner who steals every scene.Those who say "this isn't a good film" really need their tastes re-examining..
Photographed by John Coquillon in Yugoslavia in low budget with money put up by a West German porn producer and the ending wasn't the original ending in the script , at the time the film had run out of money so Sam Peckinpah got James Coburn to improvise .Director Peckinpah proved had not lost the touch that made Cross of Iron one of his best movies and is the only World War II film directed by Sam Peckinpah .
Hardcore Peckinpah moviegoers will appreciate this one more than the casual spectator.'Cross of Iron' is followed by an inferior sequel titled 'Breakthrough' a boring war movie with all-star-cast as Richard Burton , Rod Steiger , Robert Mitchum , Curd Jurgens though really wasted in which the command under orders Steiner must participate in suicidal missions , Steiner-Burton tries to contact enemy for a treaty of peace and later on , they prepare an assault over a strong position located on the hill where are the Allied tanks ..
It also has the added (peculiar) distinction of being one of the only WWII war films with German protagonists.Coburn totally commands the screen as the brilliant Steiner, a platoon Sergeant who hates officers and war but feels a strong obligation to his men, who love him and trust his leadership.
The film simply pulls no cheap tricks and is not afraid to show war as a nasty place where men on both sides often die from the same artillery barrage, children die, both sides brutalize others, etc...To top it off, James Coburn gives a great lead performance and David Warner, who never quite made it to stardom, has a great supporting role.
Unlike typical characters, though, Stransky's disillusionment grows throughout the piece, until a nail-biting climax involving a Russian assault on a rubble-strewn German rail yard, the outcome of which is never clearly determined.Steiner and his men are the heroes of this film.
In the Cross of Iron Sam Peckinpah has made an astonishing honest and realistic movie about what it was like to be in the front line of the bloodiest war of this century - if not ever.
A fine movie, made even more interesting by the fact that it's one of the few movies ("Das Boot" would be another example) that depicts the Second World War strictly from the German perspective, "Cross of Iron" is notable for the performances from a strong collection of actors, headlines by James Coburn as Sgt. Steiner.
This method of dealing with "The Nazi Problem" is really quite common in films from Germany as well as from other nations and does depend a bit on a popularized German stereotype, but it is effective in separating the actions of the common soldier from that of the regime, though one wonders how different this film would be if the enemy had been the Americans or British, rather than the admittedly inhumane Soviets.These distinctions aside the film is a fantastic testament to the ability of the independent and human spirit to endure the ravages of most brutal war and is certainly worth a watching for anyone interested in war films or cinema in general..
Out on the Eastern Front 1943, battered by the war itself, a war they are losing, a platoon of German soldiers must also cope with a new aristocratic commander who deeply covets the Cross Of Iron, Germany's highest medal of honour.Universally hated and panned by the critics upon its release, Cross Of Iron now stands up as one of director Sam Peckinpah's finest works.
Then it's at the mid point when you realise that Peckinpah (possibly chuckling away into his stein of beer) has neatly led us into sympathy for the enemy of the good old war film, the German soldier.
But, compared to the usually sanitized war films, this one is superior in this sense.The story is about a particularly indestructible German soldier named Steiner (James Coburn).
If you are going to rent a bunch of war movies Cross of Iron belong up there with Saving Private Ryan, Platoon and All Quiet On the Western Front.
All of them memorable movies that won deserved critical acclaim.Cross of Iron is a film that has been continually overlooked in this context which is a great shame because for me its probably his second best film after WB.Definitely an anti-war film taken from the ordinary German soldier's perspective.
Not quite in the same league as All Quiet on the Western Front, but very emotionally involving for all that.James Coburn plays cynical Sgt Steiner a man who has seen enough killing and is sick of it, even though he won the Iron Cross,he regards it as nothing more than a piece of useless metal.Contrast this to Maximilian Schell's Captain Stransky, Steiner's commander.
Nazism isn't even questioned here - there are no stereotypical jack booted Jerries or mad ranting generals; just ordinary men fighting for their own personal ends.As usual we have the typical Peckinpah trademarks of slow mo action sequences of men being tossed in the air like litter as well as the cold blooded inhumanities one man (or woman in this case) can inflict upon another.But in addition, and which is never really made clear in this film, is that this particular conflict isn't just about class and Iron Crosses but also of a Children's Crusade.
Leading them is Steiner (James Coburn), a crusty but sympathetic non-com who quickly finds himself on the bad side of his new commander, the incompetent, glory-seeking Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell)."Men like Steiner are our last hope, and in that sense he is truly a most dangerous man," observes another, more reasonable officer (David Warner).He certainly kills well.
And since the anti-war movie was now en vogue (despite not being timely in any specific sense) a humane story about a platoon of disillusioned Germans amid the chaos of defeat could work as well as any other.Cross of Iron was adapted from a German novel, with a screenplay by Julius Epstein of all people.
Returning from a patrol on the Russian front in WWII, our hero Steiner and his platoon find a new commander, an arrogant Prussian officer who wants the 'Cross of Iron' although he lacks the heroic act needed to earn Germany's highest military honor.
The decorated platoon leader Rolf Steiner(Coburn) gets on the nerves of newly arrived Prussian upper class-raised coward Captain Stransky, who is hungry for an Iron Cross, the highest honor that could be bestowed upon a member of the German army back then.
Directed by Sam Peckinpah (his only war film), it gives many incites into Nazi Germany's domestic and foreign policies, and some into the Soviet Union's too.Cross Of Iron is based upon Willi Heinrich's book 'Das geduldige Fleisch' (or Willing Flesh), 1956.
They still were not used as combat soldiers, unlike the Soviet's, as the Nazi leadership claimed that only sub-human Slavs and Bolsheviks would use women in this way.Cross Of Iron was released in 1977, which makes it a contemporary of three other famed World War II films: A Bridge Too Far (1977), Midway (1976), and MacArthur (1977).
Unlike these three films, the director, Sam Peckinpah, clearly makes an effort to effort to demythologise World War II, and its perspective, the events are shown through German soldiers, makes it interesting and singular.
Cross of Iron is the brutal tale by Sam Peckinpah, of a small platoon of German troopers lost behind Russian lines.
When I first saw this movie I was 5 years old.Since that day every time I see a war movie,I always consider it with 'Cross Of Iron'.Nowadays everybody is saying that 'Saving Private Ryan' is the best war movie ever made,but there's a big difference.Unlike SPR,COI is an anti-war movie and its bloody scenes are not for entertaining people like in the movie SPR.The foolishness of war and the cheap price of the human life is very well portraited in this movie.Additionaly the battlefield and the accesories are very authenic(Except the T-34/85 in 1943!).A must see....
Sam Peckinpah did a real classic war film with Cross Of Iron.
CROSS OF IRON jumps from shot to shot very quickly, with almost every second one showing a soldier dying theatrically in slow motion in front of an explosion.You also don't get a good sense of the geography of the various battle scenes - once characters are in a trench, in the next shot they are shown inside a building and after that they are suddenly in the woods (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN does this way better f.
All in all, the battle scenes move way too quickly, even if they are well done from a technical standpoint.This action-heavy tone conflicts very much with the few attempts of seriousness througout the movie - especially at the end, when the film all of a sudden decides to show us random pictures of war crimes and the Holocaust, which feels very disconnected to the film.Although the acting is generally good, the relationship between Steiner and Stransky isn't thorougly explored and the whole psychological aspect of the film falls flat and feels kind of superficial.The film isn't bad by any means, just not as good as I expected going in.
The transition is seamless though, not only because some of his Westerns contained military characters and war as their backdrop, or the opportunity it gives him for gripping bloody action, but perhaps most crucially because it enables him to explore his favourite themes in a new setting.As usual with Peckinpah, foremost among the themes of this film are men, their loyalty to one another, a team of hard-bitten old stagers fighting a losing battle buffeted by forces beyond their control, and sticking to your code in a brutal world.
James Coburn is brilliant as Steiner, ably supported by a range of character actors as his comrades in the trenches, with a great international cast providing their support, including James Mason, David Warner and Maximilian Schell as Steiner's antagonist, the ambitious but devious Stransky.To Peckinpah's eternal credit though, while telling his story of rough men in a rougher world, he gives a superbly detailed account of the squalor, fear, brutality and futility of the war on the Russian front.
One of it's main objective is to recaptured the Crimea and Taman Peninsulas and it's there where the movie "Cross of Iron" takes place.Sgt. Steiner, James Coburn, had been out on reconnaissance with his platoon and during a fire fight with the Soviet troops he captures a young Russian boy that later, instead of having him shot, not only spears his life but escorts the kid back to the Russian lines.
Having served in the military myself I can attest to the believability of the characters, the conditions the infantry soldier must endure, and the sheer terror of war.The cast were well chosen to portray the characteristics of the enlisted, the NCO'S and commissioned officers.James Coburn is masterful in his adaption the character's responsibilities in leading men in the trenches.James Mason seamlessly slides into the role of the autocratic Prussian desperate to measure up to his family military history by being awarded the Iron Cross, first class, by any means possible.The humanity of war is clearly shown in its actions and repercussions of those actions taken just to survive.I highly recommend this film.The Mutant Poodle.
'Cross of Iron' is much more intense than any Hollywood WWII movie, especially those glorious almost pro-war films of the time.
Solid yet rough around the edges war epic (the only war movie that Sam Peckinpah made) that closely examins a soldier's ability to deal with life, death, and other issues while fighting on the front lines in any war.In the movie, a bitter and war weary German staff sergeant, Rolf Steiner (the late James Coburn) is forced to deal with another dilemma besides trying to keep the moral of his recon unit up instead of down on the Eastern Front.
The dilemma being is his new superior officer, Captain Stransky (Maxmillian Schell), who is a Prussian and is determined to get what Steiner already has - The Iron Cross (the highest military award that a German soldier can earn for those who don't know) at any cost.The film is marvelous although it has some areas where it's weak yet the harsh battle scenes depicted here would give another WWII movie a run for its' money.
And Peckinpah has chosen a great cast, most of all James Coburn (a favorite actor for me) and James Mason performs good even if they never ever has been close to be Germans.There is almost no weak spot I can find in "Cross of Iron".
The storyline concerns a German World War II captain who's main goal is to earn himself the Iron Cross (Maximilian Schell), and how he butts heads with a corporal who's just trying to do his business and survive (James Coburn).
Sam Pekinpaugh has given us a big war-time movie situated on the Russian front, starring James Coburn as the savvy and taciturn Sgt. Steiner and Maximilian Schell as the newly arrived, dapper, Junker aristo, eager for the Iron Cross, the decoration given only for heroism in battle.
Steiner(Coburn, battling that German accent, but I still liked him in the part and felt he fit the role well), a veritable war hero respected by many, has one and stands in the way of Stransky getting just that.
With the red army pushing the Germans back, contempt turns to disgust after Stransky takes credit for the heroic actions of Steiner and his men and leaves them at the mercy of the Soviets.Steeped in deliciously morbid cynicism, Sam Peckinpah's only war movie captures military life on the hellish eastern front with unparalled skill.
Directed by Sam Peckinpah, "Cross of Iron" stars James Coburn as Corporal Steiner, a German officer who leads a ragged band of soldiers against Russian forces during WW2. |
tt0210294 | Snow Queen | Hans Christian Andersen's story is simplified in this animated version of his fairy tale. A little man, who introduces himself as "old Dreamy" ("Ole Lukøje"), he tells the viewer that on days when the master storyteller Andersen is not overtired, he puts him to sleep with his colorful, magic umbrella ("slumbrella") causing him to dream wonderful stories -- from which he then writes his fairy tales. Old Dreamy narrates the story of the Snow Queen. The young lovers, Kay and Gerda are in their window box garden, planting two roses together, which Kay calls "our roses".
On the next winter night, Gerda's grandmother tells the two children the legend of the Snow Queen. The viewer is taken to the Snow Queen's palace of ice in the far north (on Spitsbergen) where she sits on her throne and looks into her mirror. The Snow Queen's proud and frowning face is seen by Gerda through a frosted window who exclaims, "It's the Snow Queen!". Kay jokes, "Let her come in here, and I'll put her on a hot stove!". This angers the Snow Queen, who is watching the children in her mirror, who becomes angry and smashes the mirror with her scepter. The ice splinters of the shattered mirror go into the eyes and hearts of those who have offended her. Back at Gerda's home, the window bursts open and ice splinters enter Kay's eyes and heart. He becomes hostile toward Gerda, and when Gerda sees that the cold wind and snow have killed blackened their roses, Kay stomps on them and kicks them about in glee. He then leaves Gerda in tears to be comforted by her grandmother.
The next day, Kay goes for a sled ride in the marketplace of the city. Gerda wants to come along, riding on Kay's sled as she has always done. Kay pushes the horses into a race, knocking Gerda off the sled, but she tries not to cry. Kay ties his sled to the sleigh of the Snow Queen, which has suddenly appeared, to Gerda's horror. The Snow Queen pulls Kay on his sled out of the city, where she stops and confronts him, taking him into her arms as her willing captive, since his heart is as cold as ice. The Snow Queen's presence freezes a mother bird to death as she protects her young under her. These young birds will appear later in the story.
Old Dreamy's story continues with Gerda looking for Kay. She asks young birds and animals if they had seen Kay, to no avail. A little lamb says, "I know nothing, I was born yesterday". At the river bank, Gerda begs the river to take her in a row boat to Kay. She gives her new red shoes to the river, and her boat is guided down the stream to the home of a kind, old sorceress. She comes out of her garden to the trumpeting and drumming of four toy soldiers, who stand at her gate as sentinels. The old woman uses her crook to pull Gerda's boat to shore. She takes Gerda into her garden of eternal summer with sparkling flowers. In her house, the old woman puts Gerda to sleep by combing her hair. She wants Gerda to stay with her and forget Kay, but Gerda awakes when the old woman falls asleep. Gerda remembers Kay, but when she gets to the gate she finds that outside the garden it is already fall. She begs the toy soldier sentinels not to sound their bugles and drums to awaken their mistress, and they comply.
Gerda is next found by the seashore where she is met by a raven, "Mr. Corax" (Latin for "raven"). Gerda tells him that she is looking for a "good, kind, brave boy". Mr. Corax tells her that such a boy is now living at the palace of a princess with whom he is "palsy walsy." Mr. Corax takes Gerda to the palace to find his "lady friend", a female raven, named Henrietta, who knows the palace and can guide Gerda through it. They arrive at the palace in the midst of a ball with fireworks. When all are asleep, the ravens take Gerda into the palace and to the royal bedroom. Gerda takes a candle to see if the boy is Kay. But the boy is heavier than Kay. The shock awakens him and princess, who calls her guards. The intruders are apprehended, but when the princess is taken by the Gerda's tale of seeking her boyfriend. The princess and her consort decide to help her.
An interlude follows with the Snow Queen and Kay talking in her ice palace throne room. Kay is playing with ice crystals when the Snow Queen asks him if he knows what love is. He remembers Gerda, but he stays there because his heart is a lump of ice like the Snow Queen. The princess and her consort send Gerda on her way with a golden coach and attendants. While the coach travels through a dark woods, they are stopped by a gang of robbers, who take Gerda and strip the coach of its gold plate, sparing the attendants. An old hag takes Gerda, but when she is bitten on the ear by her daughter Angel, who is riding on her back, she listens to her request to keep Gerda with her other captive pets. These pets include a fox, little rabbits, the birds that were spared the Snow Queen's frost earlier, and a large reindeer, named Bucky Boy. The birds tell Gerda that they saw the Snow Queen take Kay with her to Lapland. The reindeer offers to take Gerda there. It remains for the robber girl to let Gerda and Bucky Boy go, which she does. She also releases the birds, the fox, and the rabbits, but they decide to stay with her.
Gerda and Bucky get to the Lapland woman, who warms them by their fire. She tells them that the Snow Queen had stopped there with Kay but went on farther north to "Finland". She directs them to her cousin in Finland who can direct them further, and she writes a letter to her on a fish that she sends with Gerda and Bucky. When Gerda and Bucky get to the cousin in Finland, she tells them that they are just 10 miles away from the Snow Queen's palace. Gerda and Bucky leave so quickly that Gerda leaves behind her mittens and cap.
Bucky, who collapses along the way, is unable to take Gerda up to the ice palace, so Gerda goes on alone. When Gerda finally gets to the palace through the blustery wind and snow, she encounters Kay, who is released from the splinters of ice in his eye and his heart by Gerda's warm embrace. Even though the Snow Queen suddenly returns, she and her palace melt away with the coming of spring.
Gerda and Kay are taken first by Bucky Boy to the Finnish woman, who takes them further on their journey home in her dog sled. The Lapland woman takes them further in her boat, and the robber girl takes them the rest of the way in the coach that had been stripped of its gold plate. They go past the princess, her consort, and the ravens who wave them on. They are now home again in their window box garden in springtime. Old Dreamy tells the viewer that Gerda and Kay will continue on to have more adventures, and so will the viewer. | fantasy | train | wikipedia | My main attraction was that I absolutely love the original Snow Queen story and always have done, for me it is one of Hans Christian Andersen's best stories.
The good news is that while it is miles away from being perfect Snow Queen is really quite decent and one of Hallmark's better efforts.It does have a number of good things.
The scenery, settings and lighting look absolutely stunning, easily one of Hallmark's best-looking movies, and the Snow Queen's costumes and make-up are an absolute knockout.
The music score is very good also, it has the sparkling motifs that you'd associate with a fantasy score, the darker moments have a haunting musical undercurrent and it does all this without ever sounding generic.Snow Queen's lead performance I did think were quite good.
The acting honours do go to Bridget Fonda who I think is wonderful as the Snow Queen.
Chelsea Hobbs is a little bland to start with, but I didn't worry too much actually as it fitted with the "character going on a journey"(literally and in character development) and later on she is easier to warm to.Oh and before I forget, I was surprised by how good the special effects were, the reindeer and the polar bear looked great.
Snow Queen began and ended well, the darker moments providing a lot of promise for the telling of such a timeless story.Unfortunately, for all the good things that Snow Queen it does also have debits.
The script once the darkness shifts dissolves into anachronism and modern vernacular, which against the production values proved to be quite a stilted mismatch.At this point as well, the pacing does get tedious and save for some inspired moments never really picks up- some of the action sequences like with the Summer Princess' minions and the Autumn robbers are quite nifty though-, which is a shame considering how promising the beginning and end proved to be.
The story showed a lot of potential and I personally did find Gerda and Kai's love for one another and together convincing, which took a nosedive in the tone shift.
For a programme of this length, I was disappointed at how forced the Autumn scenes seemed to be and by how certain events were introduced but never explained satisfactorily and consequently coming across as confused instead.So in summing up, Snow Queen was decent and watchable with the art direction being the best thing about it, but there were a number of things that stopped it from being great.
It tells the tale of a girl named Gerda (Chelsea Hobbs) who lost her mother at a very young age, so has been bought up by her father.
She falls in love with the bell boy named Kai. However, on her birthday the snow queen (Bridget Fonda) comes the the hotel which her father owns and kidnaps Kai. Gurda then goes after Kai, and follows him through the four seasons in an attempt to rescue him.I thought that this was an excellent adaption of the story with great performances from all the cast.
Every time, i get more and more impressed by how far the wish of a young heart can go, and the strenght of both Kai and Gertha to struggle for what they believe in.And the whole story is presented in such a way, you just get transfered into the plot and before you know it, you are there.
and there's the Snow Queen...it's just a wonderful mix of love, adventure, tension.it's brilliant 10 out of 10.
The production company clearly spent a lot of money on sets, costuming (Bridget Fonda, especially), and special effects (including a great Jim Henson talking polar bear & reindeer).
Too long and miscast in several roles, the main problem is the opening hour which sets up a love story between Gerda and Kai. In the original, the main thrust of Gerda's quest to rescue Kai from the Queen was friendship that was revealed to be love at the end, but casting the leads as 18 year olds defeats that revelation..
A Too Much Long and Confused Fairy Tale, Where Something is Missing to be a Good Movie.
Close to her eighteenth anniversary, Gerda meets Kai (Jeremy Guilbaut), the bellboy of the hotel, and they fall in love for each other.
On the day of the party of her birthday, the Snow Queen (Bridget Fonda) kidnaps Kai and Gerda commits suicide, jumping in the river, trying to recover Kai. This is the beginning of Gerda´s adventure through the reigns of the four seasons.
Although having good special effects, the story is very confused, cold, slow and too much long.
Although there are many strange things in the movie that the fairy tale itself doesn't have them including the autumn characters (mother and daughter) the general concept rocks..
The film I was looking for was "The Polar Bear King", a Norwegian production dealing with a very similar story about a young princess searching for her abducted prince."Snow Queen" however, is not set in the middle ages, but circa 1900 in the cold reaches of a Nordic landscape (even though everyone speaks English).
We're presented with a sprawling magical epic of young love challenged by the callous heart of a queen who herself seeks to conquer what she already had, but failed to see.There's a lot of subtext and other themes going on here.
I thought the movie started out a bit slow and disjointed for the first hour.
So, while it starts out like a cheap horror film, it evolves into a beautiful and wonderful fantasy film.Bridget Fonda stands out as the Snow Queen.
She absolutely personifies both the beauty and coldness of Winter.My daughter, age 14, found the film a bit frightening, so if you are showing it as family entertainment, please stay with your child and reassure her or him that it is just a fairy tale fantasy and not to take it too seriously.It is really one of the best fantasy films that I have seen in a long time, slightly better than "Eragon" or any of the "Lord of the Rings." It is about as good as "The Golden Compass"..
"The Snow Queen" is based on the famous and very beautiful fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, about a girl, Gerda, who goes on a dangerous journey to rescue her friend Kai from the clutches of the Snow Queen.
This adaption attempts to capture that story's sense of adventure and luminously intricate imagery through lavish sets and production design, but fails on a number of counts.Like so many Hallmark productions, the potential of the story is completely undercut by heavy-handed scripting and direction.
The two actors playing Gerda and Kai are blandly pleasant but forgettable; Bridget Fonda as the Snow Queen looks the part but is otherwise miscast for the role.
At least some of the pacing problems can be attributed to the addition of filler scenes that add very little to the original story, particularly in the opening hour that introduces the main characters.That said, "The Snow Queen" would be just about ideal for pre-teens with a liking for fantasy and a bit of patience.
It's all just so cute, all, even the way that white bear loves the Queen in secret and gets Her in the end, also the achievement the two young actors of Gerda and Kai gave.
The two of us will always be one combined with sad piano tones in some places gives a very touching result and if one watches both parts at once, he'll see the Snow Queen is not so bad.
The evening this movie was on here (first part) I only watched it, because I was bored, but I loved it a lot more after and was very angry, when they didn't show the next part because of the Pope's funeral...
This story encourages me to fight like Gerda for the ONLY ONE, for the love of my life, for Mister Right.
Even the remake of Snow White, while kind of freakish, but beautiful with Kristin Kreuk in it was a helluva lot better than this lumbering hulk of garbage.That said, please understand that I am a loyalist, and The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid were my two favorite fairy tales of all time (you could say that Hans Christen Anderson was my first favorite author- I even liked Danny Kaye as Hans in the movie).
There's no way that just after a couple of months and one kiss Gerda would chase off after Kay. Even with his silly Help Me note.That said, I think that the bits with Kay and the Snow Queen could have been considerably edited down, and more time spent with Gerda on her travels.
I didn't really like what they did to the snow queen; all in all, it was a complete disappointment to me.
Nor is the story bound by modern Hollywood rules of composition: direct, often to the point of being grotesquely linear in lesser works, and obvious (in retrospect, at least).With this defence against the common criticisms of those who do not understand fairy tales, "Snow Queen" is a delightful movie with wonderful visual effects, skillful acting, and great sentiment.
Instead I found myself watching a very weak movie with really bad acting from all the actors.
The story line is not attractive at all as is expected of a movie based on a fairy tale so full of magic and warmth of love.
The snow queen of the movie is just like a teenager and does not convey the sense of superiority a queen from a fairy tale should have.
So this review is probably a year away from its start date but I just saw it on video and feel compelled to say something.The story was awesome, the movie definitely dragged.
Bridget Fonda did look good as the snow queen but her acting is off a bit, someone may want to remind her this is a hallmark movie she's in.Gerda and Kai were cute.
I'm not usually one for fairy tales or make believe storeys but this film captured my attention.I first saw this film on the UK channel Hallmark...which usually shows afew tacky films...but then Snow Queen came along...and I was loving it!
I really really admire Bridget Fonda in this movie...she plays the snow queen brilliantly and glamorously.I won't explain what the story is about as other people have already done so, so there is no point repeating.I would just suggest that if you want to watch a fun fairy tale journey...get this film...but if you want to purchase it and you live in the UK, you might have a hard time.
The version I saw may have been cut (a demon [?] shown in the trailer and publicity stills didn't appear), but anything that made the movie shorter can only be a blessing.POSSIBLE SPOILERS IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE ORIGINAL FAIRY TALE:Anyway, the film updates the story to the early part of the 20th Century (?), and makes Gerda and Kay (here called Kai - being a Lexx fan, I kept expecting him to say, `The Dead do not solve puzzles') 18 year olds.
Hans Christian Andersen's basic story is followed: the boy gets a shard of ice in his eye, goes bad, is taken off by the Snow Queen to solve a puzzle in her palace and Gerda goes to find him, having various adventures on the way.As the two main characters are older than in the original, a lot of time is spent getting them together and `in love'.
At the start of the film the Snow Queen kills Gerda's mother, but no explanation for this is given.
A polar bear living in the Snow Queen's palace is more than he seems (though this is possibly because the producers realised that the bear's feelings towards the Snow Queen would be OK in a Fairy Tale, but not in a modern film).
The script is also full of anachronisms that really jar you out of the `fairy tale' mood.The production looks good, though there is evidence of penny-pinching: the Snow Queen's palace is the hotel where Gerda and Kai lived covered in ice.
Bridget Fonda looks great as the Snow Queen, but seems to be in a different movie to everyone else.Ultimately, the film is unsatisfying.
I know that they were going for a "true love conquers all" kind of thing, but about all this film conquered was about 3(which felt more like 9) hours of my afternoon which I will never get back.
The movie is about two young lovers named Kai and Gerta who live in a remote town in a fantasy world.
As if this obstacle wasn't enough to overcome, an evil snow queen shoots a shard of glass in Kai's eye and he becomes a mean person treats Gerta poorly.
Kai is eventually taken to the Snow Queen's fortress (Which is the same set as the hotel just covered in ice, because the good people at Hallmark like to go all out) and Gerta sets out on a mission to get Kai back.
It's probably the most evil and most effective spells cast by the Snow Queen) Anyways, I will spare you from the ending because anything you can think up in your head right now is probably better then how they ended it.
So, in conclusion, the Snow Queen is an incredibly boring movie, which takes the fan out of fantasy..
My particular favourite from this movie is Bridget Fonda, whose performance as the Snow Queen herself was quite moving, assisted enormously by a stupendous wardrobe and makeup.
Fonda aside the acting was not what we have come to expect from Hollywood, which I think is a good thing since Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas on how to train its acting talent to portray roles and so they have become stale and reliant on CGI and other special effects to take us away from the actors who all use the same tricks on us.
This movie is based on "The Snow Queen" traditional fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen.
The original story is quite depressing and I didn't like "Snow Queen" as a child, it was cold and quite dreary.
It's only the Snow Queen who doesn't want Gerda, the only season who has no interest in her.
The snow queen wants boys and has frozen a lot of them.
I fret saw this sprawling romantic fantasy epic years ago when it premiered as a television mini series and I found it to be something special and loved it right away, it felt like this big fantasy adventure, a love story and a Christmas movie all rolled into one.
It's a big movie but I personally don't find it boring, there's a lot that goes on in it once it gets going and once I start watching I'm in for the long haul and have to watch it to the very end, there's something about it that I find very engaging and it cruises through the long story with a competence that most TV-produced short fantasy series fail to achieve, and happy sad or awed, you get a lot of emotional bang for your buck with "Snow Queen".
I like it best in the second chunk of the story where Gerda embarks on her quest to find her bewitched boyfriend and the Snow Queen and encounters the three other sister witches of the seasons who each act as obstacles to her final goal and are all selfish, possessive, and various degrees of crazy!
It's not exactly what you'd call a linear story arc, a lot of it is pretty surreal and even metaphorical, there are points where you don't actually know which direction it's going to go in next, but it keeps a sense of strange reality about itself and has a good balance between the dramatic and fantastical and for me the overall presentation is a most enchanting one.
I truly thought that Bridget Fonda made an awesome Snow Queen.
I loved all of the gripping scenes with her and Kai which stay in the same frozen hopeless place while Gerda travels throughout the seasonal realms.
I also liked the touch of how the Snow Queen's domain was an icy version of the hotel, I find that quite clever in how it played into the theme if Kai's cold heart as well as Gerda's father's.
It deserves a lot more love and to be remembered better than what it has been, and I'd suggest while watching it that you try to see beyond the kinks and look at the bigger picture of its story and try to enjoy it for what it is.
Warning: I may include some spoilers in this review.I remember hearing the story of the Snow Queen as a child, and being terrified.
The first part of this movie captured that atmosphere entirely as Kai begins to change, but after he is taken and Gerda goes off on her adventures, the tension is mostly lost.Bridget Fonda completely looks the role of the Snow Queen, and is generally pretty good too, especially in what is probably her main line: 'Let the whole world be as I am.' Kai is bland, and Gerda starts the same although as the movie progresses that changes.Some things in the movie just seem to be completely ignored or forgotten.
Why did the Snow Queen kill Gerda's mother?
Winter being carried away by the ex-polar-bear gives the feeling that, rather than the typically stupid idea of 'evil turning good at the last minute', that she instead was merely going back to the way she was, and should have been, that she had been bewitched by the mirror..
I also had the chance when the movie was filming to be an extra because there was a casting call for them at the mall.But i didn't feel like going to it at the time because i wasn't interested in acting. |
tt0126449 | Atunci i-am condamnat pe toti la moarte | The story follows a young boy, Elev, who is adopted by his uncle, Ioan, and his wife after Elev's father, a partisan during World War II, is killed by soldiers. Ioan is the local village priest and though gentle and intelligent, is frustrated by his ward's apparent inability to love him. Elev, who equally ignores girls his own age, would far rather spend time with Todor, nicknamed Ipu, the so-called village idiot. Together they fish and reenact the French Revolution in the ruins of a neighboring village that was decimated for a minor infraction against the German occupying force.
One day Elev watches a German cavalry officer conducting riding practice amid hay bales. Some time later the horse is seen galloping past without a rider and Elev finds the officer's corpse near the road. He reports the murder, but not before surreptitiously stealing the man's pistol. At the funeral, the local German commandant coldly informs the village that if the killer doesn't step forward by the next morning, the community's leaders (including Ioan and his wife, the mayor, the town doctor and the notary) will be executed.
That night Ioan hosts a sumptuous feast. Todor, who is usually the target of nothing but derision and ridicule, is not only invited for the first time, but is made the guest of honor. The doctor gives him an impromptu, suspiciously cursory physical and informs him that his poor lifestyle is catching up with him. It soon becomes clear what is going on: the community leaders want Todor to lie and confess to the murder so that they can be saved.
After some soul searching Todor gives in to their emotional supplications, but gradually realizes that for a brief window of time he holds a great degree of power and importance. He asks Ioan to perform a mock martyr's funeral so he can see what it will be like and, at the eleventh hour, demands money and land for the elderly, sick and crippled members of his family.
But at dawn the German's make a surprise retreat from the village and all are saved. Todor falls to his knees in tears, though it is unclear whether he is relieved to escape death or bereft over his lost opportunity for heroism. Ioan and the other local intellectuals immediately revert to their previous superior attitudes. Elev, observing their hypocrisy, mentally sentences them all to death. He draws out the officer's pistol and a single shot is heard, though the film makes it ambiguous who, if anyone, is the victim. | murder | train | wikipedia | One Romanian masterpiece.
This is a great Romanian movie...i am very subjective because i am Romanian...but anyone,with proper subtitles can enjoy this little masterpiece.It is not like other Nicolaescu's movies,it's more deep,it has a certain touch, a vibrant image that goes beyond the screen.Well directed,well played,tremendous script...what can i say more about it?It has nice FX for that age.Needles to say it benefits by the great great Amza Pellea an actor capable of turning rubble into stardust.He is the main character(Ipu) and his performance is ...how should i say...Oscar!!!Anyway i love the movie because it's alive,it's human and leaves you with a bittersweet taste...
the top of the list for Sergiu's best films.
This is in the top of the list for Sergiu's best films, maybe right under "Mihai Viteazu".
A delicate, clever insight on human behavior in times of fear and oppression, written by Titus Popovici, Sergiu's long-time friend and collaborator.
Powerhouse cast and crew renders even more beauty to the script.
For a change, everything works in this Romanian film.
From the first shot, one can feel this is a great film - the kid running in the field, and this feeling persists to the mind-blowing end.
Discussions about the army, between Pellea and the kid, the dinner sequence, the funeral rehearsal - they are all unforgettable moments.
Definitevly a winner at Cannes Festival 1971, if it had been selected..
about life.
a child.
a poor idiot.
and their strange, natural friendship.
theirs games.
and a murder.
the broken silence of a village.
the fear.
and the solution for protect the lives of the elite.
a film about childhood and life.
profound psychological analysis from a director well known for his historical films.
and a great role for Amza Pellea, the role of his life for the young Cristian Șofron.
portrait of souls, the film presents the clash between different universes.
and the impact of key moments for each character - the lost of his father and the war as model for revenge for the boy, the radical change of social perception for Ipu, the basic fear of people who define the escape from death as trade.
in same measure, it is an interesting picture of the universe of village.
and one of the most significant films by Sergiu Nicolaescu..
great.
Great movie with great actors.
You don't have to be from Romania or eastern Europe to really understand this movie.
Try it,you won't regret it.
It's one of those movies that you won't forget as long as you live.
The best movies ever made in Romania are those who have been made between 1970-1990.
Sergiu Nicolaescu is the greatest director from Romania.
You must see at least one of his many movies.You'll be amazed by his simplicity and his characters.Amza Pelea is one of the best actors from Eastern Europe.He's an icon in Romania and he is still alive after all of this time,in people's minds.If he was American,he would have become famous around the world..
World - definition of a child.
The world as construction of a child.
A village.
A war.
A war.
A crime.
And the best scapegoat.
Some circles.
like Visniec circles.
And few walks in the search of essence of life.
A movie who must be discover.
Story about colors of ages, about a lost village and its leaders.
The Nazi presence.
And a boy with his fried, the fool of community.
A film like a spring morning.
Delicate and common.
Sad and profound.
Game of gestures and lace of words.
After all, the death.
As last sign of a long expectation.
As key of soul's treasure.
As definition of silence.
A lesson for be yourself not a shadow of intentions.
Old "El laberinto del fauno".
Same taste.
Different recipes. |
tt0053362 | Timbuktu | The city of Timbuktu is under the occupation of extremist Islamists bearing a jihadist black flag. Kidane is a cattle herder who lives outside of the city. One day, one of his cows accidentally damages the net of a fisherman. The enraged fisherman kills the cow. Kidane confronts the fisherman and accidentally shoots him dead. The jihadists arrest Kidane and, per sharia law, demand a blood money payment of 40 cattle to the fisherman's family. As Kidane has only seven cattle, he is sentenced to death. His wife shows up at his execution with a pistol, and as they run to each other the husband attempts to stop her. The executioners gun them both down.
Throughout the film there are subsidiary scenes showing the reaction of the population to the jihadists' rule, which are portrayed as absurd. A female fishmonger must wear gloves even when selling fish. Music is banned; a woman is sentenced to 40 lashes for singing, and 40 lashes for being in the same room as a man not of her family. A couple are buried up to their necks in sand and stoned to death for adultery. Young men play football with an imaginary ball as sports are banned. A local imam tries to curb the jihadists' excesses with sermons.
The failure of the occupiers to live up to their own rules is hinted at, for instance when one of them is seen smoking a cigarette. Another group of jihadists from France spend their days talking about their favorite football teams.
Characters speak in Tamasheq, Bambara, Arabic, French, and on a few occasions English. The mobile phone is an important means of communication. | cult, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | From Vancouver to Timbuktu..
Unofficial sequel (methinks so, anyway) to Yvonne De Carlo's Fort Algiers, this hot and heavy desert drama arrives at the end of Miss De Carlo's initial leap into a Hollywood film career, 1945-59, just before her semi-retirement, and prior to her reemergence as "Lilly Munster," the antithesis of Donna Reed's more perfectly molded vision of motherhood.
In this one, American Mature is running guns to the Tuareg tribes, while a French garrison, led by Dolenz, tries their very best to thwart the rebellion and any colonial retribution residue to follow.
A love triangle soon erects itself between De Carlo, Dolenz and Mature.
It's all very civilized and modern.
Dolenz doesn't put up much of a fight.
De Carlo is definitely worth fighting for.
John Dehner, who played a good guy in Fort Algiers, turns around and becomes the demented, evil Emir in this one.
Another sadistic rebel has a scar running down the entire length of his face.
Dehner tests one of Mature's automatic weapons on the fellow with the hideous scar.
He dies.
He later will turn up planted in the Emir's vegetable garden.
Nice one.
Green thumb?
Spiders are cleverly enlisted to torture and kill the French.
An Iman is rescued, secreted and forgotten along the way.
Strange stuff: a long trek across the sands reveals some legionnaires impaled on spears, like shish-kabobs at an oasis barbecue.
It's all a bit convoluted and thematically tangled.
But, for the most part, highly recommended for folks who enjoy a few Camels with their Tuareg coffee..
Timbuktu is no Casablanca.
One of the poorest areas on the globe yet its very name conjures up exotic places of the past, Timbuktu the city serves as the title for a routine action/adventure film starring Victor Mature.
Interesting that it came out when it did as the French were busy grappling with losing their colonial empire of which Timbuktu was a part.
At that time it was a part of French West Africa though the name Soudan for the region is used and correctly.Victor Mature plays a smuggler of no particular loyalties who is doing business with whomever in the region as a new commander of the garrison at Timbuktu comes to take over.
George Dolenz is unhappy with being sent out of France during the hour of her greatest peril in 1940, but somebody's needed to keep the Tuareg tribes in line.Who are threatening a revolt under the leadership of Emir John Dehner and who has a local mullah in Leonard Mudie held captive and under his thumb.
Dehner wants to use the mullah's influence to incite a revolt.
Sounds very familiar for today's audience.While all the politics is going on Mature is also checking out Yvonne DeCarlo and who could blame him.
However Timbuktu comes nowhere near as good as that other wartime classic with the name of a city set in French colonial Africa, Casablanca.
No one will ever mistake Mature and DeCarlo for Bogey and Bergman.Still the film should please fans of Victor Mature although his work declined after he left 20th Century Fox..
Not as much fun as it should have been.
The early 50s saw the release of such colorful and entertaining "French Foreign Legion" movies as Burt Lancaster's "Ten Tall Men" and Alan Ladd's "Desert Legion." By the late 50s, however, the genre had lost its zest as evidenced by the glum, black-and-white "Timbuktu" which makes the mistake of taking seriously a second-rate script that moves sketchily-drawn characters through a somewhat muddled story.Two key miscastings further weaken the effort.
In no way does Yvonne De Carlo seem like the French wife of a World War II military officer, and while John Dehner makes an amusingly-cynical villain, his voice and manner are far too American to make him seem anything more than a Hollywood actor in a costume.Another fault lies in the romance which suddenly blossoms between Yvonne De Carlo and Victor Mature.
Having these two "fall" for each other at first sight simply caters to the notion that audiences expect a romance between a movie's leading man and leading lady.Victor Mature's character doesn't make much sense.
On one hand he seems to be an amoral adventurer interested only in making money while on the other he's a courageous hero who risks his life in a noble cause.
The movie can't have it both ways and its efforts to do so result in a central character who never fully engages our interest.Finally, there's something a bit troubling about that "holy man." He speaks favorably of France bringing doctors and teachers into the backward regions of the Sahara, and while one might applaud this sentiment, it doesn't seem like the sort of thing such a man would be saying and it borders on being a defense of colonialism."Timbuktu" does have moments of interest, most notably in its two torture scenes.
The first involves a sweaty, bare-chested French lieutenant who's staked out, spreadeagle style, in the Emir's tent.
As six poisonous tarantulas crawl hungrily toward him, the Emir questions the lieutenant about the number of French troops left in Timbuktu.
The second torture scene puts Victor Mature in the same position, only this time there's just one tarantula and it's not crawling on the ground but rather suspended on a thread about Mature's face.
As the tarantula struggles, it unravels the spool of thread and so lowers itself slowly toward its victim.
This scene marks the fourth time in ten years that Mature was stripped to the waist -- thus displaying his famously-muscled chest -- put into bondage, and subjected to torture on the silver screen.
(In 1949's "Samson and Delilah" he was blinded by a red-hot sword and chained to a grindstone; in 1953's "The Robe" he was stretched out on a table inside Caligula's torture chamber; in 1956's "Zarak" he was flogged in the first reel and again in the last reel -- fatally so.) No wonder Mature earned the title of being "The Most Tortured Torso in the Movies!"And yes, this movie does contain that notoriously "campy" line which Mature says to Yvonne De Carlo: "I've got the holy man stashed.".
A mediocre adventure yarn..
This story is supposed to happen during WW2 ,but it quickly leaves this historical context for exotic horizons.The presence of a short-haired Yvonne De Carlo(in order to give her a "French" style?),a hairdo that does not become her at all,increases this feeling.The script is rather poor,every time a French soldier is introduced,be sure to hear the first bars of "La Marseillaise".There are a lot of betrayals,attacks,a big-heart raider (guess whom,De Carlo ,a French officer's wife, will fall in love with ?).Two very sadistic scenes:a baddie -Arab of course- gives French lieutenant as a snack to his lethal tarantulas,and he wants to reiterate this very bad deed with Victor Mature himself.Will he survive?Do not bother.If you want to see a good Jack (or Jacques ) Tourneur movie,do choose "cat people" instead,or, better, "out of the past".
World War II in the Sahara desert without Germans but against internal enemies and spiders.
For once it's not the Foreign Legion dashing off against villains in the Saharas, but Victor Mature courting the wife of the French officer in charge, who doesn't seem to mind much.
It's always a pleasure to see Victor Mature on the screen, there is no one like him for imposing stature and a kind of brutal but benevolent charm, and Yvonne de Carlo is just the girl for him.
It's not a great film, but the tempo is swift, there is nothing wrong with the action and the story, and it even amounts to some suspense towards the end, but it is not a very deep investigation of Muslim mentality and mystery but just another account of another power-crazy local gangster, a beduin speaking perfect English, with some intrigue concerning sewing machines.
A decent beefy entertainment with a lot of shooting ambushes, crawling in the sand, running for life on horses and without, great risking in disguises and many casualties, most of them anonymous.
Jacques Tourneur has made the best of it backed by decent enough music..
Unengaging adventure.
The first - and FATAL - mistake of this movie was the decision (I don't know whose, I suppose either the producer's or the director's) to film it in black and white.
Drained of color, the deserts, skies, palaces, horses, turbans, etc.
are robbed off their potential visual appeal and Sudan looks far less exotic and inviting than it could.
The other problems include an uninteresting story, a thankless role for Yvonne De Carlo (although there is some heat between her and Victor Mature), and a rather disagreeable, at least for some, pro-colonial spirit.
Two sequences involving "tarantula torture" are pretty much the only memorable parts of this movie.
My take on the Jacques Tourneur film "Timbuktu" is simply this ...
it was not as good as I would have liked it to have been.
it was not as good as I would have liked it to have been.
The photography, the camera work, and the scenic movie sets deserved better.
This mediocre adventure film virtually suffers from it's lack of color.
Director Jacques Tourneur approach to the film seems to indicate that he chose a black and white film noir type of brush similar to the one he used with such classics such as "Out of the Past", "Cat People", and "I Walked With A Zombie" rather than use the Technicolor type of brush normally required for the usual Saturday Matinée Adventure film.
It's hard for me to be critical of this film as I have always been a big fan of actor, Victor Mature, as he comes from my hometown, Louisville, Kentucky.
Apparently, Victor Mature had some close ties with Director Tourneur as well as actor George Dolenz.
He appeared in Tourneur's "Easy living" (1947), and with Dolenz son, Mickey, in the Monkeys movie "Head" (1968).
The cast (Victor Mature, Yvonne De Carlo, George Dolenz, and John Dehner) render remarkable performances given the almost comedic dialog they were given.
In one scene, Dehner tortures a Foreign Legionaire by allowing tarantulas to crawl all over him in an attempt to force a confession causing Mature to remark ...
"Which one of those spiders was your mother?".
In another scene when the unfaithful wife (De Carlo) realizes that the husband she believes to be a coward (Dolenz) is going to rescue her lover (Mature), she tries to tell him how ashamed she is.
Her husband stops her and says, "I am sorry that I failed you.
It isn't that I didn't ...
don't love you ...
It's just that I didn't think war was a time for love.
Perhaps I was wrong." Add a holy man, Mohamet Adani, to the mix that just happens to look a lot like Woody Allen.
The Mohamet, after being rescued from being kidnapped by the evil Emir (John Dehner), tells his rescuer, Mature....
"that he is anxious to return to his Mosque" Their perilous journey to safety is really hard to swallow.
The final result which I found myself in ...
was just trying to hold back the laughs ...
when the laughs really weren't called for in the script..
Most entertaining, desert-adventure hokum!.
An Imperial Picture.
Released through United Artists.
Copyright 1959 by United Artists Corporation.
No recorded New York opening.
U.S. release: October 1959.
U.K. release: 14 December 1958 (sic).
Australian release: 21 May 1959.
8,205 feet.
91 minutes.COMPLETE SYNOPSIS: French Sudan during World War II.
A seething cauldron of intrigue and violence, as nationalist natives try to wrest independence from France, prostrated under the heel of Nazi occupation.
In this atmosphere, an American gun-runner (Victor Mature) acts as a go-between, the only individual acceptable at the same time to the French commandant (George Dolenz), the independence-seeking emir (John Dehner), and the great peace-loving Arab leader, Mohamet Adai (Leonard Mudie).
While suspected by each side of favoring the other, the American succeeds in treading a middle road, carrying information to one side or the other as it suits his purposes.
To try to keep the peace, he must unveil the plotting of the Emir, and to do this he must convince him that he is against the French.
His best way of convincing the Emir is to get him to believe that the American is in love with the wife of the French commandant (Yvonne de Carlo) and thus has a personal basis for hating him, apart from considerations of gain or patriotism.
The commandant and his wife lend themselves to this frame-up, and through it the local plot is foiled.
But not before many of the French soldiers have been barbarically tortured, others killed in ambush, and the commandant finally fallen in battle.
When peace is restored and the American and the commandant's widow ride off across the desert, it is apparent that what started as a trick to foil the native plot has blossomed into a real romance.COMMENT: Although contemporary reviewers hated it, I found this to be most entertaining, desert-adventure hokum, well up to director Jacques Tourneur's usual vigorously-paced standard.
Tourneur's splendid efforts are abetted by breezy dialogue and a most agreeable cast.
Victor Mature is in especially good form, and runs through his paces with a charmingly light touch.
The action is well-staged, though arbitrary insertion of close-ups often detracts from the pace and atmosphere.
Miss De Carlo looks attractive, but plays her role perfectly straight - as does George Dolenz.
But Mature, Dehner, the villains and director Tourneur have a ball.Production values are first-class.
Miss De Carlo's husband, Bob Morgan, performs some spectacular stunts including a forty-foot leap from the highest perch of a minaret, and an even lengthier fall down the staircase inside. |
tt0357905 | Minnale | The movie opens in an engineering college in Ooty with a narration of the characters by Rajesh Shivkumar (R. Madhavan). Rajiv Samuel (Abbas) is a computer engineering student and is one of the top students in the college, whereas Rajesh (R. Madhavan) is a mechanical engineering student who is the bad guy of the college. A mutual problem between the two groups led by both Rajiv and Rajesh puts both of them at loggerheads and they pull pranks on each other to get the other in trouble. It culminates into a fist fight but is soon broken up by one of their Teacher and the security of the college. In the fight, Rajesh punches Rajiv in the face, which is against the rule, and They graduate from the college soon and promise to not see each other ever again. Rajiv goes abroad for job, while Rajesh stays back in India saying that he does not want to leave his motherland.
A few years later, Rajesh becomes responsible and settles in an IT job that involves teaching software classes for newcomers and interns. Rajesh lives with his librarian grandfather Subrahmanyam aka Subbuni (Nagesh), who means the world to him; he even turns down a very lucrative job assignment in Singapore to be with his grandfather. Rajesh, on a trip to a friend’s wedding in Bangalore, comes across Reena (Reema Sen) and is smitten by her beauty but does not get to meet her. To his pleasant surprise, he sees her again in Chennai, but is again unable to meet her.
A friend of Rajesh, Chockalingam (Vivek), spots Reena’s friend Vasuki (Raji Iyer) in a market one day and recognizes her from the wedding pictures. They both extract information about Reena's whereabouts from Vasuki, posing as her family friend. Though they get Reena's phone number, Rajesh is disappointed when he learns that Reena is engaged and is about to marry soon a guy called Rajiv, whom Reena has only talked to on the phone but has yet to meet. Goaded by his Subbuni and his friends, Rajesh decides to enter Reena’s life pretending to be Rajiv. Within a few days of hanging out with each other, both fall in love with each other. Before Rajesh could actually tell Reena the truth, the real Rajiv comes to Chennai and both their families get-together. Reena is shocked to learn that the person she loves is an imposter.
Rajesh comes clean with Reena and pleads to be forgiven, but Reena is adamant that she does not want to talk to Rajesh anymore and asks him to forget her. Chockalingam takes his friends and Rajesh to meet Rajiv to force him to break up the engagement with Reena. They are surprised when they learn that Rajiv is actually Rajiv Samuel, Rajesh's foe from his college days. Rajiv becomes enraged when he learns the truth, but believes that Reena was duped and refuses to break up the engagement. After repeated attempts to talk to Reena fail and when Rajiv and Reena’s wedding is fixed, Rajesh sadly accepts the bitter truth.
Heartbroken and unable to live in the city anymore, he plans to leave. Reena finally realizes that even though she was duped by Rajesh, she had indeed fallen in love with him. Rajiv senses this on the eve of their wedding. Just before Rajesh boards his flight, Rajiv appears and says that they are still bitter enemies but he does not want to marry a girl who loves someone else. Both Reena and Rajesh embrace each other and the movie ends. | prank | train | wikipedia | A great Movie.
The hero who is allergic to girls during the first few scenes.On a rainy night he sees a girl dancing in the rain and he sees her face when lightning strikes(minnal in tamil and hence the name).
He falls in love with her but he finds out that she is engaged to someone else and he pretends as her fiancée and makes her fall in love with him.She finds out eventually and now has to choose between the two.My favorite tamil movie and all the songs are great.The song vaseegara is excellent with the vocals.I would recommend this movie for people in their teens..
Millennium hit , the most successful film in tamil in its year of release.
Let me start by saying I'm really surprised that there are not many on on IMDb has yet reviewed this cult favourite and famous movie .
Minnale was one of the most successful films in tamil in its year of releaseThe story was not something new in western cinema but definitely new to Indian cinema.Loving a engaged girl was addressed in the film even before in Titanic.The director had included the element of impersonation.The crew did their work in a perfect manner.The visuals and the BGM were of top quality.A DAY IN 2001...There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of Minnale.
The music had indeed struck lightning with everyone.And when the film was finally released for the valentine Day, The group of us decided to hit the theatres.The story of Minnale is an exercise in creativity when compared to most mainstream Indian movies.The director of this movie is the now successful director Gautham, for whom this was a debut movie.
The music director is Harris Jeyaraj, who too made his debut.
He used to be(I believe he still is) AR Rahman's assistant.But Harris caught me with surprise.One after another, every song in the album was attractive.The freshness and richness in the music reminded me of A.R.Rahman, in his early stages.Harris had a wonderful mix of music, but to call it a trend setter is an overstatement according to me.
Nevertheless I was struck with the music, that my cerebrum automatically started collecting information regarding the film.People said that HJ had copied some of ARR's tunes, but whether or not that's true, a man has to be credited for giving excellent music, and Harris Jeyaraj deserves every bit of praise for that.Harris delivered a fresh new sound which appealed to the masses and classes alike.''vaseegara'' went on to become one of the so called millennium hits.Watchable once and maybe a cult favorite for the truly sentimental.
Must watch movie before u die no matter u understand or not but atleast u will feel the fresh blossom in ur heart melting songs....
Must watch movie before u die no matter u understand or not but atleast u will feel the fresh blossom in ur heart melting songs...before u sure any a part of the world u leave on this earth plz Wat h this movie Ian u'll never find a movie in this world...hatsoff Minnale..Proud b an Tamilian...regards Daniel.
Captures the essence of life and times in the 90s and 2000s..
brilliant music...
Minnale is the first smash hit by the now reowned Tamil director Gautham Menon.
IT'S PERFECT for a Velentine's Day out.
''Minnalae'', , is a love story about young hearts, handled with a lot of verve and vigour.This movie has equal amount of romantic and sad moments as both are the part of "true love" journey.There is no doubt a lot of predictability about the plot, but like somebody said, ''there are only 20-odd stories from which most Indian films borrow themes!'' This has shades of ''Saajan'', where one impersonated the other, but in ''Minnalae'', it is done without the other's consent.The film opens in an engineering college.
The rough n' tough Rajesh (Madhavan) and suave and brainy Sam (Abbas) are arch rivals...
(they are seen everywhere in the campus except in their respective classrooms!).
Most times, it's only first talk.Two years later...
Rajesh is a computer instructor while Abbas has gone to America.
Rajesh's grandfather (Nagesh) is always after him to find a girl...
and Rajesh finds his dream girl on a rainy night.
She is dancing and playing with some street children...
he catches glimpses of her in the lightning...
Cupid finds his target!Enter Rina (Rima), a strong-minded, independent girl, who is betrothed to the U.S. settled Rajeev.
But Rajesh has lost his heart to her and vows to win her.
So he impersonates Rajeev and, naturally Rina falls in love with him.
Although the plot seems simpistic, it is the essence of the movie, the capturing of the life and times of young people in those times of the early 2000s that made it so watchable; seeminlgy introducing a different trend altogether based on characterization and emphasis on acting quality .
One of the biggest contributors to its success if course the music by Harris Jayaraj.
All the songs were magnicifient , even the background score , appearing very appropriately in movie scenes.The magic of this combo of Composer Harris -Gautham directohappened for the first time and would set to continue in later years with the duo prodcing some very good music in modern tamil cinema .
This album got immense popularity when it was released.
It was evident in all the college/school cultural programs.
The music had huge impact in all over Tamil nadu.
The music of this movie is still popular among moviebuffs and lovers.
It became popular prior to movie release and eventually helped the movie to run well at box office..
Is this LOVE at first sight?
----- truly It Is..
Gautham's first movie is a story between a girl who is engaged and a man who falls in love with her.The hero falls for a girl.He comes to know that she is already engaged.So he pretends to be her fiancé and she also starts liking him thinking to be her fiancé.She comes to know the truth -- and what happens next?--------Guyz watch out for the songs, it'll surely make you dance to its tunes (hatz off to Harris)-----You'll surely feel the love in most of the scenes.--If you love someone -- don't miss this movie. |
tt4460878 | Wolf Creek | In Broome, Western Australia, 1999, two British tourists, Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi), are backpacking across the country with Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips), an Australian friend from Sydney. They constantly get drunk at wild, extravagant pool parties and camp out on the beach. Ben buys a dilapidated Ford XD Falcon for their road journey from Broome to Cairns, Queensland via the Great Northern Highway.
After stopping at Halls Creek for the night, the trio make another stop at Wolf Creek National Park, which contains a giant crater formed by a 50,000-ton meteorite.
Hours later, upon returning to their car, the group discovers that their watches have all suddenly stopped and that the car will not start. Unable to solve the problem, they prepare to sit out the night. After dark, a rural man named Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) comes across them and offers to tow them to his camp to repair the car. Initially hesitant, the group allows Mick to take them to his place, an abandoned mining site several hours south of Wolf Creek. Mick regales them with tall stories of his past while making a show of fixing their car. His manner unsettles Liz and Kristy, although Ben is less concerned. While they sit around a fire, Mick gives the tourists water which he describes as "rainwater from the top end". The water eventually causes the tourists to fall unconscious.
Liz awakens to find herself gagged and tied up in a shed. She manages to break free, but before she can escape from the mining site, she hears Mick torturing Kristy in a garage, and witnesses him sexually assault her. Liz sets the now-dismantled Falcon on fire to distract him, and goes to help Kristy while Mick is busy trying to extinguish the blaze. When he returns Liz manages to shoot Mick with his own rifle, the bullet hitting him in the neck and apparently killing him. The women attempt to flee the camp in Mick's truck. But before they can do so, Mick stumbles out of the garage, revealing the gunshot was non-fatal and that he's still alive. He proceeds to shoot at them with a double-barreled shotgun before giving chase in another car. The women evade Mick by rolling his truck off a cliff and hiding behind a bush, before returning to the mining site to get another car. Liz leaves the hysterical Kristy outside the gates, telling her to escape on foot if she does not return in five minutes.
Liz enters another garage and discovers Mick's large stock of cars as well as an organised array of travellers' possessions, including video cameras. She watches the playback on one of them and is horrified to see Mick "helping" other travellers stranded at Wolf Creek in almost identical circumstances to her own. She then picks up another camera which turns out to be Ben's, and while viewing some of Ben's footage, she notices Mick's truck in the background, indicating he'd been following them long before they got to Wolf Creek. She gets into a car and attempts to start it, but Mick shows up in the back seat and stabs her through the driver's seat with a bowie knife. After more bragging and furious about his truck getting wrecked, he hacks Liz's fingers off in one swipe, and headbutts her into near unconsciousness. He then severs her spinal cord with the knife, paralyzing her and rendering her a "head on a stick". He then proceeds to interrogate her as to Kristy's whereabouts.
By dawn, Kristy has reached a highway and is discovered by a passing motorist. He attempts to help Kristy, but is shot dead from far away by Mick, who has a sniper rifle. Mick gives chase in a Holden HQ Statesman, prompting Kristy to take off in the dead man's car. She succeeds in running Mick off the road when he catches up, but he gets out of the car and shoots out Kristy's back tire, causing the car to flip over. Kristy climbs out of the vehicle and attempts to crawl away, but is immediately shot dead by Mick. He bundles Kristy's body into the back of his car, along with the body of the dead motorist, and torches the wrecked car before driving off.
Ben, whose fate until now has not been revealed, awakens to find himself nailed to a mock crucifix in a mine shaft, with two aggressive, caged Rottweilers in front of him. He manages to extract himself from the crucifix and enters the camp in early daylight. Ben escapes into the outback, but becomes dehydrated, and eventually passes out beside a dirt road. He is discovered by a Swedish couple who take him to Kalbarri, where he is airlifted to a hospital.
A series of title cards states that despite several major police searches, no trace of Liz or Kristy has ever been found. Early investigations into the case were disorganised, hampered by confusion over the location of the crimes, a lack of physical evidence and the alleged unreliability of the only witness. After four months in police custody, Ben was later cleared of all suspicion. He currently lives in South Australia. The film ends with the silhouette of Mick walking into the sunset with his rifle in hand. | murder | train | wikipedia | I am a huge fan of the Wolf Creek movies, John Jarratt does a great portrayal of outback killer 'Mick Taylor', when I first saw the preview for this it got me genuinely excited.
It looked a lot more deeper than the conventional slasher type Wolf Creek movies, this one had the vibe of being more psychologically involved.The show started off fantastic, we were thrown right into the action, meeting front runner Lucy Fry, depicting the main character whose family gets brutally murdered which ultimately sends her on a revenge trip to kill Mick Taylor.
The nonsensical parts of the story started to gather up and it started to make the show very unbelievable and frustrating, all of the injuries that the main character suffered seemed to have gone away shortly hours after, when any normal person would have simply died from them.
This show had so much potential, leading on from the great legacy of Mick Taylor it could have gone many different ways.
The show started fantastically and I honestly could not fault it for the first 3 episodes, but after that it became very cheesy in it's story-line and if you were an Australian watching this it was enough to make you cringe.If the director actually portrayed Australians as normal civilians like we actually are, Mick Taylor would have been seen as more menacing and frightening.
I was leery of watching this series but found it to be far better than both films.
There is something so satisfying, watching a character grow the way Eve does.
I appreciated that this is not merely a slice and dice horror series (the films are fine and offer an effective urban legend, but the overwhelming gore and terror wore me out), but something with nuance and back story.
John Jarratt does his usual believable, sinister performance as the game-playing butcher, Mick, the guy you never want to run into in a dark alley, the Outback or anywhere else.Great job..
This TV mini-series had a lot of potential to become a yearly vehicle showcasing Mick Taylor's crusades against a wide variety of victims.
The first season delivers a modicum of brilliance you'd expect from another Wolf Creek installment, followed by inconsistencies and unnecessary plot points that drag down what we really want to see in Wolf Creek - Mick Taylor in his native glory.The premiere's pre-credit sequence sets up the season in a superb fashion.
It mirrors some of the greatest moments from the Wolf Creek films; Mick Taylor sharing an innocent chat with his unknowing victims, cracking jokes, laughing inappropriately, and sharing hunting stories to earn their trust before he strikes.
As it is, the only reason to watch Wolf Creek is to see Mick Taylor, and aside from the beginning and end, you don't see very much of him.
It makes me yearn for Wolf Creek 2's approach of having the entire story revolve around him, since that's far more interesting than him sitting on the sidelines for the majority of the story while we follow a boring heroine run around the continent searching for him.
Hopefully the second season, or third movie, gives Jarratt the screen time he rightfully deserves.
I'd support a Luther-esque approach in a second series; maybe have Mick terrorize a certain set of victims for a couple episodes, then move on to another group for the next two, then another, etc.
If you're a fan of the Wolf Creek movies, I'd recommend watching the first episode and stopping there.
Hopefully it's given the chance to; or maybe Mick Taylor is just better suited for the big screen..
Being a huge fan of Wolf Creek and part 2 the movies - then just last week discovering a MINI SERIES had been made.....
I binge watched this yesterday.Mick is back and (had to be) played by the incredible John Jarrett.
The kicker is it starts off with SUCH promise - Mick is introduced within the first 10 minutes with a BANG - from then on the story of one survivor recovering from that ordeal then slowly seeking revenge begins.Along the way this portrays the Ozzie outback in a very nasty crude way - by god if you plan to travel there NEVER speak to ANY man at all - according to the writers and director ALL men are murderous vile inbred rapists - or members of gangs with a below zero IQ.
God forbid if they endorsed this?Forgetting the tourist side of things the problem with Wolf Creek the series is you could easily have condensed it into a 3 parter.
Based on the Wolf Creek movies: "Wolf Creek (2005)" and "Wolf Creek 2 (2013)" which I liked so I had high hopes for the series, but unfortunately it didn't quite deliver.It has it's moments particularly in the first and last episodes but the road there is a bit sketchy with far too many detours adding multiple characters to the mix which takes away from the main story.John Jarrat is back as the bad guy Mick Taylor and that's great but for some reason the creators doesn't think that he's enough of a threat in the series so they randomly throw in a biker-gang as well.Lucy Fry is our heroine in the saga, everything about her just screamed "model" to me when I saw her, from the lack of emotion in expression down to her walk, so it was unsurprised when I now googled her and found out that she in fact was a model before she took up acting.I mean she's not at like Claudia Schiffer level of acting or anything but the character she plays undergoes a transition that need to be dealt with by an actress with a little more experience.A direct quote from hers in real life is "I am enough - you don't need to do anything.
The simplicity of how easy acting can be." And that would explain why her performance became what it is and I would probably tell her to rethink that idea.Anyway, overall the series is okay but in the end somewhat pointless and it could have been a lot better if they didn't lose focus as often as they did..
Especially the performance from John Jarratt playing the villain Mick Taylor.
All the characters are fun to watch, so I really don't get why people aren't satisfied with the story.
Because the story is everything you ask for when you watch a horror series like this one.
A short review of Season 1 of the "Wolf Creek" TV series (2016).
(They can be difficult for even seasoned fans of the genre to watch.) And last year's follow-up television series faithfully channeled so much of their mood, tone and atmosphere that it should have been just as effective.
I think it's been a long time since I saw a horror film or series so successfully project a mood.
Also returning, of course, is John Jarrett in his perfect and perfectly frightening portrayal of the serial killer Mick Taylor.Lucy Fry's young American antihero, Eve, is the latest to face off against him, but there's a twist — after surviving the slaughter of her family, she resolves to find and kill him.
We actually don't see much of Mick for many episodes — the story focuses on Eve's haphazard, calamitous odyssey through rural Australia, encountering criminals, good Samaritans and just plain lunatics.
I get the sense that fans might tune in to see a horror film, but might be disappointed by a moody, loosely plotted travelogue through McLean's brutal fictional interpretation of the Australian outback.I wondered how the screenwriter here could make such a major miscalculation.
They contained what seem like lots of supporting or ancillary material connected with Mick's victims, which were ultimately interspersed with the intense violence that made them terrifying movies (not to mention Jarratt's flawless portrayal of a violent sociopath).But those movies both had an hour-and-forty-minutes running time.
I honestly think I would have enjoyed Season 1 much more if it had been edited down to half its length — into maybe three episodes or one feature film.Oh, well.
Didn't Like It. Now i'm a major fan of the wolf Creek movies i love the Mick Taylor character i'd definitely put him up there above the freddy Krugers and Mike Myers in the top serial killer categories on film.
So i wanted to check out the Wolf Creek TV series.Didn't like it,totally unrealistic.For starters the Mick Taylor character is hardly in it.It mainly focuses on this young woman out for revenge for the murder of her family by Mick Taylor and all the highly unlikely scenarios she gets herself into while on her quest for revenge.For starters a young American woman running about by herself in the outback totally vulnerable she'd have been dead within a week she wouldn't have stood a chance .Now i'll just have to wait for Wolf Creek 3 to come out..
If you want to be on the edge of your seats and delivered those truly disturbing cringe worthy moments that only Mick can deliver - then you will not be disappointed at all.A lot is put into the 6 episodes per season yet there are times where it seems to drag a bit or scatter.
10 -13 episodes per season would have been ideal as then it would have given it time to develop a more solid story line from his childhood onward etc.
However, I still enjoyed both seasons.For me WOLF CREEK is still a 10/10 because S2, to me, topped S1 and I wanted to keep watching episode after episode and that was with both seasons!.
And that is if I do not lose interest first.WOLF CREEK is a tv series I would buy on blu-ray and watch again which is something I would not do for all tv shows and/or movies..
If you loved or liked the movies you will find plenty to enjoy in the series.Both seasons have six episodes each.
And each tells a different story featuring outback serial killer and larrikin Mick Taylor.
There are seperate stories All of the actors in both series are great in there respective roles.
From Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Outlaw,Stalkher to Shiver, he is truly a talented actor.Like the movies, the show is violent but not in an over the top way like it was in Wolf Creek 2.
I am an Australian and seeing the shots in this makes me feel proud knowing how beautiful my country really is.I hope we get a third film or a Season 3 sometime soon.
They are prequels to the movies and television series and you find out how Mick got to be the way he is.
Mick Taylor has well and truly worn out his welcome, same old same old, no plot, please Stan spend your money on better drama/ thriller/ anything for us to watch.
Painful to watch and an insult to the movies,very poor writing, acting and plot holes galore,typical Aussie rubbish, how anyone could rate the first series is beyond me,the young American actress had to be related to someone because she was totally unbelievable in her role ,really terrible,the second series is even worse ,why Stan is funding these rubbish series I can't understand, try an original idea not turning great movies into crap series or just buy more HBO showtime content that is quality ie: Ray Donovan ,the Borgia's ,billions ect this is what people want to see well written watchable drama.wake up.
Whole series seemed very rushed and there were many big gaps in story line the biggest one being between ep4 and ep5 it seemed like months had passed then all of a sudden both the bikers and Mick caught up with her almost at the same time....
Although Mick loves to play games there were too many missed killing opportunities that didn't make sense.
This contains Spoilers: Watched half of this series and had hoped that it would entertain and be as dramatic and a psychological thriller as the WC1 & WC2 films.
The writers have Mick Taylor using his trademark blue Ford F100 which was destroyed in WC1 then this series must be a prequel.
& WC2 it showed how Mick Taylor offered tainted top end water to drug his victims, but this time he is out of his normal environment and the targets are drinking their own liquid refreshments.
d) The writers have made a very poor attempt to divert Mick Taylor's character into a second rate Freddy Krueger - very embarrassing too.
e) The writers also make a strange attempt to make Eve look like Mad Max 2 character when they bring in a dingo as her side kick which quickly becomes a household pet!
Such a sad waste of a great opportunity to continuing the premise of Wolf Creek.
Maybe series 2 will be better but the writers will definitely need to be changed..
Not a good advertisement for Oz. This series all starts well, then they seem to run out of ideas very quickly.
Every Australian male is portrayed as a as either a sex offender, a complete idiot or both and the woman are all portrayed as complete bitches.The story line is where thing get patchy, for a 19 YO girl who was shot and and left for dead and whose family had just been slaughtered, not one relative or government official from the USA bothered to head to Australia to inquire and escort her home, no, she's dropped off at the airport and told take care of yourself and have a nice life.No major homicide investigations,no media, just one country cop to take care of the lot and who seems to think it was a all a big accident.Dozens of tourist missing in the top end and no one is slightly suspicious there is something odd happening up there.
I would have thought a large homicide investigation may have given this show a bit of credibility and interest.They try to focus on the two main characters the Cop and the Girl with the bad American accent , unfortunately they're are not interesting enough to hold attention or interest.
It seems to want to portray the top end and the outback as some kind of wild west or Mad Max type scenario.It is very frustrating that Australian film produces have to resort to the clichéd Aussie Drongos and instead to try to portray Australians as having some intelligence and sophistication.
This series had so much potential but wasted on poor performances, scripts and plots..
Never have I watched a TV series that had the potential to be so brilliant, but is in actual fact utter rubbish.
erm....) The main character has a total lack of depth, coupled with cringe- worthy levels of melodrama (EVEN when taking into account the horrific situation she has been thrown into) and either can't act or is extremely suppressed by awful direction (I'm sure either the actress or the director, or both, or SOMEONE, must have watched too many of those despicable films about melodramatic teenage vampires or something).
And not only that, she repeatedly makes the SAME mistakes to the point where I ended up being "on the side of the villain", who is the only well executed character in the entire series.
I did watch the whole series as I did want to know what the outcome would be, although more because I had fun laughing at it with my girlfriend.
I read, before I watched episode 4 that a viewer felt that it went a bit off list; flashbacks and fragmented scenes from the past; everyone is different and I felt they needed that to bulk out the story, which I did not want to end - ever .I noticed that the prisoner whose hand was sticking out of the ground, had on it a gold band, but if that was meant to be the escaped prisoner, he had cut that hand off?
The first 4 eps really got me excited for the epic showdown between Eve and Mick, but some really poor writing in the last 2 eps harms what could have been one of the great Aussie TV series.
But Lucy was great, really enjoyed her character.
Jarrett obviously has fun with the role but he's too normal to be a mythical Jason/Michael Myers monster, yet too unbelievable to be a truly scary serial killer.The side characters and their stories too are fairly pointless and are pure filler for the most part.
Great actors like Deborah Mailman and Gary Sweet have small arcs which are completely inconsequential within the greater Eve vs Mick story.
Little B-stories like the cop's relationship troubles with his wife pop up every episode and truly offer nothing but filler.
But in the end i think its definitely worth a watch.
I love the setting, the cinematography, the acting, the casting , can't fault any of that but it annoys me the way that modern horror movies/shows are all about gore and impossibly unkillable baddies.Im only watching it to the end out of loyalty to the actors and Australian content , need to leave more to the imagination please.
The story follows some dull American girl on her quest for vengeance after Mick killed her parents and her little brother who gets herself into trouble every step of the way.The second series is far better.
This series offers us a world we do not often see.But like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and Michael Myers before him; Mick Taylor has one flaw that I find irritating.
Despite this, I enjoyed Wolf Creek the series almost until the final shot..
I did enjoy watching it and the story line was interesting and kept me engaged but the acting wasn't great.
I TAKE THIS TV SERIES AS PART X FILES (A CLUELESS OUTBACK OFFICER THAT PIECES THINGS TOGETHER AS HE GOES) , À BIT OF KILL BILL. |
tt0078222 | Seeta Aur Geeta | Seeta and Geeta (Hema Malini in a dual role) are twin girls who were separated at birth. Geeta, a feisty girl is raised in a poor neighborhood and is a street performer, while Seeta is raised by her cruel aunt Chachi and meek uncle. Chachi treats Seeta like a servant, despite the fact that the family is living off her late parents' money. Seeta's only consolation is her old grandmother.
One day, Seeta decides life is not worth living and runs away to commit suicide. She is saved but is mistaken for her identical twin Geeta and is taken to Geeta's home. Meanwhile, Seeta's aunt and uncle are frantically searching for her and find Geeta. They attempt to force Geeta to go with them but, using some of her clever tricks, she escapes them and the police who have been searching for her. She then meets Ravi (Sanjeev Kumar) and, though he also mistakes her for Seeta, she goes home with him. Ravi is surprised by this "Seeta" and the Seeta he had met previously. Geeta realizes the cruelty that Seeta has been living under and vows to teach her aunt a lesson.
Meanwhile, the real Seeta is living in Geeta's house. Her surrogate mother has attributed her new docile attitude to shock. Here, Seeta meets Raka (Dharmendra), Geeta's friend and fellow performer. Raka is also surprised by "Geeta's" sudden gentle nature and desire to do housework. When he tried to coax her into performing, she is unable to do so. Ravi meanwhile falls in love with Geeta. At home, Geeta begins to set everything on a proper course. She resumes control of the money and restores her grandmother to the head of the household, where she belongs. Raka begins to fall in love with Seeta. Trouble begins brewing when Chachi's brother Ranjeet comes to visit and sees the real Seeta in a marketplace. He follows her and discovers the truth, which leads to a showdown in the villains' den and then marriage. | revenge, cruelty | train | wikipedia | Outstanding picture!
Seeta, Geeta and the ever-unforgettable Hema Malini!.
Seeta Aur Geeta is according to me one of the best comedy films ever made in India.
Apart from its wonderful screenplay, exceptionally funny proceedings, and the fantastic blend of comedy, romance and action, there's another very good reason to watch it which is also the main reason: Hema Malini.
Ramesh Sippy makes a wise choice by casting her as she brings the film to life with her natural charm and beauty.
Without a doubt, the script is another winner, and technically the film was quite innovatory for the time.
The result is a picture that is terribly entertaining and memorable.Seeta and Geeta, both played by Malini, are identical twin sisters who were separated at birth.
17 years later: Seeta lives unhappily with her paternal uncle and his cruel wife in her deceased parents' mansion, and is literally treated like a slave, while Geeta, who was stolen by a gypsy couple at birth, lives happily a poor lifestyle with her mother.
Seeta is presented as a shy, traditional and highly reticent girl, while Geeta is a bubbly, energetic, brave and vivacious girl who works as a street dancer to feed herself and in her free-time is a real prankster who indulges in playing marbles with kids.The comedy of errors begins when Seeta, unable to tolerate her ill-fate any longer, runs away from home, and the two estranged sisters accidentally swap places.
This is done through a series of scenes which are full of comedy and humour.
The police station sequence is awesome, to say the least.
The moment we see Geeta hanging on to the ceiling fan with such comfort is unforgettable.
But the greatest fun happens in the big mansion, where the aunt, her brother and daughter think they can maltreat Seeta again.
What they don't know is that it is not Seeta, but Geeta!
And what happens then is such a hilarious show to watch.It must be noted that it's not just about the comedy; the movie has depth even in the dramatic portions.
Seeta's torture is successfully disturbing, and there you can see a great deal of dramatic tension which is often overlooked.
Some of the scenes in which Geeta finally makes justice may be entertaining, but they are much more than just that.
See Geeta's interaction with her grandmother, the moment she makes the old woman take her real place in the house, the moment she stands up for the servant when he gets physically abused, or the one when she breaks the norm by refusing to count the money brought by the lawyer, placing full trust in his services.
You will understand what I'm referring to.Hema Malini, in one of her finest performances ever, is simply splendid and marvelous.
She gets two completely different roles to play with very distinct temperaments and personalities (one is a dramatic role and the other is a comic one), and she plays them so brilliantly, skillfully and convincingly that it's impossible to believe it is one woman playing these two characters.
As a kid I actually used to think these were two different women who were just similar looking.
She is moving and compelling as Seeta, but it's the character of Geeta that remains with you forever, because it shows the most colourful shades of her personality and utilises her superb comic timing to the fullest.The rest of the cast members, including Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra, support well.
Kumar never ceased to impress with his natural ease and here he is very likable.
Dharmendra does exceedingly well as the lonely drunkard.
Roopesh Kumar is also well cast as the villain.
The elderly women -- Pratima Devi as the grandmother and Radhika Rani as Geeta's foster mother -- are very good, but undoubtedly it is Manorama who stands out as the twins' cruel, evil and hilarious aunt.
Her plump, amusingly hypocritical, heavily made-up and caricaturish Kaushalia is according to me one of the most memorable and funny characters in Hindi cinema history.
Manorama is just exceptional in a wonderfully acted comic role, which significantly contributes to making this film the classic that it is.R.D. Burman's music is outstanding.
All the songs are lovely, from the happily exciting "Oh Saathi Chal" to the catchy "Zindagi Hai Khel" to the ballad "Haan Ji Haan".
And speaking of modern, the film portrays the modern-day India very well.
Ramesh Sippy's direction is excellent, ditto for the cinematography, the editing and the action.
The camera work and the stunts were definitely ahead of the times.
The movie never gets boring; it is fast-paced, engaging and interesting.
Many films with similar story lines have been made before and after, but frankly they all pale in comparison to this one.
Seeta Aur Geeta is one of the best-made Indian films of its time, one of the most accomplished entertainers - a masterful work of timeless proportions..
This is one of the best India films ever made of all time.
This film is fantastic and interesting, I have seen it more than a thousand times and guess what I can't wait to see it again!
It is one of the best india films I've seen and I have also done some survey on it and rating was very high.
It is surely a good movie and I am happy to rate it for excellent..
Hema Malini's Comedy of Errors.
I found 'Seeta Aur Geeta' to be a thoroughly enjoyable flick.
One can expect lots of laughter from this comedy.
Even though in terms of story, this isn't much different from other dual role comedies but it still is a charming film.
Ramesh Sippy is a good director (even though I find 'Sholay' overrated) as he sticks to the main story.
The beautiful Hema Malini plays the title roles and she brilliantly pulls it off.
Seeta is the boring, pushover, damsel in distress sister and Geeta is the street smart, bold, charming and mischievous one.
It is the Hema Malini who plays Geeta that stands out.
She proves her capability as a comedian and is a fun treat to watch.
Sanjeev Kumar is excellent as the doctor who falls in love with Geeta (this actor can hardly do wrong in my books).
It is his scenes with Malini that I enjoyed most.
Dharmendra tends to overact, particularly as the drunk, but otherwise he is alright.
I love all the songs though 'Maine Sharab Pee Hai' is the least favourite.
My favourite ones are the two duets sung by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle.
Overall, 'Seeta Aur Geeta' is a charming comedy of errors.
A classic indeed..
Move over Hayley Mills....
Who has never seen a twin movie?
Ever since the rise of the Olson twins Disney and such production companies have produced one twin movie after another.
But who remembers the days when turning one person into two people in the same frame wasn't a mere matter of computer technology and whiz kids, but when it was a question of magic.
To this day I am amazed at the high technical quality of the Parent Trap with none other than Hayley Mills.
This same amazement came over me when I saw Seeta aur Geeta, for it is Bollywood's version of the Parent Trap.POSSIBLE SPOILERSOn a very rainy night a man and his very pregnant wife seek refuge in a strangers house.
There the woman gives birth to two beautiful girls.
The woman who helps her deliver cannot have children and in a moment of 'madness' she decides to keep one of the girls.
Although the couple is torn over what they have done, they believe it was meant to be especially when upon departure the newly father exclaims his gratitude by saying that if he had had twins he would have surely given one to them.This is how Seeta and Geeta are seperated at birth.
Seeta who is raised by her real parents grows up in a very wealthy home.
Unfortunately at a very young age her parents die and her aunt and uncle move in with her.
They mistreat her horribly.
Rather than treat her as family, they treat her as a slave.
Geeta on the other hand grows up in a very poor, but very loving home.
As nice and demure as Seeta is, so mischievous and perky Geeta is.
Together with her friend Raka she pulls one scam after another.
Through a twist of fate the two sisters unknowingly change places.
As Geeta Seeta finds the love of a mother she has never known.
Whereas Geeta discovers the fortunes she has always craved.
Ofcourse the families are baffled by the sudden changes in characters of the two girls.
Suddenly their bold scam artist is cooking and cleaning and sowing.
And their demure houseslave is giving as good as her sister got in the past.Ofcourse this situation cannot go on and after a few romantic escapades with Raka and Ravi, events start to unfold and eventually the story reaches its climax.This movie although in story quite different from The Parent Trap, is extremely funny.
Hema Malini is absolutely brilliant as both the good girl and the bad girl.
And one can't help but cheer her on.
I know I was right there with her on the front line when she was teaching her auntie a lesson or two.
The story is also well thought out.
Unlike many Bollywood movies it doesn't have too many weird twists and turns.
I say this with a little apprehension because naturally any movie that involves two twins changing places by accident or otherwise has some weird twists and turns.
However, one takes those for granted when watching two young women fall in love, discovering and appreciating the love of their family and reaching their full potential.
If only Bollywood made more movies like this.*****/5 stars.
Another superb entertainer by Ramesh Sippy.
Ramesh Sippy made several great entertainers in the past, Seeta aur Geeta is one of his most memorable films, After the successful ANDAZ(1971) Sippy came back with Seeta aur Geeta.
The film may not be an original film, as it seems like a female version of RAM AUR SHYAM(1967) but yet Sippy entertains the audiences.
The film is made memorable due to several hilarious scenes like the escapades between Hema(as Geeta) and Manorama, Hema belting Roopesh Kumar amongst several other scenes.
The film does have other characters as well like Dharmendra the drunkard loner, Sanjeev Kumar and other characters.
It does have the clichés and the romance and action of the 70s but yet it's entertaining Direction by Ramesh Sippy is superb Music by RD Burman is superb, Kishore's songs are superb like Hawa Ke Saath Saath(picturised on Sanjeev/Hema) and Koi Ladki Mujhe(Sanjeev/Hema) while Manna Dey's solo songs Abhi to Haath mein jaam and Zindagi hai Khel(Dharmendra) are superb too while Lata's song Haan Ji Haan is superb tooHema Malini proves her comic talent and performs both roles superbly, this is one of her most memorable roles, Sippy again worked with her in SHOLAY and you can see a replica of Geeta in the Basanti role Dharmendra is superb in his role, showing good comic talent not doing his usual kutte kamine stuff Sanjeev Kumar too is excellent in his role, showing his versatility Satyen Kapuu is decent, All 4 of them worked together again in SHOLAY Manorama is superb in her carricatured evil aunty character Roopesh Kumar is good, rest are adequate |
tt0041146 | Bad Luck Blackie | As the story begins, a small white kitten is being mercilessly tormented by a mean bulldog. The kitten manages to escape, and while hiding for safety behind a garbage can, she is met by a bowler hat-wearing, cigar-chomping black cat, who offers to protect the kitten (his business card reads "Black Cat — Bad Luck Company — Paths Crossed–Guaranteed Bad Luck"). The black cat demonstrates his skills by crossing the path of the rapidly approaching bulldog (to the tune of Comin' Through the Rye), who is then knocked out by a flowerpot that falls from the sky. The black cat leaves the scene after giving the kitten a whistle, to be blown in case of emergency.
The bulldog revives, and tries multiple times to attack the kitten, but every attempt is foiled in the same way: the kitten blows the whistle, the black cat crosses the bulldog's path regardless of circumstances, and the dog is pummeled by various objects falling from the sky, including a cash register, a piano, and a set of good luck horseshoes (not to mention the horse they belong to).
Eventually, the bulldog frightens the kitten into giving up the whistle, and (after a couple of false starts) he gains the upper hand on the black cat by luring him under a large paint brush, turning him white and rendering his bad luck powers useless. However, the white kitten saves the day by painting herself black and crossing the bulldog's path. The bulldog is conked by a falling anvil, and ends up swallowing the whistle, triggering a case of the hiccups, each one of which causes the whistle to go off. As a result, all manner of huge objects plummet from the sky (ranging from a kitchen sink all the way to a battleship), causing the bulldog to flee in terror. The cartoon ends with the formerly-black cat giving the kitten his bowler hat as a show of gratitude. | cruelty | train | wikipedia | A logical Avery cartoon - Who knew?.
This is perhaps Tex Avery's best cartoon, and it's because it has something one would not think of looking for in a cartoon, let alone one by Avery.
That secret ingredient is logic.
Yes, logic.
This is a very logical cartoon, not because it presents realistic action (it certainly does not), but because the action - unreal as it is - follows a logical progression, and it's all the funnier for it.
The cartoon has a very simple concept: a white kitten, harassed by a guffawing bulldog, hires the services of Bad Luck Blackie.
With one blow of a whistle, Blackie crosses the bulldog's path and gives him bad luck - i.e., something drops from the sky and hits him on the head.
The entire film is comprised of variations of this simple scenario, normal procedure for Avery.
But rather than merely repeat the gag ad nauseam, Avery builds up the situation to a crescendo of outlandishness.
With each scene, the objects become larger and more unlikely - from a simple flowerpot, to a piano, a lit bomb, a fire hydrant, and on and on until...let's just say that Avery doesn't stop at the proverbial kitchen sink.
The dog tries to stop Blackie by any means necessary - good luck charms, setting traps - but always he succumbs to the inscrutable logic of the situation; whenever the whistle is blown, Blackie passes by and the dog gets conked.
No matter who blows the whistle, no matter where the dog is, the result is always the same: whistle=black cat=conk!
Finally, the dog gets the upper hand by applying some logic of his own.
If a black cat causes bad luck, painting the cat white negates the effect, and that is just what he does.
Unfortunately, the reverse is also true, so the kitten paints himself black and saves his hero and gets revenge on his tormentor at the same time.
Anyone else would have ended the cartoon right then and there, but Avery gives us one more twist, one that is ridiculous, yet still in keeping with the logic established early on.
(Think Pavlov) If this film teaches us anything (besides being kind to kittens and beware of black cats) is the importance of logic in cartoons.
Avery isn't merely laying one gag after another.
He is developing the situation, letting it build naturally to a satisfying conclusion.
He sets up rules for his characters to follow and bends them without breaking them.
The result may be irrational, but it is never illogical, and it's funny as hell..
I wish I had one of those whistles.
This wonderful Tex Avery short has all the ingredients for a successful cartoon, protagonistic cats, antagonistic dogs, and falling anvils.
As in most Avery vehicles, the jokes come rapid fire, all which will leave you in stitches.
One of the masters best works..
The prototypical Tex Avery cartoon.
This Tex Avery effort is virtually a crash course-pun intended-on how to make a Tex Avery cartoon.
Take a wholly unsympathetic villain (in this case, a bully), add a victim ( a cute little kitten), show the bully in action and then set up a means for the bad guy to get what they deserve and then some, making certain that there's room for roughly 5,306 sight gags along the way.
Tex Avery created or helped develop Bugs Bunny, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel and Chilly Willy, to name a few.
Many of his cartoons centered around that basic outline, with some variation.
Sight gags, sight gags and more sight gags.
Most recommended..
Got my mojo workin....
There's a lesson to be learned here..but who cares?
Don't mess around with the little cat, Spike..even after the bad luck inherent in the noir feline is negated by a dousing of white paint, fate learns to associate bad luck with a whistle..larger and larger objects come into contact with Spike's noggin, and though most would be daunted by the repeated application of anvils, safes and the like to their cranium, this cretinous canine continues causing chaos throughout the film..to the audience's glee..
Full of fun and clever humour.
Bad Luck Blackie is an animated short about an adorable kitten and a mean bulldog willing to do anything to anger and hurt the kitten.
Luckily, the kitten finds another cat who can cause bad luck to anyone.
With the help of this cat, the bulldog gets a taste of it's own medicine, and the viewers get even more laughs.
It's pretty much your basic dog chases cat cartoon, but that excellent twist makes it a lot of fun to watch.
From start to finish you'll find that there are tons of smart ironic jokes and lots of laugh out loud slapstick comedy.
I can honestly say that I don't often laugh out loud or even crack a smile at these kinds of things, but I found myself trying to control my laughter as I watched late at night while everyone else in the house was in bed.
It's just a fun little film to make you laugh, and nothing else.
Don't expect writing or acting or anything that you'll remember for the rest of your lives.I liked this quite a bit, I think anyone who likes any of this stuff will too.
I rate it a seven out of ten..
You Have to Give Him Credit for Coming Back.
This is absolutely vintage Tex Avery.
The villain in this story is a bulldog who spends most of his time tormenting a kitten.
There is a kind of ugly scene where the kitten is thrown way up in the air.
The bulldog pulls a sofa cushion out and pretends to catch he cat, but pulls it away at the last minute.
Frustrated and scared, the little guy meets a black alley cat who has the power to cross people's paths, giving them bad luck.
Now sight gag after sight gag comes.
Each is more clever the former.
The bulldog never seems to learn a lesson.
He is a sociopath, so his life is devoted to causing harm.
I think the high point of this cartoon is the creative ways the bulldog is punished.
Tex Avery throws in some of that eye popping, double taking stuff that he did, and makes this a real delight..
The cat and the bulldog.
Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did.
'Bad Luck Blackie' is another example of an animated masterpiece and one of his all time best.
Like the best of Tex Avery, 'Bad Luck Blackie' is a cartoon of amazing quality, is very creative and hilarious, and has a potentially distasteful premise actually done inventively and tastefully.The kitten is adorable and a character one roots for.
The funnier and more interesting character though is the bulldog, who is both scarily formidable and hilarious.
The voice work as to be expected is marvellous.Avery does a wonderful job directing, with his unique, unlike-any-other visual and characteristic and incredibly distinctive wacky humour style all over it as can be expected.Once again there is nothing sadistic or repetitious, instead it's imaginative, wonderfully wild and hilarious throughout from start to finish.
The sight gags throughout are an absolute joy and are immaculate in timing.It is no surprise either that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail.
The character designs are unique, Avery always did have creative character designs, and suitably fluid.
The music, courtesy of Scott Bradley, is lushly and cleverly orchestrated, with lively and energetic rhythms and fits very well indeed.Summing up, another Avery masterpiece.
10/10 Bethany Cox. Quick and creative.
"Bad Luck Blackie" is a color cartoon from 1949, so this one is already almost 70 years old.
The director is the famous Tex Avery and Rich Hogan (not as famous) wrote the story.
Avery also works as voice actor.
It runs for seven minutes as they usually do and I must say I enjoyed the watch for the most part.
Especially during the middle, it was downright great and I was tempted to give 4 out of 5 stars.
But the beginning and ending are not on par.
You could say that this one is basically a collection of very short short films.
A little cat gets bullied by a big bulldog, but a black cat comes to help and keeps bringing bad luck to the dog in the most unusual situations, locations and circumstances.
But the bulldog is not dumb.
Will it help if he paints the cat white?
If he carries a horseshoe?
Or if he just steals the whistle?
Watch for yourself!
This is certainly among the better Tex Avery films I have seen and I recommend it..
good but not great Avery cartoon.
This is a pretty good cartoon, but it's not exactly one of Tex Avery's best for MGM.
The story begins with a cute little kitten being bullied repeatedly by a sadistic dog.
Each time he does something mean to the kitten (such as offering him a saucer of milk with a mouse trap hidden inside), the dog laughs intensely (perhaps TOO intensely--it's a little annoying).
Again and again, the kitten is tortured until a black cat comes to his aid.
The black cat announced that he is a "bad luck" charm and any time he wants something bad to happen to the dog he should call.
And, of course, the dog continues being abusive and the kitten calls again and again for the aid of the black cat.
Each time, impossible but funny awful things happen to the dog.
The sight gags are cool and the cartoon is entertaining..
It's not hard to see why these MGM animated shorts .
. are considered the most violent cartoons of all time.
Take BAD LUCK BLACKIE, as an example.
Stuff keeps falling from great heights onto the head of an endangered doggy.
First man's best friend is brained by a flower pot.
Then ANOTHER pot full of blossoms gives the hapless headache hog another concussion.
To make matters worse, a piano pulverizes the poor pooch.
Next, Fido is blown up by a bomb.
A large boxy metal cash dispenser registers the next assault on the canine cranium, just before a serial smash-down by four sequentially falling horseshoes and--of course, of course--the nonverbal horse they came in on.
If you miss Flattenings by fire hydrant and a heavy metal safe, you cannot escape seeing this mishap-prone mutt mashed further by an anvil, kitchen sink, bathtub, second piano, steamroller, airplane, city bus, and ocean liner.
This Titanic take-down is all crammed into a scant seven minutes.
(Irving Wallace once released a pulp novel entitled THE SEVEN MINUTES, but compared to it, BAD LUCK BLACKIE is pure pup pornography.) |
tt0098048 | Outlaw of Gor | While drinking alone one night, reminiscing of his previous adventures on the planet Gor, Professor Tarl Cabot comes across Watney Smith, a fellow professor with a keen interest in women, yet little success in pursuing them. Watney insists on accompanying Cabot to his next drinking spot, and during the car journey Cabot's ring activates and transports both him and Watney to Gor - The Elder initiates the teleport from Gor using a rose quartz (the Home Stone) because of suspicions that Xeno, the Priest has eyes for the throne. Cabot is overjoyed at the thought of being reunited with his lover Talena, and the townspeople of Koruba are similarly overjoyed at Cabot's return. After fending off a brief attack by slavers, Cabot meets Talena, and also discovers that her father, King Marlenus is now married to an ambitious woman named Lara. At a feast that night, Marlenus announces that he will soon step down from the throne, and names Cabot to succeed him.
Lara desires the throne herself, and gets the high priest Xenos to agree to help assassinate Marlenus. She then recruits the easily persuaded Watney to provide her with an alibi, and proceeds to kill Marlenus, framing Cabot for the murder. While Cabot protests his innocence, and Talena believes him, the guards capture her, and Cabot is forced to flee along with his diminutive sidekick, Hup. Recognising the danger that Cabot represents, Lara and Xenos hire a "Hunter" to pursue and capture him. In the meantime, Lara betrays Watney and has him thrown in the dungeon, and attempts to have Talena killed by putting her in a fight with two female gladiators, only for Talena to easily triumph.
In the desert, Cabot and Hup encounter another band of slavers, and after attacking their encampment, rescue a female slave. That night the Hunter finds Cabot, Hup and the freed slave, and captures them while they sleep. Upon being brought back to Koruba, the three are thrown into the dungeon by Lara, despite Xenos's attempts to persuade her that even being held hostage, Cabot is too dangerous to be left alive. Xenos attempts to persuade Cabot to return to Earth, and Lara tries seducing him, but both attempts are unsuccessful, as Cabot is now determined to bring them to justice over Marlenus's death. The alliance between Lara and Xenos breaks down, with the former becoming frustrated at Xenos's lack of loyalty, and the latter realising just how disastrous it would be for Lara to rule Koruba, which leads to the two double-crossing and attempting to kill each other, though Lara's attempt ends up being the successful one.
The following day, Cabot, Talena, Hup and Watney are brought outside the castle for a ceremonial execution. However, the four repeatedly fight off their executioners, until Lara sends in her entire guard and the Hunter, rapidly overwhelming the four. As the Hunter prepares to strike the death blow on Cabot, Watney reveals that Lara was the actual killer of Marlenus; the Hunter believes this without question and throws a spear at Lara, immediately killing her.
With Cabot and Talena now crowned King and Queen respectively, they prepare to finally consummate their relationship. However, Cabot's ring then starts glowing, causing him to be worried that he's about to be sent back to Earth. Instead, Watney ends up being the person sent back to Earth, where he promptly finds himself being arrested for jaywalking in a busy road. | good versus evil, violence, alternate reality | train | wikipedia | take one of the more infamous literary staples, namely the Gor books by John Norman, convert it to film and you'd think you'd be onto a winner.
Hidden amongst the sleaze and thinly-veiled attempts to make the reader think of women as nothing but objects, there are actually some pretty good action-adventure stories.
So it would seem that converting them to celluloid would be a winner, even if only on the soft-porn circuit.Sadly, Outlaw of Gor is nothing like the books.
Unfortunately, by taking away the sex, having a budget less than that of the average teenager's weekly pocket money and doing some awful re-inventing of the novels' original ideas (yes there were some!), the filmmakers literally killed the golden goose and replaced it with a prize turkey.Outlaw is just horrendous throughout, from the acting, the sets, the laughable "costumes", the editing and dialogue right down to the fight scenes that appeared to have been choreographed by the Marx Bros.
Tarl Cabot, the hero of the novels, is translated into a weedy vegetarian who is totally against slavery - a complete reversal from the novels.
In the movie we get.....Jack Palance, who doesn't seem to be in command of his own lines, let alone the planet.
And yes, Jack leers and mugs his way throughout the movie, at least having the grace to look embarrassed at several points.The plot is feeble, centering around an evil Queen's attempts to take control of the city of Koroba by murdering her husband and blaming it on Cabot.
We're also treated to far too many shots of the midget's rear end during the film (I mentioned the costumes were rubbish, didn't I?) and awful moralising dialogue by Cabot about the evils of slavery.There are no special effects to speak of - the budget was too miniscule for that, just the heady excitement of one lame swordfight after another.
At the end, which really sums up the whole movie and had me in hysterics, Tarl Cabot makes as if to snap his sword over his knee - a symbolic gesture of peace.
Yep, that's Outlaw of Gor for ya - all bent out of shape.Even on MST3K this is one of the lamest excuses for a movie.
this is typical example of a moment caught on this awkward film that makes me wonder, what, exactly, are we supposed to be thinking about this?
true, all of this is as appealing as awful watney smith getting massaged or the queen yelling "guards!" even once, though she does it about six thousand times in the movie...anyhow, you get the idea that the viewer is left to wonder what the filmmakers were thinking.
any movie where palance wears fat gold chains and speaks in monosyllables is worth something.
also, the set for the castle sort of looks like a terry Jones fantasy movie i saw once but forgot the title.
i would suggest this movie only to those who prefer a strange film and have a high tolerance for poor film-making.
I really used to think Cave Dwellers was pretty crappy, but Outlaw of Gor makes me wish Ator could skewer Cabot while Thong pummels Watney Smith into submission.
Also, add to the fact that Outlaw is preceded by Gor which makes following the plot (what plot??) a difficult task indeed.Jack Palance really looks annoyed in almost every scene he's in.
Maybe it's those really goofy hats he wears and his facial expression which says "I have more talent in my pinky fingernail than all these scum actors combined." Urbano is less than mediocre as Cabot, but is less painful to watch than Russel Savadier's portrayal of sex starved Watney.
The barely clad nymphs in the film add a little (and I do stress little) enjoyment to the film especially the terrific acting of Donna Denton whose "Get out of here, you disgusting worm!" speech may be the highlight of the entire movie.
That or any scene with Nigel "Kermit" Chipps.There must've have been so many Seymour Butts jokes during the making of this film..
Firstly, I love the fantasy aspects of films with swords and dragons.
Astoundingly, in an act of Christian fidelity, our hero refuses the quick in-n-out owing to the fact that he is in love with another woman (and of course the other woman is super slender so worth it).Throw in the a dwarf (aha!), palace, catfight and sand dunes and this was well worth my time..
The first Gor at least had the music score redeeming it a little even if nothing else worked, it also made the mistake of having on board two talented actors and wasting them both.
Here in Outlaw of Gor, aka Gor II, the score is the closest the film gets to having any kind of energy, unfortunately it is almost inappropriately utilised and actually doesn't fit at all.Outlaw of Gor is a really cheap-looking film, as with the first Gor the photography is constantly shoddy, the sets are drab and the costumes are a mix of the cheapest plastic armours and left-over-fabrics except to even worse effect.
The fight scenes and their choreography are even more artificial than the children's-playground-like ones in the first film, the editing is slapdash in the scenes, the choreography is unenthusiastic sloppiness all over and there's just no fun or tension or even life to them.The characters have very little personality, just underdeveloped genre clichés really, and Outlaw of Gor has to have one of the most irritating comedy relief sidekicks of all time.
This is including Jack Palance, who actually was a great actor who excelled in villain roles but you wouldn't think so here, here is his career worst performance and the only time where he looked bored and embarrassed.
Particularly bad in the acting department were Urbano Barberini who once again tries to mask his lack of charisma and limited acting skills with cornball dialogue delivery and acting like a buffoon and it gets annoying, Donna Denton who screams her lines almost the entire time and it gets old quickly and Russell Savadier whose character is useless and irritating in the first place and his performance really grates on the nerves.
Oddly enough despite Palance being the best known actor and actually having acting talent Rebecca Ferratti is the least bad, there's more life and expression than there was in her performance in the first film and she does light up the screen with her sexiness.All in all, one of the worst sequels ever made, making the same major mistakes the first film did to even worse effect and makes more on the way.
If you ever happen to see this movie, there is a fight scene where the hero kills his attacker with a big (wooden) sword by clearly stabbing the ground next to his chest.
The whole Jack Palance bit just got me going.
As for the lead actor, Urbano Barberini looks right for the role but his acting skills were rather bad..
My theory: The producers of this film first made the movie "Gor".
Then someone noticed that they still had three days left on their equipment rentals, so they decided to film a second movie.
The end result was "Outlaw of Gor".Jack Palance must have been hard-up for money to do this.
I am disappointed with the genre because of this film.No plot, annoyingly hollow characters that never develop, horrible actors, and a poor concept from the beginning make this movie (and it's twin) worthless.
While such a feat used to be hard for this genre, now it seems 9 year olds get novels published, and screenplays filmed.It gets a second star simply for being so easy to heckle.
Possibly the most disturbing "buffalo shot" in cinematic history (the poor dwarf in the bearskin diaper bares all as he climbs down a building face.) Obviously I've only seen the MST version, but even that was hard going.
If you ever felt tempted to pick up the misogynistic Gor series of novels, watching this movie should convince you otherwise..
Terrible movie, great MST3K episode.
If you think that the presence of Jack Palance can save this movie, think again.
He actually makes the movie worse by just being a good actor.
For a fun game while watching, drink every time they say Cabot.
The terrible skimpy metallic costumes and lame dance routines done by the few women "acting" in this film can't have been made in 1989...
It's a good "bad movie" to watch MST3K-style, though...
The first one was bad enough, and the short skirts, one take filming, and Jack Palance in funny hats just made me nauseous..
It also probably means that Jack Palance went straight from the mega-bucks production of Batman to slumming it in a desert with a bunch of Italian non-actors.The oddest thing about this movie is that it has no hero.
Yes, Cabot may have the camera pointed at him most of the time, but he does absolutely nothing to affect the story's outcome.
For about the last 20 minutes, he just gets repeatedly beaten and whipped: it would be The Passion Of The Cabot, if anything approaching "passion" were in the actor's repertoire.Cabot's wormy friend is also one of the most annoying and punchable "comic" sidekicks in movie history..
Outlaw's plot comes straight out of the Sword and Sorcerer Handbook an evil queen kills her husband and blames it on the innocent hero, Tarl Cabot (Urbano Barberini), so she might take control of the thrown.
Cabot spends the rest of the movie trying to clear his name, undo the queen's evils, and return to his true love.Overall, Outlaw is one of the poorer examples of the Conan "inspired" rip-off I've seen recently.
And what's the point in announcing quite proudly in the movie that our hero is a vegetarian?
Between the emasculated Tarl Cabot, scene after scene of a midget's hinder, an annoying side-kick named Watney, and an embarrassed looking Jack Palance wearing one of the goofiest looking hats imaginable, you've got the recipe for one bad movie.Yet I haven't rated Outlaw as low as I could have.
I tend to enjoy most sword and sorcerer type movies, even the bad ones.
In this awful serving, which is a sequel to a film that I haven't(thankfully) watched(I actually saw the first movie to Cavedwellers, much to my horror), an idiot professor by the name of Tarl Cabot(what kind of stupid moniker is that, anyway?!) is drawn once again to the planet called Gor. Along for the ride is his 'friend' and fellow professor, Watney(again with the ridiculous name!).
This guy is one of the most annoying characters ever put onto film.
He has a contest with himself early on in the film to see how many times he can say Cabot!
I mean, I know a job's a job, Jack, but come on!), dressed in a ridiculous costume with what looks like a split butter top loaf of bread on his head instead of a hat.
He's supposed to be the second bad guy, along with the evil younger Queen that the King married(sure, seventy year old decrepit guy, she married you because she loves you!
Cabot gives her a lecture about loving freely(who does this guy think he is?
John Brown Cabot?) then he goes back to the capitol city to try to rescue the Princess(who was in a wrestling match with a pair of lesbians) and stop the evil Queen and her creepy old High Priest adviser(Palance).
You'd at least think that the utterly infuriating little toad Watney would have been killed by the Queen, but no...the last scene is of this total moron walking down a road in 'America'(for America, read Italy), still wearing the lame ass costume he got in Gor. Once again I have to take my hat off to the Italians, who loved making films with scantily clad well oiled idiots pretending that they're big, bad swordsmen and wizards.
These aren't even B grade films-they're more like Z-grade for the most part, although most of them do have the laugh factor going for them, since they're pure Italian cheese of the stinkiest kind..
OK, so someone took the basic outlines of the infamous "Gor" novels and used them as an excuse for this amazingly threadbare, slipshod excuse for a feature film.
I want to blame John Milius and Arnold Schwarzenegger for this mess, since it came out in 1989, but in actuality it was probably just another piece of product grunted out by the "Sword and Sandals" division of the Italian film industry/sausage factory, and it (or something very similar to it) would probably have been made even if "Conan" had never existed.
Well, somehow they got hold of Jack Palance and dressed him up in choir robes and a series of goofy hats.
Everyone else can barely get their lines out without stammering or chewing the scenery, and the guy who plays "Watney" will probably never live down his role in this turkey if he lives to be 210 years old.
Writing and screenplay...sorry, you must be thinking of some other movie.
The Urbano-whosis guy, you know, the romantic lead, survived this movie...he even went on to do dozens of other film roles in Europe.
And if this sequel is any indication, don't seek out the first "Gor" movie, not if you value your brain cells..
I like reading SciFi and Fantasy, but I've neither read nor heard of the Gor novels.
I was never expecting a classic film like "The Best Years of Our Lives" (one of my favorites) or a classic fantasy saga like "The Deed of Paksenarrion," just a generic Hack-And-Slash time filler, and that's what I got.A lot of both Gor movies reminded me a bit of the Edgar Rice Burroughs "Barsoom" novels I read in my youth--deserts, fights, hero transplanted from another world.
I did, however, like the midget comic sidekick character Hup.Fight scenes?
There is a rebel uprising kind of thing on sword and sandal slave planet Gor.Stuff a synopsis, this "European with token American" nonsense doesn't merit it.
The smelly hands of dilettantes can be found all over this amazingly inept Z-movie, starting from the moronic plot-twists, moronic characters, and moronic costumes all the way to action sequences so badly choreographed they might rank this turkey in the "Top 5 Most Awful MST3K Fight Scenes".The Evil-Bitch Queen - or "bitch in heat" as Jack Palance so hilariously calls her - is such a bad mastermind coup-maker that one has to wonder just how stupid her kingdom's subjects must be to let her get away with it all.
She kills two key political figures (old geezers) in her kingdom within an hour - the second one in front of a dozen witnesses - and then a few days later actually stabs Palance, out of the blue, in the gut in front of the ENTIRE populace.
Not as bewildered as the viewers though.The MST3K team riffs the movie well; there are some big laughs, including a proper drubbing of Palance who looks positively stupid and highly embarrassed in his goofy "space" costume.
His character has nothing at all to do with the plot in the first hour, aside from following his Evil Queen around like a piece of furniture on legs..
I cannot fathom that the first Gor film was profitable enough to warrant a sequel.
Sure, there were some pretty bad B movies back in the day getting sequel after sequel; however, I had at least heard of said films.
No, I only heard of this one after 2010 when I was looking through a list of films that Mystery Science Theater has riffed and that is how I first saw this sequel.
I also saw parts of the first one, as this one recaps the previous adventures of Cabot the most bland sword and sorcery hero I have ever witnessed!
I cannot think of a single 'hero' from a film of this type that falls as short as this guy does, and I am not just talking the character, I am talking about the actor who depicts him too.
The only real actor of note in this one is a very angry looking Jack Palance who so obviously does not want to be in this film, but probably needed a check and thought a trip to Italy would be nice!
The story has Cabot returning to the world of Gor, a world that is behind our times, but has some magic and lots of 80's looking women with big hair.
That is one of the things I have to give this film credit for, it has some very attractive 80's girls in it showing cleavage and in some instances oiled up!
Well, after his name is mentioned a ton of times, Cabot finds himself in the middle of a set up where a priest uses the king's trophy wife to take control of the kingdom, at least that is what he seems to be doing at first.
Later, it seems more like the priest is the queen's puppet and that the priest is the more reasonable, who knows, it probably is a good book, but the movie is not.
Cabot wanders the desert with his small friend sidekick and gets offers of pleasure all over the place before everyone rejoices as the defenseless queen is skewered.
Still, this film had more to offer as far as riffs that they seemed to miss, like the the queen being killed in kind of brutal fashion when she could have been simply taken captive.
For the most part some funny stuff.So you get to see Jack Palance as some wizard type dude who seems to be pulling the strings and is not.
A vegetarian hero who really does not do all that much heroic stuff, but has great restraint when it comes to resisting girls who wish to give him pleasure and lots of cleavage! |
tt0012184 | Footfalls | The play is in four parts. Each opens with the sound of a bell. After this the lights fade up to reveal an illuminated strip along which a woman, May, paces back and forth, nine steps within a one-metre stretch. In each part, the light will be somewhat darker than in the preceding one. Therefore, it is darkest when the strip is lit up without May at the very end. Correspondingly, the bell gets slightly softer each time. Beckett introduced a "Dim spot on face during halts at R [right] and L [left]" so that May's face would be visible during her monologues.
The play has a very musical structure and timing is critical. “The walking should be like a metronome”, Beckett instructed, “one length must be measured in exactly nine seconds.” “These ‘life-long stretches of walking,’ he told his German May, Hildegard Schmahl, are ‘the centre of the play; everything else is secondary’.”
To ensure that every step could be heard “sandpaper was attached to the soles of [Billie] Whitelaw’s soft ballet slippers” during the London premiere.
As she covers the nine paces (seven in earlier printed texts) she hugs herself, the arms crossed, with the hands clasping the shoulders in front. ‘When you walk, you slump together, when you speak, you straighten up a bit.’ Schmahl asked Beckett if May’s posture was supposed to express fear? “No, not fear. It expresses that May is there exclusively for herself. She is isolated.”
One of a long line of Beckett protagonists whose name begins with an M, May is a woman in her forties (who should however appear “ageless” according to Beckett). She paces back and forth on a strip of bare landing outside her dying – if not already dead – mother’s room (a vertical ray of light not in the printed text suggests a door barely ajar).
The woman, clearly a shadow of her former self, wears tattered nightwear and has a ghostly pallor. Beckett said: “One could go very far towards making the costume quite unrealistic, unreal. It could, however, also be an old dressing-gown, worked like a cobweb … It is the costume of a ghost.” “You feel cold. The whole time, in the way you hold your body too. Everything is frost and night.” The adjective ‘ghostly’ is used frequently – by Beckett himself and others – to describe various aspects of Footfalls.
The play – significantly – only has a semblance of a plot.
May’s mother is only ever heard. We learn that she is apparently ninety years old and in poor health. The more likely truth is that she is a creation of May’s mind, especially when one examines Beckett’s earlier drafts.
=== Part I ===
As she paces, May and her mother carry on a conversation. They go through the daily routine by rote. Both voices are low and slow throughout. May asks her mother if she requires tending in any way. To each request the mother says: “Yes, but it is too soon.” The full list of comforts offered to the suffering mother carry a biblical resonance: dressings, sponge, lip-moistening and prayer. The suffering daughter, on the other hand, paces on the bare floorboards nailed as in a cross; in the church later ‘she’ paces across the arms of the cross.
May asks her mother what age she is. She’s told that she is in her “forties” but only after May has first let her mother know that she is ninety.
The mother asks May: “Will you never have done … revolving it all … In your poor mind?” The pacing back and forth is an externalisation of this inner unresolved issue. “It All” was a title Beckett was considering before he opted for Footfalls though we never discover what “it” might be. May may or may not be a ghost but she is undoubtedly a haunted individual; the umbilical cord has clearly never been severed.
“M (May) and V (Voice) create a dialogue which is simultaneously time present and time past, for, although the mother’s voice is an echo from the past, May is speaking to her in the endless present dramatized before our eyes. Quite literally in Footfalls, the past is in the present.” Simply put: they are ‘living’ in the past.
=== Part II ===
In the second part, the mother’s voice addresses the audience directly. She tells us that she too is watching her daughter along with us literally through the corridor wall. We learn that the turning point in May’s life, the “it” happened in girlhood: “when other girls her age were out at … lacrosse” she had already begun her obsessive pacing. From that time on significantly she has not ventured outside.
In the beginning the hall had been carpeted but May had asked her mother to have it taken up. When questioned the child had said because she needed to “hear the feet, however faint they fall”; “the “motion alone is not enough”. The apparition in the story in Part III on the other hand makes “No sound. [Pause] None at least to be heard.”
In an earlier draft the voice tells the audience: “My voice is in her mind” suggestive of the fact that the mother actually is only a figment of May’s imaginings. This is borne out by the fact that voice tells the story of a girl who “called her mother”,” instead of simply talking about a girl who “called me.” This is the kind of slip May might make if she was narrating the mother’s part herself.
We also learn how May sleeps, “in snatches” with her head bowed against the wall which is reminiscent of Mary in Watt.
“Beckett explains [why] the mother interrupts herself in the sentence ‘In the old home, the same where she — (pause)’ and then continues ‘The same where she began. She was going to say: ... the same where she was born. But that is wrong, she hasn’t been born. She just began. It began. There is a difference. She was never born.’ There is the connection with the Jung story [detailed below]. A life, which didn’t begin as a life, but which was just there, as a thing”.
=== Part III ===
In Part II the mother speaks of the daughter, in the third part, the daughter of the mother, in a way that is exactly parallel. ‘One must sense the similarities of both narratives,’ explained Beckett, ‘Not so much from the text as from the style, from the way that the text is spoken.’
In a manner similar to Mouth in Not I, “the shift into third person narrative and the indefinite pronoun work both to objectify the text, making it into a separate entity that seems disconnected from personal history. In that sense the recitation becomes a verbal structure repeated in consciousness rather than a sequence of memories in spontaneous association.” This part can be subdivided into four sections.
After each section May halts for a time and then resumes pacing.
==== Sequel ====
This part opens with May uttering the word, “Sequel” twice, which Beckett asked to be pronounced as “Seek well” – another pun – since she is seeking for herself.
May begins to tell a story in which an undefined ‘she’, probably herself, has taken to haunting the local Anglican church, which she enters through a locked door; there ‘she’ walks ‘up and down, up and down, his poor arm’” “Literally she is walking along the ‘arms’ of a cross-shaped church.”
==== The Semblance ====
The description of the spectre is similar to how the audience sees May: “a tangle of tatters” and her pacing is comparable except that the ghost paces along the crossbeam whereas May paces the length of the stage.
A residual haunting is where the entity does not seem to be cognizant of any living beings and performs the same repetitive act. It often is the reenactment of a tragic event, although it may sometimes be a very mundane act that was repeated often in life. It is generally not considered an actual ghost but some form of energy that remains in a particular location. The ghost goes about their business oblivious to the world of the living – what Beckett meant by the expression “being for herself,” Night by night ghosts pace their prescribed path offering no explanation to the viewers as to why they re-enact the same scene over and over. The answers – or at least best guesses – have to come from research done by the living in the real world.
The apparition is “by no means invisible” and can be seen “in a certain light.” It brings to mind the quote Beckett prefaced Film with: “Esse est percipi”: a Latin dictum meaning "to be is to be perceived."
Additionally, a ghost does not have to be dead; the word can be defined as: “a mere shadow or semblance; a trace: He's a ghost of his former self.”
==== Amy and Mrs Winter ====
May makes up a story about a woman, Amy (an anagram of May) and her mother, a Mrs Winter. Although he knew a Mrs Winter in real life the name would have been chosen to reflect the coldness of “his own ‘winter’s tale’, just as he changed the ‘south door’ of the church in the manuscript to the ‘north door’ at a late stage for the same reason.”
The name Amy is another pun: “A me.”
Mrs Winter has become aware of something strange “at Evensong” and questions her daughter about it while at supper. She asks if Amy had seen anything strange during the service but the daughter insists she did not because she “was not there” a point her mother takes issue with because she is convinced that she heard her distinctly say “Amen.” This is not a dramatisation of the event that traumatised May however as that happened in girlhood and Amy is described in the text as “scarcely a girl any more.”
“‘The daughter only knows the voice of the mother’. One can recognize the similarity between the two from the sentences in their narratives, from the expression. The strange voice of the daughter comes from the mother. The ‘Not enough?’ in the mother’s story must sound just like the ‘Not there?’ of Mrs W in Amy’s story, for example. These parallelisms are extremely important for the understanding of the play … One can suppose that she has written down everything which she has invented up to this, that she will one day find a reader for her story—therefore the address to the reader …‘Words are as food for this poor girl.’ Beckett says. ‘They are her best friends.’ … Above all, it is important that the narrative shouldn’t be too flowing and matter-of-course. It shouldn’t give the impression of something already written down. May is inventing her story while she is speaking. She is creating and seeing it all gradually before her. It is an invention from beginning to end. The picture emerges gradually with hesitation, uncertainty – details are always being added”
==== May becomes ‘Amy’ ====
Just as the light from Part I to Part III becomes constantly darker, the tone quieter, so the walking gets slower. When she begins to walk, there’s a small hesitation, as though she were unsure if she should walk or not. “Beckett pointed out that on her last walk along the strip of light, her energy runs out after three paces and she has to wait there until enough vitality returns to drag herself to the end of the light.”
“As the play ends, Mrs Winter speaks to Amy the very words spoken to May by her mother: ‘Will you never have done … revolving it all?’” Up until this point May has identified who has been speaking, At the end, when ‘Mrs W’ says, “Amy” it is May who answers, “Yes, Mother” – significantly she does not say, “Amy: Yes, Mother.”
Can May be the ghost and be ‘Amy’? Yes, if each reflects a different aspect of who she is.
=== Part IV ===
In the final section there is no one on stage. The bell chimes, the lights come up and then fade out.
“The final ten seconds with ‘No trace of May’, is a crucial reminder that May was always ‘not there’ or only there as a ‘trace’.” “May, like the Amy of her story, is simply ‘not there.’ ‘Strange or otherwise,’ we hear nothing, we see nothing. Absence is the only presence.” As Beckett told Billie Whitelaw, when she asked him if May was dead, he replied, “Let’s just say you’re not all there.” This has been interpreted by many to mean that May is not dead. But it should be remembered that [a] ghost has a curious relation to finitude, which means it is never entirely unearthly or out of this world. [G]hosts, … are traditionally tied to places, condemned for a certain time to walk the earth.
In an interview with Jonathan Kalb, Billie Whitelaw describes May’s journey: “In Footfalls … [May] gets lower and lower and lower until it’s like a little pile of ashes on the floor at the end, and the light comes up and she’s gone.”
James Knowlson and John Pilling in Frescoes of the Skull (p 227) come close to summarising the entire play in a single sentence: “We realise, perhaps only after the play has ended, that we may have been watching a ghost telling a tale of a ghost (herself), who fails to be observed by someone else (her fictional alter ego) because she in turn is not really there … even the mother’s voice may simply be a voice in the mind of a ghost.” | melodrama | train | wikipedia | null |
tt2313743 | Blame! | Killy, a silent loner possessing an incredibly powerful weapon known as a Gravitational Beam Emitter, wanders a vast technological world known as "The City". He is searching for Net Terminal Genes, a (possibly) extinct genetic marker that allows humans to access the "Netsphere", a sort of computerized control network for The City. The City is an immense volume of artificial structure, separated into massive "floors" by nearly-impenetrable barriers known as "Megastructure". The City is inhabited by scattered human and transhuman tribes as well as hostile cyborgs known as Silicon Creatures. The Net Terminal Genes appear to be the key to halting the unhindered, chaotic expansion of the Megastructure, as well as a way of stopping the murderous horde known as the Safeguard from destroying all humanity.
Along the way, Killy meets and joins forces with a resourceful engineer named Cibo and several groups such as a tribe of human warriors called the Electro-Fishers. Cibo and Killy are often pursued by the Safeguard, who view any human without Net Terminal Genes as a threat to be extinguished on sight. Because of the size and nature of The City and the violent lives led by its inhabitants, there are virtually no recurring characters and any alliances made are short-lived.
=== Setting ===
The City is actually a structure that began on Earth. The mechanical beings known as Builders, which move around reforming and creating new landscapes, appear to have begun building without end, creating an enormous structure with little internal logic or coherence. The City appears to be organized into distinct floors, with layers of an unknown material called "the megastructure" between them. Traveling between floors is extremely difficult as the megastructure is almost indestructible and approaching the floor boundaries results in a massive safeguard response. Only a direct Gravitational Beam Emitter blast is known to have been capable of penetrating the megastructure.
The City, and the Builders, were once controlled by the Netsphere and the Authority but they have since lost the power to control the expansion of The City due to the chaotic and insecure manner of its growth. Without intervention by a user with Net Terminal Genes they cannot reestablish control over The City nor the Safeguards, whose original job was to eliminate any humans who try to access the Netsphere without Net Terminal Genes. The Safeguard now attempts to destroy all humans without the Net Terminal Gene as the degradation of The City has corrupted their true goals.
In regards to the scale of the structure, NOiSE, the prequel to Blame!, states in its final chapter that "At one point even the Moon, which used to be up in the sky above, was integrated into The City's structure". It has been suggested by Tsutomu Nihei himself in his artbook Blame! and So On that the scale of The City is beyond that of a Dyson sphere, reaching at least Jupiter's planetary orbit (for a radius of around 5.2 AU, or 778,547,200 km); this is also suggested in scenarios such as Blame! vol. 9, where Killy finds himself having to travel through a room roughly the size of Jupiter (roughly 143,000 km). | sci-fi | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0033286 | Young Bill Hickok | An agent of an unspecified foreign power (John Miljan) plots to take over California during the confusion of the American Civil War. He uses Morrell and his Overland Raiders to prevent news from reaching the east. The Raiders rustle the stagecoach and Pony Express horses from the various relay stations to cut all lines of communication to and from the east. Bill Hickok is sent out to one of the relay stations in hopes that he would be able to keep the ponies from the raiders. Calamity and Gabby, horse traders for the relay stations, ride up with their Indian helpers just as Bill finishes off the last few Raiders that had attacked his post. Bill has been severely hurt so Calamity and Gabby stick around for a while.
During this time, Bill’s old fiancée, Louise Mason, shows up. She wants to make up after their breaking their engagement over her support for the Confederacy and Bil's for the North. They agree to forget the war; she and Bill are soon planning a wedding. However, Marshal Evans, head of the communication lines, wants Bill to take a shipment of gold through to the east to support the Federal war effort.
Bill knows it’s too dangerous to actually take it himself, the raiders would be sure to get it, so he sends the gold with Gabby and Calamity while pretending to take it himself. The plan backfires when Louise tells Tower that Bill isn’t taking the gold to protect Bill from attack. The Raiders attack Gabby and get away with the gold. Bill gets worried when the Raiders don’t attack him so he returns to town to see what happened to Gabby. The Marshal wants to know what went wrong and Bill asks for half an hour to find out. After he leaves, Tower convinces the men that Bill is really at the head of the Raiders and that he was getting away. Gabby overhears their conversation so he rides to warn Bill.
Bill gets away for the time being but is captured when he returns to town to search Tower’s office. Gabby helps him escape and they see Tower escaping with the gold and the Raiders. Riding back to the posse that pursued them, Bill convinces Marshal to follow them. With Tower and the Raiders locked up and the Civil War ended, Bill and Louise finally get married. | murder, historical fiction | train | wikipedia | Roy Rogers sides with Calamity Jane in historical B-western.
In his early years at Republic Pictures, Roy Rogers specialized in historical westerns (DAYS OF JESSE JAMES, BILLY THE KID RETURNS), in contrast with the contemporary settings of his wartime and postwar westerns (DON'T FENCE ME IN, THE GOLDEN STALLION, etc.).
YOUNG BILL HICKOK (1940) casts Rogers in the title role and dramatizes the famed gunfighter's first meeting with Calamity Jane (played by Sally Payne in the first onscreen portrayal of the character since Cecil B.
DeMille's epic western of 1936, THE PLAINSMAN, which also featured Hickok and paired him with Buffalo Bill, who's absent from this film).
The film starts out promisingly as it details a plot by an unnamed foreign power to take advantage of the divisions of the then-raging Civil War to try to take over California.
John Miljan plays the foreign agent, Nicholas Tower, without a trace of an accent or any other hint of which country he's supposed to represent.
(The name Nicholas may signal a Russian origin, but weren't the Soviets our wartime allies?) Tower conspires with Morrell (Hal Taliaferro), a local outlaw, to disrupt the stage lines serving California, and when Morrell's Raiders go into action, they run afoul of young Bill Hickok (dubbed Wild Bill by a reporter for "the Chronicle") who soon allies with wagon freighter Gabby Whitaker (Gabby Hayes) and his salty young female partner, Calamity Jane.
After introducing all the characters and setting up the basic premise, which offered a good deal of potential for suspense, the action quickly settles into familiar B-western territory as Hickok has to defend himself against a charge of masterminding the theft of a gold shipment he was assigned to guard.
Gabby and Jane spring him from jail and work to get the goods on Tower.
At a certain point it becomes simply one chase after another, albeit with the usual topflight Republic stunt work.While the drama wavers in the second half, the spirit of fun is maintained by the delightful performances of Gabby Hayes, in his trademark wizened old westerner role, and the film's genuine revelation, Sally Payne, as the no-nonsense Calamity Jane, whose command of western vernacular is equaled only by Gabby's.
(A horse is never a horse, but a "Cayuse.") The homely, mannish Jane was always a challenge to Hollywood, which couldn't resist the urge to make her pretty by casting such top stars as Jean Arthur (THE PLAINSMAN), Yvonne De Carlo (CALAMITY JANE AND SAM BASS) and Doris Day (CALAMITY JANE) in the role.
Here she looks and sounds a little closer perhaps to what the real woman was like, although the best Calamity Jane onscreen may arguably be Ellen Barkin in Walter Hill's WILD BILL (1995).There are a handful of short songs that don't intrude much on the action, including one performed together by Gabby and Sally.
Special mention should be made of B-western regular Hal Taliaferro (aka Wally Wales) who delivers a sharp portrayal of bandit Morrell who distrusts the "foreigner" Tower but takes the job anyway because the pay is good.
Long-haired, unshaven and tall, with piercing eyes, Taliaferro cut a suitably seedy and menacing figure but with a touch of humanity.
It's too bad the importance of his character diminishes as the film progresses, with Tower taking up greater screen time.
Iron Eyes Cody is on hand as one of Gabby's Indian workers.
Jacqueline Wells (aka Julie Bishop) plays northerner Hickok's southern-born fiancee, lending a bit of romantic conflict to the equation as they bicker about the ongoing war..
Not a bad way to kill an hour.
This is the first Roy Rogers film I've ever seen in its entirety, although I watched many an episode of his TV show in my younger years.
It was a passable B western, with some fine Yakima Canutt stunts, and features an appearance by a veteran of John Wayne's old Lone Star westerns, Jack Rockwell, as a stagecoach driver.
Roy, Sally Payne and Gabby sing some fair but forgettable songs, Sally and Gabby's scenes together are a hoot, and Julie Bishop and Trigger both look as comely as ever.
The screenwriters in typical Hollywood fashion play fast and loose with the history of these characters and their times.(The notion of anybody trying to take California away from the U.S. is ridiculous, Wild Bill and Calamity didn't meet until almost a dozen years after the Civil War and both were pretty homely looking even by 19th century standards.) All in all, some parts of this film are quite entertaining, it's mostly pleasing to the eye and ear, and it's not a bad way to kill an hour.
Dale Roloff.
A lot of enjoyable historical nonsense..
Hollywood had a huge love affair with westerns up until about 1960.
Most of the ways they portrayed the west were complete nonsense and they had a habit of injecting real-life characters into situations that never occurred.
Heck, the lives of Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wyatt Earp and Bill Hickok are completely unrecognizable in the hundreds and hundreds of films in which they appear.
"Young Bill Hickok" is yet another one of these entirely fictitious films from this era and it even throws in Calamity Jane (a rather unattractive woman in real life) to boot.
Playing so fast and loose with the truth drives history teachers like me crazy, but my love of a fun B-movie kept me watching.Roy Rogers plays Bill Hickok and he looked even less like Bill than Gabby Hays who is on hand (as usual) to play Roy's loyal sidekick.
As for the plot, it's all a lot of nonsense about Bill tracking down some Confederate raiders and their unknown leader as well as Bill wanting to marry a Southern lady.
I won't bother going into any more details as none of it seemed to bear any semblance to Hickok's life.Overall, the film is a pretty ordinary Roy Rogers film.
There's lots of singing for no apparent reason, Hays is quite funny in support and in the end good triumphs over evil.
The only moment of the film that really caught my attention was the jail break--that was very clever and you just need to see it.
Worth seeing for Rogers fans--otherwise just another one of 23281235413 B-series westerns..
Kids who might have learned their history from this.
In the beginning of his career, Roy Rogers actually played characters other than people named Roy Rogers.
Here he's Wild Bill Hickok who foils a dastardly plot hatched by an unnamed foreign country to detach the west coast from the union by fomenting outlaw trouble during the Civil War.John Miljan is the villain here, performing in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition.
He's only the west coast top guy, he does receive instructions from the east, Roy finds a letter addressed to Miljan signed by John Wilkes Booth.
Amazing Miljan was able to keep a straight face through the whole procedure.Actually amazing that Roy kept a straight face too.
Gabby Hayes is around to lend Roy a helping hand and actress Sally Payne as Calamity Jane is the best thing here.
Her performance is remarkably similar to the one given by Doris Day in another 14 years.This film is not unusual in that it was in a tradition at the time with B Westerns to take famous names in history and create wholly fictional plots around them.
That's a tradition I'm glad we've stopped..
Calamity Jane and an Exciting End. Roy Rogers stars as "Young Bill Hickok", saving California and its gold from wicked invaders like John Miljan (as Nicholas Tower)
against a Civil War back-story
with references to Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.
This time George "Gabby" Hayes brings along his niece, none other than Calamity Jane (well played by Sally Payne) to assist Mr. Rogers.
It's an interesting team-up concept, however unlikely.The film's highlight is its posse / stagecoach chase scene, near the film's end.
Rogers and Yakima Canutt -- I assume the stuntman is the stunning Mr. Canutt -- perform well in an exciting man-under-the-stage sequence.
That sequence followed one of the typical Rogers songs.
Otherwise, this is nothing more than a fair Rogers western.
*** Young Bill Hickok (1940) Joseph Kane ~ Roy Rogers, George 'Gabby' Hayes, Sally Payne.
Mild Bill Hickock.
In the final days of the Civil War, young Bill Hickock (Roy Rogers) is sent by the War Department to deliver a shipment of gold for the Union cause.
Acting as a decoy, he sends the gold with Gabby Hayes and Hayes' sidekick Calamity Jane (!), hoping to outsmart the European backed saboteurs that want to take it.Not so wild this time around, Young Bill Hickock's bland script takes too much time getting started and doesn't really generate much excitement or great music.
This Republic Picture does have some decent production values though.Astonishingly, the script veers into JFK style conspiracy theories near the end, with European powers using John Wilkes Booth as a pawn in order to divide the US again, in order to gain control of the west!
However, it's still not enough to make this really worth recommending, except for maybe the most die-hard Roy Rogers fans.The best thing in the movie is the feisty performance by Sally Payne as Calamity Jane.
She's pretty cute and does a good job..
"Looks like it was a pretty good fight while it lasted.".
"Young Bill Hickok" freely uses the names of historical figures to tell a formulaic story of adventure in the closing days of the Civil War. Roy Rogers portrays Wild Bill, earning his name after he wards off a band of Morrell's Overland Raiders singlehandedly.
The central story involves the shipment of gold to help finance the Union's war effort, while foreign agent Nicholas Tower (John Miljan) attempts to disrupt the enterprise, enlisting the aid of seedy John Morrell (Wally Wales as Hal Taliaferro).
On the side of the good guys are crusty Gabby Whitaker (George "Gabby" Hayes) and Calamity Jane Canary (Sally Payne).
Jacqueline Wells provides the love interest for Hickok, and her presence sets up some tension in the film, first as a Southern lady and Confederate sympathizer, and also as Hickok's bride to be who must take a back seat to his duty to help the Union cause.Before the film is over, the Civil War has ended with Lee's surrender, and the news of Lincoln's assassination arrives.
Tower's association with John Wilkes Booth was established midway through the film as Hickok discovers a letter signed by Booth in Tower's office.
The inclusion of these historical snippets adds some interest to the proceedings, but ultimately have no affect on the main story itself.
Generally Roy Rogers portrayed himself or a character named Roy Rogers in his films, but as in this movie, he occasionally was cast as a legendary Westerner.
For more of this type of fare, try "Billy the Kid Returns", "Young Buffalo Bill", or "Jesse James at Bay"..
'Hollywood history' intervenes, but doesn't dominate..
I thought one of the neatest things about this fictionalized Civil War western occurs early, when Roy(as Bill Hickok) is the lone defender of a lonely Overland stage relay station being attacked by some Overland raiders, lead by seedy-looking Hal Tallaferro(as Morrell).
He took a direct hit in his heart area, but was saved by a metallic picture case in his shirt pocket, containing a picture of his sweetheart.
This reminds me of a similar lifesaver for Teddy Roosevelt.
He was giving a long political speech at a rally, when a gunman shot him in the heart area.
However, it was slowed sufficiently by going through the thick layer of note paper in his left pocket that it didn't make it all the way to his heart.
It did, however, cause bleeding, which TR ignored until the end of his speech!
........The screenplay is a confusing wild tale about a foreign agent(John Miljan, as Tower), who arrives in San Francisco with orders to foment civil war there, toward wresting the state from the US.
During the Civil War, the Union troops will be busy fighting the Confederates in the East.
At this late stage in the Civil War, Tower has writing contact with one John Wilkes Booth, in the East, who expresses his hatred of Lincoln and determination to kill him.
This suggests a CSA link with Tower.........Stripped of its pseudohistorical aspect, it's little more than a routine story of a gold heist from a wagon by a gang commissioned by Tower.
Of course, Roy gets blamed for it by Tower, and is treated as a criminal for a while, until things get straightened out at the end.
Along the way, several plans to catch the leader of the gang backfire.
Thus, Roy orders a gold shipment by stage to instead be transported in the minimally defended covered wagon of Gabby and his niece Calamity Jane Canary.(exuberantly played by Sally Payne), the coach acting as a decoy, to draw Morrell and gang into a shoot out.
The only trouble is that Roy unwisely tells the plan to his fiancé, Louise Mason(Julie Bishop), who unwisely tells the plan to Tower, whom she naively trusts.
Although the gold was stolen, as Gabby and Calamity abandoned the wagon for a rock defense, Calamity managed to kill a number of the gang before they took the gold and left.
She and Gabby discovered that one of the gang(Red) was still alive.
Hence, they decided to take him into the sheriff, and hopefully he would talk some truth.
Unfortunately, after Tower accuses Roy of being the mastermind of the heist, Red corroborates that Roy is the man!........Near the end, Tower closes up his office in Hays City, puts his things(including the gold that Morrill handed over) in a wagon and leaves town.
He says, now that the war is over, he thinks California offers him more opportunities.
But, I thought Hays City was in California?
Anyway, Roy convinces the sheriff that Tower may have the gold in his wagon, thus a posse goes after Tower and fights the Overland raiders, who have been following his wagon.
As the raiders scatter, so does the posse, leaving Roy alone to catch Tower's wagon.
He(or his stuntman) almost gets run over by the wagon in his effort to jump on the wagon.......Five well-spaced songs are sung: several by Roy when serenading Louise.
Gabby and Sally(Calamity), while traveling with the gold in their wagon, sing a rousing "Up and Down the Prairie".
But the most memorable song is "Tamales", sung while Sally is standing on a saloon table.
The point was to attract the poker players in Tower's office, next to the saloon, to move into the saloon, so that Roy could slip in the window and rifle through Tower's papers, looking for evidence linking him to the Overland Raiders.
This is when he discovered the letter from J.W. Booth.......Favorite quote(by Gabby): "This here be the first high-class entertainment seen in these parts since them actor folks put on Shakespeare's "OMELET" (or was it "Ham and Eggs"?).
See it at YouTube. |
tt0120876 | Don't Go Breaking My Heart | Chi-yan (Gao Yuanyuan) is an analyst who just broke up with her boyfriend (Terence Yin) as he was having a baby with another woman (Selena Li). Sean (Louis Koo), a CEO of a broker firm, knows Chi-yan as her office is just opposite of his. He liked Chi-yan, and starts to take action when he sees what happened in the bus between Chi-yan, her ex, and his current wife. Kevin (Daniel Wu), an architect and an alcoholic, helped Chi-yan out when she was heartbroken about her ex. With Chi Yan's support Kevin decides to pick up designing again, and arrange meet up with her again a week later. Chi-yan forgets about it when she starts flirting with Sean. She and Sean arrange to meet on the night Chi-yan is supposed to meet Kevin. Sean goes to clear up a misunderstanding with a woman named Angelina, which leads to a one-night stand. Chi-yan is left waiting for Sean and Kevin is waiting for Chi-yan. When Chi-yan find out what Sean did she ends their relationship. Sean later leaves his office when the economy crisis causes his company to lose a large sum of money and goes to the US. Three years later, Sean comes back into Chi-yan's life as her new boss. He tries to win her heart again, but she is put off because he is easily seduced by women. When Chi-yan is becoming disappointed Sean, Kevin also comes back into her life. After their last meeting, he successfully started an architecture firm and moves to where Sean's old office was located. Both guys court her and she must choose between the aggressive "flower-hearted" Sean or the sincere Kevin. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Nice People, Nice Film.
A really well made British film with a thoughtful storyline,and a fine cast.
Good to see that fine actress Jenny Seagrove in a role well suited to her and played to perfection........wish she were my mum, but I'm too old.
One of those rare movies of today that end making the viewer feel inspired and genuinely happy..
UK title Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
This is a slushie, a moving Mills & Boone.
You could just as easily call it moving wallpaper.
It passes a couple of hours and it doesn't offend anyone.
Jenny Seagrove acts woodenly, a Lada of femmes-fatales, while Anthony Edwards strolls through the film in an apologetic decaffeinated sort of a way, looking out-of-synch with his English surroundings and upper middle class hinglish.
He delivers such an uncommanding screen presence in this big-screen film that I question his wisdom in giving up his day job on Channel 4's "ER"."Us Begins with You" is the American title.
Quite clever, eh?
For a moment or so.
The British title is better.
But it too means nothing, and tells you even less about the film.
Jenny Seagrove is a widow running her husband's gardening business.
She's happy with her widowhood, keeps busy with the family gardening business and isn't looking for a replacement hubby.
Young son is unhappy, misses dad, is under-achieving at boarding school.
Jenny's friends are trying to fix her up with a fella in the shape of Charles Dance, a dentist.
He does the dirty by hypnotising her in his dentists chair, aiming to make her receptive to his charms.
Coincidence, and film scrptwriters, get in the way of his evil plans.
Up turns Anthony Edwards, sports psychologist, who has just lost his job training Linford Christie.
Honest!
Can it get any worse?
You betcha.
The film lasts just under two hours.
Surprisingly, I wasn't bored by it.
There are a few funny moments and some effective one-liners.
Linda Bellingham is as delicious as ever and, along with Tom Conti, steals scenes and demonstrates to the others how it can be done.
I was all the while bemused that so much effort could go into making a film that has so little impact and one which will leave no ripples in that sea of celluloid that flows our way from the distributors.
No Oscars here.
The ladies in the audience loved it and giggled at the naughty bits such as when the backdrop to a conversation was a diagram of female reproductive organs.
Such subtlety.
And these same women obligingly shed a tear in auto-response to the director's synthetic massaging of the audience's emotions.
I cried too but for a different reason.
Four out of ten.C U James.
Quirky romantic comedy.
I saw this movie during a recent trip to London as Don't Go Breaking My Heart.
I was attracted to it because of my divine love of the TV series ER.
But I found it to be a fun, slightly offbeat comedy about a rather interesting love triangle.
It was one of those movies where the underdog wins, with a cute love story mixed in with triumph of the human spirit.
Despite a few holes in the plot, I loved it..
good-feel-good film!.
I saw this at preview (comes out 12/2/99 in UK as Don't Go Breaking My Heart) and was surprised how good it is.
Come out feeling better than when you go in!Anthony Edwards is good, Jane Leeves (Frasier) is very good.
Tom Conti is a scene-stealer and Jenny Seagrove is great - not wooden as previously!Direction OK, script surprisingly intelligent..
A real feel good romantic comedy - a must see..
This film is a really nice small film with the great non-American humour.
Tom Conti's cameo is excellent and the bonus is that at last there is a good film filmed in London - I know most of the places they visit.
Beautifully shot and well put together.
You would be stupid to miss it..
Not bad.
Compared with the atrocious Love Actually, this is not bad.
For a change, the film focuses on the nouveau riche rather than pompous middle-class people who plaque such films as Love Actually and Notting Hill.
Jenny Seagrove's character epitomises this nouveau riche world, alongside Charles Dances's pony-tailed dentist.
It's the first time I have seen Charles Dance not play a upper-crust toff and it was quite a shock.
Anthonhy Edwards plays the requisite American in London and it was fairly obvious what the outcome of the film would be early on.
There are a few funny lines of dialogue and some scenes are quite touching.
Jenny Seagrove does a good job but isn't stretched by the limitations of the script.
Charles Dance is underused but manages to steal some scenes from the rather bland character Anthony Edwards plays.
Not bad for a British romcom..
Fun!.
There is nothing here which challenged the brain, and it is not an earthshattering 'must-see' flick, but it was very enjoyable, with a very watchable story with actors who are well chosen for their roles (it was great to see Suggs).
I must add that the story is also very predictable - but it is the type of film where that doesn't matter.I just enjoyed it - it was as simple as that..
seductive.
I am not fan of romantic comedies.
but "Do not go breaking my heart" is more than a romantic comedy.
it is a smart, seductive, little bitter, refreshing, generous, sensitive, touching and example of beautiful humor film.
remembering Woody Allen films, it has, as the first virtue, the right cast.
Jenny Seagrove escapes from the frame of Barbara Taylor Bradford adaptations and gives a great character.
Anthony Edwards is far by other roles - the mark of ER is the most heavy - for do the ordinary guy who becomes the best choice for a single mother.
and Charles Dance is the inspired choice for a role who represents the basic spice of story.
a soup for soul is one of good definitions for this film.
and that could be a virtue .
because, among the films from the same genre, it is not only different but real charming..
A delightful and whimsical romantic comedy.
This is a very funny romantic comedy which works because Jenny Seagrove musters her whimsicality and shows that she is an excellent comedienne with perfect comic timing.
She plays a widow whose husband has died 18 months earlier unexpectedly of a heart attack, leaving her and her children bereft and bewildered.
She is a very attractive woman, and her lecherous dentist, played by Charles Dance, has designs upon her.
Instead of injections, he uses hypnosis on his dental patients.
In Seagrove's case, he goes beyond dentistry and while she is 'under' he makes increasingly naughty suggestions to her to assist him in his dastardly plans to seduce her and marry her.
Anyone who does not believe that things like this can happen has only to read the book OPEN TO SUGGESTION, where many cases of such abuses are described.
But back to the film.
This hypnotic manipulation has some comic moments.
At one point, while Seagrove is in the dental chair in a state of trance and Dance is called out suddenly, leaving the radio on, she accepts hypnotic instructions from a radio announcer, with comic consequences.
Seagrove has mastered a wonderfully 'dipsy' expression which makes her hypnotically motivated adventures come across as hilarious.
The man who is in love with her is played by an American actor named Anthony Edwards, who had just appeared in a successful American comedy called PLAYING BY HEART (1998).
This light and enjoyable confection was directed by Willi Patterson, a TV drama director who had directed Charles Dance 11 years earlier in a TV movie spy drama, OUT OF THE SHADOWS (1988).
For some reason, Patterson ceased being a director after this film and since 1999 has done nothing else in the film or TV business which is recorded on IMDb. He had a light touch which was very suited to gentle comedy, and this film works very well..
Boring: a poorly directed film with an even worse script..
This is an appallingly dull film which I guess is why they spent so much effort choosing different titles that might help to market it better on either side of the Atlantic.I wish they'd never bothered.Nobody likes seeing middle aged lecherous men getting randy and this is exactly what it divulges in.
The direction is stilted and mundane and the script is truly awful.
Pure cheese.
This is the worst British romantic comedy I have ever seen.
If this is all that we (I am British) can offer then we'd better stick to drama or otherwise put money into buying good scripts.
A load of rubbish..
Totally dire.
What a dire film this is.
Just terrible.
Its a typicaly modern British film with terrible photography, lame use of music and zero charm.What was Anthony Edwards and Linford Cjristie thinking.
Please don't ever, ever, ever do anything like this again.
2 out of ten tops..
Despite Anthony Edwards very likeable persona....
1st watched 9/19/2001 - 5 out of 10(Dir-Willi Patterson): Despite Anthony Edwards very likeable persona, this film as a whole tries to do too much and ends up being about too many things.
The movie could have been a very sweet romantic comedy, but there are so many side stories(Aka. The Dentist, the son and his sports aptitude) that Edwards becomes an everybody's man rather than just a nice guy who falls in love with a nice woman.
This is one of those movie's where I wish I could recommend it because I was routing for it till the end(mainly because of Edward's) but the supporting characters are not nearly as believable as the main couple and they take up too much screen time.
I believe Edwards could play many different parts and do them well but he hasn't been getting the opportunity to stretch his acting talents.
This is one of those examples..
dire chick flick (*spoiler*).
Last night I had a flashback -- to a scene in a film in which a woman was hypnotised into liking "the Beach Boys" -- only it went horribly wrong and she ended up loving "the Bitch Boys".
For some reason, I couldn't remember the name of this film, or anything else about it.
In the end, I had to call up a friend, and he couldn't remember either.
After half an hour of searching IMDB, we found this.The reason, my friends, why neither of us could remember what this film was called was because it was so dire that we had erased it from our collective minds: utterly trite, poorly directed low-budget chick flick rubbish, this film set an all time low in the 'romantic comedy' genre -- and I've seen "You've got Mail" AND "She's all that".In fact, if memory serves me correctly, it was the same girl who dragged myself and my friends along to see these aforementioned films as well, and my only advice to you as a reader of this review is to stay away from this utter stinker of a romantic comedy, unless you're a teenage girl with completely stereotypical delusions about 'ideal' relationships.
Having an IQ of below 50 would probably also help, after all, it's the only way you're not going to see this ending coming.On a brighter note, I also remembered how I got that scar on my left arm -- I remember now that this film was so dire the only way I avoided an excruciating death by boredom was chewing into my own arm for something interesting to do.
Avoid this one: it's that bad, folks. |
tt0255643 | Thenmavin Kombath | The story revolves around Manikyan (Mohanlal), Sreekrishnan(Nedumudi Venu) and Karthumbi (Shobana) and the love triangle between them. Manikyan works for Sreekrishnan and Sreekrishnan sees him like a brother. Once when they both are returning from a Mela after shopping, Sreekrishnan sees Karthumbi and gets attracted. But then a fight erupts there and they all have to flee. Sreekrishnan flees alone while Manikyan has to take Karthumbi with him. At night, he flees in the opposite direction and so loses his way. Karthumbi knows the way back but she pretends as if she does not know it and enjoys the fun. Manikyan has to struggle to get out of that place. During that time they fall in love.
Once they are back in Manikyan's village, Sreekrishnan proposes her and plans to get married to her. Manikyan can not resist because Sreekrishnan is like an elder brother to him. But Karthumbi opposes. When Sreekrishnan gets to know about this, he gets angry and Manikyan becomes his enemy and he tries to take revenge. Finally Sreekrishnan understands his mistakes and he marries the woman who has been loving him for so long while Manikyan unites with Karthumbi. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Donot Miss This!!.
Firstly, this review does not contain any spoilers whatsoever so read on.
Frontier melodrama about Kerala's Thazavad manorial system which is based on matrimonial Kinship.
Sreekrishna (Venu), the brother of the Madambipura House's leader, Yashoda, is extremely friendly with his servant Manikan (Mohanlal).
Another servant, Appakala, envious of Manikan's favored status, is the film's official villain.
The Madambipura House is locked in an ancestral rivalry with the equally large establishment run by Ganjimuda Gandhari, which usually finds expression in the bullock cart race at the annual Pongal festival.Both Sreekrishna and Manikan fall in love with the beautiful itinerant theater actress Karuthumbi (Shobhana), causing Manikan to briefly fall out of favor with both Yashoda and the local law.
The film's camera-work adopts the glossy style (diffusers and angled lighting calibrated to the exposure of high-speed color stock) made fashionable by Tamil cinematographer P.C.Sriram.
Shot mostly at dawn and dusk, the camera-work creates a glittering fantasy world than in turn determines both plot and performances..
Nedumudi Venu is the star here..
One of Priyadarshan's completely original movies, this was (not surprisingly) the biggest Malayalam hit in 1994.
We see Mohanlal as Manikyam, who happen's to be the loyal Man Friday/friend/brother to Sreekrishnan (Nedumudi Venu).
Both of them fall head over heels for village beauty Karthumbi (Shobana).
Mohanlal does a great job, but this is Nedumudi's movie.
His act as the jealous lover forms the centrefold of the movie; everything else revolves around it.
Adding fuel to his seething envy is Appakkala (Sreenivasan, who is genuinely hilarious as always).
The cinematography by Santosh Sivan is breath-taking, no wonder he is lauded so much.
The beautiful music is another aspect to be noted.
The soundtrack went on to become the most sold soundtrack ever in Malayalam cinema, as of 1994-95.The Hindi and Telugu remakes do grave injustice to the simplicity of the original.
Refrain from watching them..
Love the Cinematography.
But Too many twist in the story story..
This movie has beautiful images, cinematography, scenery.
The story could've been better instead too many curves and twist and drama.
Great acting from all..
One of the best malayalam movie.
The film is centered around a village in which panchayat meetings are held to determine the fate of adulterers, cows and people wash in the river, tribal women wear special saris, and Pongal is celebrated with exciting bullock-cart races!
It sounds like one of *those* village films, but it actually stays pretty lighthearted and silly until the intermission..
An evergreen classic of Malayalam Cinema..
Considered as one of the evergreen classics of Malayalam cinema, Thenmavin Kombathu is always a fresh watch even after watching it a number of times.
The beauty of village life that is clubbed with some of the precious moments of nature have been preserved so subtly in each and every frame of the movie.
The plotline never ever misaligns with the setting of the movie that marks a key feature of this art work.
The music also fits right into the plot that is of the type which is quite unheard at that time.
Some of the songs from the movie are still being downloaded and remains in the playlist of people who love nostalgia.
Movies centered around rustic life will have some special traits of that place to present.
Here it is the bullock cart race, agrarian country life, lord-servant dependency, folkways etc.
However chief among them is the belief of the community in superstitions.
Thimmayya, the soothsayer subtly becomes the innocuous pivot that gears the movie quite unawaringly.
The fact we can find if we watch closer that can be understood is that it is nothing but the very same set of superstitious elements that the movie is criticizing at the same time showcasing the goodness of the village people and their wishes to climb up the social ladder sometimes throgh crookedness. |
tt0479647 | Bon Cop, Bad Cop | When a body is found hanging on top of the sign demarcating the Ontario-Quebec border, police officers from both Canadian provinces must join forces to solve the murder. David Bouchard (Patrick Huard) is a rule-bending, francophone detective for the Sûreté du Québec, while Martin Ward (Colm Feore) is a by-the-book anglophone Ontario Provincial Police detective. The bilingual detectives must resolve their professional and cultural differences as well as their bigotry and prejudices.
The body is identified as Benoit Brisset, a hockey executive. The clues lead the pair to Luc Therrien (Sylvain Marcel) at a roadside bar. After a fight in the bar, they imprison him in the trunk of Bouchard's car. Bouchard has promised to watch his daughter's ballet recital, so he drives to the recital and parks the car in front with Therrien still locked in the trunk. When they emerge, they find the car being towed from the no-parking zone, and as they try to chase down the truck driver, the car explodes.
With their prime witness dead, they decide to search Therrien's house where they find a large marijuana grow-op in the basement. They also discover another body, a former hockey team owner. A laser tripwire is activated by Bouchard, which sets the house on fire, destroying the house and causing the two cops to get high on the fumes of the burning marijuana. When they are disciplined by Bouchard's police chief shortly afterwards, he angrily removes them from the case after they start laughing hysterically because they're still high.
The next victim is discovered in Toronto. They realize that the killer has a pattern of tattooing his victims, with each tattoo providing a clue to the next murder victim. Each murder is in some way connected to major league hockey. (The film uses thinly disguised parodies of National Hockey League teams, owners and players, however, rather than the real league). The pair anticipate the next victim, but he goes missing before they reach him. Ward and Bouchard appear on a hockey broadcast to warn people in the hockey community to be vigilant. The "Tattoo Killer" calls in to the show and threatens the two police officers, causing a brawl between them and the anchor (played by Rick Mercer) when they attempt to hang up.
Ward is attacked in his home by a masked assailant whom he discovers is Therrien. Meanwhile, Bouchard has sex with Ward's sister.
The "Tattoo Killer" kidnaps Bouchard's daughter, leading to the final confrontation with the two policemen. It is ultimately revealed that the murders are being committed by a bilingual portly hockey fan (Luc Therrien), as previously mentioned, under the direction and unequal partnership of a sadistic, psychopathic, sociopathic, fan of the notion of the game of hockey as a Canadian nationalistic symbol that he feels is being permanently corrupted by attempts to move ownership of Canadian teams to venture capitalist groups in the United States. He is therefore having Therrien commit the murders along with him (with the tattoos as a signature), as revenge against the hockey league for desecrating the game by moving Canadian teams such as the "Quebec Fleur de Lys" to the United States. They try to reason with him that hockey is just a game, but this only angers him. Ward distracts the man while Bouchard unties his daughter. After a fight, the killer is blown up by one of his own explosives. During the credits, a news report is shown, revealing that the hockey teams will not be moved. | murder | train | wikipedia | Being bilingual, I can say I may have laughed twice as hard as anyone else in the theater; However, this half-English half-french movie is sure to please anyone regardless of maternal language thanks to perfect subtitles which only add to the amazingness of the film.Highly recommended..
When the body of the executive of hockey Benoir Brisset is found on the billboard of the border of Quebec and Ontario, the jurisdiction of the crime is shared between the two police forces and detectives David Bouchard (Patrick Huard) from Montreal and Martin Ward (Colm Feore) from Toronto are assigned to work together.
With totally different styles, attitudes and languages, the reckless David and the ethical Martin join force to disclose the identity of the Tattoo Killer, a deranged serial-killer that is killing managers of hockey."Bon Cop Bad Cop" is a sort of parody to "Lethal Weapon", exploring the rivalry in Canada between Quebec and Ontario and the passion of Canadians for hockey.
The film is a hilarious police story, using the common clichés of two different cops that become partners but in very funny situations.
I liked this film a lot, but I believe it is funnier for Canadians and fans of hockey.
In fact, there is an entire tutorial on swearing in french given by Bouchard fairly early on in the film which some might find educational.There are some hilarious digs at hockey culture: the entire character of Harry Buttman being the most obvious; but it never descends into forced jokes or "strategic" set-ups a la Will Ferrell.Though it is a very Quebec film, it deserves a wide audience..
It's a shame it isn't show as widely outside of the province of Quebec, I'm sure a whole lot of English Canadians can get a good laugh out of it.
Despite being based on a somewhat overdone format -- that of two totally opposed policemen forced to team up to resolve a crime -- "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" still manages to come up with a quite entertaining story line, and all that was done with a total budget that would not even pay one half of some of Hollywood superstars.
The movie is not without fault; the Bad Cop character (Patrick Huard) is essentially overdone.
The scenes featuring the hyper active medical examiner (Louis-Jose Houde) are brilliant (and the actor is not really acting, that is how he is in real life!) or when the Quebec policeman is teaching how to curse "en Quebecois" to his Ontario counterpart, helped along the line by the criminal he his beating and stuffing in his car trunk, are worth the prince of admission.
Despite all the clichés that are expected of this format, the movie comes up like a most entertaining one, and no doubt this well served recipe will lead to a "Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2"..
This movie tries to use the gimmick of Canada's French/English rivalry as a launching point for some sick humor in the approximate vein of say, the Police Academy series.
What I saw is more like a B action movie, trying to be humorous at times but not managing to decide whether it takes itself seriously or not.
This got green-lit in the first place???"Bon Cop Bad Cop" may have sounded like a good idea on paper, with a somewhat witty premise: a murder on the Quebec-Ontario border results in cross-cultural hilarity and non-stop action.
It's supposed to be a comedy but it rarely makes any sort of joke beyond some childish slapstick or ironic twist (e.g. this character only swears in french, but at then end he swears in English).It's like the people who made this agreed on an idea, but never agreed on what kind of film it was supposed to be.
I was expecting a deeper perspective on the whole Quebec/Ontario situation and Canadian culture in general but all you get is over the top stereotypical characters and really lame jokes.Canadians are so desperate for bilingualism and the whole Quebec in Canada thing to succeed they will laud even the most pathetic of movies that has a semblance of us "all just getting along"It seems we're doomed from getting a successful bilingual commercial movie that happens not to suck..
I am laughing now just thinking about the first scene.I smell sequel with many more to follow....this is a mega hit that I honestly believe all will "get" and understand...even those that don't like hockey and are not Canucks, okay non Canucks will miss a few references...only in Canada!!.
Any group that defines itself by who it hates or who it decides it's better than, doesn't have much going for it.The movie "Bon Cop, Bad Cop" plays this hostility towards Ontarians to the hilt, in a way that is totally foreign to me, as a Torontonian.
...Which is a shame, because it was really trying to be a good movie, otherwise.If this Ontario/Toronto/English hatred is really an issue for some Canadians, they really need to get over it.
This film proves one thing only: that Canadians are equally as capable of making hackneyed, clichéd "buddy cop" movies as Hollywood is.
If there were a "Mad Lib" template of "plug in the cliché" for cop movies, the result would be this film.For that reason, I was bored, I checked my watch, I rolled my eyes more times than I can count.
I would only ask, if "Rush Hour 2" looks professional, does that make it a good movie?If you've seen "48 Hours," "Lethal Weapon," "Bad Boys," or any of the other endless trite by-the- numbers rehashes of the formula, then you've already seen "Bon Cop, Bad Cop." Unless you're interested in Canada's opinion of hockey in America, there's nothing to see here..
The concept would have been great if 15 minutes into the film the Ontario Cop, Colm Fiore character did not revert to the French language and adapt to the French culture.
And I'm no stranger to Feore's work either, living in the Capital region, I've come to watch more English television shows/movies than french ones.
Even if David Bouchard (Huard's character) is a bit Americanized, he's not that unpleasant.Overall a great movie, truly Canadian, laugh out loud funny..
A fun cop movie,fast paced and laced with delicious humor highlighting the differences and stereotypes about Englisha nd French Canada!.
It moves slickly,and show cases both Quebec and Toronto,while at the same time making light hearted fun at that most Canadian of sports- hockey!There is a plethora of "bad" language and some light hearted sex scenes- extremely funny too- which may make it unsuitable for a general audience- but it is fun,memorable,and a real kick!
I think this crime plot was probably in movies in the 1960s.But regardless of the bad core surrounded by a good candy coating, it shows that Canadian cinema can stand up with the best and worst of what Hollywood has to offer, even if it both stands up and falls down in the same movie.
Montreal, the OPP, the Quebec Police, hockey)...there's even an entire scene about French swearing which is perhaps one of the funniest parts of the film.
Canadian cinema has struggled for so long to find an identity and create something that is unique and that can be appreciated world-wide but this movie would be sadly lost on anybody who lives outside of Canada and, in some cases, outside of Quebec.
A Canadian film about the relationship between a man from Ontario and a man from Quebec but the subtitles are in American English.
Other than that, its an okay film but knowledge of Canadian hockey and the Ontario/Quebec relationship will make this movie easier to understand.
That said, it was a VERY Canadian film with excellent acting, dialogue and Canuck-specific cultural references.If you haven't already, watch it and have a good time..
Just like The Dark Hours, another great Canadian movie of which I had little to expect, Bon Cop Bad Cop manages to deliver great 2 hours of entertainment.
Yes, the storyline may sound cheesy to a Canadian like myself, you got too much hockey involved, but it's integral to the stereotype and the fun effect of the movie and especially for international audience.
While Bon Cop Bad Cop mines deeply from existing cop-buddy flicks of the past (in particular, the Lethal Weapon series), the Canadianization of having the cops come from Ontario (straigh-laced Martin Ward (Colm Feore)) and Quebec (rebel David Bouchard (Patrick Huard)) adds a very interesting dash of difference to the whole affair.
It really helps out matters that the leads share a great chemistry on-screen, and both can really act.Feore is a popular actor in English Canada, while Huard (who shares writing and producing credits) is perhaps the most popular actor in Quebec.
Put the two of them together with a decent budget, a good script and taut direction and you have a real winner of a movie.The story starts off with a dead body found draped over the sign at the Ontario-Quebec border, forcing the two mis-matched cops to work together.
Experienced Quebec filmmaker Eric Canuel directs with a tautness that borders on French cinema and keeps the action moving quickly.Look especially for the performances of Pierre Lebeau as Captain Le Boeuf and Rick Mercer as the Don Cherry-like Tom Berry (the names comprise a wonderful set of jokes all on their own).
An Ontarian cop and a Quebec cop forced to work together could only lead to this, right?Stereotypes Quebeckers have of English Canadians are also exploited.
The car chases, the bad guys, the plot, everything is always the same, right down to the characters...except this time, the characters are clever and the plot, although not unique, is intelligent and honest (a cop, crying?) If you're french, or understand the rift between Quebec and Ontario even a little bit, this film will entice you into laughter as nothing has ever before.
The French-English bantering between the two cops which is the premise of the entire movie is funny - for about five minutes!
The mixing of French and English works quite well and I'd like to see it tried again in a quality movie.
But Bon Cop Bad Cop tries to be American with a twist (which means French/English speaking characters, small budget, a poor script and of course a hockey theme!) That's just not good enough.
The Canadian movie Water won a Academy award nomination for best foreign film this year and this is hopefully signs of better things to come in the future!.
Great, funny, buddy movie!Excellent action, funny jokes, off-beat, fresh morbid humor (hang around after the first shocker - it gets funnier but no grosser).The 2 leads are perfectly matched, & their characters develop to show the depth of the values they share.
And the twist in this film is that the superficial differences that keep the dialogue tense and quick underscore that they both just want the same thing - their kids, a job & someone to smile at.I loved the hockey angle, and while I'm sure many of the Canadian jokes sailed right over my American head, the twisted, subtle and clever patter smoothed that right over.
A Canadian Hockey Fan's Buddy Cop Movie lot's of Quebec vs Ontario vs America.
If you like Quebec french you are going to get a bunch and even the unique Quebec style of swearing is explained to an extent.This is a buddy cop movie of the unlikely partner with the different style but they picked a very rich culture to play with so there' plenty of material.Favorite line: "YOU ARE OFF THE SUITCASE!!".
entertaining from the get-go with that Canadian sense of humor that over the years has powered stars like Martin Short(Canadian) John Candy(Canadian) Dan Ackroyd(Canadian) Jim Carey(Canadian)etc.plus an originality that is as refreshing as it is funny.the acting is superb and the movie flows between French and English in a very natural and easy to understand way for everyone.
the cop/buddy flick is nothing new, but this movie brought a couple of new twists to the genre, and colm feore and patrick huard make a great odd couple - the hooligan with the muscle car and the "gay accountant." the laughs started right at the beginning, and the effects looked great - i was a-feared that it would have some of the usual Canadian poor-production values and embarrassing dialogue that we seem to suffer too often, but no!
It's a buddy cop movie with some distinctly Canadian humour that's all about hockey.
I thought at first it was going to suck (most Canadians movies have let me down...a lot), but it's completely fast paced after the first 5 minutes and the cultural jokes were fantastic!
Lots of good bilingual dialogue which came fast and furious and some interesting bit parts - the Quebecois coroner being one (neither the French nor the English could follow what he had to say).The plot follows the old cops and robbers clichés, but was made on a virtual dime compared to others of its type.There was much to like - the two main characters are fully developed and find more in common with each other as the story moves along.
Canada's two solitudes meet when 'by-the-book' English Toronto cop (Colm Feore) and 'loose cannon' French Montreal cop (Patrick Huard) are assigned to investigate a border-straddling (literally) murder.
Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006) This is a Canadian action comedy about two police officers - one from Ontario and one from Quebec, who reluctantly join forces to solve a murder.
It shows that they wanted to make another funny cameo character like Louis-José Houde in the 1rst film, but that one was badly handled and her part felt to much forced and unfunny.But, still a good movie!
Bon Cop/Bad Cop: What makes a good Canadian movie?.
It has a lot of good elements that make it fun to watch but it ultimately falls short of any serious message except that Canadian filmmakers don't have to act like Canadian filmmakers.Bon Cop/Bad Cop: What makes a good Canadian movie?
The two officers couldn't be more different and the movie certainly plays with a lot of clichés, but because of the two brilliant actors, there are many funny elements in the movie and the viewers learn really a lot about the French-Canadian culture and style, but also about Ontario's way of life and the conflicts and main differences between the two states.
I've seen this film maybe five times and I'm still liking it and laughing a lot even though it's difficult to make me laugh and though I'm more into other movie genres.
And still by the way, it's is really great to see actors, directors and musicians from Ontario and Quebec collaborate and ridicules the clichés of each other's culture to bring those two twisted nations - French and English Canadians - closer to each other.
Imagine this scenario: an English Canadian movie producer, impressed by the strong box office showings of Quebec films like C.R.A.Z.Y., decides to see if he can develop a cross-over product that will appeal not only to Quebecois film goers, but popcorn munchers from the ROC (Rest of Canada) as well.
The end result is Bon Cop, Bad Cop, and in spite of all its clichés, stereotypes, telegraphed scenes and flimsy excuse for a plot, the film works on some base level that defies logic.Starring the Shakespearean stage actor Colm Feore and Quebec star Patrick Huard as a quarreling Canuck version of Lethal Weapon's Riggs and Murtaugh, Bon Cop, Bad Cop throws virtually every hoary cliché imaginable at the theater screen.
In fact, I actually expect to see this movie spawn a sequel, irregardless of whether or not the film is able to hold its own at English Canada's box offices.
I don't know if it was a translation problem (I saw this movie in French).I'm proud of that film.
What would a movie be like if the main guideline to the movie are the cultural differences between french Canadians from Quebec and the anglophones of Canada, especially the Ontarians.
Basically, french from Quebec, and English from Ontario kind of...don't like each other.
And its not only since the Maple Leafs and The Canadians hockey clubs exist, its from way back...Anyways, the movie itself has great acting from Patrick Huard (The Frenchy in the movie from which the idea of the movie came to) and Colm Feore (The stiff cop from Toronto.
In all, I think this movie is finally the one and only thing that all politicians in Ottawa wished for...a way to unite Canada and Quebec in a good jolly laugh!!!.
The premise itself is believable enough not to affect the film.It's just one of those movies that makes you feel pleasantly entertained with a good few laugh aloud jokes..
However, coming from a Kiwi in Canada that doesn't understand French, nor hockey, I found this movie to be thoroughly refreshing and humorous.
This is a classic buddy-cop caper movie with a twist: it's entirely bilingual, featuring two leads (Colm Feore and Patrick Huard) who are cops teamed up from opposite sides of the Quebec-Ontario border to solve a murder.As a murder mystery, this movie doesn't really work.
The hockey theme, of course, is more an excuse to make fun of people like Don Cherry, Eric Lindros and Gary Bettman than it is an actual plot device.But this movie really gets it right when it comes to exploiting - and making fun of - the Quebec-Ontario cultural divide.
The premise for this movie is good, if somewhat cliché - straight-laced Ontario cop has to work with cynical, does-nothing-by-the-rules Quebec cop.
The movie has a great plot, which, if not ruined by the bad acting and swearing, could have been a wonderful and hilarious movie.I can understand the appeal of a french cop and an English cop working together, and having to work out their differences, but, unfortunately, it just didn't work.Some people may like it, and to be fair, it's not the worst movie out there.
Like I said, a small thing -- and it won't distract you from a genuinely funny Canadian movie! |
tt0116313 | The First Wives Club | At Middlebury College in 1969, four young friends, Annie MacDuggan, Elise Elliot, Brenda Morelli, and Cynthia Swann, are graduating. As graduation gifts, valedictorian Cynthia presents the girls with matching Bulgari pearl necklaces. As the graduates take a commemorative picture of the four of them (presumably for the last time), Cynthia makes Annie, Brenda and Elise promise that they will always be there for each other throughout the remainder of their lives.
In the present time, the four friends eventually lose touch with one another, as evident when Cynthia (Stockard Channing) is tearfully gazing at the picture of the four of them on that graduation day. Now wealthy and living in a luxurious penthouse, she gives her maid her own Bulgari pearl necklace (matching the three she gave to her friends on graduation day), and has the maid mail letters to them. She later walks outside of the balcony of her penthouse in a floor length fur coat, a cigarette and a drink, and then commits suicide by jumping to her death after learning through the tabloids that her ex-husband Gil (whom Cynthia made wealthy through her connections, according to narrator Annie) married his much younger mistress the day before.
Her former friends aren't doing much better: Annie (Diane Keaton), meanwhile, is separated, suffering extreme self-esteem issues, and going through therapy with her husband. Brenda (Bette Midler) is divorced, left for a younger woman, depressed, and struggling financially. Elise (Goldie Hawn), whose husband also left her for a younger woman, is now an aging alcoholic movie actress who has become a plastic-surgery addict to keep her career afloat. Shortly after Cynthia's funeral, at which the three remaining friends are reunited for the first time since college, Annie's husband, Aaron (Stephen Collins), leaves her for her younger therapist (Marcia Gay Harden) and asks her for a divorce after spending a night together (and leading Annie to believe it would reconcile them); Brenda has a rather unpleasant encounter at a clothing store with her ex, Morty (Dan Hedaya) and his younger and rather hateful mistress Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Elise finds out that her soon-to be ex-husband, Bill (Victor Garber), is requesting alimony and half of their marital assets claiming that Elise owes her fame to him. Also, during a meeting with a director for a possible leading lady movie role, she discovers that she is only to play the lead female's mother; she later learns the lead female is Bill's current girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, the three friends receive the letters that Cynthia mailed to them before her suicide. After each one reads her letter from Cynthia, and feeling that they have been taken for granted by their husbands, the women decide to create the First Wives Club, aiming to get revenge on their exes. Annie's lesbian daughter Chris (Jennifer Dundas) also gets in on the plan by asking for a job at her father's advertising agency so she can supply her mother with inside information, as payback for Aaron's unfairness toward Annie.
Brenda finds out through her uncle Carmine (Philip Bosco) who has Mafia connections that Morty is guilty of income tax fraud, while Annie makes a plan to revive her advertising career and buy out Aaron's partners. However, as their plan moves through, things start to fall apart when they find out that Bill has no checkered past and nothing for them to use against him. Elise, feeling sorry for herself, gets drunk which only results in her and Brenda hurling vicious insults at each other, and the women drift apart. When Annie starts thinking about closing down the First Wives Club, her friends come back, saying that they want to see this to the end and Bill hasn't done anything blatantly wrong, but only as far as he knows. As a result, the wives manage to uncover information revealing that Bill's mistress (Elizabeth Berkley) is actually a minor.
Deciding that revenge would make them no better than their husbands, they instead use these situations to push their men into funding the establishment of a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding abused women, in memory of their college friend Cynthia. The film ends with a celebration at the new Cynthia Swann Griffin Crisis Center for Women. Annie narrates that Elise started a relationship with a cast member in her new, successful play, that Brenda and Morty reconciled their differences and got back together, and that when Aaron tried to get back together with her, Annie told him to "drop dead". While outside the center Bill meets Shelly and the two start to flirt. The film concludes with the three women joyfully singing Lesley Gore's hit "You Don't Own Me". This sequence was choreographed by Patricia Birch and her assistant choreographer was Jonathan Cerullo. | revenge, cult, satire | train | wikipedia | Like Nine to Five, First Wives Club purports to be making a statement - albeit in comedy mode - about a serious feminist issue, but like that movie is simply an opportunity to portray women getting back at men who have taken advantage of them - and why not?!
While the film may have little practical application to the majority of women who are "traded in" for newer models, but whose men are not as well heeled as the husbands in this film, it does provide them with 100 minutes of escapist entertainment from three great American actresses - OK Bette Midler may not be the best actress in the world but she's certainly hugely entertaining.
The women in First Wives Club seemed clever and delightfully devious, whereas the women in Waiting to Exhale seemed to prefer to sit around discussing how evil men are and plotting bits of petty revenge that showed how superior they are, not to mention setting fire to their husbands' property.
This is the story of three former college girlfriends (Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler) who are reunited after many years due to the suicide of a mutual friend (Stockard Channing) and all learn that they have been dumped by their husbands for younger women.
There are funny bits contributed along the way by Rob Reiner as Hawn's plastic surgeon, Sarah Jessica Parker as Hedaya's mistress, Maggie Smith as a wealthy divorcée, Bronson Pinchot as a faux designer, Eileen Heckart as Keaton's mother, and Marcia Gay Harden as Collins'therapist/mistress.
A wonderful script is smartly mounted by director Hugh Wilson with an energetic cast to produce a terrific film comedy which can easily be watched several times and discover new pleasures on each viewing..
I think that the major reason that the movie is unappreciated by too many critics is because it's a "woman's picture." It's designed to be a very light comedy that brings in women and their families to generate box office.
The sets are great, the costumes are perfect and the acting is really funny and also touching when it needs to be, such as when Sarah Jessica Parker says to Bette Midler, "Brenda, this outfit might look really good on you...
The 3 college friends are Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn), Brenda Cushman (Bette Midler) and Annie Paradis (Diane Keaton).
With the 3 protagonists feeling disgruntled about the way they've been treated, they decide to set up the First Wives Club and take revenge on their cheating husbands;Whilst, the film is rather slow to get moving, I did find that this to be an enjoyable film.
I felt that Goldie Hawn gave the stand out performance, but that's not to discredit Midler and Keaton who were also fantastic.What really impressed me about the First Wives Club was the ending (which I won't give away), but let's just say that there was slightly more to it than meets the eye.All in all, this was a fun ride with plenty of laughs.
Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Diane Keaton, and Stockard Channing have been friends for years and all have something in common - cheating, flaky husbands.
These forty-something ladies replaced by younger models aren't going to take their fate lying down, and what a hoot it is watching them set up their outfit to take fickle men to the cleaners.OK, the film is a little sexist, with a one-dimensional view of both men and women; but it succeeds as entertainment.
This movie is just great fun from beginning to end in that it is one big drama after another that just seems exaggerated, but again that's what makes the film.
Now it is why only the cast make this movie so well that it fails at other times, being pretentious and completely unaccommodating, but if you give it the chance The First Wives Club might surprise you on how well it manages to be a very warming and fun watch for anyone who knows how to handle it.
The three are Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler -- three absolutely wonderful actresses.
The novel involves much deeper issues, like a father taking money from his retarded daughter, a man who beat his wife and forced her to allow their daughter to die following an accident, a man who refuses to support his children, et cetera.This movie focuses on petty revenge because they are not happy with being discarded for twenty year olds.
And also being asked to admire the boys." As noted, the center of this film is the relationship between three women (Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton) whose husbands each leave them for younger women, which in the context of this film is the unpardonable sin.
You would have to be a die-hard fan of either Goldie Hawn, Bette Middler or Diane Keaton to be able to sit through this 'comedy' to the end.
I saw the film purely by accident a couple of years ago on a plane when I was travelling to Hong Kong and this was shown on screen.The First Wives Club is mainly based on a book- of which I am not that familiar with- and is a very anti-male take on 3 women who get together and plan their revenge against their hubby's, after they mistreat them.
The script was poor, the performances were below-par given the standard of the three female leads, Midler, Hawn and Keaton and for a film supposedly trying to promote gender equality it fails because it portrays the male characters as sleazy, money grabbing chauvinists.This comedy movie is also so devoid of actual laughs, the wisecracks were typically old-fashioned, sexist and the narrative derivative- and this coming from a woman.
But with movies such as The First Wives Club, they are misleading and wrongly perpetuate the notion that all women are great and all men are heartless, scheming, cheating, lying toe rags.Such a shame that with a stellar cast in Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler, the film sends itself up to be male-bashing farce, as opposed to one that highlights the positives and negatives of both men and women through these characters and addressing the argument of the battle of the sexes, in a open minded and fair way that doesn't make all women out to be the good guys and the men the so-called bad guys.The ending was a bit of a farce because the men end up going back to their girlfriends and wives, despite their behaviour and going out with other women that Hawn, Midler and Keaton take them back.Whilst this will not rank in my top ten worst movies ever list- i've seen much worst in my time- this ultimately is a flawed movie which to be honest, having seen it once, I have no intention of ever seeing it again.
And in the closing shot we see the three women sing and dance in the middle of an empty street, which is a true low-point in corniness.Diane Keaton, one of my favorite actors, has been making a lot of bad movies these days.
I must say that I am usually a fan of Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler - a bit less so of Diane Keaton - and the premise of First Wives Club certainly looked promising for clever comedy.
But I decided to watch it anyway (I mean, why not) as it starred Diane Keaton, who played in about half of the best movies of the 70's.
But oh well, let's focus on the story for now.Annie (Keaton) Brenda (Bette Midler) and Elise (Goldie Hawn) are three women in their mid-forties who are left by their men for younger women.
If you look at it this way it seems like it could have some fun (though for women in particular), but this movie takes a couple of (very) wrong turns.As I said, the movie begins with a suicide of a person we don't meet in the entire movie.
I'm always curious after seeing a movie that doesn't work how the investors feel when they see the first cut (if the producers invite them to...) I'd be inclined to cut my losses and say, "OK it's going to cost too much to try and make this a funny film, just release it as it is." Maybe this is exactly what happened..
A goofy comedy designed as a star vehicle for its three leading ladies, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler.Is it a good movie?
Goldie Hawn alone is enough to watch it, her character was hilarious.Many of the other actors were great and I love Bronson Pichett in all of his roles, this was his dullest and most unfunny role I have seen, but it worked.
If you watch "The First Wives Club" because you need a good laugh, perhaps you should try another film.
So, the three friends (Bette Midler, Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn) concoct a plan--a plan that involves fleecing their unfaithful ex-husbands and creating a club for wives going through the same sort of situations they have.As I said, there are some dark moments and some funny ones.
The three leading ladies, Goldie, Bette, and Diane have amazing chemistry, the supporting cast is superb as well, and the movie overall is great!
If you ever need a light chick flickey comedy that's actually good, definitely see this!My favorite character = Brenda (Bette Midler) she is hysterical as ever!
In this girl power movie, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton give great performances as three middle aged who woman seek revenge on their husbands after being traded in for younger models.With that "girls rule!" vibe, three of Hollywood's greatest leading ladies, and some truly hilarious moments, The First Wives Club is definitely one for the girls.
It's thoroughly entertaining and I'm sure every female in the world can relate to it in one way or another.Seeing as it's truly a girls feel good movie, it probably won't amuse men at all, in fact, they may even find it offensive, but grab a load of your girls friends and watch it for a good laugh on a girls night in..
The First Wives Club is a great comedy movie about three middle-aged women who get dumped by there husbands for younger women.
The angry wives, who were the ones who got there husbands where they are today, are of course very angry and set out a very successful and cunning plan to get revenge on there exes.This movie features such a brilliant cast with the likes of the brilliant, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Berkley, Sarah Jessica Parker and Stockard Channing all starring here.The First Wives Club is a brilliant, fun, comedy movie which is just great all the way through.
Not that i'm generalizing here, but I think this movie is great if you have been wronged by a man in any way similar to these women.
While this movie doesn't follow the book much -- it is still very good.Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and (the ever underutilized) Diane Keaton are hilarious as three woman that rekindle their college friendship at the funeral of a mutual friend.The dialogue is witty, fast paced and brutal.I wouldn't want to be the enemy of any one of them.This film is an absolute cameo heaven -- everyone under the stars has at least one good line -- from Ivana Trump to Rob Reiner to Kathie Lee Gifford -- everyone gets a chance to knock off a funny line.Using the well-known lesbian comedian, Lea DeLaria, as the woman trying to pick up famous actress Elise Eliot Atchinson (Goldie Hawn) in the gay bar is a stroke of casting genius -- and then having Brenda Morelli Chushman (Bette Midler) grab Elise and announce "SHE'S WITH ME" was the perfect touch.I thoroughly enjoyed this film..
No joke.It was nice to see Keaton, Midler, and Hawn in a very energetic film, but the script wasn't that funny.
A real feel good movie when their ex husbands get their just desserts.Goldie Hawn is in a role she is best for doing a diva actress who isn't afraid of making fun of herself.
This movie proves that Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton are the top of the top for comedic actors.
I think the way Brenda (Bette Midler), Elise (Goldie Hawn), and Annie (Diane Keaton) got back at their husbands was pretty clever.
If you ask me, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton singing "You Don't Own Me" was hilarious.
Also, I thought that they looked really beautiful as well when they sang "You Don't Own Me." In conclusion, if you're a fan of Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, or Diane Keaton, and you haven't seen THE FIRST WIVES CLUB, I recommend it.
The short cameo appearance of Stockard Channing as she takes leave of this life after being dumped by her husband for a younger model galvanizes three of her friends Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton to take some action other than sit on their alimony which can be a sometimes thing.Belaboring the obvious what they all have in common is that they were all first wives, veterans of marriage who get dumped by their husbands going into midlife crisis.
The First Wives Club is open to any women who feel they've been put through the ringer in their divorces, don't just get mad, get more than even.Goldie Hawn is an aging actress who goes through all kinds of makeup and plastic surgery just to stay young.
Having Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton together for a picture should guarantee that the film is going to be something special, and it is, a witty, breezy comedy about women getting even with their philandering spouses.
The First Wives ClubThe upside to being a man's first wife is that you get to enjoy pre-Viagra sex with him.However, that's no consolation for the ditched dames in this comedy.Brenda (Bette Midler), Elise (Goldie Hawn) and Annie (Diane Keaton) commiserate over their college friend's (Stockard Channing) recent suicide.Suffering from failed marriages themselves, and fearing a similar fate to their friend, the women decide to form a club and get revenge on their insignificant others (Dan Hedaya, Victor Garber, Stephen Collins) and their mistresses (Sarah Jessica Parker, Marcia Gay Harden, Elizabeth Berkley).With help from a socialite (Maggie Smith), they also hope to turn their husbands cruelty into a woman's charity.By not having the characters rely on a Prince Charming to save them, or implausible theatrics to redeem them, this ditzy comedy empowers women to strive for more.However, the wealthiest women still belong to the Last Wives Club.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
As a child of divorce who watched her father move on to another woman and leave his family to flounder while he prospered, I totally understand the need of the women to make their husbands understand the damage they've done.The First Wives Club is a feel good movie that entertains and motivates you to rise above your problems to do good for others..
The victims of chauvinist husbands who dumped them for younger women, middle-aged friends Brenda Cushman (Bette Midler), Elise Elliot (Goldie Hawn) and Annie Paradis (Diane Keaton) decide to take revenge.
First Wive's Club (1996) Dir: Hugh Wilson Co-starring with heavy-hitters Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler, Keaton plays one of three recently divorced women who make a pact to get back at their good for nothing, skirt chasing, cradle robbing ex-hubbies.
Pretty watchable chick flick starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton.
Here's the premise: after the suicide of a close college friend (Stockard Channing), three ex-wives (played by Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton) maneuver the destruction of their ex-husbands' careers and lives.
(For Christ's sake ladies, let this film be an example, learn early that all men are good for nothing!) Oddly enough, Diane Keaton's on-screen daughter is the happiest person in the film, not to mention the least dysfunctional, and she's a lesbian!The whole movie comes off like a cross between 9 To 5 and The War Of the Roses, though nowhere near as sick and deranged as the latter - The First Wives Club points out everything in light-hearted raillery.
Bette Midler is excellent as Brenda, the wife of an electronics-emporium magnate, and Goldie Hawn, as good as always, plays Elise Elliot, an aging movie-star who can't get any roles -- an important issue in Hollywood right now (key word being `Hollywood').
) and then goes nuts.The movie is filled with hysterical women shouting and screaming, hell ( forgive me my foul language ) this could have been subtitled 'Scream 4 ' but there are some things I like about 'The First Wives Club': as a person who spends a lot of her time trying to watch all of Victor Garber's movies, I thought he was just great as Bill.
The leads (Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and a weakly-used Diane Keaton) are likable, but their characters are not based in reality.
I ended up without much sympathy for any of the characters.Acting talents of Goldie Hawn, Bette Middler, Diane Keaton, and Stockard Channing, whose character jumps to her death off her patio when her husband becomes her ex in the first scene, were wasted on this film.
Diane Keaton wears the same exact thing once again, and Goldie Hawn had to use part of her real life in a movie character.
Thank you to Goldie, Bette, and Diane for making this wonderful movie and showing us women that we can be strong and independant..
Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton, college pals, have been brought together by the death of one of their group, who committed suicide (nice comic start, huh?) when her husband ditched her.
Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler all turn in hilariously on-target performances of middle-aged Manhattan elite crushed by the husbands who left them for younger models. |
tt0441796 | Stay Alive | The film opens with a character in a video game entering an eerie mansion. He is followed throughout the mansion by a woman in a red dress, who kills him by hanging him from a chandelier. The man playing the game is Loomis Crowley (Milo Ventimiglia), and the game is called Stay Alive. Loomis later wakes up to find his roommate and his roommate's girlfriend slaughtered. He is then hanged from a chandelier and killed, similar to the way he died in the game.
The next day at work, while talking with his boss, Miller (Adam Goldberg), Hutch (Jon Foster) learns that Loomis is dead. At the funeral, he meets a girl named Abigail (Samaire Armstrong). Afterward, Hutch goes to an internet cafe owned by his girlfriend, October (Sophia Bush), and her brother, Phineas (Jimmi Simpson), both avid gamers. Hutch has received a bag of Loomis' possessions, and while looking through it, Phin finds "Stay Alive". Although Hutch is reluctant, they decide to play as a group. Abigail and another friend, Swink (Frankie Muniz) join in, with Miller playing online from his office. The game is set in a derelict mansion on Garouge Plantation, but it won't start until the six players recite "The Prayer of Elizabeth." It's a creepy request for "all who resist" to perish so that their blood might keep her young. The players create their characters and fight through a cemetery full of evil ghosts of children, heading toward a mausoleum and tower. Miller touches a rose and the game directs him to pick it. A student of the occult, October explains that undead spirits cannot move across wild roses. Miller goes down to the basement, but the door slams shut and separates him from the other players. Upstairs, Abigail enters a secret passage in a wardrobe. In the room, she locates Elizabeth's diary with the prayer inside of it. Hutch notices that all the mirrors in the game are broken. Meanwhile, in the basement, Miller finds a torture room full of undead girls. Scared, he throws down the rose which dispels the spirits. Now out of roses, the woman in red can stab Miller's unprotected character. The words "Game Over" cross the screen and the group decides to call it a night. Minutes later, the woman in red appears in Millers office and kills him by stabbing him in the neck with conjoined scissor blades like the ones in the game.
Two detectives, Thibodeaux and King, question Hutch who knew all the homicide victims. Hutch realizes that Loomis and Miller both played "Stay Alive" right before they died, and that they both died the same way their characters died in the game. Later, October researches Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the woman in red, a real-life murderer. Bathory would drain young women of blood, bathing in it to maintain her youth. Her weakness was mirrors, because she couldn't stand to see herself growing old. Elsewhere, Phineas decides to play on alone. Keeping in touch with the others by cellphone, he tells them his character has found an unbreakable silver metal mirror which repels Bathory. Escaping outside, he is chased by a black horse-drawn carriage. Before he can be run down, Phin pauses the game, so his character doesn't die. Reassured that he's safe, Phin drives to meet the others. A demonic ghost-child startles him and he drives off the road. When he gets out of the car, the same horse carriage runs him over and kills him. The survivors agree to stop playing "Stay Alive" until they can find out more about it. However, Detective King, a former gamer, ignores Swink's warning and plays until Bathory rips his character's head apart with a trap. Undaunted, King tries to find "Stay Alive" at a video store, but the clerk has never heard of it. Moments after he enters his car, King is killed the same way his character did in the game.
Swink and October stay at Hutch's, while the other two search Loomis' house. Hutch tells Abigail why he hates fire; when he was a boy, his jealous father set their house on fire. Unable to move, he had to watch as his mother was burned alive. After his father went to prison, Hutch lived with Loomis' family and knows one window is always left unlocked. Inside, they locate Loomis' cellphone and find the name Jonathan Malkus (James Haven), the creator of "Stay Alive." Swink gets the corresponding address. As King's murder hits the news, the police arrive at Hutch's house. October and Swink escape and rejoin the other two at Loomis'.
October has discovered that the real Countess Bathory was locked in the tower of her estate as punishment for her gruesome acts. She lived on for years and vowed to one day return and seek revenge. A resurrected Bathory haunted the school at Garouge Plantation, killing many girls and keeping a diary. October reveals that the only way to kill the Countess is to drive three nails into her body to trap her evil soul. October then goes outside alone to smoke. She sees the countess enter a house that is still under construction and follows her. Once inside, October tries shoot the countess three times with a nail gun but this proves to be ineffective due to her being transparent. She tries to flee but a chain wraps around her ankle and she is hung upside down. Hutch and the others head over to the construction site to save her, but they arrive too late and October's throat is slashed by the countess, which leaves Hutch devastated. Since nobody was playing the game, the survivors realize that, once it has begun, the game can play by itself. The remaining three decide to search the house at Malkus' address. Swink volunteers to stay at the van and play the game on his laptop to distract Bathory, while Hutch and Abigail explore the house. They soon realize Malkus' house is actually on Garouge Plantation, Bathory's estate. Moreover, as he plays, Swink discovers he can cause items in the game to appear in reality.
Swink leads Hutch through the cemetery towards the tower, while Abigail is drawn to the closet and secret passage she'd found earlier in the game. In the hidden room, she finds the blades used by Bathory, who then attacks her. Hutch hears Abigail screams, and Swink guides him through the house to the closet. In the game, he throws roses at the Countess until Hutch arrives. The Countess begins to cheat and locks Swink out of the van, while her carriage rides towards his character. Swink breaks a window and moves his character just in time, but Bathory comes to kill him in real life, even though his character is still alive. Swink ditches the van and runs across a field, with Bathory's carriage close behind. He falls into a patch of rosebushes as the Countess exits her carriage, with her blades in hand. Hutch and Abigail return to the van to find the laptop screen marked "Game Over" and Swink's character dead.
Grabbing the laptop, Hutch and Abigail gather some of the wild roses. They then cross the cemetery to a mausoleum-type passageway leading to the tower. As a group of undead children pursue them, they drop numerous roses and make their way into Bathory's torture chamber. When Hutch starts up the staircase, a heavy door with a barred window slams shut, separating him from Abigail. She urges him to go after Bathory's body and perform the ritual, while she stays trapped with one last rose. Hutch reluctantly leaves and Bathory's phantom attacks Abigail. Hutch climbs to the top of the tower and finds the completely preserved body of Elizabeth Bathory. While Abigail fights to live, Hutch hammers three nails one by one into the inert body. When he finishes, the evil spirit stops attacking Abigail, and reanimates Bathory's body. Retreating, Hutch knocks over an oil lamp, spilling oil across the floor. Recalling that the Countess hates mirrors, Hutch uses his reflective silver laptop to repel her. Overcoming the fear of fire, he sets the room ablaze. Just then Swink, still alive and carrying more roses, bursts in with Abigail and rescues him. As Countess Bathory's body burns, the three walk away from the tower.
Meanwhile, in the video store, the shelves are now full of just released "Stay Alive" games. Intrigued, the employee puts a copy in the PlayStation 2. As the video game starts, voices are heard reciting Elizabeth's prayer. The evil phantom of Countess Elizabeth Bathory is then seen gazing out her tower window. | murder, flashback | train | wikipedia | I saw "Stay Alive" tonight, and I was surprised to come home and read reviews discounting it as stupid or pointless.Actually, I think that the plot was fairly substantial and well thought out for a horror movie--especially a PG-13 one.
Without worrying about when things are happening, you are free to instead concentrate on WHY they are happening.I really liked the video game plot--it was entertaining enough just to watch the gamers get so into it!
The colors were perfect to set the mood, and the cinematography was on the better side of average: no complaints here.Overall, although the ending was a bit of a let-down, I believe this is worth seeing if you like horror movies that also make you THINK--it's not all about scares.
Stay Alive is a new game in which you have to stay alive or suffer the consequences in real life, it's a pretty cool concept and one that could have been executed way better than it actually was.Surprisingly the film is far less cheesy than i figured it would be, the cast are quite convincing, albeit as pretty shallow characters and the direction, editing and general production are adequate enough.
What let it down was the way it sets out the rules and then picks which ones it will follow depending on what stage the story was at, contriving every step of the way to make it fit.It was mildly entertaining to watch and there is a decent sense of tension throughout, although the scares were all a bit cheap and clichéd, and it definitely didn't need the twist at the end, i hope it's not a setup for a sequel.5/10.
I like the idea of a real haunted horror video game.
The way Countess Bathory looks in the "game/movie", I would be surprised if she frightened the toddler we had behind us with his family.
You will leave wondering how a lot of stuff in the movie happened & have many unanswered questions but if you just want to enjoy a scary film, then this is the one for you.Also, I think you'll enjoy it if you're a gamer, as I am..
Just enjoy for what it is.This movie was basically The Ring meets Brainscan (A Edward furlong film from the 90s) It follows a group of kids who find a horror game.
Coming Out. The kiddie horror market continues to baffle me.Films like this get pounded by the critics as unimaginative, but them often achieve high viewer ratings on IMDb. This movie suffers low ratings in both spheres but is making money.
Cinematography was good, scripting very solid, plot very fine, all the elements worked together to make a really cool, fun horror flick set in the young folks' gaming subculture.
But the poor execution on both sides of the camera make this one big dud.If you've ever got a craving for a "killing someone in a video game makes them dead in real life" horror film take my advice and skip Stay Alive for the superior Brainscan..
After the mysterious death of an old friend,a group of teenagers find themselves in the possession of Stay Alive,a horror survival video game based on the gruesome story of Erzebet Bathory known as The Blood Countess.The group begins to play the grisly game and soon they are murdered one by one in the same method as the character they played in the game.As the line between the game world and the reality disappears,our heroes must find a way to defeat vicious Blood Countess.
"Stay Alive" is an incredibly poor teen slasher flick without any iota of suspense.Writer-director William Brent Bell doesn't have the damn clue how to make a watchable horror movie.The jump scares are irritating,the blood/gore level is almost non-existent and the story doesn't make sense.The dialogue is utterly bad and the acting of all involved is embarrassing."Stay Alive" is easily one of the worst mainstream horror flicks of 2006.Stay away from this stinking turd..
I mean usually I'm against PG-13 horror movies because without the blood and gore they just can't seem to make it work, but with Stay Alive the storyline and plot kept me on the edge of my seat the whole movie.
Strong plot that keeps you watching i suggest if you like horror movies without all the bloody gory stuff...Go see this its a great film and i suggest everyone to watch it, it's worth it..
Which, in the end, maybe is all we can hope for from movies.I liked the video game theme.
I think a horror movie based on a game is a great idea and this is it i sit through the whole thing and i thought it kicked butt.
So if your are a hard core gamer and love horror movies then you have to see this movie, it is a good movie for a PG13 and it has a video game in it what more can you ask for.
I thought I would be writing a different kind of review than the one I am currently writing.While the premise used in Stay Alive is nothing new, it feels a bit like the original Saw in its atmosphere, without plodding.
With the police chasing them, and after the death of October, the survivors reach the house and try to find the corpse of the Countess to destroy her fiend."Stay Alive" is flawed, but it is very entertaining and underrated in IMDb. The story is not scary, but a pleasant adventure with good special effects, the actors and actresses have good performances and show good chemistry.
And it is a movie that really makes you think - on a lot of different levels.The story-line of a video game that was more than a video game was intriguing, and following the friends as the truth dawned and they sought the solutions and pitted their game-playing, problem solving skills added depth, and gave an insight into the online-video-game-playing culture that is an important social interaction setup for so many young people these days.Regarding the Computer Generated Images effects that 'intrude' into the 'real world' of the movie, I found them very effective.
Polished performances, actors are eye-candy, unpredictable, magic realism, engages the viewers, audience cares what happens to the gamers,world-class visual effects, school of Corman directing expertise for those who are discerning when it comes to knowing what's important in a perfect grade B excursion in the vintage horror genre; atmospheric; devastating nemesis, terror is left to the capable imagination of real fans of the genre; delightful treat for video game fans; will make the viewer think twice about the next video game purchase; nightmarish, goosebumps and cold sweaty palms waiting for the incredible denouement; kudos to William Brent Bell's skillful direction and joint authorship of script with erudite Matthew Peterman..
I think this movie was one shockers of 2006 it was very underrated i liked it.It kept me interested and i was scared at a lot of the points.this movie was pure horror i thought it had a clever ending.very gory for a pg 13 movie but very good at the same time.it also makes those gamers out there think.it was also very funny.if u like horrors with good plots and clever endings just c this movie u wont b disappointed believe me my over all rating was a 8/10 i hope to see stay alive 2 out some time in the next few years i will b first in line.
When I first heard of Stay Alive, I was thinking "Oh great, another ring rip-off" But after seeing a trailer and reading more about it, Stay Alive seem like a great concept.After a mysterious death, a group of intense gamers stumble upon an underground game called Stay Alive.
I'll admit idea is interesting and could be turned into a good movie but this is not it.First of all choosing real life person, countess Bathory, is stupid move that adds absolutely nothing to the story.
The premise is pretty ridiculous, a haunted video game, having said that the plots of all these films usually have some ludicrous element, my main problem with this one is that they don't even bother trying to explain it!
I think it also takes itself seriously which is a bad move, these films are supposed to be hammy and cheesy, but this one actually seems to think it is a seriously scary film which it is not.If you want a stupid horror movie about teenagers getting sliced up stick with Urban Legend, Friday the 13th and the like, they are all terrible but at least they have a bit of fun..
Overall I enjoyed it and it definitely got me into the mood to play some classic horror video games..
How clever!Directed by William Brent Bell (who?), and featuring an unimpressive cast of twenty-somethings that you might have seen before, but probably can't remember where or what the hell their names are, this is an extremely derivative piece of film-making aimed squarely at the PG-13 horror set; seasoned scary film watchers will no doubt find Stay Alive extremely tedious, highly predictable and not in the least bit frightening.The poorly developed plot follows a group of gamers with extremely daft names (October, Loomis, Phineus, Hutch, and Swink!?!) who attempt to unravel the mystery behind the deadly game before they too become victims.
Eventually, they discover that it is the evil spirit of the legendary Countess Elizabeth Bathory who is killing anyone who dares to play, and that their only hope of survival is to continue with the game to the end.With a story as dumb as this, viewers should expect a film with loose ends aplenty, not one iota of logic (who made the game, how, and why is never explained), very little in the way of scares or gore, and a dumb closing scene to leave the door open forGod forbida sequel..
Would've like to see the Blood Countess herself cause more havok.I loved the video game element but let's be real this was the ring all over again.
Think about it: Person gets video/website/video game, they've either heard bad things about, know death/ evil is connected with said artifact or know you simply aren't supposed to have it (like this game) and finally with knowing you aren't supposed to watch/view/play said things, you get sucked into the evil world.
i just watched it today November 3 2006 and i was home alone and when the characters started to see things in the corners of there eyes i thought i did and i was getting really creep ed out.even though people say it is boring it kept me entertained and guessing from beginning to end.i do recommend this movie if you don't want to by it rent it it was very original to me and seriously it did creep me out and i don't really get creep ed out that bad by movies but this was more scary than the grudge!!
I personally liked this movie.It was pretty entertaining at points.There's only a few flaws.Like one some of the acting was off.Example lets say if someone suppose to be worried they wouldn't look worried.Another is puttin Frakie Muniz in this movie.No disrespect.He made a good addition.Its just that I've seen him in comedies lookin worried and when he looked worried here I'm thinking bout the comedys.But anyways,Another is the way it ended.I ain't gonna spoil it cause thats not me.Other then those things the movie was entertaining.My suggestion to you if you like scary films and u wanna watch one,take your ten dollars and check out this movie..
The Only Horror Movies I Like Are The Ones That Have Good Story Lines And Thats Why I Love This Movie.
If ya love scary movies, and ya love video game based movies this is a must...When it comes to movie on this basis, this one blows the rest out of the water...its a must see, i loved it and you will too.......With plenty of action, surprises and some of the creepiest cg and story line i've seen in a while, this movie would go to the top of my list when it comes to go and watch again...and I'm not one to see a movie at the theater more than once...the best what to sum it up is a haunted video game horror, with scenes that will make the most experience horror movie goers jump in their seats.....
The violence is not gratuitously graphic like we have seen in some recent horror movies, which is, again, a good thing for the younger viewer.
While the "villan" of the game (Elizabeth Bathory) was a historical figure (The Blood Countess), they changed a few details about her history - but I don't suppose too many people will notice that.Good date movie.
3) If you are going to make a game about survival horror films, research the subject first so you at least SOUND like you know what you're talking about.
On the plus side, the plot is easy to follow and makes sense (as much as a movie about a video game that kills you can be.) There are some cool moments when the characters blend the real world and the game together, but they are very few and are all in the last 30 minutes of the movie.
i also hope they make a sequel to stay alive the way they end lives you to believe just maybe the real game is not over.
This could have been a GREAT movie, but it was so lazy and badly done that it turned out to be a tweeny load of rubbish in my opinion.It was such a good idea - kids play a video game, you die in the game you die in real life.
The acting is surprisingly good, especially for such young actors in this type of movie, there are elements of truth in the plot (regarding The Countess) and efforts seem to have been made to keep "Stay Alive" from being another stereotypical horror movie that leaves few lasting impressions.
If you want to see a horror movie with less blood, nudity and sex than usual, featuring good acting, a fresh angle and without the standard mindless script/plot, then "Stay Alive" might appeal to you.
In turn people who don't play video games at all and just want to see a good mainstream slasher will be turned off by the utter geek factor of the film.
Subtle touches such as characters snorting coke seem thrown in for no reason at all but to appeal to a teenage fascination of drugs which I find unnecessary, with some poor CGI and cardboard cutout characters we have a useless movie.Stay Alive screams "you are a stupid teenager we know everything you involve yourself with these days which is video games, drugs, drooling over hot young women and forking out moolah for by the numbers horror, you will enjoy this and give us money".
The premise of a horror film based on a video game with some historical background, sounded original at first.After watching Stay Alive, I'm deeply disappointed.
Basically, whoever plays this video game "Stay Alive" is pulled into an inescapable puzzle where, if your player dies, you die in real life.
The plot was really interesting of how a video-game kills people in real life and it sorta copied the Asian horror film, which was made into a terrible American remake, "The Ring", so on that note, the director gets my props because he did something new without copying it for another film or genre.
I thought it had good game graphics for the starting of the movie.
I am a huge horror film fanatic and I have seen just about anything that has come out that is said to be scary and this is by far in the top 3.I will be thinking about this movie for many nights to come.
I love the movie but I will never play the game.I am too scared..
What this movie does have is simple yet slightly intricate plot the leaves you wondering what is going on and why is a video game killing people.Each character is distinct but not much else is put into character development, which is good because it doesn't distract you from the story line.
I Gotta say quite an Entertaining Movie for People who are completely bored and wanna watch Some people gaming for their lifeyes I know corny name, corny storyline But the story is very logical Altho the acting is awful Graphics are average But the Directing is on the spot Full of suspense during a deathLots of swearing I Don't see why its rated 3.5 it deserves at least a 6 watch this movie, if you don't like it you've only wasted 1 and a half hours of your lifeI Personally Enjoyed this movie along with 5 of my Friends, and after that we went to the Arcade and played a new just in game also called Stay Alive which was pretty freaky and is based on the game only you are in the Countess's House Overall a 7 out of 10.
Great movie for those who like games/horror.
I know its fake but come on tell me when you see this movie you don't want to play this and the women that kills you is real not fake but all I'm really trying to say if you love horror you loves this movie unless you one of those die hard horror movie nut then just go watch the shining but for the rest of us that enjoy and good horror film you'll love and for all the gamers out you made enjoy this movie but there is not a hole of game in but you'll love it takes a different turn.Plan and simple horror movie that gamers and people who like horror movies will like..
Do you like creepy video games where your life is on the line?It was just a matter of time before a movie came out that took you into the game world for real! |
tt0116823 | Larger Than Life | The film opens at a convention of recliner salesmen, where Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) gives a motivational speech based on his book Get Over It. Jack shares the example of his father dying before he was born as a difficult circumstance that must be overcome to succeed. At Jack's engagement party, his agent (Jeremy Piven) updates him on all of his upcoming speaking engagements, and the pair hope that one of the engagements is high profile enough to lead to an infomercial.
As the party winds down, Jack reads telegrams from well wishers. One of the telegrams is from an attorney in Baltimore about the large estate of his recently deceased father Kirk. Jack's mother, Vera, shortly admits that she lied about his father's death. In truth, she left him because she felt he would be a bad example for Jack.
The attorney in Baltimore shows Jack a contract which mentions $35,000. Thinking this is the size of his father's estate, Jack signs the contract. In fact, it is the amount of property damage that the attorney has suffered because of Vera, Kirby's elephant. Vera and Kirby were a traveling circus act, and she is a highly trained elephant. Kirby left a note for Jack that instructed him to call "Blockhead" in Kansas City if there are any problems with Vera. Jack contacts Mo (Janeane Garofalo) at the San Diego Zoo, who happens to be transporting a herd of elephants to Sri Lanka in a few days. She helps Jack ascertain that Vera is a breeding age female, and she agrees to pay $30,000 for the elephant.
Jack and Vera board a train bound for San Diego, but the conductor (Keith David) insists on a bribe. Jack's $600 only gets them as far as Kansas City, where he looks up Blockhead, who is an old circus buddy of Kirby's. Blockhead shows Jack the extent of Vera's training, including a photo of Vera standing on her hind legs, which was a trick that she would only do for Kirby. He puts Jack onto an animal trainer in Los Angeles named Terry Bonura (Linda Fiorentino) who works in show business. Terry offers Jack $40,000 for Vera. So, he and Blockhead attempt to drive to L.A., but his truck breaks down. Jack rents a semi-truck and continues on his own. With no experience driving a big rig, Jack blows out the transmission.
Stuck at a truck stop, he encounters Tip Tucker (Matthew McConaughey) who is a fast-talking, deeply paranoid trucker bound for L.A. Jack slips outside to call Tip's mobile phone, and he tricks Tip into thinking his load has been canceled. Tip agrees to take Jack and Vera to L.A. instead. Along the way, Tip makes a phone call and realizes he has been tricked by Jack. He attacks Jack with a tire iron, but Vera intervenes and saves Jack from a beating. Tip drives off threatening to come back with the police.
Jack and Vera walk into New Mexico to evade Tip. They stumble into a monsoon that is threatening to tear apart a village church. As the villagers struggle to hold the walls up, Vera intervenes, holding the wall up with her head. The wall still threatens to collapse, and Jack gets her to stand on her hind legs to brace the wall for good. The villagers help Jack and Vera board a train that will finally take them to L.A.
As he is about to sign the contract to sell Vera to Terry, Jack realizes that she subjects her animals to a grueling workload, and he witnesses one of Terry's trainers abusing another elephant with an electric goad. He steals one of Terry's trucks and drives to San Diego. Tip found Terry's business card in the cab of his truck, and he arrives just as Jack leaves.
At the San Diego airport, Mo is loading her elephants onto a cargo plane. The tarmac security guard will not let Jack and Vera in because they are not on the manifest. Jack pulls the truck into the passenger drop-off in front of the airport and races through the terminal with Vera. At gate security, Tip finally catches up to them, waving Terry's electric goad. Jack convinces the security guards that Tip is more of a threat than Vera, and they deal with Tip while Jack and Vera catch up to Mo on the tarmac.
Mo explains that she has spent her entire budget and has no money for Vera. Jack confesses to Mo that he will miss Vera, but he knows she would be better off with other elephants. The film ends with a series of captions that indicate Jack left his fiancee for Mo, and the couple witnessed the birth of Vera's first calf in Sri Lanka together. Jack's ex-fiancee married his agent and Jack's mother ran their life. Tip Tucker also managed to get away and is still roaming the roads of America. The captions conclude by saying that Get Over It never made it to a 2nd printing, but Jack's memoir of his cross-country trip with Vera was a runaway besteller. | comedy | train | wikipedia | Kids and adults both will enjoy the elephant and the occasional outdoor scene, as Bill Murray and his new friend trek across the beautiful American countryside.
Bill Murray is funny as usual and Matthew McConaughey puts in an unusual and funny performance.
This movie isn't going to win any Oscars, but provides good entertainment, without resorting to sex or violence.
It takes about 30 minutes before it really gets going, when Bill Murray and Vera hit the road.
Janeane Garofalo is well-used in a small role, but Matthew McConnaughey makes the most vivid impression in truly goofy part as an insane truck driver.
I think, if you take a moment, you can actually see that this movie is an interesting metaphor for the grieving process.Grief can be seen as a big uncontrollable thing that you didn't even know was yours until you have it laid in your lap.
He travels out to collect to find that his father was a clown and his inheritance is substantial -in fact she's an elephant.
Now he has less than a week to get across country to deliver the elephant to one of several interested parties.Around about this period Bill Murray films kinda sunk to a bit of a low in terms of money making and quality.
The message about loving animals etc are a little sentimental and don't sit well with the idea that we are actually watching an animal that belongs to a movie organisation such as the one being shown here as evil!The comedy is also predictable we know the elephant will knock things down and lift things up etc, but it's not overdone and is amusing to a point.
For adults the physical nature of this comedy is tempered by a world weary Murray who really does make the film worth watching.
He is a funny guy and although he is on auto-pilot here, he is still very good.The film rests solely on his shoulders and he just about carries it off.
People like Piven, Garofalo, Fiorentino, Jerry Alder, Presnell etc are all round the edges making it look tidy but really do little.
This is mainly due to Murray doing his usual world-weary cynical act we've seen it before but that doesn't mean it's not still funny..
I thought it was Great, as an animal film and as a comedy.
Classic film making, one of Murray's best and what a grand sidekick!.
Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a small-time motivational speaker whose manager (Jeremy Piven) is trying to get him bigger gigs.
A lawyer contacts Jack by letter to tell him his father recently passed away and left him an inheritance.
But, Holy Dumbo Batman, Jack has just inherited a circus elephant named Vera.
It seems papa's last job was with the circus and his great act included a trained elephant.
After spending the night in a junkyard with Vera, Jack finds out that a zookeeper in Los Angeles would like Vera very much, as she is returning some elephants to their natural habitat.
From raiding a whole salad bar for the elephant's meals to riding in cattle car, Jack and Vera try to make it to the west coast in time.
If you enjoy a good guffaw, watch this movie..
But it works, mostly because of Bill Murray's performance.A man who has to unload his father's trained elephant does not make for a promising story, comic or dramatic.
What makes this film work is Murray's generally laid-back performance.
(I suspect Roy Blount was consciously writing such a story.) When a reviewer states that the film misses the obvious sight gags its premise suggests -- well, that's the point of it, right?This isn't a film that demands a second viewing.
It's a perfect film when you don't want to watch anything demanding.PS: I just love the parents who say this (and other films) are good family films because they lack sex, violence, adult language, etc.
No sex, violence and only a small amount of language help Larger Than Life accomplish its victory as a great family film.
Just look at a sampling of the names: Matthew McConaughey, Janeane Garofalo and Linda Fiorentino.
Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray) is a struggling motivational speaker.
When he gets a telegram that his absentee circus father had passed away, he doesn't know that he left him a giant elephant and $35k in damages.
He could get $30k with Mo (Janeane Garofalo) who's sending elephants to Sri Lanka for a breeding problem, or at least $40k to Terry (Linda Fiorentino) who has an animal circus.It was probably a hilarious pitch to put Bill Murray with an elephant.
- rather than go all 'im so special artsy iconoclastic' type) Bill Murray (who plays Jack Corcoran, the son of a professional clown - D'OH!
If it was _anybody_else_ in this role it would have been only a "family" movie and not be worth watching unless your kid is watching it.
But because of Mr. Murray, this movie takes off.
Kids will like this also because it has an elephant in it.Kudos to every other actor who played smaller parts:Blockhead - Pat HingleTip Tucker (luny as a jaybird) - Matthew McConaughey (Matthew gets an extra set of kudos b/c his performance was over the top.
Murray's ride with him is hilarious)Mo - Janeane GarofaloTerry - Linda FiorentinoLawyer - Harve PresnellTrain Conductor - Keith DavidJunkyard Guy - Greg Lewis, andlast but not least,dear sweet Vera,played by Tal.
Larger than life is a really great movie.
Bill Murray stars alongside an elephant.!
He's no ringmaster in the circus, but rather inherits the elephant named Vera (after his mother) from his recently deceased father.
Essentially, Larger than Life is a comedy road movie, wherein Bill Murray's character Jack must travel by any means necessary to facilitate Vera.
It's a great movie about family connection's and doing what's right.When originally released, Larger than Life was not very well liked by critics, the fanbase was even small.
Over time though, the film has become somewhat of a favorite among Bill Murray fans.
Released in late 1996 and directed by Howard Franklin, "Larger than Life" is road movie/comedy/animal flick starring Bill Murray as a motivational speaker who receives a huge inheritance from his father whom he never met.
As they trek across the country, Jack meets circus friends of his dad, a zany truck driver (Matthew McConaughey) and a village of Hispanics in need of a miracle.
Keith David is on hand as a train conductor.I love elephants, circuses and road movies; I also appreciate Murray's subdued brand of humor now and then.
That takes time and money, of course, which the producers unfortunately didn't want to spend.The movie contains scene after scene that hold the promise of great entertainment, one way or another, but they're never milked for their potential.
Also consider the wacky truck driver with the mullet: He has the promise of being a great comedic side character, but he ends up just being over-the-top weird and inscrutable.Still, there are several laughs & amusing moments and the road trip is entertaining to a point, which makes "Larger than Life" worthwhile for some.The film runs 93 minutes and was in St. Louis, Missouri; Denver, Colorado; Moab, Utah; Wrightwood & San Jose Airport, California.GRADE: C.
Bill Murray plays a motivational speaker whose circus clown father passes away and leaves him an elephant.
Ridiculously far-fetched premise with a lifeless performance by Murray and a supporting cast that seems hellbent on outshining him, making themselves look like a bunch of hams in the process.
Not really a family movie despite the corny animal buddy plot.
I think I laughed out loud once the whole movie and chuckled maybe twice.
(In fact, I stopped watching it halfway through, which is something I rarely do...) -- Bill Murray plays Jack Corcoran, a second-rate motivational speaker who is bequeathed an elephant by his father (whom he had presumed to be dead before he was born) ; he then has one week to get the ponderous pachyderm across the country.
This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my life.
Bill Murray + an elephant + no script (was there a script?
This is a kid's movie but any self-respecting smart child would not want to see this inflammatory pile of elephant droppings..
Murray Only Has An Elephant To Bounce Off - It Doesn't Work....
The over-riding problem with this film is that it can't possibly use Bill Murray to the best of his abilities, simply because of the co-star.If this was a road movie with another comedic actor, it might work.
As it stands, Murray is left talking to an elephant who cannot answer back with witty banter.
Essentially, it means that Murray is talking to himself, and this makes the film more boring than it could have been had he had another character to bounce off.Kids would enjoy this movie,simply because of the elephant, but anyone wanting to watch Bill Murray's biting delivery and enjoy an excellent script needs to look somewhere else..
Larger Than Life is a film that can be enjoyed by all ages.
It stars Bill Murray, Janeane Garofalo, and a barely recognizable Matthew McConaughey as the paranoid truck driver.
The story of 'Larger Than Life' is a by-the-numbers buddy/road affair with an elephant, and as such there is little to recommend it.
He makes even the most uninspired material funny -- even when he's not really trying as here.'Larger Than Life' does have its funny moments (Murray's spoof of motivational speakers stands out), and it is worth sitting through a TV showing of it.
Well, I think that the main problem of the movie centers around the fact that pretty much all the events of the movie center around an elephant.
Even Murray, who has been quick and funny in other movies, seems overwhelmed.
When he's paired with the elephant, the energy immediately fades away.One question that's never answered in the movie is: Why doesn't Murray's character just hire someone to take the elephant to the west coast?
The fact that Murray's character doesn't do the obvious thing helps point out that the premise this script had was deeply flawed even before writing began..
Bill Murray, who is hilarious, and a lot of the other characters are great.
I don't know how many people care about this film or will look it up but all the reviews missed the magic here.
As the movie progresses his life is changed, the problem becomes like a cosmic force guiding him, to a new less cynical life.Maybe its just me projecting my personal stuff going on but sometimes when the universe will not stop pushing us, we have to change, we know deep down we should, and the thing we view originally as a pain or a problem isn't at all...
Good solid family film with some seriously (really) laugh out loud scenes so I highly recommend making the effort to find and watch it.
Bill Murray is his usual droll, understated great self and one of the best scenes comes when he is driving a big rig-I laughed so hard my ribs hurt...no joke.
It truly seems that most of the time a camera crew is simply following him around as he finds odd situations to get himself into and then without a bit of effort, make us laugh and feel that special something in our hearts.This is one of those movies and the odd situation he finds for himself is trying to get rid of an elephant left to him by his estranged and recently deceased father.
This results in most of the movie being Bill talking to the elephant, not too much response from the big gray co-star but he does have a presence.
And despite some of the other reviews saying otherwise, it works, and it works great for Bill Murray fans.
It's as if he really is playing it off-the-cuff and it makes it all work.I really liked sprocketbox' metaphor of the elephant being the grieving process.
That elephant is still there no matter where I turn.This is a movie well worth seeing and not just for Bill Murray fans.
A man inherits an elephant from his father.
I have always liked Bill Murray in films like Lost in Translation, and the trailer for this film looked really good, but the result was very disappointing.
Basically Murray plays Jack Corcorin who has recently found out that his father died, and he is expected to hear his will.
He finds out that his father was a clown, because he left a large shoe, his squeaky nose, and his main inheritance, an elephant!
The only way that Jack can get rid of this elephant is to travel 4000 miles in four days and give him to a safe zoo for $30,000.
LTL is the kind of formulaic, hopeless comedy to be enjoyed by the sort of sheep that stop and listen when they come across a band playing in a shopping mall.I remember Murray promoting LTL on Larry King's crappy CNN show, where he said something like "if this movie doesn't become a hit I'll stop making movies (or comedies)".
He wasn't being nearly as jovial as one might think; he must have felt that LTL was a sure-fire hit and that its failure would mean his status as a star had markedly fallen - hence a sort-of ultimatum live-on-air to his fans to spend their hard-earned money on a dumb elephant comedy.
"Go see it, it really is good!" Actors are prostitutes inter-bred with car salesmen.LTL is the sort of lousy project that comes from the "Friends" school of comedy; their motto: "If you ever run out of ideas - or if you never had any in the first place - then stick an animal into the plot and that will at least inject an element of cuteness".
The other motto "Friends" had was: "always include pointless, dull sentimentality", which this movie so predictably ends with, when Murray rather pathetically says: "what they forgot to tell you is that you never forget an elephant".
I was suddenly reminded of it when I saw a scene from it on TV today (hence this equally pointless review).Murray wastes his talent on this turkey (disguised as an elephant), but he isn't nearly as uninteresting/bad as McConaughey (or however that man's name is spelt); one would think that M.M. would have an easy time playing himself, i.e. a hick, but he is so painfully unfunny and unconvincing that I could barely stand to watch him make such a jackass out of himself.
This piece of crap marked the end of a string of good and great movies Murray made in the early- and mid-90s, such as "Groundhog Day", "Quick Change", "Mad Dog & Glory", "Kingpin", "What about Bob?" and "Ed Wood".
Larger Than Life (1996): Dir: Howard Franklyn / Cast: Bill Murray, Matthew McConaughey, Janeane Garofalo, Linda Fiorentino, Keith David: Has there ever been a comedy starring Bill Murray that contained fewer laughs than this?
Dreary plot regards a man who learns that his father was a circus clown and has left him an elephant in his will.
Viewers will likely find watching elephants on wildlife programs to be more entertaining.
Garofalo is true blue to the elephant's needs while Fiorentino isn't so upfront about it.
Animal rights theme stranded within horrible road movie clichés and a screenplay that isn't so large.
"Quick Change" director Howard Franklin and comedian Bill Murray have literally got a white elephant on their hands in the highly forgettable juvenile critter comedy "Larger than Life," co-starring Matthew McConaughey, Janeane Garofalo, Pat Hingle, Jeremy Piven, and Linda Fiorentino.
Murray plays a motivational speaker who finds himself saddled with Velma, a female elephant that belonged to his recently deceased circus clown father whom he never met.
Now, pop's attorney (Harve Presnell of "Fargo") wants $35-thousand to cover the damages that Tarzan's best friend has chomped up while he waited on our hero to claim his inheritance.The only way that Jack Corcoran (Bill Murray of "Ghostbusters") can get off the tusk is to take the animal across country to a zoo, specifically to Mo (Janeane Garofalo) who is willing to buy Velma as part of a breeding experiment in India.
The dilemma that Jack faces is who to sell the beast to, either the sympathetic but homely zoo keeper (Garofalo had a similar role in "The Truth about Cats and Dogs") or temptress animal trainer Terry Bonura (Linda Fiorentino), who uses electric prods to make her beasties behave.Getting the elephant there comprises the bulk of Roy Blount, Jr's lackluster, lead-footed plot.
The grateful villagers idolize the elephant and helps Jack finish his cross-country jaunt.
Either Bill Murray desperately want to produce a flop movie for tax purposes or he needed to return as a regular to NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live.".
One of the Dullest Road-Movies, Buddy-Comedies, Kids-Adventures Ever !.
(Bill Murray) is one of the best actors and comedians in the last 20 years.
So why to make a lame movie with an elephant?
I think the "Trip" just affected the lead in a way to learn more lessons about life or to know what he really wants, and to discover more credibility around him.
So speaking of ironies I think the biggest of them all is that you have (Murray) with some trained lovely (Vera) through 3000 miles coast to coast 5-dayes odyssey and there isn't more than one laugh along the way !???
This movie got the very little, very cursory to present : touching moments (the elephant picks up tenderly the funny nose of her dead friend), comic time (Murray trying to choke McConaughey out of tedium), thrilling situations (the truck's one, and maybe the climax) and, sadly more than surprisingly, that was it !
The only Larger Than Life thing in this movie was its title ! |
tt1203517 | The Graves | Present day. Arizona. Megan and Abby Graves are inseparable sisters that couldn't be less alike. Megan just graduated ASU with a marketing degree. She's a self-assured, naturally attractive rock chick with a black belt that she likes to use. Abby just barely graduated high school. She's a cute, Hot Topic Goth who's caustic and afraid of her own shadow. They share one thing: a life-long obsession with comics and pop culture. Simply put, they are beautiful geeks. In a few days, Megan will start a new job at in New York. To send her off in style, the sisters go on a wild, pop culture bender that includes a trip to uncharted Arizona in search of a kitchy roadside attraction. Instead, Megan and Abby happen on Skull City Mine, a weather-beaten, abandoned mine town converted into a self-guided tour. But Skull City harbors terrible, vexing secrets. It appears to be haunted. Its caretakers are murderous. Victims' souls are ripped from their bodies right before their eyes, and that's only the beginning. When Megan suffers a near mortal wound, Abby must save her sister, but to do so, she must unlock the mystery of Skull City alone. Can Abby defeat the threats of Skull City and rescue Megan or are they doomed like all the other tourists before them? | violence | train | wikipedia | It broke my heart too because I was really up to watching it with my all time favorite vocalist Randy Blythe, and two other great actors, Tony Todd and Bill Mosely.
Wow
and to think that all of the movies in the After Dark Horror-fest would be somewhat, oh I don't know
enjoyable?
Because of what I had to deal with this first film, The Graves,
well, it wasn't pretty.The Graves, a miserable little turd fest of a film, is about two girls, Meghan and Abby, going on a last trip together before Meghan leaves for New York.
They go to comic book stores (which, I'm sorry, these girls look like they've never set foot in a comic shop in their lives) and talk about how Lady Death is the most awesome comic book ever
.really?
(And don't worry, this is only one of the many faults of this movie.) They then stop in a diner (which is so far out of the way that the first girl to die in the original Nightmare on Elm Street is stuck waiting there), and they're lead to Skull Mine, which is said to be a ghost town after some brutal murders took place there.
Your cartoon-styled acting in this is so bad, that I almost broke down and cried.Now, if there is anything redeemable about this film, it's that Bill Mosely (yep, Devils Rejects Bill Mosely) plays a guy called the "Pig Man", who is just a guy who puts on a fake pig nose and likes to kill people.
It starts off veering towards a backwoods stalk-and-slash type of movie and then ends up in kooky religious cult territory.
To put my comment in context, I love a good B movie, such as the Tarrantino's "Deathproof", or Peter Jackson's "Braindead", so I approached the film expecting to enjoy it.I watched this during the "Grimm Up North" horror film festival in the Printworks in Manchester, UK.
The film completely failed to generate any sort of suspense, shock, or in fact, horror!
A better name for this awful movie would have to be "Hack." You know how bad acting takes you out of the movie?
Bad acting, bad writing, bad directing, stupid story, and no reason whatsoever to waste your time with this.I would say that Brian Pulido should go back to comics but he's not good at that either.It's a waste when someone is given the talent to be great at something yet no drive to follow through.
I feel like the people who spawned this film had to say something to the effect of "Hey everyone, let's take two semi-attractive women with no acting experience and give them a garbage script, Tony Todd, a camera we no longer use and all of the pocket change we have on us right now, and see if we can't turn a profit."If this film actually somehow did turn a profit, I think it was somewhere in the range of 4 McDoubles-20 Chicken McNuggets.
Normally 'big character' actors like Todd and Mosely seem to waiting for direction through most of their scenes..
It's fairly common to see B-and-below-movies with a decent script and some good ideas, but lacking in resources that turn out a disaster.
The Graves on the other hand seems to have plenty of resources to hire established actors and get good equipment, but script and direction are lacking.Two sisters, one very dominant over the other, end up driving around Arizona, stop at a diner, and decide to go visit the local ghost town and mines.
Ultimately, the girls will have to confront the town people, but a strange thing happens in the relationship between the town and the savior.The Graves has an impressive cast- our two very attractive leads, and horror icons Todd and Moseley.
The movie looks great, is mostly filmed during the day, the colors are gorgeous.
The direction, too, isn't up to par, and you see takes that are very odd and that you don't usually see in films.With the resources and enthusiasm they had available, the producers should have hired an additional writer and an established director and this movie could have been pretty good.
This is the first of the After Dark Movies To Die For that I have watched so far this year and what a way to start!!!
I just got done watching Brothers with Jake However-You-Spell-His-Name and Tobey McGuire and that was such a great movie that I gave it a 9 and I go to this.
the sisters were likable enough and we are almost immediate thrown into a killer-chasing-victims mode.I also had a few hopes because of the inclusion of Bill Moseley and Tony Todd.
Pretty lame movie at the start quickly introducing us to two hot sisters who are supposed to be into comic books.
Then we see them in the punk goth club for one last night out before they take a road trip heading towards more boredom than anything else.The plot "borrows" from many older movies where young adults breakdown, visit, and otherwise go where angels fear to tread.
I can only imagine his need for money and hope that no one actually watched this movie was his reason for taking the role.You can't feel anything for the characters since they never really develop during the movie.
In fact, one scene between actress Clare Grant and Bill Moseley in a school house has no impact on the movie as it really should.
I sometimes think myself or a neighbor should go write and direct a movie, as unqualified as we are- neither are the people behind this film.
The more cheap modern horror I watch, the more I start to realize how badly the genre needs to redefine itself once again, since it simply just isn't working anymore.
Really, people seem to have no idea what good and creative to come up with anymore, with as an ultimate low example of that this movie.But no, it's not just simply the lack of creativity or originally that kills this movie, it foremost is it's extremely weak approach to the genre.
The movie absolutely does not manage to build up any tension or create ever a good feeling of danger.
Director Brian Pulido should just stop and realize that he doesn't has the right required talent and knowledge required, for this genre at least.It's also especially ridicules how this movie is lacking in any good scary or powerful villainous murderers.
There is absolutely nothing threatening about the villains in this movie, which quite frankly also makes this a bore to watch.And man, why throw in a supernatural theme as well, that just isn't in tone with any of the rest of the movie.
This movie was already extremely bad as a straight-forward slasher but they actually managed to make things worse by throwing in the supernatural elements.
Some of their actions are also just incredibly stupid, though the script is of course to blame for that really.A great lesson on how NOT to make an horror movie.2/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
I'll just give my .02The movie starts off promising, the title sequence feels reminiscent of Grindhouse films.
The sisters Abby (Jillian Murray) and Megan (Clare Grant) Graves are unbelievably hot and they love comic books!
I'd give them a 7/10 for good characters.Acting: Surprisingly well done for a B-movie.
7/10 for great acting, Todd takes away from it though...never thought I'd ever say that.Special F/X: Don't EVEN get me started on how much I hated the digital blood.
The movie is really nothing special, it just needed a few things for it to be good.
In fact, to this day I have yet to watch Dread and Hidden (which are supposed to be the best).I want to say this movie is underrated, but it should have a slightly higher score than 3.7/10.
There was really no suspense or tension, kind of necessary in a horror movie.Mostly though, the theme of "crazy, evil religious people" killing people is kind of offensive and a really tired and ineffective plot device..
Technically done very solid, but the story might have needed a few tweaks here and there to work out better.The usual "Duh" moments are not absent, quite the contrary and of course, although pretty feisty and not always in the "victim" role, our lead women do quite a few "stupid" things.
I would recommend this movie because Bill Mosely (Otis - House of 1,000 Corpses/Devil's Rejects) steals the show, he basically performs the same character he took on in Rob Zombie's films, a quick-witted, timeless quote saying killer.
Now, this movie may have made it if it simply was about a family that owed a ghost town attraction, and killed the visitors.
The acting is pretty horrible, the special effects are extremely fake, the storyline his horribly, horribly written, and most of all, there are production mistakes (you can even see the studio microphone clear as day in one shot...yes, the entire microphone!!!) This movie is just a very bad B-movie, that somehow got the budget to include top name actors like Bill Mosely, Jillian Whoever (Jigsaw's wife), and a couple other mentionables.
It's absolutely boring, and like I said, only the time we see Bill is when the movie takes off, and when he dies, it goes down with him!.
I honestly wanted to like this movie, but I had to turn it off after awhile.
As sexy as Grant was as the older of the two sisters, and as much fun as Moseley can be in any movie, this was so amateurishly made as to be a student film.
Part of the After Dark Horrorfest 4 list of movies, The Graves...
As the credits begin, you notice Bill Mosley and Tony Todd are in this movie...
There are scenes that don't make any sense (a man dying in a minute with a simple stab in the leg; however, the older sister gets stabbed in the chest right by the heart and somehow manages to live).
Bill Moseley is, you guessed it, a lunatic after the girls and having fun during the hunt, wearing a pig snout and grinning from ear to ear, taking his time as Megan attempts to keep Abby safe from harm(Abby falls into a hole knocking herself unconscious).
The leads are cute and they match each other which I found adorable, their tight jeans and black muscle shirts..good casting as they resemble each other(I certainly would consider them sisters if I saw them out and about).For some reason, "The Graves" simply lacked real, palpable menace, and I never really felt that the girls would bite the bullet, mainly because the film kept finding ways to release them from certain doom.
Or, the performances were uninspired and the cast was going through the motions..when Moseley's routine even fails to deliver, the jury's out and the verdict may be quite unkind.Many might recognize Claire Grant, who portrays Megan, as the gorgeous creature from Mick Garris' second Masters of Horror entry "Valerie in the Stairs" also starring Tony Todd.
Well does anybody know where i can find the maker of this movie i want to ask him if he can give me the hour and a half of my life back that was wasted watching this complete and utter trash.
They kill the first man by stabbing him in the leg with what looks like a snorkel, amazingly he is dead within 1 minute and that's the end of him.
Shock horror the person who stops to help is only in on the killings and is the brother of the man they just snorkeled to death.
To sum this film up i would say it has a rubbish plot line, horrendous acting and the maker should be banned from anything to do with the movie industry for the rest of his life.
I have sort of mixed feelings about this movie.THE GOOD: Well for starters, it is nice to see a horror movies that is filmed in daylight.
Not all horror movies have to be taking place at night.
And of course two horror icons (Tony Todd and Bill Mosely) were in the movie, although neither had much to work with.
Better to be kept in the dark, and that part worked well for the movie.THE MEDIOCRE: The special effects were not overly impressive, but not downright crappy either.THE BAD: The supporting cast and extras seemed like they didn't really want to make this movie.
I don't really expect the average horror film to actually be scary, well made, or very original, but it should find some way to entertain.
The Graves was just SO clichéd and uneventful, that not only would I recommend against watching it, but I really don't want to watch anything else by the writer or director ever.Two girls stop in a deserted town and pay to take a tour of the historic remains.
The storyline is stupid, the acting (while not the worst I've ever seen...) is pretty bad, and the FX (both the gore and 'supernatural' scenes) are atrocious.
I like them a lot so I'll give the film a pretty generous 2 points for their involvement, and for the passable performance by Moseley.
While there have been some real winners from this line up-"The Gravedancers", "Reincarnation", "The Abandoned" and "Mullberry Street" for example-by the time the second Horrorfest came around, we started getting movies that one is amazed got any sort of theatrical release.
For every winner in Horrorfest, there will be mediocre to disappointing movies like "Tooth & Nail" and "Dying Breed", to really awful fair like "Lake Dead" and "Slaughter." Well, you can add "The Graves to that third category, as it may be the worst Horrorfest movie yet.The Graves sisters-Abby (Jillian Murphy) and Megan (Clare Grant)-are two comic book, punk rock (well, as the director sees punk) and horror loving girls aka.
Of course, it's not really abandoned, and soon the sisters find themselves fighting for their lives against a psychopath named Caleb (Bill Moseley) and a religious cult lead by Reverend Abraham (Tony Todd.) Can they survive?
Writer and Director Brian Pulido is a horror comic book veteran (he is the creator of "Lady Death"* and "Evil Ernie"), but for a guy with such a pedigree, his movie comes off as rather clueless as to what makes horror movies like this work.
The whole thing feels too much like Pulido was thinking to himself "well, horror fans like this in horror movies", but that he had no idea as to what makes such movies work.
The film wants you to like the Graves sisters, but they are so dull, unrealistic and annoying that you keep hoping for the whole movie to come to a merciful end.
The fact that these two beloved genre veterans are even in dreck like this is depressing as hell, especially with the underwhelming performances they give.I wish I could say "The Graves" is worth watching, but it's not.
Instead, it's a cheap, superficial imitator that clearly wants to be loved, but lacks any of the elements that makes horror like this fun.
Avoid.*At one point, the Graves sisters start going on about their love of Chaos Comics, one in which pretty much plugging "Lady Death" in a groan inducing bit of shameless self promotion.
and so on...The director has no sense of making movie...
It just like a movie from a 10 years old boy.I couldn't bear all the non-senses, and had to turn off my TV.
Once we got through that rocky start, it was a fantastic movie with lines from the killers that'll have you snorting in laughter, believable and lovable heroines, a mad preacher who's voice still gives me goosebumps (in a good way), and a location that made me giggle cause I've seen it :P.
Well worth seeing at least once if you're a blood and gore horror movie fan.
Attempting to bond together, two sisters about to go on with their lives find their roadside rest stop the home of a band of homicidal cult worshippers forced to kill outsiders to make sacrifices in order to carry on their way of life, and must stop a series of killers to get out alive.This here wasn't all that bad of an effort.
And it's a good thing too, because without the impressive, shall we say, "assets" of Claire Evans as one of the film's leads, "The Graves" would've been a complete bore."The Graves" takes its title from the last name of its two heroines, Megan and Abby Graves, a pair of Goth dressin', horror punk rockin', comic book lovin' sisters.
It should be noted here that the film opens with the Graves Sisters hangin' out in a comic book store, proclaiming their "picks of the week" for their hand held video camera, and one of them just happens to recommend...
By the way, I spent a lot of time in a lot of comic book stores as a teenage geek and I never -- repeat, NEVER -- saw any girls who looked anywhere near as hot as these two in any of them.
Anyway, when the Graves Sisters get lost looking for a roadside attraction in Arizona, they are directed to the local Skull City Mine by a friendly diner waitress who promises that the tour is worth the trip.
This first portion of the movie is actually kinda fun, even if it is totally derivative of such redneck-killer flicks as "Wrong Turn," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or Rob Zombie's first two films.
Of course, the ending leaves things open for a sequel, which I shall be sure to ignore entirely if it ever surfaces."The Graves" shows that Pulido has potential as a director, as some of the scenes are nicely staged and it has a nice "look" all around.
It's really low-budget and the violence looks like bad CGI.There are two ways to look at this film.
Without his little thirty minute performance, the film wouldn't be ha;f as good as it is. |
tt1279024 | Toradora! | Ryuji Takasu is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes give him the appearance of an intimidating delinquent. He is happy to be classmates with his best friend Yusaku Kitamura, as well as the girl he has a crush on, Minori Kushieda. However, he unexpectedly runs into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level"—Taiga Aisaka—who just happens to be Minori's best friend. Taiga has a negative attitude towards others and has a habit of snapping violently at people. She takes an instant dislike to Ryuji, and it turns out she is living in an apartment facing Ryuji's house. When Ryuji discovers that Taiga has a crush on Yusaku, and Taiga finds out about Ryuji's affections towards Minori, they make an arrangement to help set each other up with their crushes.
Over the course of the series, Ryuji and Taiga try to set up romantic situations to help each other get to know their friends, but many of the situations backfire. Their classmates observe that they are spending a lot of time with each other, leading to rumors that they might be a couple. Although Ryuji and Taiga try to dispel the rumors, they find that they do enjoy each other's company, with Taiga visiting Ryuji's house to share meals, and Ryuji checking up on Taiga to get her to school, and cleaning for her. They meet Yusaku's childhood friend Ami Kawashima, a popular teen model who transfers into their school. She appears to be friendly and is a self-proclaimed ditz, but beneath her facade is a rather mean and spoiled brat, and she quickly finds herself at odds with Taiga. In spite of this, Taiga tries to put up with her antics as Yusaku wants them to all get along, and Ami begins to grow fond of Ryuji. The series follows the lives of the five, as seen primarily through the eyes of Ryuji, with the characters growing and developing through their interactions with one another. | romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0048090 | Fort Yuma | When word reaches a U.S. Cavalry command that an Apache chief's son is planning an attack on Fort Yuma, a column of soldiers led by Lt. Ben Keegan is sent to deliver ammunition and supplies. Keegan has a longstanding hatred of the Indians and even resents that his chief scout, Sgt. Jonas, is an Apache himself.
Accompanying them is missionary Melanie Crown, an educated and enlightened woman from the East who despises prejudice and strongly believes everyone can live together in harmony, and the sergeant's sister, Francesca, whose mutual attraction with Keegan is complicated, considering his views.
The company is attacked, its soldiers being picked off one by one until only the two officers and two women remain alive. Apaches steal the dead soldiers' uniforms and intend to approach the fort in disguise. Fighting off two Apache attackers, Keegan kills one and hangs the other, against the appeals of the others.
Francesca is killed, dying in Keegan's arms, which brings about a change in his attitudes. He and the others reach the fort just as the disguised Apaches' real identities are discovered. A fierce battle, saber vs. knife, ensues between Keegan and the Apache chief's son, man to man. Keegan survives and experiences remorse for his beliefs, while Melanie and Jonas intend to set an example for the others how to co-exist in peace. | revenge | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0034554 | Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid | The cartoon begins with a mother buzzard instructing her children to go out and catch something for dinner. They set off right away except one with his back turned. This is Beaky Buzzard (Killer) who is shy and a little on the slow side. Against his will, his mother kicks him out of the nest with instructions to at least catch a rabbit. Beaky spots Bugs Bunny and soars down to catch him. Bugs makes like an air-traffic controller and "guides" Beaky to the ground with a crash.
After some heckling, a chase ensues ending with Bugs crashing into the ground underneath the skeleton of a dead animal. He cries because he thinks he's dead ("Gruesome, isn't it?", he briefly confides to the audience), but it turns out he knew he was okay the whole time (because his feet was sticking out of the ground). Beaky and Bugs jitterbug together. Bugs says, "Why don't we do this more often," to which Beaky replies, "Ya mean just what we're doing tonight?" This is a quote of the first line of the song "Why Don't We Do This More Often?" After the dance with Bugs, Beaky ends up underground with the skeleton above. He screams "Oh, MA!" and his mother shows up. At first the mother buzzard thinks Bugs did something to Beaky. Bugs pulls Beaky out of the ground. Noticing that Beaky is unharmed, the mother abandons her desire to eat Bugs and declares him her hero and kisses him. A blushing Bugs imitates Beaky. | psychedelic | train | wikipedia | This was Clampett's third Bugs Bunny cartoon, but it marks the first time Bugs Bunny looks like the rabbit we all know.
Prior to this Bugs had a more oval head giving him a rat-like appearance.
It was as an animator in Clampett's unit that Robert Mckimson developed the model sheet of Bugs that all the other units eventually used.
In the cartoons of the other directors at this time Bugs looked pretty ugly while he kept getting better looking in the Clampett cartoons.
This is also the first appearence of Beaky Buzzard, a Mortimer Snerd caricature.
This cartoon is funnier than Clampett's first two Bugs films and the animation is pretty solid, especially Mckimson's.
However, Clampett would go far beyond this one with such cartoons as What's Cookin', Doc?, The Old Grey Hare, The Big Snooze, and Tortoise Wins By A Hare.
Overall, a good cartoon, though..
Clampett's Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid is very funny.
This is a Bob Clameptt Bugs Bunny cartoon that gives us the Bugs look as we now know him as done by animator Robert McKimson.
Anyway, a buzzard with a voice that sounds like Mortimer Snerd is trying to capture him for his mama.
As always, Bugs outsmarts him at every turn but there is one gag in which Bugs thinks he's dying (though even here he cracks, "Grusome, isn't it?").
There's also a wonderfully choreographed big-band dance that is one of the most entertaining animation I've ever seen in these Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons.
Plenty of hilarious Clampett touches abound like the trombone sound Bugs makes when he fingers the buzzard's Adam's apple or the "bee-op" sound you hear in many of these cartoons.
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid is highly recommended..
This cartoon may be slow moving and dull for some, but personally I found it very entertaining and is one of my new favourites.
This cartoon is one of the first with Bugs Bunny (this was made two years after his official debut) and the debut of a minor-ish Looney Tunes character named Beaky Buzzard.This cartoon was a good surprise for me for the following reasons: 1.
I was not expecting this to be nearly so old and I enjoyed the old-fashioned humour you have in a few WB cartoons, featured here.
I think that the plot along with "old" jokes would work better than the plot along with new jokes.2.
I was expecting this to be quite a fast paced, slapstick cartoon, instead I found that hardly any of the jokes featured slapstick (as a whole, all WB cartoons have some slapstick in them) and there were some good verbal jokes inserted in too.
The other good things about the cartoon were the ever familiar Bugs Bunny in his trick mode (escaping baddies using clever ways) and the introduction of Beaky Buzzard and this was also my first cartoon with him in as well.
The animation was pretty good and overall, I found it a great episode.
:-)The cartoon starts with a mother buzzard (vulture to my fellow British) instructing each of her offspring to go and bring some meat back to the nest.
However, one of her babies does not want to hunt at all (Beaky Buzzard), but he is pushed out of the nest anyway to go and find something.
He ends up finding Bugs Bunny, who he is ready to hunt...I recommend this cartoon to people who do not mind old, slightly slow-moving Looney Tunes.
Enjoy "Bugs Gets the Boid"!
Great Short.
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid (1942) **** (out of 4) A mama buzzard sends her four children out to get food but the dimwitted one, named Beaky Buzzard, is unlucky as he has to bring home a rabbit and he just happens to run into Bugs Bunny.
This here has always been one of my favorite animated shorts because Bugs and Beaky just make the ultimate duo because both are just so damn cute here.
The animation is perfectly done and the story contains enough great moments for two films.
The best sequence is when Bugs goes to "take a shower" before going with Beaky who finally starts to realize a joke is being played on him.
The final joke with Bugs also gets a big laugh just for the wonderful voice.
To me what works best is actually Beaky because he's just so adorable and stupid at the same time.
The voice work is downright brilliant and in itself brings a lot of laughs..
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid.
Looney Tunes were part of my childhood and still hold a special place in my heart.
Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid may not be quite classic status but it is a truly great cartoon indeed.
The pacing is not as crisp and somewhat manic as it is in many other Looney Tunes cartoons, but again this is a matter of preference and there is so much to love about Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid anyway.
The animation is colourful and fluid, with both characters well-drawn, while the music- especially in the big-band dance sequence- is cleverly orchestrated and enhances the humour so well.
In terms of standout scenes, I did love the animal bone and "take a shower" gags but the highlight was definitely the big-band dance sequence, magnificently choreographed and perhaps among Bugs' best overall scenes out of all his cartoons.
Bugs is on fine form, doing what he does best, while Beaky Buzzard while stupid is cute and funny rather than overly-dumb and annoying.
All in all, a great cartoon but not quite a classic.
Classic Merrie Melodies short, directed by Bob Clampett, that introduced Beaky Buzzard to the world.
Beaky is a shy, somewhat slow-witted buzzard who is not very good at catching prey, unlike his brothers.
When his mother sends him out to catch a rabbit, Beaky meets Bugs.
Beaky is a wonderful character, one of the best Clampett created and certainly one of the more underrated.
It's a well-animated cartoon with rich colors and some great action.
Lots of funny gags and lines.
Solid voice work, sound effects, and music.
One of the earliest Bugs classics.
The "Gruesome, isn't it?" scene alone makes this a must-see for Bugs fans..
Perhaps Bugs Bunny's Best At That Point In Career.
Although the cartoon has been around and available on television for well over the half century point, it seemed to be new.THE SHORT BECAME familiar to us as one of those "Associated Artists Productions" TV releases.
In our case, we saw it (often) on the old BUGS BUNNY & FRIENDS local kids TV show on WGN TV, Channel 9, in Chicago.
He always sported a sort of "Lumberjack Wardrobe"; featuring dungarees and flannel shirts (always).THE SET WAS done up to look like a farm or woodland locale.
A puppet version of Bugs would interact with the host in comic sketches; between the screening of the 2 or 3 cartoons that were shown each evening, from 6:30 to 7:00 PM.
Mr. Coughlin provided the voices, although no ventriloquist himself.AT THE TIME of seeing BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID, we found it to be funny and would have rated it at or near to the top of the pack.
The gags were energetic and genuinely tickled the funny bone.
The animation was smooth and the short storyline had not a wasted frame of film.AS WITH ALL Warner Brothers Looney Tunes & Merry Melodies, a hallmark identifier is its music.
Although the sound era animated shorts are visual, with the advantage of having snappy dialog & comical voices as an adjunct, just try viewing & listening to the same cartoon; but without the music.ONE ASPECT OF the humor, that was not readily apparent to us as kids in the 1950's was that Warner's cartoons often time parodied some of the then popular entertainers or Radio characters.
In this case, the young vulture, "Killer" is a spoof of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's Mortimer Snerd.
The buzzard, his brothers and Italian accented mother would be reprised for other, recurring appearances.ON THE PARTICULAR DVD that we viewed, the cartoon must have been remastered.
The inept Beaky Buzzard in this was quite funny, and they brought him back on several different occasions.However, there's one scene that I do not get and I find disturbing, and that is the animal bone gag.
Just imagine if Beaky Buzzard had appeared in "The Birds"!.
"Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" may be partly famous for giving that wascawwy wabbit the form that we know and love today, but even if you don't know that, it's still great to watch.
Featuring loopy Beaky Buzzard trying to capture Bugs Bunny as food, they come up with everything here.
Probably the coolest part is when Beaky drops Bugs onto a skeleton and Bugs thinks that he personally has gone the way of the dodo!
Overall, it's a really neat cartoon.
A true classic.I just try to imagine if Beaky Buzzard had appeared in "The Birds".
Then again, that doofus didn't stand a chance at scaring the people in Bodega Bay. But he was good for getting knocked silly by Bugs Bunny..
This is surely the weakest Bugs Bunny cartoon I've ever seen.
Beaky Buzzard simply is not funny and has no appeal at all.
He's not a character I wish to see again in further Looney Tunes cartoons.This short has him preying after Bugs because Mama Buzzard wants him to go out and catch his first dinner.
Bugs obviously doesn't take so well to this and doesn't make it easy for the bird.
But where is the usual Bugs Bunny intelligence, outsmarting, battle of wits?
Not here I tell ya.Beaky Buzzard is not a formidable opponent for our fave rabbit and this cartoon is completely DOA.
A surprisingly dull and slow moving cartoon from Clampett.
Bob Clampett's 'Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid' is not an example of the director at his finest.
As a huge fan of Clampett's unrivaled wackiness, I was fully expecting to love this oft praised short but if truth be told I find it almost entirely tedious.
The main problem is the character of Beaky Buzzard, who makes his first appearance in this cartoon (although he's called Killer here).
Briefly touted as a new star in the making, Beaky proved far too annoying with his dopey voice (an imitation of Mortimer Snerd, the dummy of radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen) and slow thought processes.
This dawdling character sits at odds with Clampett's frantically paced directional style and his presence slows the cartoon down to a crawl.
Far too much time is given over to Beaky's goofy reactions and a gruesome but overdone gag involving a pile of bones.
Clampett's more aggressive take on Bugs Bunny is usually a hoot but he's very off form here because he's given so little to work with.
The ending is also a little forced and results in the cartoon just petering out.
When a script is so weak that even Bob Clampett can't save it then you know you've got a turkey on your hands.
Or in this case a buzzard!.
Not his best but still reasonable.
A mother buzzard sends her children out to catch food, however the dopey one refuses to go.
She sends him off to catch her a rabbit nonetheless - just his bad luck that the first rabbit he comes upon is a slippery Bugs Bunny.Bugs Bunny is a strong enough character and has a strong enough basic repertoire to overcome a potentially weak cartoon.
Here this is a potentially weak cartoon.
The animation is not great and even Bugs himself looks like he was drawn in a bit of a rush, the bird character is not great either and doesn't look like he'll be a good partner for Bugs.However the bird is actually quite amusing although I don't totally get why he is played all dumb and `oh schucks' about everything.
Bugs still works well and the bird has his moments.
There are a handful of chuckles or amusing moments and the short keeps it moving along well enough.The ending ain't great and the whole product doesn't ever really get to a point where I could use any words other than passable or reasonable, but it still works OK thanks in main to another good bit of work from Bugs..
Kevin gets bored.
Shy Beaky Buzzard doesn't want to go hunting for food, but after a swift kick from mama, he attempts to bring a rabbit back for supper but not just any rabbit.
Bugs Bunny obviously fiols his plans and the mother ends up loving him for no reason.
Perhaps that's partly because I'm not quite endeared to Beaky.
Bugs bunny looks a lot more like the Bugs I know though.
This cartoon is on Disk 3 of the "Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1" It also has an optional commentaryMy Grade: C.
This is an especially memorable Bugs Bunny cartoon thanks to the introduction of the character "Beaky Buzzard"--an inept little vulture who is trying to catch and eat Bugs.
The story begins with Beaky's Italian-voiced mom sending her children out to bring back supper.
All seem to have left--except for Beaky who says he "ain't interested".
She tells him he doesn't have to get anything big--maybe just a nice little rabbit.This cartoon is high on my list because Beaky was a wonderful and cute character.
It's really impossible to describe him unless you see him yourself--his wonderful voice and mannerisms are just hilarious!
And, this is a rare case where you actually LIKE the guy trying to catch Bugs--he's that cool!
Give this cartoon a try and if you like it, there were a few followup toons featuring Beaky..
"Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" is a superb Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by the wild & unpredictable Bob Clampett.
This time around, Bugs is pitted against the dopiest of birds, a bashful buzzard who later became known as Beaky.
Under Mr. Clampett's direction, Bugs is ever the prankster!My absolute favorite scene in this picture is that of Bugs and Beaky physically struggling with each other and then suddenly going into a dance, in which composer Carl Stalling wrote a wonderfully swinging big band score.
I also like the jazzy walking bass line and muted brass as Beaky crawls on top of the clouds.
In addition, Bugs is funny with his feminine makeup and coy voice when Beaky catches him in the shower.I've enjoyed "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" ever since I had first seen it during my high school days (early 1990s), and I'm very glad to see this cartoon released on DVD (the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 Disc 3)..
*SPOILERS* - just wanted people to know....
The inept Beaky Buzzard in this was quite funny, and they brought him back on several different occassions.However, there's one scene that I do not get and I find disturbing, and that is the animal bone gag.
We see Bugs Bunny falling over the remains of a buffalo and the remains are in front of him and there was a carrot in the rib cage, he feels the rib cage and the carrot inside.
We see Bugs Bunny falling over the remains of a buffalo and the remains are in front of him and there was a carrot in the rib cage, he feels the rib cage and the carrot inside.
Bugs then cries over it and goes "Gruesome, ins't it?" Did he think he was dead?
Bugs then cries over it and goes "Gruesome, ins't it?" Did he think he was dead?
I have no idea what it was supposed to be.I'd say if you are Bugs fans, stick with stuff like "Rabbit Fire," and the hunting trilogy as well as others..
I have no idea what it was supposed to be.I'd say if you are Bugs fans, stick with stuff like "Rabbit Fire," and the hunting trilogy as well as others..
"Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid" is a 7-minute cartoon from 1942, so this one will have its 75th anniversary next year.
production and you will find many big names in the list of cast and credits such as Clampett, Foster, Blanc and Berner.
The story here is about a buzzard who is in charge of getting rabbit for his family's dinner.
But that rabbit (you know who) is not too willing to end up getting eaten by a bunch of birds.
I think it may be the likable buzzard that may be the reason why it's tough to cheer for Bugs here and consequently like this cartoon.
i must say though that I preferred the other buzzard cartoon from three years later when Beaky Buzzard is back, but Bugs is not.
Instead he goes chasing for other animals in there.
I did not find it as funny and I can see why the protagonist here only appears in one other cartoon.
Still, his Goofy-like appearance may have been the best aspect about this film.
So when Ma Vulture orders her four ablest offspring to come back to their nest with "a horse, a steer, a cow, and a moose," savvy American audiences of this time knew she was REALLY saying, "Bag a German tank, a Nazi locomotive, a Hitler half-track, and an Iron Cross-sporting Field Marshal." Since most American corporate types backed and abetted Hitler as long as they could get away with doing so in the run-up to Pearl Harbor (Henry Ford and Prescott Bush being just the two best known examples of many), they hired John Wayne to vilify America's Russian saviors even before Hitler shot himself.
But when Ma Russia--that is, Ma Vulture here--calls Bugs Bunny "My hero" toward the end of BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID, rest assured that the sentiment was mutual--and widespread.
And, if you had ancestors living in America 70 years ago, there's a 24% chance YOU would not be here today were it not for Mother Russia! |
tt2511428 | Cold Comes the Night | Chloe, a single mother living with her daughter Sophia, operates a motel. Topo is a blind man traveling cross country in a Jeep with his associate John. They stop by Chloe's motel, when John hires prostitute Gwen, and convinces Topo to stay the night. When Gwen is entertaining John, an argument has John fatally shooting Gwen, waking Chloe up. Chloe investigating finds Gwen and John dead.
The police arriving, Chloe has a conversation with her police friend Billy who was Gwen's pimp. He comforts her while Chloe tells him she will not allow his girls to use the rooms in her motel anymore, as a social worker was around earlier threatening to take Sophia away. The following day Topo takes Chloe and Sophia hostage looking for the Jeep. As Sophia watches TV Chloe agrees to retrieve the Jeep from the police. Topo forces Chloe and Sophia to stake out Billy's residence. Amber answers the door and Chloe and Billy fight. Billy refuses to give Chloe the Jeep. Topo forces Chloe to break into the police junkyard and retrieve a package hidden behind the radio. After evading the Patrolman, Chloe reaches the car but cannot find the package.
Back at the motel, Chloe learns more about Topo and figures out that he is a courier who is supposed to deliver bundles of money. She proposes to Topo that they split the money if she helps him faster and he reluctantly agrees due to his new impairment. After Chloe falls asleep with Sophia Topo looks around and finds Chloe's hidden stash of emergency money.
The next morning, Topo and Chloe stake out, learning that John was Topo's nephew and Chloe's husband died in a hit and run. After finding Billy, Chloe follows him only to be found out and cornered in an alley. After Billy has Chloe pinned on the roof of the car, Topo sneaks up behind him and interrogates him and heads to Billy's house thinking the money is stashed there. After Chloe finds the money under the bed she is confronted by Billy's wife Amber, whom Topo shoots. They leave after tying Billy to the radiator. They go back to the motel where Topo leaves with all of the money with another associate, Donnie.
Chloe calls the police and tells them that she was a hostage. They tell her that Billy was not found at his house and decide to leave a squad-car there for her safety. Topo and Donnie meet Québécois mafia, Jacques and his associates in a car park. The mafia force Topo into the car and proceed to count the money to find that Topo is missing fifty grand, which Chloe has as her cut. When Jacques threatens to kill Topo, Topo kills them all. Back at the motel, Chloe packs her and Sophia's things, she sends the police away only to be approached by Topo to give her back her cut, when Billy shoots Topo and Donnie, and has cornered Chloe, who then throws him through a window, unintentionally fatally slicing his neck.
Chloe sets the scene to look like a deal gone bad, and takes Sophia into a taxi to parts unknown. | murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0103205 | Victim of Love | Therapist Tess Parker (JoBeth Williams) meets Paul Tomlinson (Pierce Brosnan), an English professor she's wacky over, and he's also a guy that is too good to be true.
Her patient Carla (Virginia Madsen), comes to Tess to tell her about her former lover who wanted to marry her but needed some time after his wife's death, even though they started going out when he was still married. But after a year he left and never came back, only to tell her that he was with someone else. Tess tries to comfort Carla after she thought Carla was going to jump off the edge of a building. The descriptions Carla gives Tess of her former lover seem somewhat familiar, but not until the time Carla shows Tess book written by her former lover, that Tess realizes Carla is talking about Paul.
Tess eventually confronts Paul about this and he says that he knew her as a librarian, and the time Tess saw him hug her was to thank her for getting a 'hard to find' book for him. He says he had no relationship with her at all except sending her flowers to thank her for all her help with the book, and that he was not sleeping with her. Tess, believes him and they have a lovely, little snog. Carla shouts at Tess and drives away. Paul tells Carla to let her go.
The next day, Tess goes to Carla's apartment, finding the door open and Carla gone. Tess searches Carla's apartment finding an explicit love letter to Carla signed by Paul, which she takes. In the morning she is confronted at home by Carla who warns Tess that Paul killed his wife, and that he'd kill again.
Tess asks Paul about the letter and he says it is a missing letter he wrote to his wife. Tess asks Paul how his wife died, and Paul says she died in a hiking accident in the mountains. They had just had an argument and he went back to the cabin, so he wasn't there. The rangers said it looked like she slipped. Tess tell Paul that Carla said he killed his wife. He said they weren't the perfect couple by any means, but he loved her.
They go to Carla's place and find it in disarray, with blood in the kitchen. Paul send Tess away, while he calls the police.
At Paul's place, while he is showering, Tess is locked in a room with a burning chair. After Paul rescues Tess, the police find and question Carla, but lacking evidence they release her.
Tess and Paul go to Paul's mountain cabin where it is snowing there. Paul puts a ring on her finger. It is the same ring as Carla said Paul had made especially for her. This was enough to start Tess believing that it is Paul who is lying, and that it is Carla all along who spoke the truth. While Paul is in another room, Tess sneaks out of the cabin, running into Carla who says she came to save Tess, and that they would have escape on foot because the roads were covered with ice. When Paul realises Tess is gone, he goes in search of her, following the footprints in the snow. When Paul catches up to Tess and Carla there is a confrontation, in which it is revealed the ring Carla has from Paul is actually the ring worn by Paul's deceased wife. The only way for Carla to have it, is for Carla to have taken it from her when Carla killed her. There is a fight in which Carla falls to her death.
The next day Paul and Tess are leaving the mountain cabin. Tess gets into the car first, and looking for a map, she finds two identical rings, the same as she had been given from Paul and the same as his wife had been given from him. We see her shocked. The film ends with the camera zooming out on Paul getting into the car. | psychological, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1064744 | Dying Breed | Tasmania, 1800s. Alexander Pearce, a convict known as "the Pieman", has escaped into the wilderness and he is being hunted by policemen with dogs. He is faced by a policeman who attempts to shoot Pearce, but his gun does not fire. Pearce then bites the policeman's neck, taking a large chunk from his throat, killing him, allowing Pearce to escape.
Present Day. Nina plans a trip with her boyfriend Matt to Tasmania to find the supposedly extinct Tasmanian tiger. Her endeavor is encouraged by a paw print that was discovered by her older sister in a remote area of the island before her body was mysteriously found in the Pieman River several years before. Matt's friend, Jack, and his girlfriend, Rebecca, help pay for the trip and accompany the fellow couple. When they arrive, Matt sees a small girl on the boat playing a game with yellow-tinted teeth. When Matt asks what she is doing, she recites a rhyme, then bites Matt's hand. They spend a night in a dingy motel located next to a meat-pie factory, meeting the eccentric and creepy locals.
The next day, the group goes out on a boat in the river along the forest. They decide to camp in a cave out in the woods, and later that evening Matt and Nina discover one of the Tasmanian tigers creeping through the bush. Nina rushes to get her camera to take a picture of the tiger, but it has run into the woods. The group goes into the dark after the tiger using their cell phones as light because capturing proof of its existence is critical to Nina's research. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Rebecca is captured and eaten by a cannibal. When the other three re-group, they realize that Rebecca is missing and that Nina has blood on her pant legs.
Desperate to find Rebecca, the group searches through the forest. The local ferryman tries to help them but is murdered by one of the cannibals. Reaching an old mining site, they find Rebecca's remains strung up on meat-hooks and Jack is killed by an animal trap. Matt flees underground and find grisly evidence of the cannibal's past exploits. Nina reaches a railway bridge over a fast-flowing river but is cornered by a pair of cannibals. She deliberately throws herself off the high bridge. The ferryman's wife then kills one of the cannibals. That night, the police arrive at the hotel but there is no sign of any of the missing people. As the police depart, a sad and weary Matt prepares to leave but is suddenly attacked.
He is later seen paralyzed in a chair while one of the cannibals explains that their settlement, much like the tiger, must stay hidden to survive. The cannibal then opens a door exposing a still-living Nina tied to a table, about to be raped for breeding purposes. While Matt watches, the young girl who was actually Nina's niece approaches him, removes a set of dentures, thus exposing a set of sharp deformed teeth. As the police drive away, Nina's mobile phone (which Matt had given them) displays a photo of the Tasmanian Tiger. | violence, flashback | train | wikipedia | Hey it reminded me of an other Australian horror film 'Wolf Creek (2005)' and maybe 'The Hills Have Eyes (2006)' remake, but this time the escalating terror is found in the beautiful forests of Tasmania as a group of young adults head out searching for the supposedly instinct Tasmanian tiger, but actually earth up something more horrifying about the area's local history.
I probably could've gone without seeing it and waited for it to hit DVD, but there's nothing quite like watching a horror film on the big screen.
The main base of the story centres on the history of the extinct Tasmanian tiger, which some still believe exists and combining that legend of the cannibalistic Irish convict Alexander Pearce that managed to escape from the penal colony and headed for the wilderness to only be hanged in 1824.
Then we hit modern times with a group of four after the exclusive photograph of the Tiger, but one of girls lost her sister within the same area they're visiting in a supposed drowning many years earlier.
Maybe too so, but it's a brash display as his not afraid to bare gore and flesh
usually the latter in recent times sees little daylight in the mainstream horror releases.
We tend to focus on what's wrong with a local film rather than what's right with the film.OK, so the film is a little derivative borrowing from Deliverance, Wrong turn and Hills have eyes - so what, most horrors derive from something these days.
It could well be one of my favourite Australian Films of the year.Four young cryptozoologists go to check out Western Tasmania in search of ye ol' Tasmanian Tiger.
Little do they know they are stumbling upon the ancestors of Alexander Pearce, the famous Australian ex-convict, bush ranger and sometime cannibal known as the 'Pieman'.
Dying Breed is well cast with Leigh Whannell (Saw) giving us a great version of the metro-sexual out of his league in the wilds of Western Tasmania and Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek) as a roustabout larrikin hunter.
I'm sure Leigh Whannell must have been showing the director Cannibal Holocaust, as this scene certainly bears the imprint of that classic film and the Dying Breed scene is very well done in its brutality.
The family of inbred freaks are memorable and varied in their motivations and actions.Dying Breed is a great edgy genre piece that is one of the first to appear in the new wave of horror cannibal films, so its ahead of the game world wide, also.
It is very very little about Tasmanian Tigers and more of a redo of some other horror movies.
The best part of dying breed were the few moments of the old (1930s) film clips of the Tasmaian Tiger.
I just got back from seeing Dying Breed and it was quite a mixed bag.It took at least 50 minutes for the main action to begin.
Leigh Whannel sadly gave a poor performance, as well as all the other members in the group of four.Onto the good, the gore was excellent and the film had that raw and gritty feel to it.
Also, the ending was very good and a fitting climax to the film.Overall, this is an above average Aussie horror with many flaws and clichés, but still manages to entertain.
Australia is a beautiful country, the people and the land, however it has a dark history and 'Dying breed' is a small piece of that nostalgic pie.
The direction and acting is steady with no real stand out performance and the characters seem a bit flat at times but the shots of Tasmania's isolated country side are fantastic and set a haunting tale.
This formula has been applied countless times so there's nothing new here but its done well serving up some good blood and guts and proves along with Wolf creek that Aussie film can do horror.
To quickly summarize this movie, you take "Wrong Turn" and put it together with "The Hills Have Eyes", and then you end up with "Dying Breed".
The movie sort of builds up some fairly good moments, but they are always toppled by an anti-climatic result.
But it didn't, at least not for me...And had the movie been based on something fresh, it might actually have been interesting, but the story and plot was handpicked right out of movies like "Wrong Turn", "The Hills Have Eyes" and such similar movies.Now as for the cast, well they were actually well cast and they did good jobs with their roles.
In the present days, the researcher Nina (Mirrah Foulkes) organizes an expedition to Tasmania to proceed the work of her deceased sister Ruth and find evidences of the extinct Tasmanian tiger in the wilderness.
She travels to a remote area with her boyfriend Matt (Leigh Whannell) and his troublemaker friend Jack (Nathan Phillips) that brings his girlfriend Rebecca (Melanie Vallejo) and they spend the night in a village of descendants of "The Pieman".
Sooner the quartet discovers that things have to stay hidden to survive."Dying Breed" is another sub product of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and gives the sensation of déjà vu to the viewer with the total lack of originality.
"Dying Breed" is a largely derivative and predictable Aussie horror flick that nevertheless benefices from a handful of marvelous elements, like a fascinating historical plot outline (albeit not at all accurate), breathtaking filming locations & scenery and a few unyielding shock sequences.
Back in the early eighteen hundreds, when the whole of Australia was still a British prison colony and Tasmania an island where the heaviest cases were shipped off to, Alexander "Pieman" Pearce was the only convict how managed to escape and flee into the impenetrable Tasmanian forests.
Obviously this plot outline isn't entirely accurate, as the real Pieman was in fact the nickname of a completely different prisoner and the real Alexander Pearce died at the gallows in 1824, but hey, it's a horror movie so everything goes.
Nina is a zoologist and wishes to continue the research of her sister who died here eight years ago whilst looking for last remaining species of the Tasmanian Tiger.
At the festival where I watched this movie, "Dying Breed" was exaggeratedly promoted like an Aussie interpretation of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Hills Have Eyes".
While I'm not sure that I'd watch Dying Breed again, I have to admit that I enjoyed it through the first time.There are some great landscape shots in this movie and, overall, I felt the atmosphere was creepy, lending itself well to the dark tone of the picture.
Similar movies have covered the same material before (Wrong Turn, perhaps to a lesser extent even The Chainsaw Massacre movies...) and although there's a link to an actual historical figure, it's a pretty weak link and there's no new twists to make this unique.The characters are all pretty unlovable, so there's not much to relate to in that department.The production values are high, so I have to recommend this over some of the other After Dark Horror Fest films I've seen.
I have just finished watching this so here is my simple review.The good points - love the location filmed in austrailia,has that islolated feel about it, yet another warning not to go backpacking or hiking in Austrailia a bit like Wolf Creek, the killings were quite gruesome and some good use of make up.The bad points - Acting wasn't the best even though it does star Nathan Phillips from Wolf Creek who i think is a decent actor.All in all i quite enjoyed this and could possibly watch this again, it's sort of a cross between the hills have eyes and wrong turn.Enjoy.
In this case, a woman is picking up her dead sister's search for the Tasmanian Tiger.Well, of course, they run into the stereotypical group of inbred locals who proceed to hunt them down and kill them.
You all know about that if you've watched more than a couple of horror movies.In this one a couple of legends - the Tasmanian Tiger and a cannibalistic killer - are woven together.Nina (Mirrah Foulkes) goes looking for her sister, who was tracking the Tasmanian Tiger in the Tasmanian forest.
Yeah, it's safe to say we've all seen it a dozen times before and "Dying Breed" is more of the same.Director Jody Dwyer brings this familiar story to Tasmania with most of the same repercussions.
The gore is admirable, yet the individual performances by the all-Aussie cast is the movie's saving grace.Certainly worth a viewing, if for nothing more then the great acting and the wonderful scenery..
The ending was obviously tacked on to either extend or bring the rating up to some sort of "horror" level.The change from 18th century Tasmania to a shots of a 2007 bridge with all it's safety features just grated.
Also, us Tasmanians are rather particular, the open scene in the Pub is obviously in Melbourne Victoria, and the end scene with the police wearing Vic police caps stood out like dog balls.If you want a silly movie you'll love this.
Searching the Australian outback, a group of friends out looking for a legendary animal instead stumble upon a group of deranged cannibals selling their victim's unused body parts and try to avoid becoming part of their spree.This was a pretty troubling and overall mixed affair.
That also plays a huge part of the film's first half pacing problems as not only is spending time here excruciating but their other antics are even less so, wandering through the endless miles of forest in their jeep or staying at the motel with the locals don't really have any really enjoyable sections.
The film's biggest plus here is the rather fun and charged second half, where after they get past the dangers with the family and finally realize they're being chased as there's some really chilling work in the atmospheric forest as the first encounter by the cave where they encounter the cannibal patriarch who begins munching on the victim in the bushes the guide hikes them out through the forest into the dark, trap-filled mine and then the great encounter on the other side of the mountain.
Why they thought to have the character walk around talking to themselves was a good idea is beyond me.The plot makes this sound really cool, but it quickly disappoints and settles contently with boring the audience.You know what they should've done?
Of course this will only work if you like Horror movies and don't have a problem with gross scenes.The acting is pretty good for a horror movie, the plot moves along good enough and although there aren't many surprises left for you to see, it's still a nice movie.
There's one thing for sure though: Horror as a genre ain't a dying breed ....
"Dying Breed" begins as four Aussie friends head to Tasmania in search of the elusive Tasmanian Devil,a tiger thought to be extinct.Nina had lost her sister to this quest eight years back and is anxious to get there and begin their search.The area of rugged isle has long been known for its history of butchery and cannibalism.The hunt for a tiger quickly becomes a nightmare of survival.A deformed killer is hiding deep in the woods and longs for human flesh...Admittedly "Dying Breed" starts off rather slow.The characters are interesting and well-developed and there are some truly gruesome scenes of cannibalism and butchery.The film is obviously influenced by "Deliverance" and Canadian survival classic "Rituals".It kept me on the edge of my seat.8 out of 10..
Dying breed is again a movie in the tradition of Hills Have Eyes.
It isn't a movie that makes you go jump in your settee, the problem is that it takes too long before it all really start happening (around 50 minutes).
Although it was predictable, as most horror movies of this type are these days, the actors did a decent job and the pacing of the film was such that it managed to keep me interested.
Shot for 3 million, more than Wolf Creek (1 million), shot with the same cameras as Wolf Creek and unique story for an Australian movie.Basically the movie's about 4 people, presumably science geeks, as they try to find the extinct Tasmanian Tiger and the lead girl's sister, who presumably drowned 8 years ago.
Jody Dwyer shot the movie a bit too stylish, with the camera looming in on more close up shots, feeling a little too claustrophobic.Leigh Whannell's character (Matt) was the most quiet character out of the lot, which i didn't like at all, Nathan Philips character (Jack) was the most offensive but the most funny of the pack, the Ruth and Bec characters who go with them, they do alright, but Bec dies too quickly.
The cannibals of the town give a good performance across the board, enjoying some good raw meat, courtesy of Justin Dix, who did some nice makeup effects on this show, if put into the right direction, could be the next John Carl Buechler.The ending of Dying Breed is a strange one but nonetheless a shocker, which it felt like it had a few too many endings, but once it did end i felt better because the little girl in the film was creepy.
Not everyone will like this film, but i'm a supporter of good Aussie films and this one goes on my shelf in 6 months time, good work.Rated MA15+ for Violence, Gore, Language and a Sex Scene..
I was lucky enough to catch the midnight showing of Dying Breed at this year's Tribeca Film Festival, and want to get my thoughts down immediately.
In short, its a solid horror thriller movie that I would recommend you see, if you are fan of this genre.
The film's second historical basis lies with the mystery of the Tasmanian tiger, which most scientists deem extinct.
Enter our two couples, Nina and her boyfriend, Matt (Leigh Whannel), and Matt's old buddy (your standard obnoxious peripheral character in horror movies) and his girlfriend (your standard pretty and clueless body) who are along for the ride.
This movie succeeds because you have good tension building elements; 1) the woods, caves, jungles, etc; 2) messed up locals with a tradition they need to keep alive; and 3) a good bit of blood, flesh flying around, and things called "man-traps", I mean you cant go wrong there.
The ending takes you for a good ride, but ultimately this wasn't a crazy adrenaline pumping horror movie.
Like most movies in this genre you have the "god these people are stupid" moments, there are a bit too many "you stay here, I'll be right backs" and our audience laughed at the idiocy of some decisions, but the movie is not campy as campy horror movies go, it tries and largely succeeds at keeping to a dark, serious undertone.
This realization, the fear that occurs when the character is forced to contemplate how completely screwed/messed up their situation is, is what makes horror movies horrifying.
Not a classic, but certainly worth your time if you want to see a horror movie based on cannibalism..
I have come to expect after dark to give some good movies.
or what looked like a premise starts to fall apart and it's like they are just going off on a bad improve of another bad backwoods inbred movie where people took a wrong turn....
*no pun intended*Movie starts out to look something like the first Howling with an added I want to find my sister twist then ends up in inbred Redneckville.
I think the writer was on a tight deadline and ran out of good ideas or didn't know where he was really going with the whole Tasmanian tiger thing...End rant...
As a Tasmanian (yes, where this movie is based) I have grown up hearing the story of Alexander Pierce.
(Although, is that a good or a bad thing in the end?) In the end, this movie was OK, not outstanding, but not written off..
The movie started off well, drawing us into the story.
Just a freaking crossbow.A good movie has people loose their ways of getting away from the situation "naturally".
The start may seem a little slow, however, the film does an excellent job of slowly setting the scene, making both night and day tense.
That aside, I was glad I saw it and its great to see a horror movie that isn't totally clichéd like the vast majority out there..
Dying Breed is decent, for those who like shocks consisting of gore, blood and cruelty.
Dying Breed is not a movie for weak stomach..
The desire to photograph the Tasmanian tiger, due to it's significance as having not been recorded as proof of it's existence, has sent many into the wilderness of Tasmania hoping to capture it on film or other media as a means for a substantial payday.
Nina(Mirrah Foulkes)hopes to finish what her deceased sister started, to be successful in discovering the Tasmanian tiger.
Along with her boyfriend Matt(Leigh Whannell), his pal Jack(Nathan Phillips)and Jack's girlfriend Rebecca(Melanie Vallejo), Nina will head for Tasmania, and into the wilderness, on a trek to find the tiger..ill prepared for what they will find instead.
While the movie does take a while to get going(..this is to build the dread, I felt, and once the violence/action starts, the movie doesn't let up), I thought "Dying Breed", while unoriginal and overly familiar, kicks in high gear, though we obviously question why in the world these people wound up in their current situation, how characters find themselves fighting for survival far from home or civilization.
Characters trying to survive in the wilderness haven of menacing inbred cannibals, attempting to escape an environment alien to them, is nothing new, but it's a frightening scenario I find myself always gripped by.."Dying Breed", I think, follows the mould rather well.. |
tt2425886 | Chilling Visions: 5 Senses of Fear | The film was composed of five short films and did not have a wraparound story, instead linking the shorts together with the mysterious company Watershed, a company with sinister intentions.
=== Smell ===
Smell (directed by Nick Everhart) follows a depressed man by the name of Seth (Corey Scott Rutledge). He's in a job he doesn't like and his despondence over his recent breakup has caused him to neglect himself. When a mysterious door to door saleslady offers him a cologne that can change everything for him, Seth takes her up on the offer. Her only warning is that he shouldn't use too much of it. Excited when the cologne starts making him more successful at work and love, Seth is soon horrified when the cologne's side effects start to work on him.
=== See ===
See (directed by Miko Hughes) follows Dr. Tom (Ted Yudain), an optometrist that is able to see through the eyes of his patients. This is initially fun for him until he discovers that one of his patients is experiencing domestic abuse at the hand of her boyfriend (Lowell Byers). Tom tries to intervene by using his ability to cause the boyfriend to experience hellish visions, but this soon backfires.
=== Touch ===
Touch (directed by Emily Hagins) follows a young blind boy that must go search for help after his parents are wounded in a car accident. In his desperation he comes across a killer who has an aversion to being touched (Lowell Byers), and who is living in a set of abandoned buildings.
=== Taste ===
Taste (directed by Eric England) is centered upon Aaron (Doug Roland), a hacker that finds himself in a large corporate building at the bequest of Watershed businesswoman Lacey (Symba Smith), who wants to interview him. He's offered a lucrative job, but refuses and is instead treated to a deadly encounter.
=== Listen ===
Listen (directed by Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton) is a found footage short that follows two men making a movie about Listen, My Children, a song that has the ability to kill. They manage to find footage of a doctor conducting experiments with the song and ultimately end up playing the song for others. | violence, cruelty, murder, sadist | train | wikipedia | With maybe one exception, this doesn't end well for anybody!SMELL tells the story of a man who's given the chance to change his pheromones to get sex and success.
Our protagonist fails to realize that something about that offer smells fishy.SIGHT deals with a lonely eye doctor who can see what his patients see.
Unfortunately, he sure lacks foresight when he tries to help one of them out.TOUCH starts with a blind boy and his family getting into a car accident.
When the interviewee turns down the offer, he's met with a biting critique.LISTEN breaks with the rest of the short films and is in "found footage" format.
It tells the story of two young men trying to piece together the recording of a song that is rumoured to kill all those who listen to it.
The title predicts what you will get, 5 short movies about our senses.
All of them contain horror and I must say that the quality of each flick looks superb.Smell, the first one doesn't has an original script but you have to watch and go through the first minutes to see what is going on.
The instruments used to control the eyesight do capture what's going on in the brain and so we are suddenly into a story about a killer taking revenge on a eye surgeon.
It also has a few of nice effects but isn't that scary at all, nice editing again.Touch, for me that was the weakest of stories involved on this disc.
Taste, a lot of blah blah and you're waiting what is going to happen, Beautiful girls running the business and the only thing you want to know is, what kind of work is offered...but once refused things go wrong.
A bit sad about the shaky camera's used but original story, nothing is explained and again on the edge of gore.
Some will be remember the bear trap from Saw.Hearing, the only short made like a documentary.
Didn't like it at all because it's a lot of blah blah even as they tried to involve us by removing the sound sometimes to think we would go mad too.
Sadly, you really have to wait until the end before the horror comes in on the found footage.
And from there it's uploaded to youtube, so be aware if you are watching youtube....Overall, not bad due the quality of all shorts but Hearing and Touch weren't the thing I was waiting for...Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5.
An anthology series about the five senses all interlocked together.The Good Story-Touch.
Stranded in the forest after a car accident, a blind boy tries to find his way to help only to stumble across a serial killer's secret hideout.
While there wasn't a whole lot to really like here, as the ingenuity of the boy having to use his other senses to outwit the madman is negated by the twist ending of requiring him to survive anyway, it really saps the entry of it's potential as the forest setting works nicely and the scenes of him wandering around finding the area is pretty chilling.
As well, it doesn't really use it's targeted sense all that well so it has some problems but remains the best of the episodes.The Bad Stor(ies)-Smell.
Unlucky in life, a man receives a mysterious bottle of perfume from a strange woman and soon begins a run of good fortune.
While on the surface this had some potentially intriguing ideas about the destruction of the human body and how those around us will forgo physical attraction over material wealth, the fact that these are downplayed so significantly in favor of a tired rehashing a romance between separated lovers makes this one feel much longer than it really is.
In addition, the fact that this one never really plays up the fact that the perfume makes all the difference and it never exploits how it smells to others is a real lost art, meaning this one is really only watchable for the make-up effects on the decomposing body.Sight-Troubled by his loneliness, an optometrist uses his machines to extract his patient's memories and use them to experience their life.
Frankly, this could've been something as it really plays on a true fear for once, in that the strange machines at the doctor's office do more than help us, and the stalking in the abandoned office late at night really get quite chilling at times, but this one is just way too short to mean anything.
It's got all the ingredients it needs to be creepy and chilling, except length for everything is over far too quickly and it never really uses the sight angle at all as the whole stolen-memories angle is used to experience their lives, not to fix his ailing sight and the process for stealing memories is happened-upon, which could've made this work more than it does.
It's the closest to going up, but it stays down here.Taste-Heading into an office for an interview, a man finds the agency who called him in to be quite unusual and strange.
The main point here is that it has no connection to it's chosen sense, and features a man running away from a woman with a strange contraption on her head that lets her devour human flesh.
It doesn't have any time devoted to it and really seems to be there simply to interconnect all the different story lines together since that's how we know they belong together, but it doesn't do anything with them and feels so lame and unrealistic the image of the contraption is wasted by all the negative elements around it.Hearing-Attempting to fix a documentary, a film crew finds their subject is an insane music composer who crafted a tune that made people commit suicide.
Another one that had potential with a pretty creepy set-up and a rather innovative approach to a clichéd subject, but instead the insistence of this one to appear as a found-footage piece severely diminishes it's impact.
The shaking footage and tons of obscure shots really do this one in, and when the horror finally hits home it's in the last few minutes since all they do is argue with each other over how to edit the piece together and then flashes of the song that they're working on.
This movie (1:30 long) is one of the most playful and enjoyable anthologies I've seen in a good while.
All the stories are cleverly produced with rather good acting and effects, camera angles, etc.
But these subtleties are important enough to make you feel the connection in a very roundabout way such as in "Cabin in the Woods." I'll go into a brief synopsis of each tale so you can get an idea of what to expect (skip this if you'd rather know nothing going in, but I've kept it bare minimum):1.
Smell - This tale is about a man who is down on his luck but picks up a special aroma that turns his life around, but at what price?
It's possibly the most playful of the 5 tales, but the ending is pretty funky fresh haha.
Sight - This tale is about a lonely man who works as an optometrist and uses his machines to extract memories from his patients in order to enjoy their memories.
3. Touch - The best tale in my opinion, this one is about a blind boy who seeks help for his family after a car crash.
This tale is amazing and feels so real and almost empowering as the boy makes his way through a rather troublesome environment.
4. Taste - If you've paid attention to the clues throughout the film, this is where they lead you - what ties the tales together.
This tale involves a young man who is offered a job for a strange company.
The film involves a song that has lethal effects on it's listeners.
It's neat little way to end everything though I suppose.
It's refreshing it see a horror movie that focuses on characters and story and not just blood and guts (although there are some great squirm-inducing moments in this that made a few audience members quite queasy).
Also, the stories are all loosely tied together, but it's not easy to pick up all the connections on the first viewing.
I'm excited to go back and watch this again to look for more details.I'm hoping this gets a DVD/BluRay release, because it definitely deserves multiple viewings.My only complaint is that I would have liked a bit more of a wrap-up at the end.
I remember liking the last section, Listen, with the music that makes people go crazy.
I checked the other reviews here, and it doesn't seem like any of them noticed this.The corporation that is centered on in the fourth segment has tentacles in all of the other stories.
It also sets up the fifth segment.All of the stories have something to offer.
The only one that suffers is the Sight segment, which seems like an interesting idea, but the execution is a bit confusing..
Another year, another horror anthology, and this time it's the turn of 5 SENSES OF FEAR which unsurprisingly contains five short tales each based around one of the human senses.
Like SCARY OR DIE or the V/H/S/ movies, this is acceptable stuff for horror fans, although it lacks the quality of something like TRICK 'R TREAT.The problem with 5 SENSES OF FEAR is not the production values, because they're actually decent for a change; although the stories were shot on the cheap and in a very short space of time, they look good and the calibre of both acting and direction is of an acceptable standard.
There are no big names here, but then you don't go looking for them.The problem is that all of the stories are focused on delivering gore rather than true scares so that the scope ends up being rather limited.
The first one, SMELL, is about a guy who comes into possession of a new and experimental perfume; this has a classic outcome and was my favourite of the five stories.
The third, TOUCH, is about a blind kid who has a car accident and is the most atmospheric of the quintet, although the story is very slight.
TASTE is an all-out gore effort set in an office, while LISTEN goes down the found footage route and isn't too shabby.
All of the stories are acceptable, but I found them lacking in delivering proper horror themes or scares; is gore all the genre has to offer these days, I wonder?.
"5 Senses of Fear" had a marketing campaign that gave me a lot of hope that it might inspire a resurgence in anthology based horror.
The directors on the ads for "5 Senses of Fear" indicated they were hoping this would be the movie to put the new spark in anthology horror.
I really hope that they are wrong.The reason horror anthologies work are because they are able to present the most important elements of a scary story without having to include any of the fluff.
They treat this movie as if an anthology is easier to make because there is less work in making a short movie.
A short story often requires more work than a long one because it does not have the time to tell the story and must concentrate on the central theme.
None of the stories has an interesting plot and absolutely nothing makes any sense whatsoever.
As I sat and hoped each following story would get better, the movie just descended into the ranks of pure and utter stupidity.
What each story lacked in plot, it more than made up for in cheap gross out tactics.
The shocking twist (and I use this term exceptionally lightly) involves his remains being used to make more of the cologne.The story about sight has an eye doctor who has the power to induce the power to see through others' eyes by potions he makes from his patients.
He uses violent scenes to try and make a patient's boyfriend stop beating her, but it ends up empowering the boyfriend to murder.Touch involves a blind boy trying to find help for his parents when they are injured in a car wreck.
He stumbles upon a man who doesn't like to be touched.
This is the only somewhat interesting story in the entire anthology and it is due to the performance of the actor playing the blind boy.
He is the only protagonist you can get behind, but this is not enough to save this movie.Taste is remarkably bad.
It involves a lady who offers people a job and them violently kills them when they refuse.
It involves a composer who composes a song that makes people commit suicide.
The plots are thin and remarkably bad even for a horror movie.
There are no stories here, only fluff supported by attempts at gross outs.
Chilling Visions has five stories based on the five senses.Smell.
Two video/sound techs and a camera girl receive some tapes about a Russian guy who composed a song that kills people who listen to it.
The tapes involve a researcher in the past who's trying to get someone to play the song.
The camera girl secretly uploads the song online.Chilling Visions has some good ideas and is somewhat original.
The second episode wastes an intriguing idea and ends leaving you nowhere.
The third episode has a good performance by the actor who plays the kid, it doesn't have any ideas but I guess is supposed to support the second story.
The final episode is filmed in parts in POV style, plus the black and white footage of the researcher, but despite the style doesn't capture what should be pretty creepy.
Overall, it would have been better had they worked out the purpose of the corporation a bit more.
Original "Horror" Anthology Offers Five Great Stories.
This is a very cool concept for an anthology film.
I thought all of the shorts had a very unique "voice." Each segment had an unexpected take on the sense that was portrayed.
The only segment that looked "different" was the "HEARING" segment, but that's because it was found footage, so it worked.
Surprisingly, each story had a very different tone, which was cool.A few notes on each segment (MINOR SPOILERS): SMELL: Had a bit of dark humor throughout.
The director said he was inspired by Tales From the Crypt, and it felt like a lost episode of that show.
This was a pretty intricate story with a lot of cool elements.
Fun to hear them talk about doing the gore effects.SIGHT: I enjoyed the performance of the "evil boyfriend." This segment also had some cool "vision effects." I felt the ending was predictable.
Cool sound design.TOUCH: Great performance by the little boy.
Overall, though, cool story with good tension throughout.
Cool camera work and "blind POV" shots.TASTE: This one looked really cool.
The main character is going to an interview at a strange corporation.
We see characters from the other segments that presumably work for this evil corporation, but that's not explained very well.
Cool, bloody ending.LISTEN: Nice play on the found footage concept.
Felt sort of like a horror version of the Dharma Initiative tapes from Lost.
The ending felt rushed or poorly executed and didn't quite work for me.
But it was great until the finale.After the five segments, the film just ends.
We see characters from all the shorts appear at the evil corporation in the TASTE segment.
I would have loved one last little segment at the end to sort of wrap it all up and give us some answers.Overall, I think it was a solid effort by everyone involved.
I think SMELL and LISTEN stood out the most, maybe because they were first and last and had the longest running times.
Most anthology films have one or two good segments, but every segment in this film had an interesting story, good characters, and great production value.
5 little stories about our senses.
I came away from this with a good over all feeling; at least a feeling of liking the movie, as a whole, not so much from the gore that was just a bit too syrupy.
Instead of that usual arc you get a "Wolfram & Hart" almost Umbrella Corp if somehow it had the Brazil twist running through the whole movie that works nicely, and has some nice little payoffs throughout, and upon re-review you see things from the new angle.
Sadly the first story is just so slow, and dry that it really bogs the rest of the stories down from the start, so when Touch ends so very suddenly it sort of makes more sense.
In the end I found that I really did Enjoy this movie, and would think that anyone not afraid of a little fake blood, and vomit (lots, of both) then you will to..
The short vignette format works very well for horror, maybe because we don't really want to stay in those designed to be unpleasant environs for way too long.
Is that all?" This is especially true of the middle film about a clever blind boy, we just barely meet him and he takes his leave, and he is an intriguing enough character that we would love to get to know him more.
The 5 senses motif is really just a pose of course, like a writer's class exercise, it offers nothing substantial to increase interest and every storyline is pretty much unoriginal and forgettable except the final one about a song that kills people.
One cute trick the filmmakers use is to recycle the actors, proper names and places in unexpected ways in different stories so that we get to have fun keeping track and see who pops up again. |
tt0064939 | Satan's Sadists | The plot centers around an outlaw motorcycle gang called the "Satans", who roam the deserts of the American Southwest. The gang's leader goes by the name of Anchor, and other members include Firewater, Acid, Muscle, Willie, Romeo and Gina. The gang comes upon two lovers whom they proceed to attack: they beat up the boyfriend and rape the girl. After the assaults, they kill both of them and throw their car, with them in it, over a cliff.
Johnny Martin, a Vietnam veteran U.S. Marine, is hitchhiking and is picked up by former police officer Chuck Baldwin and his wife Nora. Johnny was a military police officer in the Marine Corps and after his discharge he's moving to Los Angeles to "live a little". Tracy, a waitress, drives up a red dune buggy to a diner where she works. Tracy is late and explains to her boss, Lew, that she was late because she was studying for a college class. Nora spots the cafe and tells her husband and Johnny that they should go eat there. Johnny sits alone at the bar while Chuck and Nora sit at a table, thinking the Marine is being antisocial. Lew and Chuck small talk about the desert area and its isolation. Johnny meets Tracy and they both talk about getting away from the desert town.
The Satans arrive at the cafe and demand service. Romeo harasses Tracy as she tries to take the gang's order. Lew intervenes and the gang calms down. Firewater selects a song from the jukebox and Gina performs a go-go dance routine for Anchor, jealous of Anchor's attention towards the waitress. Lou pulls the plug on the jukebox and tells the gang that the place is "a place to eat" and "not a place to dance." One of the bikers hits on Chuck's wife and she throws a drink in his face. Chuck pulls out his revolver and tells them to "beat it." The bikers knock out Chuck and take his gun. The Satans take Lew, Chuck and Nora out behind the cafe. Nora is raped, and Anchor explains to them why they hate cops. Anchor kills the three of them as Johnny and Tracy escape in Tracy's dune buggy after knocking out Muscle and Romeo.
The bikers pursue Johnny and Tracy deep into the isolated desert. The dune buggy breaks down from damage that occurred when the couple ran over a couple of the bikes. Johnny and Tracy trek through the desert in an effort to reach help at the closest town before the Satans catch up with them and finish the job. The remains of the gang comes across a trio of female campers − Carol, Jan, and Lois − and party with them. Gina drives off in a jealous fit and commits suicide by driving over a cliff, dying with Anchor's name on her lips. Willie tracks Johnny and Tracy but is bitten by a rattlesnake and dies. Firewater goes looking for Willie and finds his body - he returns to discover Acid playing Russian Roulette with Chuck's pistol and Anchor has gone insane and murdered the three women. They fight and Firewater leaves Anchor for dead; he searches for Johnny and Tracy. When he finds the couple, Johnny surprises him and during the fight, a landslide crushes Firewater. He tells Johnny that Anchor is no longer a problem and dies.
As the couple relax and begin walking down the road, Anchor drives toward them on the last working gang motorcycle. He raves about being Satan and having paid his dues; it is Johnny's turn. As he raises the gun, Johnny throws a switchblade at the gang leader, killing him. Johnny is wounded but still able to drive the motorcycle; the couple get on the bike and leave towards the setting sun. | good versus evil, violence, sadist | train | wikipedia | "Sadists" a "fun" ride for the TRUE fan of BAD dudes!.
Coming from a huge fan of the trashy, 1970s, low-budget, motorcycle gang, genre, my comment may be slightly biased.
However, as far as sleazy 70s biker flics go, "Satan's Sadists" is indeed one of the better ones.
Russ Tamblyn outdoes himself as the whacked out, sadistic leader of the group.
The soundtrack is also tons of fun with some memorable "acid" tunes that should have you saying "Wow man!" every 20 minutes or so.It's a pretty violent entry to the biker genre, but few of them are really "sugary-sweet".
For something a little less shocking, "Easy Rider" would be a better choice or even "Hell's Angels On Wheels".Fans of schlock director Al Adamson have to see/own this one.
Sadistic Bikers From Hell - in the Desert!.
There are several things this picture cannot overcome with its very low budget: the pacing is very slow at points, photography is almost amateurish in places (blown up from 16mm, I think), there's filler - too many shots of motorcycle riders moving on the freeway, and lousy dialog/acting.
Then you have star Tamblyn, the biker leader, overacting or subverting his persona, depending on how you look at it.
He giggles like a madman as even his own fellow biker (Cardos) rebels against such pointless murder.Is Tamblyn just playing a joke on the audience?
Greydon Clark is amusing as another biker who lives to get stoned on acid or LSD; his goal is to go on a one-way trip.
The title bunch are a particularly odious motorcycle gang in this, producer / director Al Adamsons' contribution to the then popular cycle of biker films.
Russ Tamblyn stars as cheerful psycho Anchor, leader of this gang.
Also among the cast are Scott Brady as weary cop Charlie, Kent Taylor as the diner proprietor Lew, Regina Carrol (Adamsons' real life partner) as biker mama Gina, Jacqueline Cole as comely waitress Tracy, Gary Kent as nice guy former soldier Johnny, and John 'Bud' Cardos, Robert Dix, Greydon Clark (who himself became a director years later), William Bonner, and Bobby Clark as the gang.
Carrols' slutty dance number inside the diner rates as a highlight, as do the fight sequences between Tamblyn & Cardos and Kent & Cardos.
As far as biker films go, this definitely has to be one of the trashiest ones ever made, and it's nothing if not amusing for its entire 87 minute running time.
Al Adamson's film is so low-budget and the actors( with a few minor exceptions) are so obscure, that this grade Z biker-flick is brutally realistic.
Made during a time of political as well as social conflict, Adamson strives to show the "hopelessness" of an entire generation "lost" as a result of the war in Viet-Nam. Russ Tamblyn's horrifying role as the demented leader of the gang is gut wrenching.
To the naked eye this may simply seem as a "schlock"- drive-in biker- quickie film.
Al Adamson is known for making horrendously bad movies (which I love), mostly biker action flicks or cheesy horror pics.
"Satan's Sadists" is a nice departure from the predictably bad premises usually found in biker movies.Adamson's regular cast comes along for the ride (Robert Dix, Russ Tamblyn, Regina Carrol, Gary Kent, Greydon Clark, etc.) and delivers all they can.
Tamblyn is terrifically sadistic and would continue in a similar role in "Dracula vs.
John "Bud" Cardos is Firewater, the mohawked biker, and he is very good.Adamson fans will appreciate the hard work put into this film, but "outsiders" will consider it boring, cheap, and dated.
Instead, I find it highly entertaining, action-packed, and one of the best biker films ever made.
If you've never seen an Adamson film before, this is probably where you should start.
If you're only familiar with Adamson's VERY bad horror films, try this on for size.
A sidenote: Jackie Taylor later changed her name to Jacqueline Cole and starred in "Satan's Cheerleaders" and MST3K fan favorite "Angels Revenge/Brigade".
Satan's Sadist (1969) ** 1/2 (out of 4) This biker flick pretty much put Independent International on the map and today it still holds up quite well.
The story is pretty simple as a biker gang led by Anchor (Russ Tamblyn) take people hostage inside a restaurant.
He kills three but two (Gary Kent, Jackie Taylor) get away and head out in the desert to hide.
Naturally the biker gang must go after them and soon both sides realize that Anchor really is beyond crazy.
Once you become familiar with the work of Adamson you'll begin to realize that he rarely turned out an "good" movie but this one here is perhaps the best I've seen at least from a technical point of view.
The performances, direction and cinematography are actually pretty good here, which might make some people think this isn't an Adamson picture but he had quite a bit to work with here and the end result works.
Tamblyn is extremely fun as the psycho biker as his laid-back approach makes for a good, cold villain.
Kent makes for a good hero and Taylor is at least easy on the eyes.
The supporting players feature some familiar faces including John "Bud" Carlos as an Indian biker, Adamson regular Regina Carrol play a sympathetic biker chic and Kent Taylor appears briefly as the restaurant owner.
The film pretty much goes all out in terms of exploitation as we get some fairly violent death scenes, several mild rape scenes and of course you can't be a biker flick without a good number of fist fights.
One of the highlights of the film happens when the bikers first appear inside the restaurant and the folks inside try to fight back at them.
The film starts to wear thin towards the end but this is something that happened with a lot of exploitation movies.
The most outlandish thing about SATAN'S SADIST is the fact that it has a soundtrack featuring six films by a group called The Nightriders.
This group isn't going to make you forget The Rolling Stones but the songs actually fit the film rather nicely..
It's not that good, but it definitely delivers on the drive-in schlock that made the late 60s and early 70s exploitation films fun.
The cast was mostly unknown at the time (most of them still are) with the exception of Russ Tamblyn (still can't get plum roles like in West Side Story).
I wouldn't say that it's a true biker film, but it's still pretty wild.The Sadists stop at a gas station/diner in the middle of nowhere in Death Valley.
The gang decides to have a little fun at the diner, but things go sour when the old man tells them to leave.
The marine kills two of the gang, and then he and the waitress escape into the desert.
Of course, the gang chases them down because they don't want any witnesses.The acting wasn't great, but it sufficed for a low budget biker film.
There's the sadistic leader (Tamblyn), the acid freak (cleaverly nicknamed acid, those zany bikers), the tough guy, the sex fiend, and leader's strung out girlfriend.
Overall, it wasn't great, but it suffices as an exploitation film and if you get into it it is kind of fun.MST3K fans look out for the teacher in "Angel's Revenge" as the waitress, and Acid (Greydon Clark, the director of "Angel's Revenge")..
the biker movie pathos, by Al Adamson.
In order to get any enjoyment or entertainment, or just dumb-fun in a B-movie (if that) kind of way, like Satan's Sadists (not inappropriately released on DVD in some circles by Troma), is to take into context that it was, of course, the late 60's, and it remains in the sub-genre that is the biker-movie.
Maybe there were many (maybe mostly) good-hearted bikers like the ones in Easy Rider that wanted nothing more than to get stoned and ride their wheels without too much trouble.
For the most part, as with Satan's Sadists and many others, a biker gang with a cool sounding name goes into a town, bothers the habitants to a point of total suspense and shock, and the filmmaker may or may not try to dig a little under the surface, go beyond the expectations up to a point.One of the things that makes Satan's Sadists work, up to a point, is that producer/director Adamson usually doesn't mistake what it is that he's making.
A film like this, when it played (where and if of course being part in question), would just be used as fodder for make-out sections and beer contests for those in the cars at the drive-ins, just good enough to not make anyone start chucking things at the screen.
Adamson brings forth all the ideal elements- a gang of six (including the perennial grungy/sexy female) with attitude braced in their eyes and sunglasses, the older straight-laced couple, the good-looking younger couple, and plenty of room for tracking, driving shots of bikes.
The gang here of the title run into a cop and his wife, a waitress, another young guy and the owner of a small pit stop in the middle of the California desert.Basically, describing the plot would be moot; say enough that it is as much of a usual biker film as it is a revenge picture (and usually the two go one in the same with these movies).
To Adamson's credit, given a group of non-professional actors (or B/C/D movie actors) that are hit or miss (the bikers are all alright, as are the cop and his wife, but some of the other parts of the younger women are pretty bad), he tends to push some of the boundaries of what can be done within the framework of the structure.
We have an idea of what will go on, of course, after a crucial moment in the film, but there are little things, like when the bikes brake-down in the desert, or when other minor female characters are introduced all of a sudden in the desert, or the impromptu dance scene in the restaurant (though that is a staple in many of these flicks, a cool one at that).
It's when Adamson sometimes kids himself with what he's doing that it steers away, like a little mini-speech given by the groups leader about 'the man' versus the 'love' generation before a certain murder takes place.
And the music, while with a cool opening number, is draining aside from an interesting drum solo here and there.I wouldn't say to start with Satan's Sadists if you're just starting to get into these kinds of films, as it is relatively hard to find and Adamson, while not without his cult fan-base, was unknown to me before seeing the film and really does nothing more than make your standard genre movie.
But at least in Adamson there is a little experimentation and touches of daring in his style; little insert close-ups and zooms/pans are interesting, and at times a certain zaniness tries to work its way into the steady shots.
If a biker picture, in all of its likely exploitive tendencies and cardboard psychology, is more about attitude and using what is there within the limitations, Satan's Sadists is not bad, though not great..
SATAN'S SADISTS has to come down in history as THE Al Adamson masterpiece.
Take my word and forget this thing if you hate all the crappy biker movies of the past thirty years.
By the way, Clark did act before serving time as a successful director of drive-in filmfare including SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS, THE HI-RIDERS, and JOYSTICKS.
Die-hard biker film loonies will enjoy it.
Tamblyn plays the leader of a pack of Hell's Angel's who spread panic and bring death and destruction to the region.The prologue is particularly obnoxious : a scene of rape and the victim seems to appreciate bestiality.But the movie is outright reactionary: that long-haired youth is fatally dangerous ,but fortunately the clean cut kid,a former marine,is here to save the damsel in distress in miniskirt.THe hero utters this hilarious line :"in Vietnam,at least,I was paid when I killed someone".Russ Tamblyn sank really low :he's best remembered for " the last hunt" "west side story" and the extraordinary horror classic "the haunting" (1963).
Adamson has made a movie that defines exploitation.
Judged in its own genre (the no-budget drive in flick) this movie is absolutely one of the best.
** In spite of what another comment advised, I do prefer Adamson's cheesy horror pics to his action films.
There's more fun stuff to look at.However, as a biker film fan, I had to check out this joint.
It's pretty much bikers come to town, bikers menace and kill nice people, and everyone battles to the death until the only ones left standing are our hero and heroine, walking into the sunset.This was all filmed in the desert around Palm Springs (Adamson's home until his untimely passing), and frankly, the scenery is very boring and hard to look at.
That setting at least gives the bad guys a semi-interesting location and some chance to pick up objects and hit people with them.The last half of the movie involves our hero (ex-Marine from Vietnam)and heroine (plucky local waitress who wants a husband) running around these barren rocky desert canyons that all look the same, ducking into caves trying to avoid "Anchor" the head psycho biker (Russ Tamblyn) and his murderous cohorts.
(Isn't this the same place where EEGAH lived?) About the only interesting twist is Regina Carrol's "Thelma and Louise" impression.I guess you could look at this as some sort of allegory for the nation and its torments during the heinous late 1960's, bla, bla, bla, but I don't think so.
It's not even the best biker film..
SATAN'S SADISTS is a rather depraved film.
While it is much better than the usual Al Adamson film, this isn't saying much since in his other films he set the bar so low!
The reason I chose to watch such a bad film is that I am a bad film addict and have already seen about a dozen of Adamson's films.The film is about a group of seven bikers who drive around tormenting people.
And, amazingly, they're all pretty graphic.The Sadists all descend upon a café in the California desert and by the time they're through, most of the innocent people there are dead.
Two folks are able to escape and most of the film consists of the bikers trying to catch and kill them, as they were witnesses to some of the mayhem.
For example, having the biker chick (Regina Carroll--Adamson's wife) kill herself the way she did of the druggie biker shoot himself just seemed silly, though it did help to even the odds a bit.The film features occasionally bad acting (though some was good, I must admit), tons of sick violence and some of the worst camera work I've ever seen in a film.
As a result, no one other than Adamson can be blamed for the film's worst attribute.
There scenes should have been edited out or re-shot--not stuck in simply for economy's sake.Overall, it's a bad film that is, at times, exciting to watch.
A pleasingly nasty'n'scuzzy piece of low-grade biker trash from the always reliable Al Adamson.
A thoroughly despicable gang of cheerfully repugnant Harley hounds led by a deliciously hammy Russ Tamblyn kill old geezers Kent Taylor and Scott Brady.
Future schlock movie director Greydon ("Without Warning") Clark also scores with his offbeat turn as Acid, a doped out of his skull biker whose brain has become irrevocably addled due to the ingestion of far too many sunshine tablets.
Fellow future schlock movie director John "Bud" Cardos likewise impresses as Mohawk-sporting Native American biker Firewater.
While there a motorcycle gang called "Satan's Sadists" drive up and upon entering the café begin to give the few people there a hard time.
One thing leads to another and after eventually killing Charlie, Nora and the owner of the café outside the gas station, the psychotic leader of the gang who goes by the name of "Anchor" (Russ Tamblyn) returns to the café to finish off both Johnny and the waitress named "Tracy" (Jackie Taylor).
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought this was one of the grittier films of this particular sub-genre with a good dose of raw violence and a late-60's atmosphere that blended in quite nicely.
Al Adamson's best film (though that's not saying very much)?.
Without meaning to, I've ended up watching a fair chunk of Al Adamson's film output.
"Satan's Sadists" seems to me to be the best of this bunch, probably because his style fits in better with drive- in biker films than some of the science fiction ("Brain Of Blood") and action oriented ("East of Watts") things he's tried.
As usual with Adamson, there's a great deal of filler as characters play "hide and seek" with each other across an empty landscape, and there are a large number of aggressive non-performances here.
But "Firewater" is pretty good - in fact, he's the most interesting thing in the movie.
And "Johnny" has a fairly predictable role, but the actor playing him is a good combination of he-man and sensitive guy.
Plusses: The rocky, dusty, open landscape works to the movie's advantage, and someone had the good sense to work some heavy "Ventures" style guitar themes with an Indian war dance motif into many desert scenes that would otherwise be much duller.
It was also kind of fun to see some familiar faces from other Adamson movies in the mix.
(Even if I hate a movie, I generally have sympathy for the actors in it, most of whom are just trying to earn a living.) 3 stars, but I'd watch this 10 more times before I'd watch "Brain of Blood" or "Girl In Gold Boots" again. |
tt1032815 | I Love You, Beth Cooper | On graduation day at Buffalo Glenn High School in Tacoma, Washington, valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) confesses his love for head cheerleader and long time crush, Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) in his speech while also taunting Valli Wooley (Marie Avgeropoulos), a girl with an eating disorder, and an ignorant bully, Beth's Army soldier boyfriend Kevin (Shawn Roberts); and urging his best friend Rich Munsch (Jack T. Carpenter) to 'come out of the closet' and finally admit he's gay. Afterwards, Denis invites Beth and her friends, Cammy (Lauren London) and Treece (Lauren Storm), to a party he has planned at his house.
At Denis's house, his parents leave but not before his father (Alan Ruck) revealing that he has condoms upstairs if he needs them. Beth, Cammy, and Treece arrive at Denis’s house for the party. Kevin and his trendy four-wheeler soon come barging in, with his Army buddies vowing revenge on Denis. They attempt to beat Denis up, but it results in Denis, Beth, Rich, Cammy, and Treece escaping in Beth's car.
They drive to a gas station hoping to get beer, but are told by the convenience store clerk (Samm Levine) that he will not accept the driver’s license Beth gave him which states that she is 37. So Beth bribes the clerk with a kiss. He accepts, which makes Denis realize that she is not who he thinks she is. They then start a bonfire in an isolated section of town where Rich, Cammy, and Treece are chased by a stampede of cows after trying to tip one over. Denis then puts on the song "Beth" by KISS and is told that she was named after that very song. Denis thinks it's cool that Beth has two "headbangers" for parents. In Beth's eyes one can see she's slowly warming to Denis, and is becoming aware that he truly does genuinely love her, much to her amazement.
They all get in crazy reckless driver Beth’s Echo and drive without lights. They then stumble upon Denis's father and mother (Cynthia Stevenson) (who are both having car sex) by almost crashing into them. Rather than facing Denis’s father with his pants down, Beth decides to drive them away unseen to a private party at Valli Wooley’s house, encountering Kevin once again who had tracked them there. Kevin challenges Denis to a fight, as a now fed-up Beth crashes his car through the wall of the house. They drive away in Kevin’s Hummer H2 to the vacant Buffalo Glenn High School, parking halfway up the front flight of stairs, and enter the school with Beth’s head cheerleader key. After showcasing their cheerleading routine, Beth, Treece, and Cammy decide to run to the girls' locker room to take a shower. Just as Denis is undressing to join his friend and the girls in the shower, Kevin and his buddies appear in the locker room and jump him once again. Rich challenges Kevin and his friends in a towel whipping 'duel', as he has been training for years after being towel whipped as a bullied young kid. Rich finally manages to defeat the three guys, towel-whipping them unconscious down a flight of stairs. They escape to Treece's father's cabin in Beth's Echo where Rich, Treece, and Cammy have a threesome, as Beth and Denis enjoy the sun rise and finally share their first kiss.
They head to Denis's house afterwards where his parents are delighted to see he has 'hooked up' , but make him aware he still needs to be punished for leaving the house in a wreck. Beth says goodbye to Denis, gives him a kiss, and touchingly thanks him for loving her. Denis tells her "what's not to love" and that she mustn't forget that. Then promises that he will see her at their high school reunion and if they are both still single that he will marry her. Beth smiles and tells him it's a deal. After Beth leaves with Treece and Cammy, Rich proclaims to Denis that he might be homosexual after all, or perhaps bisexual (plus jokes that after last night's antics he's still more heterosexual than Denis). Denis informs Rich that he was just playing about waiting until the reunion to talk to Beth again. He tells Rich that he is going to leave Beth a message on Facebook and ask her out. Rich disagrees with him and tells Denis that he should make a grand gesture by going to her house with a boom box and wait for her. They then begin debating on how Denis should go about asking Beth on a date. | romantic, flashback | train | wikipedia | Honestly, I love you Beth Cooper is not going to be one of those high school movie classics by no mean, but I didn't feel like my time was wasted watching it.
I think that over all the film worked, there were certain things that were flawed in the movie like the script could have used a few touch up's here and there and the cast did seem a little off.
But still I think I love you Beth Cooper had it's moments enough to make you just sit back and forget reality for 95 minutes.When a geeky high-school valedictorian throws caution to the wind by expressing his love for a popular cheerleader during his graduation speech, life finally starts to get interfering for Denis Cooverman who may have brains to spare; it's guts that he lacks, or at least, he did until today.
Stepping up to the podium to deliver an inspirational speech to his graduating class, Denis decides that the time has finally come to call out his classmates on their peccadilloes and declare his love for the prettiest girl in school, Beth Cooper.
I think if you just let go and have a good time, you'll get a few laughs out of this movie, it's all in good fun and sometimes we need those silly high school flicks to either fantasize or bring us back to the good old days where getting a pimple at prom seems to be your scariest problem in the world.
The fact that the story has little character set-up and uses every cliché stolen from numerous comedies before it does not help the ill paced scenes.I managed to leave the theater without requesting my money back, but you know when people in the audience are having full conversations during a film, it is hardly holding anyone's attention.Pass at the B.O. and only rent it on DVD if you have an unlimited plan and are running out of things to see..
Character development and story arc are not reasons to see a movie like "I Love You Beth Cooper." This is just a classic homespun yarn, taking place in Anywhere, USA, about a geek who outsmarts a bully and gets the girl.
It's a real love story laced with some funny things to say.Denis (Paul Rust) gives a final speech as he graduates and proclaims his love for Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) while doing so.
To his surprise, Beth and her two friends, are the only people, aside from his friend Rich, who come to his party.I liked this movie for a lot of reasons, but most of all because it wasn't like American Pie, Superbad, or Road Trip.
The guys in this movie were very amateur, I just hope they didn't waste too much money making this film because it probably would have been better if they had gotten' a few bums off the street to play these ridiculous characters.
This is not going to be one of those high school film classics, by any mean, but I didn't feel like I wasted my time watching this.
Who wouldn't feel like that at least slightly when they are as popular as Beth Cooper was in high school.I love Hayden Panettiere in the TV series HEROES & I liked her performance here.
I shouldn't have been so stupid to fall into the trap.I LOVE YOU, BETH COOPER just rehashes every teen-movie stereotype we've seen since ANIMAL HOUSE, and not in a way that's at all fresh or funny.
I could quibble about a lot of the little things: I could, for example, point out that a big opportunity was missed, if the heroine's parents were fans of heavy metal, to name her ALICE Cooper instead of Beth (especially since "School's Out" features so prominently on the soundtrack), though of course a movie called I LOVE YOU, ALICE COOPER would have thrown people off as to what it was really about.That aside, what angered me most were the stereotypes, especially the "nerd" ones.
"I Love You, Beth Cooper" opened with an extremely awkward scene, Denis (Paul Rust) confessing his love for Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) during his valedictorian speech at his High School graduation.
Oddly enough they had a great connection.Though the acting wasn't fantastic, it wasn't a downfall for the film.I am absolutely shocked to say this but I thoroughly enjoyed watching "I Love You, Beth Cooper".
The fact that nothing that happens in I Love You, Beth Cooper would ever happen in real life isn't that big of a deal if not for the fact that a good movie about the topic deserves to be made.
But if a friend of yours harmlessly asks "wanna watch "I Love You, Beth Cooper"" don't say no.Its problem is that It's a fun movie that just seems like it could have so much better.
You guys are dropping hate on it for being bad unfunny or uncreative reused jokes but thats the point its not meant to be serious or have good timing or anything its a teen high school p*ss take movie meant to be cringy bad if they were going to make a serious teen love movie it would look high school musical or twilight and then you would drop the reviews because its to serious as for reused jokes most teen love comedy's have copied joke thats what makes them light harted and funny Please give it a fair chance Bare that in mid before watching it don't take it seriously its worth a watch if your in the mood for bad jokes a teen comedy.
In the case of "I Love You, Beth Cooper", however, I have to break from my normal pattern to get this point across: this is one of the worst movies ever made.The ONLY (and I mean absolutely ONLY) reason to watch this movie is for the beauty of Hayden Panettiere (and a PG-13 Hayden at that).
He somehow gets away with it, even though it does get annoying at times.Chris Colombus and Larry Doyle (who wrote the novel this is based on, and the screenplay too), have created a movie that while it does have moments such as the wet towel fight scene, staged like a proper duel being one, and a very sweet if unexpected ending being another, can't decide what they are trying to make.
While watching Chris Columbus's careers worst work 'I Love You, Beth Cooper', which has been adapted from a novel with the same, whose author was Larry Doyle, the only enjoyment I had was watching the "Babe" Hayden Panettiere.Frankly Speaking, this movie is a full-on bore.
A college flick exposes a film to a fair bit of comparison and criticism, but I didn't find it merited for this awkward and quirky movie - genuinely funny moments, good scripting and acting.Interesting that some reviewers expected so much from a high school comedy, especially those who are disappointed when the movie follows "unbelievable" plot lines - Perhaps there's an audience out there for a dry, minute by minute High School take on "Big Brother", but as for me, I'm grateful for a High School comedy that doesn't take itself, or the High School setting so seriously.Perhaps not legendary but novel enough and funny enough to warrant a night in front of the goggle box..
why would Hayden Panettiere and director Chris Columbus of Home Alone, Harry Potter (and the movie Percy Jackson he directed one year later had something better to offer) agree to this i don't know is this is supposed to be a parody of teen films or what?
but i don't care i cant put it into words, this is the ugliest repulsive worst movie I've ever seen.i am of the few people who hated American Pie, for how unlikable the characters were, and not funny the gross out humor was, even American Pie had some believability, and one funny character.the "nerdy" guy were supposed to identify with is a douche from the very beginning and is nonredeemable even by the end, the "hot boyfriend" and the "hot girl" are both psychos, the gay friend who quotes movies (i take offense to this character) is just unrealistically horrible, everyone is unrealistic i just cant put it into words, i barely got through half of this movie, i was just so repulsed at this disgusting horrible image at what someone thinks teen comedies are supposed to be like..
I haven't read the book, but if it's true that this adaptation is actually faithful to the original material than i'm not planning to either.While Hayden Panettiere somehow manages to stay nonirritating and even showcases some talent, the guy who played the leading guy (Paul Rust) is definitely a miscast not only for this movie, but any other too.
The movie surprises us during these opening moments with a high school graduation speech by nerdy valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust), who announces in his speech that He Loves Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere, of TV's "Heroes").
Carpenter, who may or not be gay), makes nice with his high school tormentor, crashes a rich b****'s party, breaks into their high school after-hours, and comes to the realization that Beth is a lot more than just his dream girl."I Love You, Beth Cooper" is a great way to lose yourself in some raunchy, "PG-13"-rated teen comedy for 102 minutes.
I guess one of the main reasons I liked the film so much was because I graduated from high school in 2004 and have very few decent memories of my experiences; thus, that is why I took such a special liking to Paul Rust's Denis Cooverman character.
A primary example of this would be when Denis reconciles with his bully, and said bully later saves the day when Denis is attacked by Kevin and his two drones.Paul Rust is good as the typical high school nerd who loves the PPG (pretty popular girl - trademark).
i know i should try and review the film in an in depth and reasoned way but why on earth i should bother to try an analyse a film that has all the depths, of a puddle no in fact not even that deep.Truly terrible movie and i just cannot justify any reason why you would want to waste your time with this film, and like the last line of the film says "we are going to need some rope and duct tape" for the director and all his staff !!!.
It's a shame to watch her talent get wasted in I Love You, Beth Cooper.The story begins with Dennis Cooverman(Paul Rust), who is valedictorian at his high school graduation.
Ends up going for broke during his speech, when he professes his love for Beth Cooper(Hayden Panettiere), a girl he has had a crush on for years, but never had the guts to talk too.
But Dennis and his friend(Jack Carpenter) end running for there lives, when Beths crazy military boyfriend tries to hunt him down.Hayden Panettiere is a very talented actress, but she looks confused on how to play the character, cause she plays it some many different ways, and comes across unentertaining.
Whenever I watch a movie , I do not think whether this is realistic or not , the thing that matters to me most is that whether it entertains me or not and in case of " I Love You Beth Cooper" It really entertained me .
It contains a very true story in a kind of way an honesty of a student who is never seen never existed in eyes of the popular students on the high school at the entire time .Finally he steps out on the graduation speech and tells Beth Cooper this famous popular hot chick that he loves her and he's not regretting it and tells a lot of truth about the others .Through the movie they ran into trouble with Beth's boyfriend which is a military unit member and he stalks them and they get into a lot of trouble but also which is important they'll have the best night of their lives after all they've been through they're finally happy .Awesome movie in my opinion check it out !.
It was so delightfully awkward and weird."I Love You, Beth Cooper" is well worth the watch if you are in for an evening of comedy, but like your movies to have more than just shallow laughs on the menu.
The plot follows a High School grad named Denis (Rust) who confesses his love to his dream-girl Beth (Panettiere) during his valedictorian speech.
Teen comedy is a genre that has been done countless times in the last decade and here we have another one.I love you,Beth Cooper is not a great movie but its not awful either,its definitely forgettable but at the same time enjoyable.
The story is the usual, the nerdy guy who has a crush on hottest and most popular girl of the school.Afraid of getting rejected Dennis never talked to Beth until the graduation speech where after being dared by his best friend, he decided to proclaim his love for her in front of everyone.Later Beth shows up at his house and Dennis ends up having the night of his life.So is this movie original?
But at the same time its a sweet little movie and its decent enough.Don't watch this expecting a great movie because you won't get it.If you plan on watch it, watch it for what it is, a teen comedy.Hayden Panettiere who once again played a cheerleader( as in Heroes) was cute and lovely as the leading star but obviously couldn't save the movie from mediocrity.Paul Rust on the other hand may have overacted a little bit in his attempt to play the nerd kid.
In fact, I Love You, Beth Cooper, has almost all those cliché moments filled with stereotypical characters, but under the direction of Chris Columbus, this story by Larry Doyle actually came across in quite enjoyable terms, thanks to what I thought made the movie – a line that was uttered upon stark realization, and the fear as expressed by the titular character, which made it quite distinct and standing out amongst the competition.But first, the crazy premise that became the catalyst of everything laid out in the film.
So on one hand, you crafted some mindshare into the object of your desire, and on the other, you've made a slew of enemies ever ready to bay for your blood.So it becomes one crazy night for Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) and his best friend Rich (Jack Carpenter) who has to battle his school reputation of being gay, while getting acquainted with Beth (Hayden Panettiere) and her posse Cammy (Lauren London) and Treece (Lauren Storm) when they turn up for his un-happening graduation party, before proceeding to show him and Rich what could possibly be the wildest night of their lives, especially for the nerds.
He also pathetically expresses his obsession with the film's love interest, Beth Cooper, a sexy blonde whose I.Q. is probably close to Paris Hilton.The story has nothing to do with Cooverman getting out into the world after high school but rather follows his misadventures (along with his best friend, Jack T.
Nerdy high school valedictorian Denis (PAUL RUST), urged on by his best friend Rich (JACK CARPENTER), gives a graduation speech in which he makes comments about numerous classmates— calling one stuck-up, one a bully, one gay, & one – Beth Cooper (HAYDEN PANATIERRE) – as being the object of his love.
I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009): Dir: Chris Columbus / Cast: Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, Jack T.
Most people go to films to escape reality, to have a fantasy away from their own lives and Beth Cooper is the perfect escape for teenies and those of us who miss our teenage years.Movies, time and time again, have made us believe that the geek/nerd/less than great looking guy can get the hottest girl on the planet let alone in the school (Breakfast Club, Transformers, She's All That (girl to guy in that case)) but actor Paul Rust might take that to a new level.
If you didn't like Hayden Panettiere prior to this movie...her performance as Beth Cooper won't help.
This high school teen angst dark comedy about valedictorian Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) having one night to confesses his love for head cheerleader and long-time crush, Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere), before both of them, leave for separate colleges, was not good.
He talks about some of the people in high school and confesses that he loves Beth Cooper (Hayden Panettiere) which is an embarrassment for her in front of the whole school.
I am reviewing the movie "I Love You, Beth Cooper," starring Hayden Panettiere, Paul Rust, and Jack Carpenter.
"I Love You Beth Cooper" is a comedy film starring "Heroes" ingenue Hayden Panettiere in the title role.
The film's pitch may have sounded great on paper-- Nerdy high school senior Denis Cooverman (Paul Rust) declares his years-long crush on popular cheerleader Beth on their graduation day, invites her to a party that no one is really coming to, only to have her show up, and all sorts of wacky misadventures ensue.Indeed, it apparently sounded good on paper since the screenplay was adapted by the novel's author Larry Doyle.
The characters are, of course, stereotypes, but for the most part they're not particularly entertaining stereotypes: Denis, despite his temporary boldness in his valedictorian speech, comes across as relentlessly wimpy for the entire rest of the film; the same goes for his best friend Rich (Jack Carpenter), a film-quoting geek who can't help but give the IMDb-rundown on every line he clips from a film character; it's not until the end when this character finally gets some backbone..As the title character, Panettiere's Beth Cooper is the typical vapid and so-popular-i'm-really-depressed Dream Girl that populates these kinds of movies.
The Man often stole every scene he was in with his sly,yet hilarious performance.Bottom Line-I Love You,Beth Cooper isn't a bad little film at all. |
tt0116259 | Extreme Measures | Dr. Guy Luthan (Hugh Grant) is a New York emergency room doctor who one night comes across a strange patient: a homeless man who has a wristband from a hospital he's not familiar with, mentioning a drug he's never heard of, and with strange symptoms, including a wildly fluctuating heart rate. When the man dies, Guy attempts to follow up and find out more about the patient - only to find that the body and all records have disappeared, and he's told by his superiors to drop the case.
As he continues trying to find out what happened, Guy's personal and professional life get suddenly sidetracked. His home is ransacked and cocaine is planted near his bedside. The police arrest him and he is convicted and in the process he loses his job, the ability to ever practice medicine anywhere in the world and virtually all of his friends. In desperation, he manages to get the help of some homeless men who lead him to their underground home. His ER patient who died also had lived there. Through them he's led to an organization, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman), that performs spinal experiments on the homeless people, all of whom have died thus far, in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis.
Dr. Myrick attempts to sway Guy to join his team telling him that these people are heroes and losing one to save millions is worth the sacrifice. Guy admits that while there is some truth in what Myrick says, he states they have not chosen to be heroes, which makes Myrick a murderer. Dr. Myrick is shot and accidentally killed by rogue FBI Agent Frank Hare (David Morse). Later, Mrs. Myrick hands the discs and documentation regarding the research to Guy telling him "my husband was trying to do a good thing, but in the wrong way". He opens the package, views the materials and proceeds towards the neurology building where he is now working. | neo noir | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0066907 | Chato's Land | The film opens as the half-Apache Chato orders a drink at a bar. The bartender ignores him and serves the local sheriff who has arrived after Chato. The sheriff calls Chato a "redskin" and tells him the bar is for whites only. He moves behind Chato while hurling a stream of abuse at him. The sheriff's taunts escalate, and he draws his gun while saying that he is going to kill Chato. Chato whirls around and shoots the sheriff in the gut, killing him. He rides out of town on his Appaloosa.
Former Confederate officer, Capt. Quincey Whitmore, gathers a posse to hunt down Chato. As Whitmore rides across the country, the posse grows in number at each stop. It includes local ranchers and townspeople, along with a Mexican who is used as a scout and tracker.
Chato calmly watches the posse's progress, staying one step ahead of them. From a hilltop, he fires on them, drawing them into an ill-advised ascent. As the posse struggles to climb the hill, Chato descends the other side and scatters their horses. He seems generally nonplussed by their presence. At one point, he kills a rattlesnake, chops off its rattle, and wraps the rattle in the snake's skin. He puts the bundle in his coat pocket without explanation.
The posse's motivations are diverse. Some are motivated by a basic sense of justice, while a disturbing contingent seems to merely want to kill someone. As they continue to be outwitted by Chato, their divisions become more pronounced. When they come across a set of empty wickiups, the overtly racist members of the posse gleefully burn them.
In a valley, Chato spies a woman filling a water jug. As they smile at each other, it becomes clear that she is his wife. He greets his son and gives him the rattlesnake toy from his pocket. They enter Chato's hogan, happy to be reunited. Chato resumes his normal life, busying himself with breaking horses during the day.
The posse eventually discovers his home and brutally gang rape Chato's wife. They hogtie her naked outside the hogan. Chato's friend creates a diversion which allows Chato to rescue his wife. During the confusion, Chato's friend is shot and wounded. The sadistic members of the posse hang him upside down and set him on fire while he is still alive. Disgusted by such barbarity, Whitmore shoots the burning man through the head, putting him out of his misery.
As he prepares to avenge his dead friend and his violated wife, Chato abandons his European dress and dons his native moccasins and loin cloth. He lures the posse members into individual traps, killing them one at a time. The posse grows more fractious until the more sadistic members murder Whitmore and the peaceful holdouts. Chato picks off the rest, right down to the last remaining man. | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | Michael Winner's "Chato's Land" of 1972 starring the great late Charles Bronson and the equally grand Jack Palance, who also passed away recently, is a tough-minded and violent English Western which should not be missed, and a must-see for every Bronson fan.
Director Winner, who is most famous for his violent 1974 cult classic "Death Wish", is certainly one of the masters of uncompromising revenge cinema and "Chato's Land", Winners first collaboration with Bronson, is one of the movies which have rightly earned him this reputation.When half-breed Apache Pardon Chato (Bronson) shoots a racist Sheriff in self defense in a Saloon, local men form a posse to catch him, in order to hang him as soon as possible.
The posse is lead by former Confederate Captain Quincy Whitmore, who is more keen on the manhunt just for the good old times than out of hate towards Chato.
The film is very well photographed in the Spanish Almería, certainly the best location for European Westerns."Chato's Land" is a brutal, tough-minded and great Western, which should not be missed by anybody who likes revenge movies.
A must-see for Charles Bronson fans, Chato's Land is a great film.
A tale of western revenge, "Chato's Land" has a cast of many well known actors including Jack Palance, Richard Basehart, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Victor French and James Whitmore as well as Bronson in the lead role as Pardon Chato.Chato is a half-breed Apache who makes the mistake of visiting a town that is hostile towards Indians.
Being set upon by the sadistic town Marshall, Chato kills the lawman in self defense and must run from a posse of the town's people led by Jack Palance as Quincy Whitmore.
Simon Oakland also does a fine job as Jubal Hooker, the vicious elder of the degenerate Hooker clan who takes control of the posse from Quincy and ultimately cause the death of several of the posse members.This movie has some beautifully set scenery that captures the harshness of the desert land that Chato takes refuge in.
Bronson definitely looks and acts like he is an Indian living off the land, he does a superb job and I defy anyone to think of another actor who could play this role.
Did anyone notice that Charlie made 2 of his best (maybe his best) pictures one after another, both directed by Michael Winner (who did some more nice entries in the Bronson catalog), both scored by Jerry Fiedling (superbly, if I may add), "CHATO'S LAND" and "THE MECHANIC" (from whom Tarantine chose to quote in "Kill Bill II") ??!!
Released in 1972, "Chato's Land" is typically written off as lame Spaghetti Western with Charles Bronson but, actually, it's a UK production shot in Spain, Mexico and Arizona.
And, secondly, there's more depth here than the one-dimensional racist-revenge plot might first lead you to believe.I'll admit that I was turned off to this movie for years due to Brian Garfield's scathing review in his excellent book "Western Films," where he called it "cheesy, dreary, phony," but an open-minded and honest viewing proves him wrong.
It's true that the desolate Spanish locations are phony, in that it's not the American Southwest, but other than that the characters and dialogue ring true.The plot is simple: Chato, a half-breed Indian (Charles Bronson), shoots an arrogant, racist lawman in a saloon and a large posse is assembled where they chase Chato in his own element, which is why it's called "Chato's Land." Bronson's role is taciturn, one-dimensional and almost invisible, until the end where he's a stunning example of masculine strength.
Another reviewer commented that, if he were 6'5", he would've made a perfect Conan the Barbarian.Bronson's striking presence and solemn performance is key to the success of the movie, of course, but the film's true strength is the writing/directing and the stellar cast that make up the posse, including Jack Palance, Richard Basehart, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Richard Jordan and more.
There's a little in-joke that's included in Pardon Chato's (Charles Bronson) only line spoken in English; and that occurs in about the second minute of this savagely entertaining story about vigilantism running amok somewhere in the Old West.We see Chato, at the saloon bar, waiting to get his whiskey when in comes the local Marshall Endersby (Jacob Meade), looking to kill himself an uppity mestizo.
It's a joke, because the director, Michael Winner, in 1971, had already filmed a story called Lawman (by the same screen writer, Gerald Wilson) in which a Marshall hunts down a group of men – relentlessly, mercilessly and legally.
(Note that Lawman is more highly regarded, at IMDb, than Chato's Land.)Anyway, the story of Chato is double joke: here, the Marshall is out of the picture (no pun intended) immediately, and the hunters – the Posse Commitatus, a mixed bunch of misfits headed up by either ex-Captain Whitmore (Jack Palance) or Jubal Hooker (Simon Oakland), depending on how the plot unfolds – become the hunted when Chato begins the task of killing them – relentlessly, mercilessly...but, illegally, in this story.
Charles Bronson and director Michael Winner made the first of several films together in this western that was shot in Spain.
Chato's Land boasts a fine cast of players most of whom don't make it through the end of the film.Bronson plays Pardon Chato a mixed blood Apache just in town for supplies and a racist U.S. Marshal puts the prod to him.
Their brand of justice includes raping his wife and killing his child in the bargain.Jack Palance plays the nominal leader of the group, but he's got no control over the meanest of the bunch, a trio of brothers Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, and Richard Jordan.
Elements of this same plot are also to be found in a particular favorite Bronson film of mine, Mr. Majestyk.Chato's Land is a good western with an impeccable cast.
A laconic Apache is pursued by a posse to solve a sheriff's death , dead in self-defense showdown by Chato (Charles Bronson) .
A veteran confederate officer (Jack Palance) leads the posse (Victor French , James Withmore , Lee Patterson) along with three brutal brothers (Richard Jordan , Simon Oakland , Ralph Waite).
Pretty good Charles Bronson in his ordinary tough role , this film is one of Charles Bronson's 70s westerns ; his westerns made during the 1970s include Red sun (1971), Chato the Apache (1972), From noon till three (1976), Nevada Express (1975) and The White Buffalo (1977) .
Chato is a half-breed Apache Indian who shoots a sheriff in self-defense while in town and finds himself the target of a head hunting posse led by a former Confederate soldier Quincy Whitmore.
This was the first feature to bring the pairing of director Michael Winner and actor Charles Bronson together (in which they would go on to make another five films).
A terrific Jack Palance gives a classy stable depiction of Quincy Whitmore and Charles Bronson was in ripe condition and form as Chato.
To be honest this isn`t much of a tribute down to the simple fact that Bronson has very little dialogue and only a few scenes in a film that concentrates more on the posse than their pray .
A far better tribute would have been that Bronson movie that contains the classic line " Put down those melons " On its own merits CHATO`S LAND is a fairly entertaining and intelligent film featuring a ( White ) posse on the trail of an ( Apache ) fugitive .
Michael Winner is hardly the greatest film maker who`s ever lived ( Check out the very obvious day for night filming ) but he does deserve some credit for casting someone who actually looks like an Indian in the title role and it`s not often you see a couple of Scottish characters in a western who give a very , very accurate description of rain soaked Greenock.
It stars Charles Bronson, Jack Palance, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Richard Baseheart, Ralph Waite and Richard Jordan.
Plot finds Bronson as half Apache, Pardon Chato, who is forced to kill the local sheriff in self defence and finds himself being hunted by a town posse led by Captain Quicey Whitmore (Palance).
However, as the posse trail him into the wilderness it becomes apparent that the tables have been turned, with Chato given further cause to inflict harm upon his pursuers.The first of six collaborations between Charles Bronson and Michael Winner, Chato's Land finds the pair setting the marker for what would define their work.
Chato's Land is more than just a revenge Western; a film about white men out of their usual terrain being pursued by a man of a different ethnicity, it wants to, and does quite well, be a picture dealing in racism, violence and the folly of hypocritical justice.
However, the group dynamic is a good one, with the inevitable character differences creating a tinderbox waiting to ignite, while Winner doesn't skimp over the violence, puncturing the narrative with savage thrusts.Bronson was 50 years old when making the film, his physicality here is very impressive.
Chato's Land is not going to be for everybody, it's very gritty and violent(some of it being not for the faint-hearted, the most memorable of it actually being very brutal) and Michael Winner's films are the kind that will entertain some and not be others' cup of tea.The film is a touch overlong and gets a bit draggy in spots, while the ending is rather abrupt and rushed- sure it was intended to be ambiguous but for me there was the feeling of uncertainty of how to end it- and the day-for-night lighting/shooting is awfully obvious.
For an action/Western film, what was really impressive about Chato's Land was the way the characters are written.
James Whitmore, Richard Basehart, Simon Oakland and Ralph Waite give solid support but best of all is Jack Palance, who is superb in one of his better and more layered performances.Overall, far from perfect and not for everybody's tastebuds but a pretty good film.
In 1972, Winner and Wilson again paired for Chato's Land, in which Charles Bronson's Chato hunts down a group of men.
Had the movie been accurately billed as a film starring Jack Palance and Simon Oakland, with Bronson in a small role, few would have paid to see it.
Charles Bronson, in extraordinary physical shape, plays a quiet Apache in an apparently hate-mongering Old West town who kills the despicable white sheriff in self-defense; he doesn't stick around to explain his actions, of course--and the bartender who witnessed the shooting certainly isn't talking--prompting a prejudiced posse made up of hard-bitten locals to go after the Indian over rough terrain on horseback.
Being a western-revenge movie, its story isn't full of surprises but Michael Winner did his best -like each time- and he made a wonderful but serious movie.
Finally, I would like to thank Robert Paynter (camera-man) for the amazing panorama, sure he hadn't forgotten to have a look around.Taking it all round, I think Chato's Land is not just one of Bronson's best pictures but it is one of the best westerns I've ever seen..
Chato's Land is the second of two westerns directed by Michael Winner in the early 70's, the first being Lawman.
Chato, played by Charles Bronson, is pursued by a vengeful posse after killing a lawman, who provoked him.
Although not as action-packed as Director Michael Winner's other projects featuring Charles Bronson like The Mechanic or the classic Death Wish, Chato's Land is an interesting Western.
6 out of 10 stars, not the best Michael Winner/Charles Bronson film combo, but definitely worth watching..
A character named Quincey Whitmore (a rock solid Jack Palance) gets together a fairly large posse to hunt Chato down, but they are led into forbidding territory where their quarry seems to hold all the cards.Fear, ignorance, lust, and hatred rear their ugly heads in "Chato's Land", as good as any an examination of the poor attitudes that white men harbored towards Indians.
Charles Bronson plays Chato a half-breed(as they used to say) Apache/White, who finds himself a hunted man when he kills a racist sheriff in a saloon.
They pursue Chato into his territory in the mountains, only to discover that they have vastly underestimated him, and that he is determined to get rid of them in any way he can...Charles Bronson is not given much dialogue here, but is in amazingly good shape, as he is seen shirtless for the film's duration.
Sympathy is clearly for Chato, who was wronged, but is also quite ruthless himself(justified though.) Allegorical to Vietnam in the sense of a group of Americans thinking their quarry an ignorant savage, but learn that it was foolhardy to pursue him on his own ground.Though quite grim, it is realistic; Bronson has incredible screen presence, and director Michael Winner presents this story in taut fashion, with a striking ending..
This Western is beautifully and graphically filmed, and Michael Winner brings his trademark intensity to the project, but his "Lawman" (also 1971) with Burt Lancaster is a much better film.The problem with this film is that none of the characters have any redeeming qualities, not even Bronson's "Chato." Since this film was made in 1970-71, one may expect the white guys to personify evil and the Indians to personify goodness, but here, the cruelty on both sides is relentless and obsessive.
I was really into that film, living and breathing and feeling for the characters, while CHATO'S LAND on the other hand feels like a somewhat stodgy, uninteresting version of the story.The film is notable for being the first pairing between Charles Bronson and Michael Winner, who of course would go on to find popularity with the DEATH WISH franchise.
The Dialog is Shaped with Sharp Old West Speak with Sub-Humans Spouting Redneck "Insights" about Indians, the Land, and God's Folly in Creating these "Aberrations" to the White Man.Jack Palance as the Leader of a Posse on the Trail of a "Half-Breed" who had the Audacity to Shoot the Sheriff in Self-Defence, into "Chato's Land", is as close to a "Hero" the Whites can Muster in this Lynch Mob of mostly Inbred Scum.
It Smacks of Hacks that are better at Mimicking than making Art. Winner's Direction is more than Competent with a Firm Hand at the Intent of being Entertaining as well as Messaging.Overall, an Underrated Western that is Worth a Watch Showcasing an almost Mute Charles Bronson (trademark) that does His work with little to say on the Subject except that Deeds are more Important than Words.
We all know Charlie isn't exactly the most eloquent acting star, so Michael Winner instantly knew the character of silent but deadly (Chato only mumbles a few lines in Apache language throughout the entire film) Indian would be ideal for him.
Chato's Land (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Charles Bronson plays an Apache Indian who kills a racist sheriff and then takes off into the wilderness while Jack Palance forms a posse to go after him.
"Chato's Land" was well suited to Bronson's evolutionary screen persona, that of the strong, relatively silent avengera solid figure of firm intention but few words
As Pardon Chato, the vengeful Apache half-breed, Bronson enjoyed the most vocally reticent role of his starring career, speaking but few linesand most of those in Apache!Again, Spanish locations represented the American frontier West for this post-Civil War tale about a white posse's search for Chato, who, in self-defense, had killed the sheriff of a small New Mexico town
As the pursuers forge deeper into Apache country, the situation shifts around, with hunters becoming the hunted
Failing out among themselves, the posse members gradually become victim either to each other's violence or to Chato's well-justified vengeance, after they rape his woman
In the non-U.S. countries where Bronson enjoyed his greatest popularity, "Chato's Land" was well met and highly successful.
Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson), instead of being hunted by a determined posse, looks more like the hunter in this revenge Western filmed in Spain.
As the tale unfolds, it becomes clear who the real savages are – and it's not the taciturn half-breed Indian Chato (Bronson) but his hateful and spiritually ugly posse of pursuers led by ex-confederate veteran Quincey (Palance).Throughout the first half of the film, Chato provides his enemies with the means to relinquish their quest, turn back, give up and go home with their lives intact.
A posse, led by a former Confederate soldier, Captain Quincey Whitmore(Jack Palance) decide to head out to find an "Injun" responsible for the murder of a no-good sheriff, the hunted(or, more appropriately, the hunter) an Apache named Chato(Charles Bronson).
The director Michael Winner puts together a terrific film, supported by first class actors such as Jack Palance, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, and James Whitmore, who are all members of the posse chasing Chato.
Chato's Land is another in a long line of entertaining Charles Bronson movies, featuring a host of great supporting actors and a simple but powerful storyline.
Bronson plays Pardon Chato, an Apache who kills a prejudiced sheriff in self-defense.
A posse led by former Confederate Captain Quincy Whitmore (Jack Palance) is formed to hunt down and hang the Indian.
The rape of Chato's woman and the shooting, hanging and burning of a tribesman reflect the terrible treatment of the Indians in the American Frontier West.Although this is a Charles Bronson film, the supporting cast drives the movie.
Synopsis: After Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson), a mestizo, kills a US marshal in self-defense, a posse pursues him, but as the white volunteers advance deep in Indian territory they become more hunted then prey, leading to internal strife.
Charles Bronson is a Half-breed Apache who kills a nasty sheriff in self defense and takes off to the badlands, but that's not what the film is really about.
End of racist sheriff.Bronson takes off while the local community organizer, Jack Palance, organizes a posse to hunt him down and hang him. |
tt0037318 | Strangers in the Night | Sgt. Johnny Meadows is seriously wounded in battle in the South Pacific during World War Two. While recuperating, he takes comfort reading a book donated to the Red Cross by Rosemary Blake, who has written her name and address in the book. He corresponds with her, and as pen pals they fall in love. Eventually, on leave and back in the States, he heads for Rosemary’s home. While taking the train to get there, he meets a pretty woman reading the same book, and for a moment thinks he has met Rosemary. But the lovely woman is Dr. Leslie Ross, coincidentally heading for the same town where Rosemary lives, to take over a practice being left by another doctor. They start a friendly conversation, but then there is a derailment of several cars ahead of them, and the doctor treats those who are wounded, while Johnny assists where he can. More help arrives and, both exhausted, they share a cab-ride into the town they were both headed for.
The next day, as the doctor settles into running her practice, Johnny heads up the high hill to the house where Rosemary lives. He meets the homeowner, an older disabled woman, Mrs. Blake (Rosemary’s mother), and her live-in assistant, Ivy Miller. Mrs. Blake and Miller tell Johnny that Rosemary is away, but will be back soon, and Mrs. Blake invites him to stay. The next day Mrs. Blake shows Johnny a large painting done of Rosemary, so he can see how beautiful she is. Johnny is happy, and, from the style in which the painting is done, thinks he knows the artist, but can’t fully recall whom at the moment.
After a few days of Rosemary not showing up, and no satisfactory answers forthcoming from either Mrs. Blake or Miller, who seems very nervous about the situation, Johnny leaves for San Francisco. He finally remembered who the artist was, as he had worked with him for a short time in the City before the war. Meanwhile, Miller attempts to divulge to Dr. Ross just what is going on, but her nervousness and insecurities stop her. Dr. Ross and her nurse suspect something strange is going on in the Blake house, but because Mrs. Blake had been dismissive of the doctor during an initial consult on her first day in town, they take no specific action.
That evening. when Mrs. Blake discovers what Miller tried to do, she gives Miller an overdose of medicine to kill her. A few moments later, Dr. Ross shows up at the home to see how Miller is doing, and then Johnny shows up too. He has found out the painting is a ‘fantasy’ of what Mrs. Blake pictured as a perfect daughter. Johnny goes upstairs to find Miller for an explanation, but finds her body, and Dr. Ross can do nothing to revive her. Mrs. Blake accuses the doctor of committing malpractice, but the doctor tells her the medicine she had prescribed for Miller wasn’t sufficient to kill her. Finally, Mrs. Blake confesses she always wanted a daughter, and always wanted to be loved and wanted, and that she had corresponded with Johnny. Johnny tells Mrs. Blake he loves the doctor now. Then Dr. Ross suggests Miller was murdered, but Mrs. Blake says it was suicide, that Miller has left a note. Johnny and the doctor ask to see it, and Mrs. Blake leaves them to fetch it. She instead goes out to their car to set a booby-trap. She returns without the note, and sends them away. They leave, and Johnny is almost killed after stepping through the trap Mrs. Blake had set. Dr. Ross realizes what has happened, and they feign their deaths by screaming aloud. Hearing this, Mrs. Blake telephones for an ambulance, but then Johnny and the doctor walk into the room, and the game is up. | insanity, murder | train | wikipedia | Getting a Lot Out of 56-Minutes.
When you think actresses, the name Helen Thimig doesn't pop right up.
But here for a crippled old lady she's scary as heck.
And what's this with her daughter Rosemary whose portrait looks like a dolled up version of Laura (1944).
Poor Sergeant Johnnie, he's back from the war all bunged up, but can't wait to meet the portrait girl who sent him such beautiful letters but has since gone missing.
Meanwhile he has to content himself with the lovely Dr. Leslie (Grey) who's got her own problems being a woman doctor in a man's profession.
And finally there's poor Ivy (Barrett) who acts like a frightened bird, frightened even of herself let alone her employer Mrs. Blake (Thimig).
Actually, Barrett and Thimig are alumni of the great Val Lewton's horror series, so it's not surprising that their compelling turns form the movie's gripping core.
Director Mann's noirish touches are evident throughout and perfectly suited to the dark subject matter.
Something's up with Blake and daughter Rosemary, but what.
That's the crux of the plot.
Also, I like the way we get a feel of how the war is affecting the home front, while the obscure William Terry makes a good happy-go-lucky GI in contrast to the sinister mansion.
I expect the movie remains obscure because of its sub-60-minute runtime and lowly Republic pedigree.
But there's a lot of talent involved in a suspenseful story, making this a minor noirish gem..
Dark movie.
It's a dark movie - literally.
At the first look at the vileness Hilda Blake (Helen Thimig) you will probably think: this is very bad acting.
Than you realize Mrs Thiming is a great actress and that Hilda is a very scary character.
There is an interesting romance between a soldier and a woman doctor suffering with a little community prejudice.
All the action happens around a very big picture of a beautiful young woman, and the sinister Hilda give orders all the time to her submissive "friend" Ivy Miller (Edith Barrett).
It's a pity that in the end the screenplay turns a little dumb in important details.
This is the sixth film from Anthony Mann, and its style reminds me the very early Alfred Hichcock..
Catfished.
Sergeant William Terry (Johnny) survives WW2 by clinging to the hope of meeting up with Rosemary, the girl he has been corresponding with despite never having met her.
On his return to the USA, he seeks her out in California.
Well, he gets to see her portrait courtesy of Helene Thimig (Hilda) who is Rosemary's mother.
But Thimig seems to be putting off a meeting between her daughter and Terry.
This film is a nice discovery.
It contains a disturbing story, a disturbing character (no need to guess who), other likable characters, an atmospheric setting and a short running time that keeps you watching from the beginning.
You'll guess what is going on – sort of – but it doesn't take away the enjoyment of the film.
A nice surprise..
That woman has some SERIOUS issues!.
"Strangers in the Night" is a very unusual B-movie.
It's a bizarre story about a seriously deranged old lady, Mrs. Blake and the weird secret she hides.When the story begins, Dr. Ross (Virginia Grey) is introducing herself to the folks in the seaside community where she'll be taking over for the old doctor.
However, when she meets Mrs. Blake (Helene Thiming), the old woman is overtly hostile towards her...inexplicably so.Soon after this, Dr. Ross is on a train and meets Sgt. Meadows (William Terry).
It seems he is headed to the same small town where Ross now works...and he's going to the Blake household to see Mrs. Blake's lovely daughter.
It seems that when he was off fighting in the war, he corresponded with the lady and he's totally smitten with her.
However, once he arrives at the Blake household, they inform Terry that she isn't there.
And, they invite him to stay until she returns.
However, days pass and it's obvious something is going on here...and the return of the girl seems to very, very vague.In the meantime, Mrs. Blake's nervous housekeeper, Ivy (Edith Barrett) knows some sort of secret and seems to always be on the verge of telling the Doctor.
What is the secret?
And how does it relate to the missing daughter?
And, what does a painting of the lady have to do with all this?I really loved this film.
While most folks think all B-movies are bad movies, they are not.
A true B is a short film (about an hour in length) and is usually cheaply made.
The purpose of the film is to be the second film in a double feature--with the A (or prestige picture) being accompanied by this B.
But just because a film is short and often hastily made doesn't mean it's bad...and "Strangers in the Night" is simply terrific.
In fact, it's one of the best Bs I have ever seen.
The writing and acting and direction all work together perfectly and the solution to the mystery is sufficiently dark and sick to satisfy.
Well worth seeing and Helene Thiming is simply terrific as this sick, disturbed and nasty old 'lady'!My score of 9 is because the film is so good and because of how it compares to other Bs....and it's head and shoulders better than about 99% of them..
Rare Anthony Mann Film: More Fun than Serious.
This rarely seen film directed by Anthony Mann has an over-the-top performance and some artificial 'Gothic' atmosphere to recommend it.
If the viewer doesn't expect a great, lost masterpiece it can be fun and amusing.After corresponding with a mysterious girl who shares with him an interest in Houseman's "A Shropshire Lad", Sgt. Johnny Meadows (William Terry) recently home from Guadalcanal arrives at the home of Hilda Blake.
Here he hopes to finally meet the poetic girl.
Hilda lives in an ornate Gothic-style mansion atop a cliff on the California coast.
She is odd from the very beginning, but she only gets more weird as the story progresses.
Living with her is a close friend Ivy Miller (Edith Barrett).
The centerpiece of the mansion is a fairly kitschy portrait of a pretty young woman, Mrs. Blake's daughter.
Hilda is convinced that Johnny is the destined true love of her daughter.
She and Ivy extol the virtues of the girl, and convince Johnny that he will soon meet her and that the two will be very happy.
However, on the train, by preposterous coincidence, Johnny had met a young woman doctor, Leslie Ross, played by Virginia Grey.
That meeting introduces complications into Hilda's plans for her daughter's happiness.
There are some unanswered questions that drive the plot, and it must admitted that the writers and director do a decent job of keeping the audience guessing.
It's not really a bad idea for a story, but the execution here makes it more silly than serious.
The main source of the silliness is the performance of Helen Thimig.
With her Austrian accent and overly emotive eyes, Thimig invests Hilda with a bizarreness that should be a dead giveaway to Johnny.
Something is very odd here.
The film also has the kind of fake Gothic atmosphere that only exists in Hollywood films from this period.
Several scenes look so artificial that they only work to remind the viewer that he's watching a movie.
Definitely worth a look for Anthony Mann fans, but not one of his greatest efforts..
The movie not the Frank Sinatra song.
****SPOILERS*** Badly banged up in the fighting in the South Pacific all that Marine Sgt. Johnny Meadows, William Terry, has to look forward to after leaving the hospital is meeting up with his pen pal sweetheart Rosemary Blake whom he's never as much as seen a photo of.
It's Rosemary whom he's kept in contact with and who kept his hopes high since he started writing to her after finding her name in a used book he picked up back in a San Francisco book store.
Now recovered from his wounds Johnny takes a train ride to Monteflores California to finally meet Rosemary in the flesh and start up a romance with her.
With a detour on the train when it derailed off the tracks Johnny meets young woman doctor Leslie Ross, Virginia Grey, who in fact is looking after Rosemary's crippled mom Hilda, Helene Thimig,who as we and Johhny soon find out is a bit wacko in the head as well as crippled in her legs!
At the Blake house Johnny is disappointed not to find his love Rosemary but a painting of her and is told by Moma Blake that she's out of town temporarily entertaining returning US servicemen, like himself, coming back from the war!
Told that Rosemary will be back in a few days Johnny for the time being starts up a romance with Dr. Ross that causes Moma Blake a lot of hard feelings; Both towards the doctor as well as Johnny.***SPOILERS*** It's Moma Blake's good friend and live in nurse Ivy Miller, Edith Barrett, who knows the whole truth about her and her obsession with her missing from the scene daughter Rosemary and tries to warn Johnny to get out of his obsession of meeting and romancing Rosemary before it's too late.
Johnny himself notices that the painting of Rosemary was done, by the unique breast strokes he uses, by someone he knew and checked out to San Francisco to see him and tell him what he knows about the elusive, from everyone in the movie cast, Rosemary Blake!
Somewhat ridicules final ending with Moma Blake going completely off the wall and doing in, by spiking her milk, Ivy as well as trying to off both Johnny & Dr. Ross for finding out what a total nut case she, as if we didn't know by then, really is.
Totally crazed after failing to finish off, by causing them to fall off a cliff, both Johnny & Dr. Ross the end for Moma finally comes when Rosemary herself, through what can only be called supernatural powers, puts a final end to Moma Blakes insanity!.
Introducing Rosemary's Mother..
A strange cliff-top mansion, a handicapped widow with a mysteriously absent daughter, a nervous companion, and a handsome soldier in receipt of letters from the elusive Rosemary create a strange mystery to say the least.
Mother is obviously two macadamias short of a cookie and despises the young female doctor who tends to the soldier after he collapses in the Mandalay like mansion.
When the truth is revealed, mommy dearest gets desperate...and sinister!
Don't expect any doo-bee-doo-bee-doo's in this oddly titled Gothic thriller.
Sinatra's signature tune does not appear.
In fact, other than the circumstances surrounding how soldier William Terry meets doctor Virginia Grey, the title has nothing to do with the bizarre plot line.
Helene Thinig is the heavy accented matron who truly has many psychiatric problems and Edith Barrett is her petrified companion who must question the definition of loyalty as she faces the truth about her demented employer.
As directed by cult director Anthony Mann, this is a very different type of mystery, a film with a plot that seems trite at first but will certainly make you think.
You certainly won't forget the gallery of nuts you encounter in this spooky mansion by the sea..
Decent plot a la Hitchcock, with an Ed Wood Jr ending..
This could have been a good movie.
The main characters are well acted and believable in a melodramatic way.In spite of some unlikely coincidences like the unnecessary train derailment, and our hero, a marine, recognizing the painter of the portrait of his fantasy girl as an old buddy from college, the plot concept is reasonably engrossing, moves along well, and tension is built up to almost the end.
This part is written like a classic thriller.Unfortunately,the last few minutes of the film seem as if the production crew had either run of of time or money and hastily contrived a hardly believable ending.
That's the part that looks look it was written by a fifth grade class.I'm sure if you didn't watch the ending, the film would actually haunt you.
Of course, you want to know how it's all resolved, and instead of haunting you, you come away very unsatisfied.Not a complete waste of time, but a certainly a waste of talent..
Creepy Freudian Gothic.
What's absorbing about this film is what's not said, not seen, and not dwelled on.
The other reviewers pretty much have the movie nailed, but no one seems interested in exploring to their logical ends the situations presented here.
Like the fact that the beautiful young woman the soldier guy thought he was writing to during the war and was coming home to marry was actually an old woman, and a demented one at that.
When soldier guy finds this out it's like, "whatever." He apparently doesn't find disturbing the implications of his having been fooled.
We however are left to go "yuck" and feel a sort of sympathy for the woman as a victim of ageism.
After all, if soldier guy "loved her mind" why reject her just because she's old (and demented)?And what does smart doctor lady think of soldier guy, her soon- to- be husband, who is so confused and easily fooled?And then think about the whole bizarre existence of the old woman who not only created a fantasy daughter and had "her" "portrait" painted, but regularly has worship sessions in front of the painting in the cult of her nonexistent daughter--with her weak- willed loyal companion going along.Kinda makes you wonder how often in our own way we "regular folks" create fantasy versions of people and totally misread relationships.Paging Dr. Freud! |
tt0277723 | Grand Theft Auto III | While robbing a bank in Liberty City, ambitious criminal Claude is shot and betrayed by his girlfriend and accomplice Catalina (Cynthia Farrell). Although he survives the wound, Claude is arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison. While being transported in a prison van, Claude and fellow prisoner 8-Ball (Guru) are inadvertently freed after an attack on the police convoy, and escape to a safehouse. 8-Ball later introduces Claude to the Leone Mafia crime family; Sex Club 7 owner Luigi Goterelli (Joe Pantoliano), Don Salvatore Leone (Frank Vincent), his Capo Toni Cipriani (Michael Madsen), and the Don's son Joey Leone (Michael Rapaport). During work for the family, Claude finds himself fighting the Colombians, who are being led by Catalina in proliferating a new drug. Meanwhile, Salvatore's trophy wife Maria (Debi Mazar) begins to take a liking to Claude. Salvatore grows suspicious and betrays Claude into luring him to a death trap, but Maria saves him just in time and they both flee.
Claude then begins working for the city's Yakuza and its leader Asuka Kasen (Lianna Pai), Maria's close friend, who has Claude assassinate Salvatore and get his revenge. This cuts off all of Claude's ties with the Leone family, who are now against him. Claude's work leads him to allying himself with other criminal sources, such as corrupt police detective Ray Machowski (Robert Loggia), an enemy of the Cartel. Claude later saves him from Internal Affairs and the CIA by helping him flee to Vice City. Claude also meets charismatic media mogul Donald Love (Kyle MacLachlan), who maintains a huge media front. In an effort to start a war between the Yakuza and Cartel, Claude and Love organise the death of Asuka's brother Kenji Kasen (Les Mau) and blame the Cartel. Later, Love asks Claude to rescue a man who was kidnapped by the Cartel in the prison truck that Claude was in. While on an errand, Claude finally confronts Catalina, who narrowly escapes. Asuka abducts Catalina's partner Miguel (Al Espinosa), believing him to have knowledge of her brother's death.
With the war with the Cartel intensifying, Asuka and Maria learn of Claude's history with Catalina and order him to attack many Cartel operations. Eventually, his exploits attract the attention of Catalina. As a result, the Cartel kidnap Maria, murder Asuka and Miguel, and demand Claude to pay a $500,000 ransom in exchange for Maria's release. When Claude confronts Catalina, she attempts to have him killed, but he escapes. In the resulting firefight, Catalina attempts to flee in a helicopter and makes a final attempt on Claude's life. After killing the remaining Cartel members and rescuing Maria, Claude shoots down the helicopter, effectively killing Catalina. As they are leaving the scene, Maria complains to Claude about the kidnapping, particularly the state of her clothes and nails. During the credits, a gunshot is heard, and Maria's voice is silenced. | neo noir | train | wikipedia | Grand Theft Auto 3 is a violent, no holds barred (with cheats of course), racist and audacious video game.
To put it simply, Grand Theft Auto 3 is one of the very best video games, or any form of entertainment for that matter, ever made.
Well it may not be for everyone, due to the violent content, grammar, and sex, but hey it is a satire of everyday life, but mostly depicting a grimy, rough city, supposedly this is supposed to be New York, where you control a nameless(we shall learn his name in GTA:SA!) and speechless gangster who's been wronged by the gang he worked for, now he goes freelance in the Pulp Fiction-esquire environment of Liberty City, where you work for different gang factions, just to do their dirty work.
In the game Grand Theft Auto 3, your character is a man who has been betrayed, and left for dead by a partner in crime in Liberty City, where the only dirty word is hope.
Some people say this game is too violent, and after all I heard, when I played it the first time I expected tons of gore.
It's simply one of the greatest game experiences I've ever had, and it is extremely addictive (thank goodness I'm not someone who can play games and lose track of time, I would probably still think it's the day I bought the game).
Anyone who wants to experience this same feeling of a virtual 3-D world of sleek, stylish cars at your hands, taking out jobs for the mafia, and so many other fun things in this game, please play it.
And although you can choose how to fight them, you basically have to follow the whole level, the same way everyone else who plays the game does, left here, right there, watch out for that guy who pops out of the corner in 30 seconds, etc.) You can really explore Liberty City the way you want to.
Don't get me wrong the 2D versions was really fun but I'm sure that everyone who played it realised that the first attempt at sandbox innovation needed something more.Then after fading away for a few years I heard on the internet about GTA III.
A fun, entertaining tongue-in-cheek game, Grand theft Auto is likely to be your cup of tea..
My apologies to all for the first sentimental paragraph but I felt like I want to mention that due to the fact that GTA3 is more than 15 years old game now.
It was first (or one of) fully open world game in 3D - no more square boxes watched from the sky, you saw 3D models of people walking on the street, you could steal any car you want and of course - the legendary teenage approach back then was "you can get a hooker, have sex with her and then kill her with a baseball bat to get your money back"!!!
Some people played arcades, some played strategies, others preferred adventures - but everyone was playing GTA3.Nowadays, graphics and options might not be appealing anymore but me and all my friends will never forget Asuka whipping her peons, Toni Cipriani and his mother (we never saw), mechanic 8 Ball, Diablos - the lamest gang with the best car, Jamaican gang with their shitty lowriders and Columbians with jungle-like hats and boots in pick up trucks.
Left for dead by his girlfriend Catalina(she'll be our Saturday morning cartoon villain; the few occasions where you see her after that point, interest spikes) as they were running away from a just-completed robbery, Claude(nameless until his San Andreas cameo, and voiceless, yet still subtly somewhat characterized - he has attitude, nobody owns him) is then freed by his explosives-knowledgeable friend 8-Ball(...take one guess at his ethnicity), and, determined to get back the $70.000 that he stole fair and square, starts to work his way from the bottom to the top of organized crime in Liberty City(this universe's version of NY) - you will make enemies, your loyalties will have to be flexible, and you may just get doublecrossed.There is more story, albeit this is not propelled forward by it, and, especially with the ending, it does show that not that much was built onto this vague, as well as uncomplicated, base.
Some missions are fun, but I don't like being forced to do one, especially in the beginning of the game.Two- It's just not as fun as San Andreas and GTA 4.
Rated M for Violence,Language and Sexual Content.The Grand Theft Auto series started in 1998 with GTA1 and then the sequel,GTA2 in 1999.The first two games of the series were not very popular.But in 2001 GTA3 was a huge success and was very popular.It became one of the highest selling PS2 games.Is the game good?
Definitely.In 2001 when I played it at a friends house it was excellent.You were able to drive around a huge city and do almost anything.Not to mention the great storyline the game had.Of course now with GTA Vice City and San Andreas,this game does not seem AS good anymore but its still good.Of course the soundtrack isn't great compared to GTA Vice City and San Andreas but at least Flashback has the classic songs from Scarface on it(not all of the songs though).In this game you play a mute man who'se name is not said in the game but In San Andreas we find out it is Claude.Anyway you are betrayed by your girlfriend while robbing a bank.But on the way to prison something happens and you and a partner escape.From there you start doing missions for the mob and gain respect while taking revenge on your ex-girlfriend.GTA3 is almost impossible to find for the PC.I suggest buying a PS2 and getting the game.You wont regret it and the game will still seem good even if you have played the other GTA's before it.I just started the game but I heard this is the hardest one in the series.10/10.
I just finished playing Grand Theft Auto 3 for the second time, focusing on not using any cheats and getting 100%.
I know it sounds hyperbolic, but for me, the Grand Theft Auto games are really some of the best video games of all time, and number three is the one that started the excellence.What makes it so great is a combination of a few things.
It happens to be to my tastes, so I love it even more.All of the above is so brilliant that I have to wonder why after Grand Theft Auto 3, not every game is developed with a free roaming world and all of those other features.
It's as significant as the transition from text-based games, like the old Infocom titles, to graphics-based games, once computers gained enough power and memory to handle it.And as excellent as Grand Theft Auto 3 is, there are many areas that could be improved upon, especially as power and memory increase more in computers and gaming consoles.
As systems allow, the standard for new games should resemble a combination of Grand Theft Auto-styled worlds and sim games, where small decisions and actions have branching, complicated effects, including leading to different missions and outcomes.
As I said, I love the content of Grand Theft Auto and similar crime/violence games, but there's a lot else I'd love, too.
During the course of the game, I could interact with all kinds of things in all kinds of locations--like people, stores, minigames that involve skiing, and white water rafting and on and on, and some things that I do, some decisions that I make, might end up completely changing the goal of the game and the missions that I can follow.The above idea would take an incredible amount of computing power, an incredible amount of research and resources and programming hours and money, of course, but these are the kinds of goals we should be shooting for down the road, developing more complex free-roaming games on our way to get there.
The kinds of games I'd like to see will only be feasible with that approach, where future developers can incorporate and expand on previous developers' work.The Grand Theft Auto games should just be the beginning of this direction, not considered the ultimate expression of the direction that therefore we shouldn't copy and instead go back to games where you must play mission to mission by the numbers with players' characters in small, confined spaces with only a limited set of actions and interactions possible.
In some ways I like it better than Vice City, but then many improvements were made in the game play of Vice City.
Not only that, it is a HUGE improvement over Grand Theft Auto and GTA 2, which were very difficult games, which had horrible graphics and gameplay.
"Grand Theft Auto 3" is definitely the best game to come out for the PS2 since "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty." The game takes place in Liberty City, where you take on the role of a low-life crook who wants to rise to the top of the criminal underworld.
When you steal anyone of these vehicles, you can drive someone to the hospital(ambulance), put out a fire(fire truck), drive people places(taxi), or even kill criminals(police car/FBI car/tank.) This game is truly excellent.
The only things that will probably keep me away from playing this game is when I have to go eat dinner or I find something better to play which is not likely to happen for a long time.
10/10 P.S.: A few words of advice about "Grand Theft Auto 3": To people who get a police wanted level of six, which is the highest in the game and that is when the military starts to chase you.
It is a pretty good idea not to get into a regular car afterwards.When you are getting chased by the military, it is a good idea to take cover some place because when you're in plain view of the soldiers, they will try to shoot at you.There is an "increased gore" code that when activated will cause people's limbs to be blown off when you shoot at them.You really should not go into gangland territories that you have already surpassed in the game because when you do, they will shoot at you.Always be on the look out for cops because as soon as you commit a crime, they're on you until you're dead or busted..
Like pretty much everyone else back in the day, I fell in love with the sandbox variety of "Grand Theft Auto III".
This game is like no other GTA game I've ever played, and it is definitely the best one out of all of them.
The game series Grand Theft Auto is amazing because of its freedom or Liberty.
Murder, rob, steal cars (or Grand Theft Auto), do missions, heck' you can even work as a cab driver, policeman, fireman or ambulance driver.
I would highly recommend it.You play as the "silent" (he doesn't say a single word through the hole story) character Claude (you find out his name in the 6th installment in the Grand Theft Auto series).
This is definitely my favourite PS2 game of all time the best things were the cars,the weapons and abilities I even this to San Andreas because of the better cars,graphics,and the Purple Nines gang is just awesome,they are totally my favourite and everything about them was great like their vans,their Purple outfits,their quotes and their territory and every time I play this wonderful game, I enter the change character cheat again and again until i get to run around as a Purple Nine and do fun things like fly to secret areas such as Donald Loves garden on the top of Love Media and see how fast i can drive the Infernus AKA Lamborghini Diablo and go into Saint Marks and see if I can get out alive its just wonderful!
They hate Grand Theft Auto for demeaning satirical stereotypes of females and say "Violence and Sex is wrong", yet, the feminazis would love the play games where they would be butch girls raping and castrating men.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the game almost every week, people seem that every time some crack-headed teen steals a car they have to put the blame on someone and that someone is Grand theft auto 3.
The Good: It has a nice story that is fun to expierence, it has great value towards it, the cars are cool to drive in this game, going on rampages can be fun at points, and all the actors who do the voices of the characters do a good job.
The Bad: The graphics suck, it can get broing if you play it a lot, not as good as Vice City, if you don't use cheat codes then it'll be hard for you to enjoy this game, it's not that fun just to kill people over and over, the ending is horrible, and some other mistakes ruin what everyone calls the best game ever..
Grand Theft Auto 3 i think is another fantastic game to play.
The depth of the game, the flexibility, the side missions, and graphics and gore, the acting (voices), and the over-all package make this one of the all-time greats.
This has got to be the best video game ever.The features this game has is just to good for other games to beat,Its a real living city where you can just do about anything in it,Kill people,jack people's car's,ride boats,it has gangs,3 island's which make up the city,the city is called Liberty City which is supposed to be New York,Each Island represents a part of New York,Portland is the first island you live on which is Queens,Staunton Island is the second island which is Manhattan and the thrid island is Shoreside Vale which is New Jersey.
I mean this game has everything youll expect from a city,Guns which are the best thing about the game u can either buy them or take them off the floor which dead police or dead gangsters left.It has its missions which i wont tell you about.So people who havent got it,Pick up your copy from your nearest games shop.Rating 9/10.
With about 60 missions, 3 massive citys, freedom to do whatever you want and numerous other things this game will last even the most avid fan a long time.
It is unlike any other game, where you work for the forces labeled as "bad" (gangs) and bend the laws of the forces of "good" (cops), where you are the antihero.GTA3 is a carefully woven plot that is easy to follow yet complex at times.
The three islands are full of detail and are also very large, that you might find yourself constantly getting lost.GTA3 is a revolutionary game, as it is like an interactive movie where you must play to unfold the rest of the plot full of double crossing, assassination, and constant fighting.
"GTA3" takes all the best parts of a good gangster movie (mafia ties, betrayal, endless bloodshed) adds a lot of humor elements, mixes it all with great sound and graphics, and slaps it all in the best PS2 game available.
Although extremely violent and bloody, Grand Theft Auto 3 is one of those games that you actually feel you're a part of.
When I have a bad day, it's nice to play GTAIII and take out my frustrations on the unsuspecting citizens of Liberty City.This game is fun if you already have a developed sense of right and wrong.
Crashing into cars is not just extremely fun, but a great way (aside from killing people and stealing from them) to earn enough money to buy weapons if you don't want to use codes.
I recommend GTA3 to absolutely anyone who can stand a bit of violence and profanity and wants to have the most fun a video game can provide..
Some are timed missions, some are simple tasks, others are best explained by the game itself.You can steal any car you lay your hands on and sell them.
I still like GTA's layout better than 3's due to its ONE city mentality.Anyways, this excellent adult game to play for those guys/gals over 18 years old.
It is the most fun I've had playing a game for a long time.
Grand Theft Auto 3 has got to be the best violent game ever.
For example: steal a taxi cab and you can pick up pedestrians and take them where ever they want, my favorite was the fire truck, you steal a fire truck and you can actually go to a burning building and put out a fire, its really cool.I recommend GTA3 whether you are getting the Xbox or the PS2 version its all up to you, but either way you may be possibly seeing and playing the best violent game ever made..
First up, I have what's good about it, and what's bad.Good: It lead to Grand Theft Auto Vice City, one of the best games ever.Bad: The fact that this junk exists.
I was lucky enough that my parents didn't give a care what video games I played as long as I stayed out of their hair.Story GTA 3 is set in Liberty City – the filthiest city in America!
The good: It started a revolution of bringing the ps2 to it's potential, nice free roaming and a compelling storyline which is better than most films.The bad: The main character has no voice acting.GTA3 was a revolution for games.
A good, fun, and a long lasting game to play overall and well worth the money..
Grand Theft Auto 3 is by far the first game of its kind I played. |
tt0058481 | Point of Order! | The film uses selections from the hearings to show the overall development of the trial, beginning with introductions from several main participants, such as Joseph N. Welch and McCarthy. Each participant is shown in a still image with a brief audio recording, except for McCarthy, who is introduced with longer footage of a speech he made during the hearings.
In a sequence titled "Charge and Countercharge", Senator Stuart Symington summarizes the principle charge and counter-charge of the case. This sequence includes questioning of Roy Cohn for allegedly threatening to "wreck the army" if David Schine were not made a general, a statement Cohn denies. The film follows with a scene in which the Army counsel questions the origin of a photograph of that shows Schine in a meeting with Secretary of the Army Robert T. Stevens; the photograph is shown to be cropped to suggest a closer relationship between Schine and Stevens, but McCarthy's counsel denies any knowledge of photographic alteration.
A sequence titled "The Accusation" shows McCarthy accusing a member of Welch's law firm of membership in the National Lawyer's Guild, which McCarthy and others accused of serving the interests of the Communist Party USA. The sequence includes a frequently quoted exchange from the hearings: Welch asks McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
The film ends with a heated exchange between Symington and McCarthy that occurred when the hearings were about to adjourn for the day. Symington sharply questions the handling of McCarthy's secret files by his staff. McCarthy calls this a "smear" against the men on his staff, and as Symington starts to leave, McCarthy accuses him of using "the same tactics that the Communist Party has used for too long." Symington returns to the microphone and says: "Apparently every time anybody says anything against anybody working for Senator McCarthy, he is declaring them and accusing them of being Communists!" Symington leaves and the hearings adjourn. McCarthy continues his passionate but repetitious defense of his staff and his attack on Symington, speaking to an increasingly empty chamber. Although this is the finale of the film, this exchange actually occurred in the middle of the hearings. The actual end to the hearings, in which McCarthy was cleared of any wrongdoing, does not appear in the film. | historical | train | wikipedia | The best thing about this documentary is that there is no narration, there is no commentary; clips of the Army-McCarthy hearings that finally brought an end to Joseph McCarthy and his era of bully politics that destroyed so many American lives.
There are arguments both pro and con re: McCarthy and his basic premise (that Communists had infiltrated Hollywood and the American government, indeed, all the way to the Executive Branch).
I recommend viewing this riveting film as it is not partisan - it is McCarthy in all his egomaniacal ranting and raving against those who stood by their personal beliefs and held firm in their convictions that the Constitution of the United States of America would forever be their guide..
The power of this movie comes mainly from its inherent defense against accusations of biased reporting of events, peoples' facial expressions and appearances, words taken out of context and revisionist history.
Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Ray Welsch and all the others shown were themselves speaking their thoughts and feelings without varnish.For those who wondered how Hitler ascended to power, between McCarthy and J.
Excellent introduction to Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy, and McCarthyism..
Roy Cohn keeps popping up in American culture, from his fictionalized roles in "ANGELS IN America"-- as interpreted by Al Pacino (actor), Tony Kushner (playwrite), and Mike Nichols (director) --and Kurt Vonnegut's "JAILBIRD," to his actual deeds as documented by the likes of Emile de Antonio here in "POINT OF ORDER." Although there have been some attempts to put Cohn in perspective-- Frank Pierson's awful HBO film, "CITIZEN COHN," comes to mind (with James Woods' cartoon performance), I believe we've yet to see anything approaching a definitive look at him and his legacy.As for McCarthy and McCarthyism, "POINT OF ORDER" stands as an excellent non-fiction introduction to the beginning of their ends.
A terrific replay of the hearings on McCarthy and his witch-hunts...
Expose on Dark Period in American History.
This is a fascinating behind the scenes look at a hearing that lead to the censure of Senator McCarthy.
What he did to many people during the Communist hunt of the late 40's and early 50's was no different to what Adolf Hitler was planning to do in World War 2.
Its interesting that Point of Order(1964) was re-released during the whole Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinski trials and there are some things that parallel each other.
Unfortuantely for many people whose families and lives were destroyed by the Senator, his being Censured came too little too late.
Its funny to see McCarthy try to accuse members of the army of being Communist backers.
This 1963 film is reminiscent of another hearing we all may be familiar with - can you say Monica?This documentary is a fascinating ride into the mind of American anti-hero Joseph McCarthy and his rivals in the Senate as he defends his (then closeted gay) staff member from accusations of improprieties in the televised Senate committee hearings.The amazing thing is McCarthy's stupidity and arrogance in his presentation and his use of red herrings to get back to his "agenda".
There are open laughs and applause at moments that show McCarthy's loss of power, culminating in the famous "senator, have you no sense of decency" comment by Mr. Welch.The style is a bit dated - geez, it was just an assembly of clips - but it tells a story that this writer missed in his civics class.
Without narration, this documentary presents audio-visual excerpts from the famous Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954.
The televised hearings were significant in that they brought to light the mean-spirited, and unfounded, accusations of an American demagogue, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, a man who claimed that certain individuals, both in the U.S. Army and elsewhere in American government, were Communist spies.What is glaringly obvious, from this documentary, is that McCarthy had no evidence.
He and his chief counsel, Roy Cohn, accused, implicated, vilified, and pointed fingers.
And the political climate in the 1950s was such that even these accusations were enough to destroy the careers and lives of many individuals.
McCarthy, an ambitious politician, used fear as a weapon, which contributed to unwarranted suspicion during the Cold War.The hearings are theatrical, Shakespearean drama, in part.
At other times, the proceedings are laughably petty, like when the committee examines a photograph of Army Private David Schine (pronounced Shine).
The subtext during this segment is that David Schine and Roy Cohn had some sort of homosexual relationship, an ironic development, given that Cohn and McCarthy, as political Conservatives, would be just as hostile to homosexuals as to Communists.One might think that "Point Of Order" would be dry and boring.
But the political atmosphere was so charged, so on-edge, that the viewer can easily discern the tension, the fear, and the anxiety of people who had no idea how these events would play out.McCarthy probably thought these hearings would be a stepping stone en route to the White House.
Instead, the camera, as hero, revealed to the American people that McCarthy was a fear monger.
But communications technology continues to evolve, and the internet now functions as a medium that shines lights into dark corners, as television did fifty years ago..
"Point of Order" is an example of a modern-day Eisenstein.
It took material from the recesses of American history, recombined and made a film with complete sense, albeit weighted against McCarthy.
That is the virtuosity of the filmmaker.Unlike one of the reviewers, I think that McCarthy was a monster, a publicity-seeking man out of control who thought absolutely nothing about the lives he ruined or attempted to ruin, however, falsely but I'm begging the issue here.
Venona identified very small percentage of those McCarthy accused.
Have you ever actually compared those named by Venona with those accused by McCarthy, or did you accept what many authors write without double checking?
I've been attempting to do just that.I know, I've read many articles saying "are showing that McCarthy was right in nearly all his accusations.", but I'm looking for specifics.I'm using a "List_of_Americans_in_the_Venona_papers" (from that on-line encyclopedia this thing doesn't like the name of) If someone wants to add or subtract from that list, i welcome it.
A third, Annie Lee Moss, implicated by other evidence (Later evidence indicates her name was on CPUSA membership list.) Some of the names listed (such as the Rosenbergs) were identified by Venona, but weren't among those who McCarthy identified.Some names on the accused list people might recognize as left-wingers, but they were not identified by Venona, but sources i found said there is no evidence they were communists: Edward Murrow, John Garfield, Charlie Chaplin.
But he wasn't named as a spy by Venona.The book by Arthur Herman "Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator" is mentioned by McCarthy supporters.
Reviews of that book indicate it is a balanced history, hardly exonerating McCarthy.
One reviewer writes "Rather than trying to rehabilitate McCarthy, Herman is at pains to demonstrate McCarthy's mendacity, sloppiness in making allegations and his many other flaws on nearly every page."I'd like to provide links, but not allowed here i guess..
Joe McCarthy versus the U.S. Army.
Emile De Antonio assembled "Point of Order" from old TV kinescopes, taken during what have become known as the "Army-McCarthy" Hearings of 1954( the Hearings lasted 36 days and took up 187 hours of broadcast airtime).There is no narration and those with little knowledge of what these Hearings were about,may wonder what is going on.Here we have the Senate Permanent Sub Committee on Investigations(the PSI),chaired by Senator Karl Mundt,looking into the charge that Senator Joseph McCarthy and his staff-especially chief council Roy Cohn(Schine's close friend),had tried to use their influence to get the Army to grant "favours" to G.David Schine,a wealthy young man on the Committee staff, who had been drafted,and was a special friend of Cohn.The Army had brought these charges in response to Senator McCarthy's allegations of serious Army security risks-specifically at Fort Monmouth,New Jersey.McCarthy had been Chairman of this Committee, but stepped down,being replaced by Mundt for this investigation,as McCarthy was personally involved in the allegations.One important aspect of "Point of order"(the title taken from Mc Carthy's frequent interruptions-the phrase becoming a comedians joke-further undermining the Senator's reputation),is that the left wing De Antonio has edited it to show McCarthy in the worst light possible.There are a lot of omissions of material necessary to comprehend the charges and counter charges between the McCarthy camp and the Army(in the version I saw,David Schine's appearance at the Hearings was absent!)The Joe McCarthy we see here is a man who was beginning to disintegrate-years of controversy and pressure led to his increasing reliance on the alcohol which would eventually kill him.He was ill,suffering constant headaches and sinus problems,he looks bloated,and the serious gaffs he makes may be attributable to his heavy drinking and poor health.The most famous of these is his blurting out the name of attorney Fred Fisher as a member of the Lawyer's Guild(a communist front)-giving Fisher's boss,Army council Joseph Welch his chance to tear into McCarthy with his famous "Have you no sense of decency,sir?" speech.Many see this moment as the vital one-where McCarthy was shown up,exposed and humiliated on camera before the American people,leading on to the final blow which finished him soon after,his censure by the Senate.Whatever ones views on McCarthy,the exchange between wily old Joe Welch and Joe McCarthy-who rumbles on,seemingly oblivious to the damage he is doing to himself,is a riveting piece of real life drama.The final report of the Committee found that pressure had been put on the Army on Schine's behalf by Roy Cohn and others,with McCarthy's assistance(McCarthy,who couldn't have cared less about Schine,thought so highly of Cohn he allowed himself to be pulled down into disaster by him),but the Army chiefs had been guilty of pandering to it,and of obstructing the Fort Monmouth investigations.You will not find this out from "Point of Order",which ends with the scene of people filing out of the Committee room at the conclusion of the Hearings-McCarthy sitting at the table seemingly ignored and abandoned.The truth about McCarthy is that he was a complex,intelligent,personally kind and affable man,who loved the limelight and the bottle,had a volatile temper and did have frequent serious lapses of judgement-but he was not the one dimensional ogre who persecuted "innocent" people by calling them "communists" of historical myth.Time has largely vindicated McCarthy and the anti-communist investigators,with the opening of the U.S.and Soviet archives,which detail the enormous levels of infiltration by Moscow's agents into crucial positions in the U.S.That McCarthy and his allies were more correct than wrong has yet to change the "red-baiting" myth,and salvage the reputation of the most famous "Witch-hunter" of them all.Emile De Antonio's film remains the most accessible picture of McCarthy-and he's at his worst,serving to perpetuate the image of "Tail Gunner Joe" as an irresponsible overbearing villain..
One of the seminal moments in American politics.
In 1954, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations under the temporary chairmanship of Senator Karl Mundt of South Dakota, held hearings to investigate conflicting accusations between the U.S. Army and Wisconsin Senator Joseph R.
Televised live by ABC without analysis or narration, the hearings lasted 36 days and generated dramatic confrontations between Senator McCarthy and Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri, and especially the Army's counsel, Joseph N.
The Army had charged that McCarthy and his staff, especially chief council Roy Cohn, had used undue influence to try and obtain special favors for Private G.
David Schine, a member of his committee and friend of Cohn.McCarthy counter charged that the Army's charges were a smoke screen designed to thwart McCarthy's investigation of alleged subversives at the Army base at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
The dramatic highlights of the hearings, the first government hearings to be televised live, are captured in Emile de Antonio's documentary Point of Order.
While a one and a half hour film cannot do justice to a hearing that lasted more than two hundred hours, what is captured is great political theater that should be required viewing for anyone who does not fully understand the danger of an unprincipled demagogue.The key moment of the hearing, of course, was the final confrontation between Welch and McCarthy over whether or not a young attorney on Welch's staff, Fred Fisher, was a member of The Lawyer's Guild, an organization that had been labeled as a Communist front.The moment came and went and the hearings continued, yet it was patently clear for anyone with their eyes open, that McCarthy had been severely wounded by the exchange with Welch.
It was a moment of truth that stands as one of the seminal moments in American politics of the 20th Century..
The documentary is an edited version of the 1954 senate hearings.
Now, I have no reason to believe editing was used here to skew any particular effect, but its potential for mischief is well to keep in mind.Maybe it's my seven decades of breathing, but I did have some trouble following the narrative, and could have used some helpful bridges (a voice-over or graphics) to flesh out better continuity, especially when the topic of the Hearings changes.
Firstly, I don't recall seeing clips of McCarthy smiling before; here he at times appears almost affable, contrary to his usual sour image.
I may have missed something, but I don't believe those questions are resolved in the footage.Be that as it may, Point of Order is real life dramatics at its most fascinating and remains an important slice of post-war history, from which the junior senator from Wisconsin never really recovered..
I agree with a previous commentor that this should be required viewing for all American students but for very different reasons.
Communists had infiltrated Hollywood and the American government, indeed, all the way to the Executive Branch." But this was never McCarthy's goal, that is, to rid America of Communist.
Because the Venona Project was a military intelligent project that succeeded in decrypting Soviet spy messages to agents with the United States government and Hollywood.McCarthy was neither an "evil person", an "American anti-hero", nor were "families and lives ...
Documentarian Emile De Antonio dug aging ABC TV film footage of the 1954 Army McCarthy Hearings from a warehouse.
The 93minute Point of Order was released in 1963.
It is the watch phrase of an ambitious and drunken Joe McCarthy, bound for glory.
Seeing these creaky black and white kinescopes from 1954, summons memories of American Politics back then.
I was nine then, but the drama of the hearings would have been apparent to a six year old.
The Army McCarthy hearings signaled the decline of the the Congressional GOP for the next four decades.
Looking back the groundwork for undoing Joe McCarthy was laid before the hearings even began.Karl Mundt of S.
But Eisenhower, the Press, Joe's own party, were colluding to stage the Hearings on a level playing field.ABC ran the McCarthy hearings live mornings and afternoons when the networks were dark and they had no programming to show.
The daily Army Hearings quickly became the first riveting live news event of the TV age.In 1954, there was almost no live TV news.
Only two network newscasts, John Cameron Swayze's Camel Caravan on NBC and Douglas Edwards and the News on CBS ran for only 15 minutes.Joseph Welch, the Army Counsel, a Boston trial lawyer, cast himself as the fair-haired country boy of the Hearings.
Roy Cohn and Joe McCarthy would be the foils of this TV show.McCarthy would drone on in a deadening monolithic style, a manner whose subtext Welch quickly read.
The Boston Barrister focused his disarming persona on the soft underbelly of the McCarthy style with devastating effect.Welch showed he could readily switch from hayseed to moralist on a dime.
Welch's homespun, Abe-like discourse would dominate the Hearings.Despite Welch's seeming lack of charisma, he was as spellbinding a figure on 1954 television as any pro working in the medium of Milton Berle, Bishop Sheen and Buffalo Bob Smith.
Used to conducting hearings in the drab public affairs nether world of the newspaper-driven fifties, McCarthy didn't catch on to the Welch Style, understand it or try to adapt to it.
Joseph Welch was eating McCarthy and Cohn alive any time he felt like it.
Only Missouri democrat Stuart Symington was able to capture some of the method of the balding Boston lawyer in the last sessions.When events presented themselves, Welch would virtually take over the Hearings, outwitting committee members, witnesses, undoing or green-lighting exhibit presentations, thwarting and disturbing the tired theatrics of McCarthy and Cohn.
Point of Order is a dazzling TV spectacular with a single spellbinder at its center, a master of a medium he had no experience of.As the Hearings ground to a close, Cohn and McCarthy were resigned to their tragedy.
Joe and Roy belatedly recognized themselves as bit players in Welch's Great Political Soap Opera.
Welch seems an unlikely choice as Counsel for a stodgy Army.
McCarthy and Cohn, charged with explaining why Private David Schine should be permanently furloughed from the Army to work with the Communist-Hunting McCarthy, were drunk with power.
Fear of the Communist Menace turned common sense on its head during the four years Joe McCarthy rose and spectacularly fell.
Maybe it is more like now than many today are willing to admit.The next year, two playwrights captured the essence of Counselor Welch in a new play.
In 1957 Joe McCarthy died of acute cirrhosis.
McCarthy's other subcommittee counsel Bobby Kennedy and his brother Jack would learn from Welch.
The brothers and their rogue father Joe Kennedy had been disciples of McCarthy the Witch Hunter.
They were likely dismayed at the outcome of the Hearings but impressed by the Welch Performance.
The Kennedys would find ways to bottle his magic and transform American Politics, Culture and Public Affairs after 1960.
You could argue that the genie-in-a-bottle Welch uncorked in those grainy TV hearings long ago transformed American life. |
tt0190198 | Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles | When the Mobile Infantry defeats an infestation on Pluto, the world is united as the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations (SICON) declares war on the insectoids.
The main story focuses on a group of troopers known as Alpha Team – otherwise known as Razak's Roughnecks – who are headed back to Pluto after Operation Pest Control.
After destroying Bug City on Pluto, SICON sights a giant Transport Bug. This reveals that the Bugs are not native to Pluto. They track it to the planet Hydora, which orbits a star in the Constellation Virgo and encounter a Brain Bug, an intelligent Bug that controls the other castes so they won't go insane and destroy each other. The Bugs are planning to take control of the entire universe and won't stop until the human race is extinct.
SICON attempts to set up a base on the planet Tophet, inhabited by a species nicknamed Skinnies. The Skinnies, however, have been enslaved by the Bugs to mine Xylon, a precious mineral used for Transport Bugs. The Mobile Infantry are able to destroy the Control Bugs overseeing the Skinnies and free Tophet, but the victory costs them their comrade Carl Jenkins, who has been put into a state of mental trauma. The Skinnies soon enlist in SICON to fight the Bugs, mainly due to their lack of interstellar travel technology.
SICON soon discovers the existence of the Bug homeworld Klendathu. They attempt to destroy the Bug Queen but she escapes, headed for Earth. Her Transport Bug is destroyed before she reaches the human homeworld, but she nevertheless makes it to Earth. With numerous battles on the home front and the arrival of Bug reinforcements, the battle had only just begun.
=== Campaigns ===
The series is divided into eight story arcs or "campaigns," with five episodes each. Each campaign takes place at a different location. In the DVD release, each campaign is on a single disk.
The Pluto Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Pluto.
The Hydora Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Hydora, which is almost entirely covered by water.
The Tophet Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on Tophet, a desert planet which is home to the Skinnies.
The Tesca Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on the jungle moon of Tesca Nemerosa.
The Zephyr Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on a frozen asteroid.
The Klendathu Campaign (5 episodes) Takes place on the Bugs' home world Klendathu.
Trackers (5 episodes) 1st takes place on the journey from Klendathu to Earth. The others are recaps. 4th has Rico floating through space. 5th investigates Razak.
The Homefront Campaign (5 episodes; 4 others planned but never completed) Takes place on Earth. | violence, sci-fi | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0252299 | Buffalo Soldiers | Specialist Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is a U.S. Army soldier stationed in Stuttgart, West Germany, in 1989. Bored with the lack of a war, he instead devotes his attention to black market deals, as well as cooking heroin for a gang of drug-dealing Military Police led by Sergeant Saad. As a supply specialist, Elwood poses as a model soldier and friendly confidant to his incompetent commanding officer, Colonel Berman (Ed Harris), who gives Elwood the opportunity to turn Army protocol to his advantage. Berman has no idea what supplies his subordinate is requisitioning or that Elwood is sleeping with his wife (Elizabeth McGovern).
Elwood's company then gets a new First Sergeant, Robert E. Lee (Scott Glenn). This new Top is both menacing and savvy, quickly assessing that soldiers like Elwood are engaged in graft. Meanwhile a tank crew, under the influence of Elwood's heroin, unintentionally kill two soldiers in charge of a weapons convoy by crashing through a gas station. Elwood happens upon the cache and steals it, hiding the trucks in a missile base.
Lee confronts Elwood about his abuses, and when Elwood tries to bribe him, Lee revokes all of Elwood's privileges, destroys much of his property, and makes him share his room with a new, naive and deeply honest soldier, Pfc. Knoll (Gabriel Mann), who doesn't fit well with Elwood's lifestyle.
To get back at Lee, Elwood pursues the first sergeant's daughter, Robyn (Anna Paquin), taking her out for the night and then deliberately having sex with her in his car outside her house, which Lee sees from his window. Though thinking he has won, the next morning Elwood finds his squad are doing weapons training, with Elwood's car used as target practice. Lee then leaves a hand grenade trap in a locker some soldiers have been using to hide heroin. The grenade explodes and kills Stoney, one of Elwood's friends.
Elwood sells his hidden cache of weapons to a Turkish dealer nicknamed "The Turk" (Haluk Bilginer) who will only exchange them for a massive amount of opium. Elwood reluctantly accepts and plans to cook it into heroin. However, a fight between Saad and Knoll occurs, and Elwood is forced to save Knoll and recruit the pair as assistants into his plan to cook the opium. In order to have time to trade the weapons from the missile base and collect the drugs, Elwood sells out Col. Berman, who is on an army exercise against another regiment. His unit's failure as part of the test ultimately leads to the colonel's dismissal. Berman, unaware that he has been betrayed, reflects ironically on this turn of events with Elwood.
On the night of the Fall of The Berlin Wall, Elwood sneaks to the base swimming pool to meet Robyn while the opium is being cooked. Knoll then appears with 1st Sgt. Lee. Here it is revealed Knoll is actually a 2nd Lieutenant from the Inspector General's Office disguised as a junior soldier in order to investigate Elwood. Knoll puts Robyn in a car while Lee beats up Elwood. However, Robyn tells Knoll that her dad is going to kill Elwood, something Knoll – as an honest officer – cannot allow. Meanwhile commandos reporting to Knoll attempt to arrest Elwood's partners, but Saad, intoxicated by opium fumes, provokes a bloody gunfight that kills many of the fighters. Lee attempts to kill Elwood by throwing him out of a window but Knoll holds him at gunpoint. The building explodes from a gas explosion in the basement, caused by burning morphine and the firefight. Elwood wraps his handcuffs around Lee's neck and draws him out the window as Knoll is engulfed in flames. Elwood survives by landing on Lee.
The film concludes with heavy irony. The US Army decorates Elwood with medals (Lee receives a posthumous Silver Star) and transfers him to Hawaii, where his new CO is just as naive as Col. Berman. Elwood states that Robyn remains his sweetheart and that she will be visiting soon. The film ends with Elwood requesting excessive supplies, implying that he plans to sell them on the black market again. | neo noir, violence, comedy, satire, murder | train | wikipedia | null |
tt1507564 | The Greening of Whitney Brown | Whitney Brown (Sammi Hanratty), a privileged and popular Philadelphia teenager, nominates herself and her best friend, Lindsay, for class president (which they win because they promised to throw the best school formal). Her mother, Joan (Brooke Shields), then gives her a credit card so she can buy a dress for the formal. After Whitney does a great deal of shopping, Joan's credit card is eventually declined. Later, they see on television that the office where Whitney's father, Henry (Aidan Quinn), works has declared bankruptcy. This means her father is now unemployed and her family will be destitute. The bank repossesses everything they have and Whitney's world becomes upended.
Her family has to move to Whitney's grandparents' old farm in the country. There, far from her dizzying world of shallow girlfriends, endless parties, and school pressures, she finds a new best pal: Bob, a beautiful and spirited Gypsy (Vanner) horse belonging to her new neighbor. The neighbor, Dusty (Kris Kristofferson), is a crusty rancher who turns out to be her estranged grandfather. Through her new relationships with Bob, Dusty, and her parents, Whitney rediscovers what it means to respect not only nature and her family, but also someone very special she had almost lost touch with: herself. At her new school, she feels like a fish out of water, having no contact with her old friends for months. She has to accept the way things are now or do something about it. | cute | train | wikipedia | Bob, The Horse, drew Me In. A somewhat spoiled young Whitney Brown (Hanratti), who was just elected Class President of her High School Class in the city of Philadelphia is told by her parents that her father lost his job and they have to move.
She is crushed and doesn't like it one bit.
And, they move out to the country, and now all of them will have to start over.This movie is a true sleeper.I saw the promos for this and saw the horse and laughed at what I saw and knew I had to see this movie.
I was hoping the funny promo wasn't the only funny thing in it.
And, it wasn't.
I laughed all the way thru and for me, that is saying a lot.The real winners here are Sammie Hanratti and Bob, the horse .
Whitney's grandfather (Kristofferson) says the horse has a mind of his own and is almost human.
Her parents played by Brooke Shields and Aidan Quinn were very good as were the rest of the cast.
But, they were not the story.
Whitney and the horse were.And, it is Bob, the horse, that gets you to LOL first and it's kind of shocking the way that happened.
Very funny.
Whitney is a chatty baby and her incessant chattering was a breath of fresh air until we meet Bob. But, even after that her chatter was welcomed.
Her dialogue was quick, funny and right on with her being stranded in the sticks with no friends.
Well, except for Bob, the horse, of course.
And, her constant chattering was her way of complaining to no one in particular.
Well, that is to Bob, who seemed to know and understand more than most humans.
Maybe he was almost human.
Hard one to figure out.
I honestly didn't want this to end.
I don't think I have enjoyed a movie this much for the longest time.
This delivered a good story and ton of LOLs all the way to the end.
Sequels?
Hey, I'm there.
This is a movie the whole family will enjoy for a long time.
As for Miss Hanratti, well the girls will just have to look over their shoulders from time to time.
Yes, I mean: the Fannings, Breslins, and the like.
This Hanratti person has a presence that could remind one of a young Shirley Temple.
Anyway, that is what I came away with.
Hey, I 've seen the promos for Shirley Temple they are hawking now.
The "not sold in stores" enhanced videos kind of thing.FYI: Bob the Horse is a Gypsy Vanner.
To look at this breed right away you might think he is a Clydesdale.If the title left out the word "greening" it might stand a better chance to be seen and appreciated.
What would I choose as the title?
Why,"Whitney and Bob the Horse" of course.
Read The Greening of Whitney Brown this way: The revitalization of Whitney Brown.
Now, you got it.
(10/10)Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No..
Fluffy But Fun Teeny Dramedy.
I didn't really expect much of this film, but liked the trailer.
I am an odd 40 plus man who enjoys fluffy teen movies and romcoms when I'm in the right mood, so this looked like it might be fun.Ya know what?
It IS fun.
The title character could so easily have been a brat, and even at the beginning when she is little miss rich girl she comes across as likable, and I feel this is due to very good casting with a girl who is sweet but not at all sexual or threatening.The basic storyline isn't exactly rocket science, and only differs from similar movies because it has a very lovely horse in it, not to mention the ever reliable Kris Kristofferson.
The film is made through the top notch casting, the bubbliness of the lead actress and the delightful way it flows along without asking too much of the viewer or getting at all dull.Watch the trailer, and if that makes you curious give it a go, because it's a good film that should suit the whole family..
horrible and annoying young actor.
i just can't believe that the casting job would be THAT difficult to find a better and more likable young actor to play this her-titled movie.
she actually just looked like a brat, a spoiled, heartless, feeling-less shallow materialistic teen.
and i also couldn't believe in that particular school, girls were so annoyingly disgusting and so formulaic portrayed in such typical Hollywood movie.
neither could i believe anything happened in this movie even it claimed to be a comedy.
father lost his job, then immediately declared he's bankrupted, only this scenario i can believe, because it's typical American.
when you got a job with a steady huge income, the whole family members would engage in a shopping spree day in and day out, but once the job was cut, then there's nothing left right away.
it's the American consumer paradise funded on regular incomes.
this movie cast two adult actors who i like a lot, but the girl who plays their daughter just like a nice soup ruined by a tiny fly.
what a waste.
and the comedy is still trying to have this family full of fun?
it only happens in the movie..
Pleasantly entertaining family movie with a horse..
I watched this movie for Brooke Shields, I have been seeking out hers that I hadn't seen.Cute and short for her age Sammi Hanratty carries the movie in the title role of Whitney Brown.
She is bright, popular, and ambitious, and gets elected as president of her Junior high class.
But she is also somewhat spoiled by her wealthy parents, she seems to get what she wants.
Until one day dad comes home, he has lost his job, they are broke.
They have to move away from Philadelphia and Whitney naturally protests, but not in a whiny, mean way, just disappointed that she has to leave her school and friends.
They move away to a country house that her grandfather owns but is vacant.There Whitney meets the horse, and soon has a different perspective on what is valuable.
She also gets to know her grandfather.A good family movie and young Hanratty does a good job in the lead role.Brooke Shields is the mom Joan Brown, Aidan Quinn is the dad Henry Brown, and the grandfather is played well by Kris Kristofferson as Dusty Brown..
Whitney Brown is the kind of film that does not bring anything new to a genre already explored countless times in movies.
Like many others, the film deals with the always magical interaction between humans and animals, especially horses.
And this interaction invests again in question city versus countryside and all the changes caused by the drastic change that oblige someone to review many of its concepts, emphasizing what's really important in life.Peter Skillman Odiorne - who had previously only worked as an executive producer for Under Still Waters (2008), as editor of the short film Patching Cabbage (2003), and as assistant editor on Farmer & Chase (1997) - directorial debut this dramatic comedy, and ends up showing his lack of experience to constantly break the rhythm of the film, hampered by an issue with many continuity errors, and a script that features parties without explanation, parallel stories without a proper purpose and having forgotten characters during plot.
But the script by Gail Gilchriest disappoint especially when not knowing exploit the dramatic potential proposed.
The same writer who had treated the interaction between animals and humans in My Dog Skip (2000), this time cannot excite and involve as before.
The main asset of the plot is in its cast.
Experienced names like Aidan Quinn ( Frankenstein (1994)) and Brooke Shields (TV series Hannah Montana (2007-2009)), increase the credibility of the plot.
The film introduces us to our protagonist and the life she had since birth.
We see only the private school attended by the elite of Philadelphia.
At school there are "social groups" characterized by "nerds" and the "popular".
When her father loses his job, there is a definite shift in the world of a teenager when she needs to move to the countryside with his parents.
From that moment, they all had to adapt to new life.
While her father Henry tries to get a new job, the mother of Whitney, Joan (Brooke Shields) have to cook again, and the girl herself and learns things simple gestures, like milking a cow, learn to sew their own clothes and give more values friendship and family.
True friendship she learns from the horse Bob, and it is through him that she just approaching his grandfather, who had no coexistence, and their parents.But even with the good cast, let's start talking about the synopsis, which in itself is a cliché, in order to excite and to manipulate the audience.
The problem is that it cannot.
Important parts of the plot and that would yield the best moments of emotion, that would justify the presence of important names of the cast, there are hardly any.
Much more could be extracted from Whitney relationship with their parents as well as the relationship of the girl with his newly discovered grandfather.
But is the relationship between the father and grandfather of the girl, we expected to have important scenes from the beginning.
All of the relationship between the two is poorly explored.
We only know that the two have never been close, and that his grandfather moved away from the family for two years since his wife had died.
The relationships between all of the family could have been much amplified, and not just focused on the relationship with the horse Bob Whitney.We also have a relationship with your friends Whitney of Philadelphia which is a passage very quickly and there's no time to be involved with all to justify the actions of the last 20 minutes of plot.
And what of the new friends at the camp?
We have some scenes where Whitney prejudice suffered by the students of the place and could not make friends.
When she decides to dress more appropriately to fit in, she gets an approximation, but after intentionally to imply that their new friends were taunting them Durate a party at the farm of one of them, they are simply forgotten script.
It is one of the parallel stories without conclusion.
At that same school in the field occurs something unexplained.
Instead of students learning mathematics, chemistry and physics, they learn to take cow milk within the classroom and sew.
All passages within the school, are all always sewing or doing tasks of rural life.
And all this for later in the film, in a scene to show her their rich friends who did not mind not wearing a costume designer, but done by herself.
And what about the farm where they moved?
There, fish and carrots grow rapidly, and fresh blackberries Joan are also seen in abundance to create a sub-plot to the mother of Whitney.
To make matters worse, in a deserted place and away from everything, dozens of trucks start lining up to buy these blackberries.
To arrive at a distant site like that, the driver would have to travel for a few hours.
And to buy blackberries?
And the horse was injured and suddenly gets up and starts running better than before to let her friend on the train heading to Philadelphia?
What about a horse running through a city and comes coincidentally at the exact moment the ball to help their human friend?
And the horse back to the field on the bench tiny car?
Finally, we have the fact Whitney entering your school prom without any difficulty, and she was no longer a student at the school for months.Anyway, the movie is not anything that we have not seen before, with a script without dramatic arches, without rhythm and unusual situations and many continuity errors and script.
As movie is must in many ways, but as a message for the family, especially for children, is quite valid.
A family comedy with a charismatic protagonist and conveys important messages of true friendships, resume, love and appreciation of feelings and what matters in life.
A family comedy with a charismatic protagonist and conveys important messages of true friendships, resume, love and appreciation of feelings and what matters in life. |
tt0117191 | No One Would Tell | Stacy Collins (Candace Cameron) is a shy 16-year-old high school student who has secretly been in love with Bobby Tennison (Fred Savage) for two years. She is surprised when he starts to show a romantic interest in her, considering he is a senior wrestler and the most popular guy in school. They soon start dating and find out that both their fathers had abandoned them. She is upset that her mother, Laura (Michelle Phillips), is dating a man named Rod who treats her very badly, and she is often urging her to leave him and treat herself better. After a few weeks of dating, Bobby starts showing possessive behavior. He is jealous whenever another guy approaches or talks about her inappropriately, and doesn't want her to hang out with her friends when they are together. At first, she doesn't suspect that there is anything wrong, because he immediately apologizes after getting mad at her and tells her that he loves her and gives her gifts to show his remorse.
Stacy soon promises to him that they will be together forever. She also agrees not to hang out with other people anymore if he is not present. At school, boys start to notice her after her best friend, Nicki (Heather McComb), convinces her to wear a mid-thigh high skirt for Bobby. In the boys' locker room, one of his friends makes a comment about her looking hot, which outrages him. After this, he furiously calls her a slut and demands that she wear proper clothes and forces her to change the skirt in the school bathroom and into some track pants. She tries to explain that she was only dressing up for him, but he becomes more furious before throwing and slamming her into the wall. Back at home, Laura worries that she is spending too much of her time with him, but she assures her that he loves her and she requites these feelings. Meanwhile, Nicki and her friend, Val (Justina Machado), also grow concerned about her relationship with him. Nicki soon learns from his cousin, Donna (Paige Moss), that he has a history of hitting his old girlfriends and being abusive in his former relationships. Her worry only gets stronger when she notices that Stacy has several unexplained bruises on her body. She talks to her about what she heard, but Stacy, frustrated, assures her that she can take care of herself.
By accident, Stacy meets Bobby's mother; he catches them talking to each other and becomes furious and violent. Upset, she refuses to see him again and later takes it out on Laura, calling her irresponsible. He later wins her trust back by telling her about the alcoholism that runs in his family. They are happy for a while, but trouble begins again when he sees her talking to another guy at the school dance. He pulls her outside into the parking lot and slaps her, all of which is being watched by Nicki nearby. She quickly confronts her about how badly he is treating her, but she defends him, saying he's been through a lot. When Nicki flat out says that he doesn't love her, she angrily says, "Then you don't know what love is!" before taking off with him in his car. After Nicki helps her see the truth, she accepts that he isn't treating her right and ends their relationship. When he doesn't take the break-up well, she offers for them to just be friends, but they are soon estranged when he hears that she was talking to another boy at a birthday party and slaps her again despite them no longer dating.
Later that night, Bobby, accompanied by his friend, Vince Fortner (Eric Balfour), convinces Stacy to get into his car for a ride. He drives to the lake and walks off with her to be alone. The next day, she goes missing. Most people guess that she hitchhiked and was murdered, but Laura suspects that Bobby has something to do with it after she finds Stacy's purse in his room. Nicki is also convinced that he is responsible for her disappearance and asks Carla (Martha Romo), a witness on the night that she disappeared, for information. Her reluctance to tell what happened frustrates Nicki. Accompanied by Laura, she goes to the police, informing Laura and Detective Anderson how abusive Stacy's relationship with Bobby was. Carla eventually talks to them as well, admitting that Bobby and Vince took Stacy to the lake.
Bobby and Vince are arrested and Bobby blames Stacy's disappearance on Vince, who, when confronted by this lie, admits that Bobby was the one last seen with her and later reveals that when he came back alone, he said that "if he can't have her, no one's gonna". Vince was free to go, since he told Detective Anderson the truth that he was unaware Bobby killed Stacey. Detective Anderson is then convinced he killed her when she ended the relationship and refused to get back together. When he confronts him, he realized he was cornered and shortly admits that he slit her throat when she refused to get back together with him and then disposed of her body in the lake. It is soon found in there wrapped in a trash bag with duct tape and tied down with cinder blocks. Laura and Nicki are left in tears. A court trial soon follows with the district attorney asking everyone if they ever saw him hit her. Carla says she did, but that it was because Stacy wouldn't listen to him. Donna and his other friends also admit that they witnessed the abuse, but figured she would leave him eventually. Val, Vince, Nicki and her boyfriend expose the abusive ways that he treated her, with Nicki saying how she desperately wanted to oust him, but was afraid of losing Stacy's friendship if she were to say what he was doing to her. He is eventually found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge (Sally Jessy Raphael) tells the witnesses to tell someone next time they see a friend being abused instead of standing by and doing nothing, implying how it could have saved her from ultimately getting killed.
Later, a distraught Nicki cleans out Stacy's locker and cries as she looks at the pictures of them, remembering their friendship and guiltily wishing that she had acted sooner to have saved her. The film ends with Nicki and her boyfriend leaving a bouquet of roses on the sand at the lake in memory of Stacy. | murder | train | wikipedia | I was forced to watch this in Health class like many other movies.
While we certainly see an abundance of these films on LMN, the message is important, and not to be discarded.Candace Cameron is quite good as a 16 year old involved in an abusive relationship.
no a days this is something that is happening more and more and i think if a lot of woman would watch this movie they would see why this is just no going to work!overall this is an excellent movie and it deserves more recognition than it gets.
The acting is great, the writing and main characters are nice, but the thing I liked the most is that it was based on a true and very serious topic.Candace Cameron Bure is perfect as the sweet and battered Stacy Collins.
Not too many people care but this is one of the most annoying things in the movies today; having people trying to play high school students who are clearly in their late twenties +.
One minor problem I had with this movie was that although it was entertaining the whole way through with hardly any boring parts, there were too many twists with Bobby and Stacy's relationship.
I've seen that many people commented that Stacy was stupid for staying with Bobby, but most people who are in abusive relationships stay because the abuser usually psychologically abuses them, as well as physically.
The thing is that some people don't know if someone is being abused unless they come out and tell someone.
I saw this movie ten minutes into it, so I didn't know that what happened actually would.
this is a sad film, but one that should be viewed by teenage girls that are in abusive relationships.
it's the movie that made me fall totally in love with Fred Savage, and it proved to me that Candace Cameron Bure could act that well.I haven't gotten to see this movie in 4 years but it's incredibly memorable & I don't even care that my friends give me weird looks when I tell them that my favorite movie was simply made for TV.There was nothing that I didn't like about this movie.
Hilarious comedy starring two likable child stars (Fred Savage and Candace Cameron) who obviously cemented their transition to the huge stars they are today with their performances in this all time classic film, not.No doubt this 'masterpiece' has been inflicted on health classes everywhere, just seeing one frame of this movie screams 'lifetime televesion for women TV movie of the week.' So, if you like abuse of any kind, this is the film for you.
I don't think I reveal anything important, but I don't want to be accused of ruining such a fine film for anyone.)This movie is terrible.
There are so many facets of the movie that make it absolutely awful, but yet it's still impossible to tear yourself away from it if you are one of those people who gets sucked in to the hyper-dramatic made for TV movie.First of all, who can resist a cast that includes Fred Savage, Candace Cameron, and, of all people, Michelle Phillips?
The plot is enough to make you want to cringe (it's not right that they made abuse seem like such a ridiculous topic, but they did), and buying Fred Savage as the villain is somewhat difficult, but that's what makes it all so laughable.
Add to this the fact that it has an uproariously funny soundtrack (Belinda Carlisle, anyone?) and you know you have a winner.If you enjoy watching bad movies, grab some microwave popcorn the next time they re-run this movie on television.
You'll want to see it again and again.(One more thing: Try not to feel like a terrible person at the end of the movie when Sally Jesse Raphael lectures us all about the importance of intervention.).
Unfortunately there wasn't much useful insight to be had here.It was interesting to see Fred Savage play against his type as the abusive boyfriend and one can understand how the film makers would cast someone who seems so gentle and harmless as the abuser.I really wanted to like this movie and it does center around an important issue but unfortunately it doesn't deal with the issue..
It really surprised me to see the well-known good kid, Fred Savage, play such a violent character to the sweet girl next door, Full House's Cameron.
Sometimes I feel bad because I like movies with abuse, teen problems, & eating disorders etc...But every time I see a different one, it makes me more motivated to help people.
***SPOILERS***The moment that pretty but shy Stacy Connins, Candance Cameron Bure, laid her eyes on high school wrestling champion Bobby "Cute Butt" Tennison, Fred Savage, during a wrestling match, which he won, it was love at first sight: For both Bobby as well as his butt.
It's then that Bobby lost control and turned his pent up aggressions, in feeling he wasn't the great lover that he thought he was, on her with a white hot fury.Stacy despite being abused by Bobby where in some cases she had to be hospitalized still stuck with him feeling that he, as well as his cute butt, was too good to give up even if it meant that she'll end up dead sticking with him.
Finally coming to her senses,after being beaten black and blue all over, Stacy decided to call it quits and leave Bobby forever to his own world of mindless violence.
Her biggest mistake was telling him that with no one around to protect her from him when he got the word from her and that was a fatal error on Stacy's part.****SPOILERS**** Based on the true story of the murder of 14 year old Amy Carnevale by her love crazed and mentally deranged 16 year old boyfriend Jamie Fuller in 1991 the movie shows that love is strange like the song says and it gets even stranger when it involves a nut case who can't take no for an answer.
In this case Bobby Tennison who because of his insecurity, in coming from a dysfunctional family, that lead to murdering his girlfriend Stacy Collins.
No one would tell was one of the best movies iv'e seen and it is based on a true story I think a lot of people would like it I just wish they would put it on DVD so i can buy it.Give it a try and watch the movie I can almost guarantee you will like it a lot because i know a lot of people that watched it and they loved it so much they wanted to buy it but they couldn't find out where not everyone is rich and has a credit card and the internet is the only place you can buy it at.
This movie is A great movie to show to teenage girls and women in general some people think the have no where to turn like Stacy did and when she did break free there really was know one to catch her abuse is real if you never experience it you wouldn't know how to react toward a person in it , this movie comes on DVD now.
it funny I saw it on Cbs I could believe it right away when i saw the cover i remember it one of those movies that stays with you because the guy is so evil how he just put that poor girl through hell , this is a true life story and I feel a great deal for that poor girls family well there i said my peace so rent it ..
i now know that abuse is very bad in the relationship that bobby and Stacy had.
also THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER because it was very bad acting and very funny but it was the greatest thing to watch in the whole entire world.
I am very glad that i had a chance to watch the movie in school because i now know that the whole school that i go to knows about bobby and Stacy.
Me and my friends were crying when he killed her every girl should see it and realize when to get out she always had an excuse i saw this movie in gym my teacher thought she should show every one of us girls when a relationship is healthy or not healthy.
Now every girl in my gym class realizes when they should get out i loved the movie it was just wow!
I couldn't believe the passion in the movie if i had to rate it i'd give it a 10 out of 10 for all the actors every actor in the movie put so much passion or effort into the movie i never knew candace cameron had that much in her i never knew fred savage could even act so violent it was just awesome i couldn't believe it well hope this hepled you watch this movie!!.
People seem to get an image that Stacy Collins is stupid for putting up with her abusive boyfriend but if you watch closely you see that he has brainwashed her into thinking that she is wrong and that he loves her no matter what.
It had wonderful characters in it to especially Fred Savage because hes soo fine and HOT and Candace Cameron is very pretty and sweet.so they looked great in the movie together..
Fred Savage's acting in this movie was very convincing.
I actually only wanted to watch it, because Fred Savage was in it, and then it became a good movie.
This is a classic made for TV movie from 1996, its about teenagers and domestic violence leading to murder, based on a true story.I've watched this probably 20 times over the years, the only bad thing I have to say is the overall "style" and feel of the movie is getting more and more outdated as time goes on, but that's how it goes for most made for TV lifetime movies.
We watched this movie in health class as we were to be looking for examples of dating violence.
The movie is about DJ Tanner meeting Kevin Arnold and falling in love with him (who wouldn't).
These twists helped make it a bit better as did a very dramatic ending, but this was mostly a case of too little too late to save the film from ordinary acting and an worse script.I found it hard to believe it was only made in 1996 because it looks like everything this film did has been done already decades before.
I mean the last time i saw that show she was like 15..Anyways Its weird how you think you know a person then they turn around and kill you..but it happens everyday.
This movie was very enjoyable.Fred Savage's acting was great.The only thing I hated about this film was that it showed the ending at the beginning, so there's no real surprise.Of course, this isn't cinema worthy..
Now don't get me wrong, it is horrible when abuse like this happens in the real world.
Abuse is no doubt a subject that should be dealt with care...this movie does not to a good job of that.
First off, starting the movie with the revelation is a bad idea and the film has no surprises after, we know whats going to happen, it all depends on how and when.
Actually whenever someone questions Stacy about bobby she always whines and says "you're just jealous because you can't find love!!!".
If this really is based on a true story than I sincerely hope that the real person was not like this!
Bye is clearly a horrible person and actual physical evidence of abuse Is on her body, but noooo!That aspect is really the only reason the movie get praised, it's based on a true story!
this movie helped me a lot, i was scared to tell my mom about my boyfriend and what he did to me, then i seen this movie and thought to myself that i didn't want to end up like her...
that day i told my friend what my boyfriend did to me and he was put in jail...he is about to get out, but at least now he know's it's wrong what he did to me and that when a girl says no it mean NO...but i just wanted to say it's hard to leave a boyfriend if he hit's you i was beaten and mentally abused and for the longest time i thought i was nothing and only he would love me, but now i'm happy with a guy who has never and well never hit or mentally abuse me and would never basically be like my ex-boyfriend...but thanks bye.
The basic plot line was pretty well explained by everyone so far, but I'll just put it in my own words.Candace Cameron Bure plays Stacy Collins, a sweet and innocent high schooler with a crush on the senior "IT" guy, Bobby, played by Fred Savage.
His buddies tell him that Stacy is the 'nice body' girl, and there starts the relationship.
A disturbing scene is played out at the high school where Bobby tells Stacy that he wouldn't be able to let her go.
Her friend gets tired of hearing only about Bobby and tells Stacy that if all she was going to do was talk about him, she should leave.
He sends his friend Vince after her to calm her down, after which he tells Carla, the other person there, that all that happened was that he and Stacy had argued and she left.
The end sequence showing the abuse that took place, along with a message meant not only for the characters in the story, but also as a message to everyone watching, was very powerful.According to past posts, this movie was based on a true story.
Candace Cameron and Fred Savage leave their days as child stars behind in this 1996 NBC television movie, based on a true story.
Stacy Collins (Cameron) is a junior in high school who is shy and uncertain, but when she begins dating handsome senior and star of the school wrestling team, Bobby Tennison (Savage), she feels loved and protected.
The way Bobby treats his mother, his abusive father's past, and his anger in the wrestling ring are subtle hints of things to come (as is the moment when Stacy takes a shower at Nicky's house - it's pretty obvious that she is being watched).
Heather McComb is the best friend every girl should have, while Michelle Phillips gives just the right amount of balance as the caring but distracted mother who is too busy with work and her own lowlife boyfriend (whom Stacy despises), to realize the dangerous situation her daughter is in.Hopefully, stories like this will raise more awareness - too many people have looked the other way.
Can she stay with him and should she tell someone on him?This was on True Movies 1 today and I never seen it before.
If you seen the likes of Sleeping With The Enemy or Enough or even Safe Havan than these three movies have one thing in common 'Domestic Abuse' in a relationship.
I think this film is 10/10 it relates to how some woman are treated and it shows the justice in what the crime can do it shows that if your so in love with someone you cant see if they are hurting you,you think its doing you good i know my friend was in the same situation until she saw this film.i think the cast was amazing especially Fred Savage i think he is gorgeous and the actress who played Stacey Collins she did it so well the fear in her eyes everything I'm only 16 and i love this film still i only watched this film a couple of month ago and i had to get it its hard to get a tape of it i had to go in to every shop in Oldham Manchester Ashton everywhere until i got it .I read a comment someone thought this film didn't describe why bobby was hitting stacey if u watched it properly he described his dad how he use to hit his mother he then said 'I WONT TURN OUT LIKE HIM' which in fact he does he tells stacey no one wants her and makes her depend on him so she wont leave him but in the end she does leave him and he doesn't like it at the end of it all he makes her leave him for good.........
Great movie based on a true story..
This movie is based on a true story about the murder of Amy Carnevale in 1992.
The movie is very silly, although I really enjoy Fred Savage and Candace Cameron in it.
I hope they never get out.Candace Cameron and Fred Savage give excellent performances in this movie.
An OK movie, but it sends an important message that things like this can really happen..
But most importantly this movie sends a very important message about abusive relationships, don't ask for help or try to escape when it's too late, get help immediately.Candace Cameron (I forget her characters name i thinks it's Stacy) is surprised to find that one of the most athletic and popular boys in school, bobby, has a crush on her.
The girl then finds herself a victim of abuse when bobby hits her for talking to other guys, not doing the things he asks her to do (because she must obey him).
Stacy Collins gets murdered by her abusive boyfriend.
Vince didn't do anything, but Bobby asked Stacy to come with him and she agrees and then they take a walk.
Thanks to Vince Fortner for telling the truth before it was too late, Bobby Tennison was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder of Stacy Collins. |
tt0056255 | Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation | Roger Hobbs is an overworked banker whose wife Peggy plans a quiet seaside vacation with their family, including the grown daughters, family cook, sons-in-law and grandchildren.
What he finds upon reaching their vacation destination is a very dilapidated beach house with nosy neighbors.
Complications mount up. His teenage son Danny only wants to watch television. His youngest daughter Katey, embarrassed by a new set of dental braces, refuses to leave the beach house. And his grandchildren don't want anything to do with him.
Furthermore, one of his sons-in-law, Stan, is unemployed and Mr. Hobbs must entertain Stan's snooty potential employer on a boring bird-watching jaunt. An older daughter is married to the aloof professor Byron, who has unorthodox ideas about both disciplining children and the family dynamic.
One by one, Mr. Hobbs tries to solve each problem. After the television breaks, he finds time to take Danny on a boating trip, where they get very lost in the fog but bond as father and son. He also manages to take Katey to a dance, where he bribes a handsome young man named Joe to pay attention to her.
The bird-watcher and his prim wife don't turn out to be what they seem to be and chaos reigns for a while. But in time Mr. Hobbs and his wife sort out everybody's personal crisis, Joe turns out to be a suitable suitor for Katey, and the family is almost sad to leave the beach and return home. | satire | train | wikipedia | "Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation" is one of the most enjoyable family films ever made.
The plot is simple: Harried St. Louis banker Roger Hobbs (James Stewart) is looking forward to a quiet, romantic vacation with his wife Peggy (Maureen O'Hara) who, unknown to him, has instead opted for a family reunion in a rented Northern California beach house.
And I mean alive because in spite of a capable cast including Fabian, John McGiver and Marie Wilson, the film belongs to Stewart.
With the support of the eternally beautiful O'Hara (who's hardly anyones idea of a grandmother) and a memorable Henry Mancini score, "Mr. Hobbs" may depict a harrowing "vacation" but it's one the the viewer will thoroughly enjoy taking.
Jimmy Stewart plays a St. Louis bank executive who goes on vacation with his wife(Maureen O'Hara) and children on a beach front house in California, where his planned romantic getaway with his wife does not go as planned, since the children get involved with their own problems(his lovelorn teenage daughter and young son who only wants to watch television, especially westerns!) On top of that, the plumbing does not work properly at times, especially a water pump with a mind of its own.Amusing comedy is quite warm and funny, with a charming performance by Jimmy Stewart as the harried father, whose attempts at sailing and bird-watching also meet with mixed results, but film remains a nostalgic comedy of a (sadly) bygone era, but one that can still be enjoyed on DVD whenever the viewer likes..
Mr. Hobbs wants to take a nice quiet vacation to the beach for the summer but Mrs. Hobbs insists on taking the whole family, daughters, son-in-law, grandchildren, cook and various drop ins, with them.
They keep the whole enterprise moving along with some cute side stories, Fabian is charming as a suitor to their daughter who is going through growing pains not helped by her new braces and the distinctive presences of John McGiver and Marie Wilson contribute a bit of spice in small scenes of a supposedly straight laced couple who hold the key to a new job for Jimmy's son in law, John Saxon-looking particularly handsome here.
Roger Hobbs (Jimmy Stewart) is the harried father who longs for a quiet holiday with his wife (Maureen O'Hara) but in the end goes along with her wish to have a family reunion, which turns out to be far from ideal.
Fabian, as Joe, is a nice addition to the scene and he's more mature here than in his earlier movie, which I happen to like best, "North to Alaska." An old familiar face is Reginald Gardiner, as Reggie, who has been a part of countless film comedies dating back to the 1930s.
James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara spark some real chemistry here, and the production is easy on the eyes with some lovely location shooting, and wrapped up in a classic Henry Mancini score that will leave you humming the title song..
Mrs. Hobbs uses the excuse of a summer vacation, in a shack of a shore house, to bring them all closer together before their individual roads (which they are already traveling) lead them further away from "home".The rental home is a shambles and the "family" doesn't cooperate with "the plan".
Nicknamed "Boom-pa" ("Boom-pa, couldn't you do better for your old man?" jokingly(?) insulted) by one of his grandchildren, bird watching with John McGiver ("What kind of bird is that?"..always a "Barn Swallow"), and playing with his temperamental Rube Goldberg water pump, Stewart is the centerpiece to this amusing and warm film.
(Maureen plays a really sexy grandma too...)PS--- FABIAN, as the teenaged love interest of Mr.Hobb's daughter (the one with the "new" braces on her teeth), gets to sing too.
Good family comedy film that covers all the bases except editing.Slightly better screenplay to compliment the excellent writing would have turned this movie into a bonafide EXCELLENT CLASSIC.But despite it's small flaws,this movie will definitely delivers on it's genre's promise.Not for people who do not like any TEEN LOVE stories at all.......
One of my favorite moments is when Mrs. Hobbs asks her husband, "What did you tell him I had, dementia praecox?" You don't get dialogue and delivery like that anymore...The thing that mars the movie is that either the people making the movie didn't realize how wonderful the scenes between O'Hara and Stewart were, or they worried about some stupid demographic junk and silted the movie up with "youth appeal".
Most of the scenes with the teenage daughter could have been cut, especially the awful scene where Fabian sings, and the sequence where he goes sailing with his son should have been tightened.But the scenes with the two parents (especially the ones in the bedroom where they discuss their sons-in-law and the house), and Stewart's occasional morbid fantasies make this movie a winner.
However, if we approach this film without high expectations, then we can accept it for what it is: a mildly amusing movie that allows us to sit comfortably with two of our all-time favorite actors, Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara (although, to be honest, Maureen is not that interesting here either).
Luckily, very few scenes indeed do not feature Jimmy Stewart.Well, I take some of that back; "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is saved towards the end by the appearance of John McGiver and Marie Wilson as Mr. and Mrs. Turner, a business couple who make a point of being very dull.
To be fair, Fabian is not bad either, playing his role rather sympathetically; and the family's 1960 Dodge wagon, with its fantastically distinctive grill, is also cool to see.Particularly annoying is a lengthy sequence in which Jimmy Stewart and his son are piloting a sailboat out of a harbor; this they do with great difficulty, barely missing hitting other boats, and upsetting a water-skier.
John Saxon appears in a bathing suit, with a shockingly well-built body (if I may say so), and it appears that, though he is married to Jimmy Stewart's daughter, he is on the verge of having an affair with Varda; in the end, though, this idea is not pursued.One final note: when Stewart's family enters the massive yet run-down vacation house, Stewart goes to climb the stairs; as he takes the first step, he grabs the large knob on top of the railing, and it lifts right up.
Out of 20th Century Fox, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is directed by Henry Koster and stars James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara.
Plot sees Stewart as Hobbs, a harried city business man who after yearning to take his family to the seaside for a vacation, finally gets his wish.
Maureen O'Hara is pretty as Mrs Hobbs and is good foil for Stewart, but outside of an amusing turn from John McGiver the rest of the cast don't fare so well.
(I'm not an old fuddy-duddy chronologically, just in spirit.) Stewart is your average Dad, taking above average Mom (Maureen O'Hara) and family to spend the summer in a rustic Victorian house at the beach.
When the air got cleared, Mr. Hobbs was an enjoyable experience for her.Basically what the film is that Stewart and O'Hara rent an old barn of a house located on a California beach and there's room enough for them, the two kids still at home and two married daughters with spouses and families.
So the entire Hobbs extended family moves in for the summer and it's one situation after another with problems with appliances and relationships and a pair of officious guests, Marie Wilson and John McGiver who are the best in the supporting cast.20th Century Fox secured the teen box office by getting the services of Fabian to appear in this film.
In 1962, the year this film was released, Stewart starred in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and McGiver, who plays an unwelcome guest at the beach house here, appeared in "The Manchurian Candidate," arguably the two best films of the year.
"Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is the best of the 60's Jimmy Stewarwt family father doesn't know best films, much more palatable than the creepy and antiquated "Take Her, She's Mine", where Jimmy worries more than is healthy about Sandra Dee's virginity and where insipid folk songs are considered raunchy and subversive.
Jimmy Stewart was fifty-four when he made this film, and was just beginning to turn into everyone's idea of the perfect Grandpa, while Maureen O'Hara was forty-two and had undergone the transition from fiery young redhead every hot-blooded male would love to tame to mature woman with a touch of sophistication a little like the childhood friend's mother you secretly thought was hot.
Together they should make a temperamentally incompatible screen couple but it is probably the scenes they share together that work best in this almost unbearably wholesome comedy.Stewart plays the eponymous Mr. Hobbs, an harassed bank executive who's a little dismayed to discover the intimate vacation he had been expecting to spend with his wife has become a family get-together of daughters, son-in-laws and grandchildren.
The location is a ramshackle old house on the Californian coast that a modern-day family wouldn't spend five minutes in but, with admirable fortitude they make the most of the place and its not long before it begins to feel like a home from home.Nunally Johnson's script seems to spend most of its time skirting around its more adult strands the marriage difficulties of one daughter, and the roving eye of the other's husband and remains firmly on safer ground, such as the romance of Stewart's awkward brace-wearing daughter and Stewart's trials with stubborn pumps and tipsy guests.
Jimmy Stewart is one of my all-time favourite actors and I could watch and listen to him reciting a recipe, let alone starring alongside the unique Maureen O'Hara.This gentle family comedy is a little Disney-like but as the mild mannered but very much put upon Mr Hobbs, Stewart is perfect, eschewing a decent American wholesomeness but without the sickliness that sometimes accompany such a character from this era.Blending in neatly the Cary Grant turn in Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House, the Hobbs' escape the big city and end up staying at a falling- down old house on the beach; cue broken everything, that usually can't be fixed, at least not without a great deal of comically extended hassle.The family encompasses the two Hobbs' children, who obviously do as all youngsters inevitably do - cause as much trouble for their parents as possible.
When he plans a romantic vacation for just him and Maureen, she takes it into her head to show him the entire family loves and needs him, so all the children, in-laws, and grandchildren are invited to come along.
Hobbs marveling at a 50 year old light bulb, or the maid quitting because she misunderstood him when he said he was going to get "some sun on the beach".The one scene that chokes me up every time is when Stewart shows O'Hara the $5 bill that Fabian returned to him after the dance..
Mild account of Stewart, O'Hara an daughters taking a long overdue vacation to a seaside community where they mix (at times uneasily) with locals and entertain visitors in a vast holiday house on the beach.
Domestic problems come and go, teenager Lauri Peters takes up with Fabian and his adolescent attempt at a beard, while John McGiver and wife Marie Wilson play a bland couple who spend a chaotic few nights with the Hobbs' with disastrous results.It's passive family fare, the most action you'll see being Stewart and his young son becoming lost in fog while enjoying a defining father-son bonding experience in a sailboat and a pre-dawn bird-spotting adventure.
Generally good cast features Natalie Trundy playing one of the Hobbs daughters, while John Saxon has a small supporting role as one of the spouses.The film finishes where it began with Stewart back in the boardroom, but with closer relationships with his children as a result of the experience.
It's the weirdest thing--Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is supposed to be a mild and funny satire of the harried company man who wants more than anything to preserve his family--as they grow up and grow distant--by bringing them all together for a summer vacation.Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara are the parents of, possibly, the dullest and most unappealing brood of "kids" I've seen.
Maureen O' Hara is along for the ride as the dutiful mom trying to force feed her family a happy shared experience.The biggest problem with this movie is that it is a comedy that isn't very funny.
. not just because that's where the good Mr. Hobbs leads his boisterous brood for the titular vacation, but also since that's what Jimmy Stewart is doing for the entire movie.
The possibility of infidelity is a surprisingly frequent visitor to the Hobbs' vacation house -- the whole family seems to wink at the fact that pompous son-in-law Byron appears to be having it off with a Eurotrash beach bunny.
But Clint Eastwood wasn't directing movies in 1962 so Stewart was stuck with lesser John Ford vehicles and profitable pabulum like "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation." I'm sure he did something nice with the money, maybe a memorial for the son he lost in Vietnam..
The pitfalls of taking a family vacation are depicted in this 1962 comedy with James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara.The couple trade plans for a vacation in France to a beach house in the west.
Marie Wilson again shows her comedic gift as a dumb blond when she is locked in the bathroom with the Stewart character.Then there is the teenage daughter who is ashamed of her braces until she finds and falls for Fabian at a dance.The best part of the movie is that Stewart keeps emphasizing the importance of the family structure.
James Stewart breezes his way through this film, and the chemistry between him and Maureen O'Hara goes a long way to making the whole thing so appealing.
I didn't register much of a connection between married daughter Janie (Lili Gentle) and her husband Byron (John Saxon) either, so the family bonding duties fell to Roger and son Danny (Michael Burns), which was actually kind of touching following the frightening lost at sea sequence.And who should show up for the teenage gals in the audience but era heart throb Fabian as the hip teen Joe Carmody.
I had to laugh when he gave the Bobby Darin album to Katey (Lauri Peters) as a going away present; couldn't the film makers have thrown him a bone and come up with a Fabian record?With the benefit of age and hindsight, this picture has a lot to offer for us older movie viewers, but the best was near the end of the story when Stan, who got a job and reconciled with his wife, used the word 'stoned' to describe the episode with Mr. Turner (John McGiver) over the bathroom fiasco.
Basically Mr. Roger Hobbs (James Stewart) is asking his secretary to write a (long) letter about a vacation to his wife, and obviously then the film sees this vacation.
Roger longed to take his family to the seashore, and when he, wife Peggy (Maureen O'Hara) and kids do get to the sand, problems develop with the house, and the vacation turns out to be a half-good half-bad trip.
In the sixties, however, Stewart returned to comedy, and "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" from 1962 is an example.
Stewart does enough to show that his gift for comedy had not entirely deserted him during his lengthy absence from the genre, and he receives good support from Maureen O'Hara as his attractive wife Peggy, even if she does look improbably youthful to be playing a grandmother to several children.
Overall, however, ''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" does not come close to the standard of Stewart's great comedies from his earlier period.
I do have a trivia question though: Fairly early in the film there is a scene in the Hobbs' bedroom with Stewart and O'Hara.
115 minutes.SYNOPSIS: In "Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation", Stewart was playing his own age as banker Roger Hobbs but looking much more spruce than he had for some time.
But one of the "stars" of the film is undoubtedly the wonderfully ruinous beach-house itself, "like something out of Edgar Allan Poe," as James Stewart's character tartly comments.In all, reasonably entertaining, but it could have been better!.
This is the first of two films that James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara made together.
Stewart was 54 when this film was made, and he plays Roger Hobbs, a man about that age.
O'Hara was just 42 at the time, a few years below the likely age of Peggy Hobbs.
Jimmy Stewart, as Roger Hobbs, takes his teen-aged daughter and young son on a vacation to Carmel, California, where they've rented a decrepit old beach house the size of a mansion.
"Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" was the first of three family-oriented comedies that James Stewart made for 20th Century Fox under the direction of Henry Koster.
In this film, Stewart plays a banker named Roger Hobbs, who plans a quiet summer vacation with his wife Peggy (Maureen O'Hara).
Roger inadvertently solves all his children's problems, ultimately making the vacation a very successful one."Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is not a hilarious comedy by any means, but it does have several very funny moments.
Roger also struggles to operate the complicated water pump at the beach house, and his voice-over narration only adds to the humor of the scene.Despite its very good cast and excellent music score by Henry Mancini, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is unfortunately not a popular film nowadays.
James Stewart followed this film with two other comedies directed by Henry Koster: "Take Her, She's Mine" (1963), which I think is much better than "Mr. Hobbs," and "Dear Brigitte" (1965), which I think is a waste. |
tt0805663 | Jericho | A World War I American troopship is torpedoed, and many soldiers are trapped below the deck. Jericho Jackson (Robeson), a medical student drafted into the war, heroically saves the trapped men, in defiance of his superior’s orders to abandon ship, but accidentally kills the officer in the melee. Despite his heroism, Jericho is court-martialed for refusing orders. Embittered, he escapes. Captain Mack is held responsible for his escape and court-martialed.
Jericho ends up in North Africa, where he meets the Tuareg people. When he uses his medical skills to heal the sick, the Tuareg welcome Jericho into their tribe, and he marries and raises a family. He eventually becomes the Tuaregs' leader. He leads his people to victory over rivals and brings peace and unity to the region through which the Tuareg trek annually to trade for salt. When an anthropology film crew’s coverage of the salt trek is shown in London, Captain Mack spots Jericho and vows to track him down. However, when the captain sees how much good Jericho has done for his adopted people, he relents and flies away alone. | romantic, murder | train | wikipedia | Dramas like this just can't live up to the HBO/AMC cannon because of the demands on them to, eg: appeal to a large audience and produce 22-ish episodes per series - it can be simply backbreaking.
Nevertheless, the fact one can imagine Jericho's greater potential is a credit to the strength of both the inventive writing, the smart political commentary and the many well-drawn characters which shine through occasional soft-focus, feel-good, pre-watershed moments of schmaltz and sentimentality.
So often I lament the passing of quality broadcast commercial television and then something new, challenging, such as Jericho shows up.I think it is certainly timely in light of threats from without and perhaps even within our nation.I was concerned that the 2nd season was not going to measure up as the first episode was rather shaky but it picked up and ended with a bang.I am glad that CBS brought it back for a finale.Casting was excellent and I am still astonished at the quality of the writing and plotting.
A relationships-based drama, focused around the family of the Mayor (Gerald McRaney) of a small town, Jericho, thus far the acting and writing is top notch.
Jericho is one of those shows that snags you by surprise...you aren't really sure why you started to watch it then before you know it your anxious about next week's show..
Plus Skeet is a hottie..If someone you know has not watched the show tell them to tune in..Who care about old washed up stars dancing anyway?...Jericho is one of the best new TV shows this season.
This is the best new show I've seen in a long time and the casting is brilliant skeet ulrich would not of been my first choice for the role of Jake but the more I watch the more Skeet grows into the role and not to mention anything that could spoil the series but I cannot believe how well the idea/premise behind the show fits with modern day living the who was it how did it happen is intriguing but not only that you have to keep trying to guess who are the good guys who are the bad you'll never see a better piece of t.v with such intrigues as this one I would definitely recommend to people whom like anything lost fans for the intrigue, sci fir fans because of the plot (e.g roswell, buffy, etc), those fans of law and order or csi because of the mystery in the story, and finally those whom like the teary eyed melodramas because of the human angle.This is definitely a show for everyone good work and keep it up..
OK, it's fine the fact that series has an ending, but the plot completely changes its focus at a certain point and the awful second season starts to feature a boring theme about political conspiracy in order to explain previous events.
I can't wait for the season to restart after the Winter Break and when it comes back on it will hopefully be even better and more people will want to watch it.
Rebuilding the world, or what is left of it, is a topic that can engage us for a long time, but the people in this clueless town act like "oh, a bunch of nuclear bombs wiped out most of our country, when is Oprah on!.".
So far the episodes are pretty predictable and this is yet another example of a show with a unique idea being stttreechhhed so it can fill however many seasons it takes, just like Prison Break.
If you can just suspend disbelief enough to accept the idea that after nuclear war people in Kansas will still be using makeup, smiling at each other, and having melodramatic love affairs amid the end of the world you'll love this piece of trite garbage.In fact, if you just love soap operas and telenovelas, but you need more exteriors and a little more violence, Jericho is the ticket.Every episode features segues with ting-a-ling music, close ups of well coiffed and immaculate young women smiling at cute children, families whose main concern is continuing to have dinner at the table together amongst mass murder and death, scenes from the local fern bar where a segment of the population has decided to shelter because, despite nuclear war, the electricity is still on, there's plenty of food and drink, and after a week you still manage to look like you just stepped out of the shower, dressed in fresh, clean clothes and went out to dinner.It's like the Hallmark Channel produced Steven King's "The Stand.".
I understand people say that the camera had been wrongly placed and it's fast pace is something not that good for this kind of show, but think about this - having a change from the usual thriller series isn't that bad right?
I confess I got sucked in and watched nearly every episode this season, each week waiting for something to happen.
Unfortunately, Jericho comes off as a wasted opportunity in its poor writing and amateurish directing.One of the first things a writer must take into account in creating any story for television is the fact that commercial breaks are going to interrupt the flow.
Whereas it would seem a given that the nuclear attack should occur fairly soon into the pilot episode, it in fact doesn't arise until almost the half way mark.What the audience is treated to up to this point are endless scenes of Skeet Ulrich's character meeting people he once knew and providing conflicting stories as to his whereabouts since leaving home.
The dialog in general seems to reach at times to artificially intrigue the audience, but with no back-story and situations that simply do not cry out for exploration, the dialog falls flat.To make matters worse, the direction by Jon Turteltaub in the pilot episode comes off as stale.
Had Chbosky simply sat down and watched the pilot episode of LOST, a pilot that perfectly illustrates how to get a suspense drama off on a bang, he may have taken greater care to see whether the situations in Jericho were interesting enough throughout to make a worthwhile script.As it is, Jericho is long-winded and lacks stimulation both as a drama and a suspense thriller.
I feel as if this show has more reality then people know and this is as real as i think it gets if something like that were to happen in the world today.
When a show is weak on both storyline and character development it's only a matter of time that I give up on it.To sum it up for me, I have watched eight episodes I'm not sure if I will continue on.
Would you care if Jake kissed Emily?Bad CG, bad acting and unbelievably cheesy lines.These are the only things that came into my mind after watching the first series...but don't get me wrong i loved the story and the whole concept of the post-nuclear atmosphere.In my opinion there's a very good reason for the show being canceled, they took a bulletproof and a very appealing back story and messed it up, nothing was good but i kept watching because i loved the fact i was watching a post nuclear based TV-show.They had their chance, they should have stayed canceled in order to get picked up by people that really care about the storytelling, the current ones are bringing nothing but some used up, horrifying soap opera plots and dialogs, which for me destroyed the feeling that i was watching something good, not some b-series that are turning every single aspect of a script into a argument which ends in a "I'm not talking to you until you ask Emily if she kissed Eric" ...leaves me pretty angry and unhappy, there are so many shows that deserved that re-airing.The show did nothing for me, maybe I'm the only one.3 stars for trying..
Problem is probably on my end, but this series feels more like The Bold and the beautiful instead of apocalyptic survival story.Background story is great but it seem to be minor part, feels like it is more important who has a bad day and who is feeling sad as her boyfriend is not noticing her enough than actual story.Similar problems as with Lost (which I can't watch as I fell on sleep) and every modern 'big' show there is nowdays running.It is very hard to get into 'there' as people are acting so unrealistically, sure there can be few that are concentrating on their nails in such situation, but those are first to die in real situation, would be nice if writers would get bit closer to this world.I do prefer watching Airwolf over this one, even it has bad plot and not so good acting but at least my eyes stay open when I'm laughing on it :).
Instead of sticking with the main story line they decided to meander into soapy territory far too often.There are some good lessons to be learned from this show, though I doubt that anyone in a position to make decisions to implement contingency plans for small rural towns would have watched this show.For me, the worst thing about this type of show is how stupid the characters can be.
Getting into such a great show, it was disappointing when it was cancelled but luckily it was revived with a shorter second season which I personally hold in the same level of respect to its first season.If you're a fan of post-apocalypse dramas and television which are quite recently getting revived and made, Jericho is a good show for your tastes.
The story takes place in Jericho, Kansas and revolves around the small town throughout most of the series.
I liked the direction the series took and with the exception of a few small things felt the characters behaved consistently and really enjoyed some of the events that happened.
You're almost told to just assume that it worked out and you don't need to worry about that part of the story.I was a huge LOST fan and Jericho reminds me a lot of LOST with the drama and all the variables playing in with the various characters.
I expected a drama about a dynamic group of people struggling to survive during a nuclear holocaust; instead I saw average small-town characters squabbling in family conflicts and love triangles...oh yeah, and that nuclear bombs thing.
Unlike "Lost," which excellently blended character back-story with island survival and the mysterious main plot progression, "Jericho" devotes most of its time to romance and interpersonal conflicts that are completely irrelevant to the nuclear attacks, favoring forty-five-minute story lines about a character's past gang troubles and then granting you a two-minute teaser about the attacks at the very end.
If you're looking for a show about small-town life under surprisingly calm and vaguely interesting circumstances, you might want to give "Jericho" a shot, but it progressed too slowly for me; the plot was neither exciting enough nor the characters' lives engaging enough to hold my interest.
I'll admit this show has an interesting premise, the logistics of survival in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, but it has to be said the writing in this show is really sloppy.The dialogue sucks and often makes the characters seem really dumb, the believability of situations that arise in this show are ramped up for the sake of drama and are sometimes just laughable.
I don't care for one single character in the entire show perhaps apart from Hawkins and it's the story behind the attack that will keep me watching, not the "human" aspects of the show which are just unrealistic to be honest.The writing painfully leaves obvious questions and situations unexplored, seemingly just so's not to draw attention to major flaws in logic.
Yes there were things that weren't correct ( I'm sure post nuclear would be far worse!) but the stories and characters were brilliant, real acting.
I'm watching it right now it started here in Australia last week already I'm hooked the suspense drama etc its awesome and it poses the question what would you do if your country/city was bombed would you run away would you try and find out who did it would you be scared?
i like how it is not a well known cast either with the way nth Korea and all the other country's with nukes it makes us think what if something like this really did happen i know if it would happen here id be major freaked out about it nuclear power scares me it always has anyway they are my thoughts i love Jericho and i hope other people do too.
I love this premise, I bought the series 1st season, never watched it by episode on T.V. Have seen 4 episodes so far.
As someone who grew up in a town the size of Jericho, this series hits home in so many ways.I think a lot of the people who could most relate and appreciate this series may have been initially turned off by expecting a highly visual, shocking, high production series like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, or The Waking Dead.
In my opinion, this may be the best written and produced story that appeals to this audience.Mad Men, The Wire, The Shield and Breaking Bad all prove that quality writing and directing still exists; Jericho proves the power of storytelling can still steal the show.
I watched the two series of "Jericho" but was disappointed to understand that the show has been canceled because of poor rating results.
there are a lot of deep and emotional moments throughout the series if you give it the time of day you'll see what I'm talking about, I want to thank the creators of the show as well as the actors and everyone who worked on it for bringing us such good entertainment.
However, when I first stumbled on "Jericho", I made a point to watch every episode up-to-date.It's interesting to see how all these characters fit together in a time of nuclear war.
Network: CBS; Genre: Drama, Action/Adventure; Content Rating: TV-PG (for violence); Available: DVD and syndication; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (2 seasons) The small Kansas town of Jericho is changed forever when a nuclear bomb goes off in a neighboring city, cutting off power, communication, resources, severing the city from outside world.
The slow roll-out of what this character knows and what his role in the larger story is smartly written and played like a fiddle by James in what should be a head-turning performance.What makes "Jericho" among those special shows is that it manages to capture the imagination.
It ramps up the intensity in a big way, becoming a sweaty thrill-ride of anti-government hysteria."Jericho" works least as a character drama, but best as a compelling serial series when dealing with the terrorist attack storyline.
Jericho is another worthy rallying cry to wake up another segment of the viewing public to just how archaic and fundamentally flawed the current network rating system is and how the judgments of the network brass that cater more toward drive-by viewers who couldn't care less than their actual fan base.That said, the ending of the series is completely satisfying, wrapping up the character arcs of the two men well enough and offering a promise of things to come that is probably out of the scope of it's network TV budget.
Jericho has a fantastic premise: the result of a nuclear Armageddon on a small Kansas town.Unfortunately, the show can be melodramatic in its romance plots and in after school special moments such as the broken-hearted teenager who always does the right thing, with too soulful and heavy handed music.
With this in mind the events depicted in Jericho, I think, are something that, yes we can find entertaining now, but may have somethings we should keep in mind in case we need to question similar things later on.Over all this is just an amazing show that I personally am really hoping that Netflix & CBS are able to come to an agreement to get a new season done on Netflix soon.
=D I sure hope it gets a season 3 because JERICHO is made by the only team of people that really did their homework before writing a script and we should be welcoming in all that hard work and saying thanks, not cancel it..
Lately I've been watching these tv shows that i got from a recommendation somewhere, and to be honest I didn't have expectations, but wowww , makes you think what happened to new tv shows , i mean when you watch Jericho you know there is some action, every 2-3 episodes they face a dilemma, you figure "next what are they gonna do ?
I finally got to watch all season 1 and 2 of Jericho and was quite disappointed that the show ended like that.
- not so great acting (to put it mildly)But the main problem with Jericho is that the show suffers from the same disease that struck far more greater series like Lost, 24 and Prison Break.
That is exactly what comes to mind when watching this- a group of ordinary people cut off from the rest of the world.The idea of a small town trying to survive after a nuclear holocaust is excellent but it is the execution that somewhat lacks.
It sounds like a great premise, but they only release one small plot point every episode and the other 95% of the time is spent on relationship building.
Much less a television program that has aired only one season.Jericho is that show.America's worst nuclear nightmare has happened two dozen times.
I like Jericho because of the slick writing, good acting and the fact that it brings a true sci-fi feel back to prime-time television. |
tt1663655 | Martyrs | As a child, Lucie escapes a building where she has been held captive and tortured. Lucie spends the rest of her childhood at St. Mary's Orphanage where she is haunted by hallucinations of a woman attacking her. Over time, she grows extremely close to Anna, a fellow resident at the orphanage and Lucie's only friend.
One month later, Lucie goes to the countryside home of the Patterson family with a shotgun and executes all four family members, believing them to be related to her childhood torture. Lucie calls Anna who is concerned that the family may not be responsible for Lucie's torture. Anna is horrified by the scene when she arrives at the house and calls 911 while Lucie sleeps but hangs up. Anna discovers Mrs. Patterson is still alive and tries to help her escape. Lucie suddenly tackles Mrs. Patterson outside and stabs her to death. While cleaning the crime scene, Anna finds a secret panel in a closet which leads to a hidden basement. Anna finds a little girl named Sam and rescues her. The two regroup with Lucie and flee outside when several trucks arrive with Eleanor, Fenton and several other people; all three girls are captured and imprisoned.
Eleanor and Fenton oversee the girls' torture. Eleanor explains that her group is a collective dedicated to discovering what waits in the afterlife. By torturing women and young girls to their breaking point, they believe they can create Martyrs with an ability to glimpse briefly into "the other side". They value Lucie as a rare find; she is capable of enduring great pain without dying. Eleanor and Anna watch from an overhead room as the cabal gathers to observe a captive woman being burned to death. After the woman dies, the priest overseeing her ordeal looks in Eleanor's direction and shakes his head. Lucie is taken for surgery and Eleanor orders the doctor to perform a procedure on Lucie. The doctor cuts and peels a piece of flesh from Lucie's back as part of the final preparations for her martyrdom.
Meanwhile, Anna is taken to a pit outside and buried alive but she digs her way into a drainage ditch and escapes. She fights her way back into the underground facility, killing several cabal members. She frees Sam and tells her to run for help. While she searches for Lucie, she is attacked by Fenton and shot in the shoulder but eventually kills him with the help of another captive woman.
Anna finds and interrupts an assembly gathered to watch Lucie die on a cross. Lucie gets a look in her eyes that the group feels signifies martyrdom and Anna, wielding Fenton's gun, insists that Lucie be freed. Lucie reveals what she saw in a whisper to Anna. Eleanor demands to know what Lucie said; the priest says he heard Lucie's whispers before quickly putting a gun in his mouth and killing himself. Anna shoots Eleanor and the rest cabal members flee. Anna embraces Lucie as they lie dying on the floor. With the police on their way, both women's eyes glaze over with the look of martyrdom. | violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0034637 | The Dawn Express | In the middle of World War II, Nazi Capt. Gemmler (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) is in need of a powerful chemical formula to improve the energy output of ordinary gasoline. In his quest for this formula he finds two individuals that are of use: the chemist and playboy Tom Fielding (William Bakewell) and his co-worker, Robert Norton (Michael Whalen), who is engaged to Tom's sister Nancy (Anne Nagel). They are already involved in such a project for another employer. Using his secret agents, Gemmler kidnaps them.
The unsuspecting Tom goes to the nearby Alpine-style tavern one night and meets a Polish refugee named Linda Pavlo (Constance Worth). They strike up a conversation, and the following morning Tom is late for work. Robert tells him to stay away from unknown women he meets at the bar by chance like that – nothing good will come out of it. The president of the chemical company where they work, Franklyn Prescott (C. Montague Shaw), gets a visit from a government agent, James Curtis (Jack Mulhall), and is told that there has been a double murder in another chemical plant. Prescott is not worried, but refers to his security plan: the plant is only working on one half of the precious formula, while another plant on the East Coast is working on the other half. Curtis breaks the news to Prescott that the East Coast plant has been compromised and sabotaged by one of its own chemists (George Pembroke) who stole half of the formula, now identified as working for the Nazis under the name of Karl Schmidt.
In the night, when Tom and Robert return to the same tavern as the night before, Curtis' agents follow them there. Tom meets Linda again, and since she is actually a Nazi agent he is lured into a room where Gemmler is waiting. Gemmler threatens to hurt both Tom's mother and his sister Nancy if they do not play along and give him the formula. When Tom leaves the tavern that night, he is again followed by one of Curtis' agents, but one of Gemmler's spies murders the agent.
The following day Prescott and Curtis talk to Robert, explaining their theory that Tom, in an act of treason, has murdered the agent. Robert does not buy it, claiming Tom is innocent. What none of them are aware of is that Tom's sister Nancy is eavesdropping on their conversation. After Prescott and Curtis has left, Tom and Robert talk about what's going on; later that night Tom meets once more with Linda at the bar. This time she offers him $100,000 in exchange for the formula.
After Tom's meeting with Linda, he, Robert and Nancy team up to try to frame the Nazi spies and get rid of them once and for all. Tom goes to the chemical plant to retrieve the formula, and gives it tor Robert. He in turn brings the formula to his meeting with Linda and is escorted to Gemmler's office. Suddenly, Tom appears at Gemmler's office and starts arguing over the payment. This results in Gemmler withholding payment entirely. Robert is knocked out cold by Gemmler's goons. The spies bring Tom with them to the airport, where Gemmler's contact, Karl Schmidt, is about to arrive.
The government agents have followed Tom and his party, but are too late to catch Gemmler before he leaves for the airport. They do, however, arrest Linda and a few other spies lingering at Gemmler's office. At the airport, Gemmler forces Tom into the aircraft and it takes off. Schmidt decides to test the formula while they are in mid air. Tom, who knows that the future of his country is at stake, makes a deliberate mistake in mixing the chemical ingredients. The aircraft explodes, leaving no survivors, with Tom sacrificing himself to prevent the formula from reaching its destination. | violence | train | wikipedia | Don't Let Title Fool You. While there is an airplane at the end of the film this film really has nothing to do with the cover artwork.
This film deals with synthetic fuel (formula 311) developed by two scientists apart from each other as security measures.
A love interest between the two stars adds to the story and intrigue.
This is a slower paced film but I like the plot and the conclusion is surprising.
The good news is it is available for free on the internet archive and their copy is watchable.
The score by Lee Zahler is passable.
Nothing stands out but it is passable.
The number of people who were watching Norton was hilarious.
The German Captain Gemmler in the picture somewhat reminds me Col. Klink in the television show "Hogan Heroes." I give this film a #100 ranking..
Some more zip in the gas tank.
It's a PRC film so start with low expectations, but The Dawn Express will not even meet those.
This is a horribly dated early World War II era flag waver when we were told to be on the alert for Nazi spies everywhere.Michael Whalen and William Bakewell are a pair of scientists working in a chemical laboratory on a formula to get a little more mileage out of the gasoline in your tank's tank.
Something no doubt that General Patton will find invaluable, not to mention what it will do for the post war civilian drivers.
The Nazis want it too and they're even sending one of their top scientists, flying him secretly to America to test it for himself.
It's Bakewell they get to first putting an alluring Constance Worth in his path.
Bakewell does fancy himself a player.
Then it's up to Whalen to keep the formula out of Nazi hands and rescue Bakewell if he can do both.
In fact he's engaged to Bakewell's sister Anne Nagel.There are about a dozen holes in this story and it looks like it was shot with an old Bell&Howell home movie camera.
I just hope our post war drivers got the benefit of this research..
Cheap and filled with plot holes..
When "The Dawn Express" began, I assumed that It would be a pretty bad film.
After all, it was made by PRC and it had a cast filled with complete unknowns.
And, it turned out I was pretty much right about this one.
The film is a wartime propaganda movie—meant to capitalize on the war as well as engender support at home for the war effort.
Because of this, it is unabashedly patriotic and obvious.
Subtle it isn't.
Quickly written and often illogical it is.The film begins with a couple workers from a chemical plant being kidnapped by Nazi spies.
Then, after pumping them for information about a top secret formula, the two are murdered and their bodies dumped.
Not surprisingly, US agents took notice of this—and it's odd the Nazis didn't think of this.
The next guy they pump for information is different.
Instead of kidnapping him, they know he's a bit of a playboy—so they send a pretty Nazi agent his way.
Soon, her superiors demand he give them the formula but he refuses.
They threaten to kill his family and he asks for time.
Now you'd think they'd kill him or torture him
.but they let him go!
And, oddly, this dodo doesn't tell anyone!!
What's going to happen next and how will Professor Schmidt figure into all this nonsense, find out for yourself.Despite having many more plot holes than I mentioned above, the film has a certain silly likability.
I often find these super-low budget films great fun if you don't take them seriously and they are exciting
if also quite dumb.
Exciting and dumb
yep, that pretty much sums "The Dawn Express"!.
Interesting tale of nazi spies.
It is during World War II and nazi spies will stop at nothing to get a secret formula of increasing the power of gasoline.
Two scientists Norton and Fielding have the information.
Will Norton accept the offer of 100,000 dollars or will Fielding accept the offer of the lives of his mother and sister?
What about the protection of the american intelligence team assigned to protect them?
One of the agents should have watched an episode of "Get Smart" because when he gets killed he could have said "fell for the old knife hidden in the blind man's cane trick." A rather interesting film and worth the watch..
Amateurish film quickly loses interest.
Even so-called "B" movies can be good - if they have a good plot, screenplay, sets and settings, and cast.
Unfortunately, "The Dawn Express" is lacking in all of these.
As much as one might want to have an interesting espionage thriller, this film just screams "amateur." The script is terrible, the plot and acting resemble the melodrama of silent films.
Most propaganda films are much better than this.
The plot idea is a good one, but the story just didn't get a very good screenplay.
Either that or the direction was terrible.
More than likely, it was a combination of the two.
Even the most die-hard war movie collectors will want to forget this poor film..
WW II storyline.
Stars Michael Whalen and Anne Nagel.
Picture quality is pretty terrible, but the acting is so lame, it's unlikely this one will be restored anytime soon.
The usual wartime flick, with the Nazi's of germany trying to steal the formula from workers who get knocked off one by one.
The story line is actually pretty good, if formulaic.
Acting and production values are pretty cardboard and stilted, but easy to follow.
Written by Arthur St. Claire, who wrote a ton of stuff in the 1940s.
Directed by Albert Herman...
looks like he directed many, many shorties from the early days of silents, and jumped right in with full length features when the studios began with talkies.
An M&A Production, which seems to stand for Merrick and Alexander, the producers..
Worth is worth attention!.
Michael Whalen (Robert Norton), Anne Nagel (Nancy Fielding), William Bakewell (Tom Fielding), Constance Worth (Linda Pavlo), Hans Von Twardowski (Captain Gremmler), Jack Mulhall (Curtis), Kenneth Harlan (Brown), Crane Whitley (Ed), Frank Mayo (the FBI agent who shadows Tom), George Pembroke (Professor Schmidt), Robert Frazer (John Oliver), Hans Von Morhart (Heinrich), Michael Vallin (Argus), Montague Shaw (Prescott), William Costello (Otto), William Yetter (Wolf), George Morrell, Milburn Morante (waiters), Jack Gardner (spy with paper), Ted Adams (Sullivan, the night guard).Director: ALBERT HERMAN.
Original screenplay: Arthur St Claire.
Photography: Eddie Linden.
Film editor: Leete R.
Brown.
Art director: James Altwies.
Music director: Lee Zahler.
Assistant director: Seymour Roth.
Sound recording: Corson Jowett.
Associate producer: Arthur Alexander.
Producers: Max Alexander, George M.
Merrick.
Executive producer: George R.
Batcheller.
Copyright 20 February 1942 by Producers Releasing Corporation.
The movie did open in New York in 1942, but the actual date was not recorded.
U.S. release: 27 March 1942.
No theatrical release in Australia.
66 minutes.Alternative title: NAZI SPY RING.SYNOPSIS: Nazi agents will stop at nothing to gain the secret of a chemical formula which will enhance the power of gasoline.COMMENT: Here's the lovely Constance Worth from "Criminals Within", again at her villainous best.
This time she has another sympathetic director in Albert Herman who, in collaboration with photographer Eddie Linden, has contrived lots of spooky close-ups of all the heavies (even the minor ones) which are somewhat arbitrarily edited into the action.
Nonetheless, it's all moderately exciting by Poverty Row standards, even if the rather routine story does come to a foregone conclusion which will only surprise those callous but stupid Nazi spies..
As dull as a butter knife but not nearly as sweet..
Propopganda drama of Nazi's after two scientists involved in the creation of an explosive.
Stereotypical Nazi villains burbling typically lame trite dialog, a sexy femme fatal out to seduce one of the two to get her hands on it, and quite suddenly, an action packed finale that ends with a bang while the whole film itself seems to be buried in a whimper.
Michael Whelan and William Bakewell are two pals who become involved in the Nazi's quest with Bakewell the sap who falls prey to the obviously sinister Constance Worth's flirtations.
Whelan is pulled in but his intentions are obviously to foil their evil plan, while Bakewell goes along with the plot simply to protect his sister (Anne Nagel) who is engaged to Whelan and their father.
Excruciatingly slow pacing makes this extremely difficult to get through but that all of a sudden changes its course as the film begins to wrap up after just over an hour.
Even that first 90 percent of the movie is extremely hard to get through, but there's a sense of satisfaction with a shockingly violent ending.
The presence of a supposedly blind man with a knife hidden inside his cane only adds to the stereotype of brutally evil Nazi villains, and the opening scene of another professor being brutally targeted then murdered doesn't aid in any subtlety that the film might have tried for better results otherwise..
This will be a glorious day for the Fuhrer!.
***SPOILERS*** One of the very first movies out of Hollywood after the entrenches of the US into WWII the film "Dawn Express" concentrates on the Nazis effort to steal, by hook crook and pay offs, the secret formula 3-B-11 no not the ingredients of a new kind of soft drink from Coca Cola but something that has to do with doubling the mileage of your gas tank when it's dropped in the gasoline.
This secret is so important to the Nazi war machine that Germany sent it's top secret agent, who has trouble hiding his very prominent German accent, to the US Captain Gemmer, Harr Hans Heinrich Von Twardowski, who never makes mistakes to get his hands on it.It's the two US chemists Robert Norton & Tom Fielding, Michael Whalen & William Bkewell, whom Capt.
Gemmer wants kidnapped and then paid off, with $100,000.00 in US currency, to give him formula 3-B-11 or else he'll not only off them but their family members as well!
It's when Norton finally gives in to spill the beans or the formula to the Nazis that his good friend Tom Fielding turns traitor to his country and not only volunteers to give them the magic formula for gasoline enhancement but mix it for them as well!***SPOILERS*** As we'll soon see Tom Fielding is no traitor to his country but a full fledged hero instead.
Putting his life on the life Fielding is brought on a Nazi airplane to fly back to Germany with top Nazi chemist Karl Schmidt, George Pembroke, to check if him mixing formula 3-B-11 is on the up and up.
You begin to wounder why Schmidt couldn't do it himself?
It was an act of desperation by Fielding but he in the end put and end to the Nazis attempt to get their hands on secret formula 3-B-11 by putting an end to them as well as himself!P.S What Tom Fielding did was copied in real life by the likes of Japanese kamikaze pilots as well as Al-Qeada suicide bombers who's actions in some cases were just as successful as his were! |
tt0121395 | Imtihaan | Vicky (Saif Ali Khan) is a popular singer, who meets and falls in love with Preeti (Raveena Tandon). He asks permission to marry her from her father, who instantly approves of him. Preeti is reluctant to get married but agrees for her father's sake. Soon, her father falls ill, and he makes her promise that she will not tell Vicky about her past life.
A few years earlier, Preeti had fallen in love with and married Raja (Sunny Deol,) against her father's wishes. Though the two were very happy together, they were cruelly separated when Raja got involved in an accident and disappeared. Preeti returned to her father's house, where she learnt that she was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter; however, her father sent the baby to an orphanage.
After marrying Vicky, Preeti is quite happy with him. She meets her daughter, Pinky, in the orphanage, and decides to legally adopt her. Vicky, who does not know about Preeti's connection to Pinky, opposes the adoption because he looks forward to having his own children some day. Preeti continues to meet Pinky. However, a mysterious stranger also contacts Preeti. She starts to receive phone calls from someone, and repeatedly lies to Vicky regarding her whereabouts. Convinced that Preeti is having an extramarital affair, Vicky follows her. It turns out she is being called by Raja, her first husband, who is alive and wants to adopt Pinky. Vicky goes out of his mind when he finds about this, but agrees to adopt Pinky when he learns the whole truth. This is followed by some action scenes, which result in Raja's death. | revenge, romantic | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0280970 | My Name Is Tanino | Gaetano Mendollia, nicknamed Tanino, is a native of the fictional Castelluzzo del Golfo, a small, Sicilian, seaside resort in the province of Trapani. He studies cinematography in Rome and dreams of becoming a movie director.
He meets Sally, an American girl vacationing in Italy, with whom he has a brief romance. At the end of her vacation, Sally returns to the fictional Seaport, Rhode Island but forgets her camera in Italy. Tanino decides to travel to the US with the pretext of returning Sally's camera to her but also to avoid Italian military service. He leaves at night without telling anyone.
After arriving in America, Tanino has a series of adventures with the somewhat shady Li Cause family, Italian-Americans living in the US. Eventually he leaves them and finally meets up with Sally and her "perfect" White Anglo-Saxon Protestant family, confounding them with his antics.
Later, Tanino escapes the clutches of the FBI by riding on the roof of a train and arrives in New York City where he meets his idol, director Seymour Chinawsky. However Chinawsky is reduced to poverty and dies soon after promising to make a film with Tanino.
Despite Tanino's many misadventures, he always comes out on top because of his ingenuity. | romantic | train | wikipedia | A fantastic journey through an hilarious gallery of portraits, a weird and funny movie, an amazing mix of comedy, coming of age, on the road...
Wonderful Rachel Mc Adams (starring in Mean Girls) in the ironic role of a sweet melancholic and sexy wasp Icon!.
Amazing Tanino, a silly and romantic hero in the Art of the Escape!.
Amazing Tanino, a silly and romantic hero in the Art of the Escape!.
A young, clue-free Italian finds and eludes trouble on numerous occasions as he journeys to and through America in director Paolo Virzi's 2001 comedy My Name Is Tanino.
A young, clue-free Italian finds and eludes trouble on numerous occasions as he journeys to and through America in director Paolo Virzi's 2001 comedy My Name Is Tanino.
Naïve optimist Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) gets romantically involved with an American tourist named Sally (Rachel McAdams), who happens to visit his hometown one fateful summer.
Naïve optimist Tanino (Corrado Fortuna) gets romantically involved with an American tourist named Sally (Rachel McAdams), who happens to visit his hometown one fateful summer.
After Sally's vacation ends, Tanino decides to follow her to the U.S.
After Sally's vacation ends, Tanino decides to follow her to the U.S.
-- not realizing that Sally's interest in him ended when her vacation ended.
-- not realizing that Sally's interest in him ended when her vacation ended.
Upon arriving in America...
Upon arriving in America...
A fantastic journey through an hilarious gallery of American portraits, a eird and funny movie, an amazing mix of comedy, coming of age, on the road...
Wonderful Rachel Mc Adams (starring in Mean Girls) in the ironic role of a sweet melancolic and sexy wasp Icon!.
Italy and America, young and old,thriller and comic, this film has it all!.
You could say this film is about a young Italian in America constantly running away from difficult situations,or you could say it is about youth and growing up by confronting ideals with reality.
But it also shows different lifestyles, (the average well to do American family, the Italian large family, the impoverished artist).
The performances are good quality, helped by an on the spot casting for example corrado fortuna's (he plays the main character) expressions are quite hilarious or even just his out of place presence create a comic outcome.
Of course it is even funnier if you are or have been in contact with Italian culture (and i mean not just from films and TV!), especially from the south, otherwise Castelluzzo,the town from where the main character comes from, might remind you of any little village where everyone knows everyone and everything about everyone.
There isn't specifically a plot but you could describe it as the comic adventures of a young Italian in America but that might make it sound like a kids book.Alltoghether it is a memorable simple little film that you will probably enjoy..
The best foreign film ever!!!!.
I am known for hating foreign films, never wanting to give them a chance.
But when I visited Italy this summer with my mother and sister, I figured I had to watch a movie there just to say I did.
And I am so happy I did!
It was the best movie ever!
Even though I don't speak Italian, I do speak Spanish so I understood the whole movie pretty much (there were no subtitles).
I recommend this movie to EVERYONE!!!!.
Best Comedy That I've Seen This Year!!!
Best Comedy That I've Seen This Year!!!
This is a story a little Italian, a little American, dedicated to the dreams of young people.
The cast and crew did a wonderful job..
Funny and a must for all Americans loving Italy.
At a first see, My name is Tanino is a funny, well-directed and well-acted comedy (things that are not at all a given in the recent, mediocre Italian cinematography).
But it's also a (extremely light) description of the not always easy relationship between Europe (and, in particular, Italy) and US; I mean the ambivalent view of admiration and suspicion toward each other.
And if, to an American viewer, the depiction of the typical WASP family and of the typical italo-American family may be a bit stereotyped, the character of Tanino is quite different from Italians you see in movie and TV-show from the States (like the infamous Paolo from Friends...).
My name is Tanino could also be a drive to the foreigner to discover other Virzì's movies, like Ovosodo...
I don't know if it was ever subtitled, though..
Fantastic foreign film - a must see..
May contain spoilers:This movie is an incredible watch.
I recommend it to anyone who likes foreign films at all.
I don't how the subtitles are because I watched it in Italian, but there are enough English-speaking characters that add to the hilarious plot development of the film.
It is well done and contains a mix of both languages that accurately portrays both the difficulties of Americans in Italy and Italians in America.
Of course, this leads to many, many comic situations and the result is quite humourous.The only downside is the lack of an ending.
That is to say, there is no tying up of loose ends or anything like that at the end, but that doesn't detract from the movie itself much at all.
I am too used to American cinema in which everything wraps up nicely upon completion.
The ending that this movie has is much more realistic than some fantasy-fiction that Hollywood could toss together ...
yet at the same time it is far-fetched and and fantastic as well.Another slight detractor are the random flashback scenes that Tanino has during his fainting spells.
Most of them remain unresolved and I have no idea what they were all about ...
they didn't make a whole lot of sense.
But at the same time, the weren't awful and the movie seemed to flow uninterrupted afterwards.
I suppose they were a good means of transition at certain points.If you have any slight interest in modern foreign films, this is a great choice.
It is bi-lingual enough to catch the drift of the film without subtitles but I'm sure if there is a DVD version it will have subtitles for those who can't grasp the Italian.
It is enjoyable and a genuine good time, so enjoy it with your friends. |
tt0081506 | Shogun Assassin | As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Ittō's (Tomisaburô Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigorō (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration.
Two hooded samurai attack Ogami while he is pushing a cart with Daigorō inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade comes out, transforming it into a spear. Ogami then uses the spear to impale the second attacker. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death.
As Ogami and Daigorō sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigorō the life-death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigorō would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigorō's ball (which would mean that Daigorō would be killed, so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigorō chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit suicide with Daigorō. Ogami decides to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the Shogun and his men. The Shogun challenges Ogami to fight Kurando (the Shogun's son) in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts, and eventually cuts off Kurando's head.
Ogami and Daigorō journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigorō recalls how Lord Bizen (Taketoshi Naitô) and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing chain mail beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream and uses an underwater sword-slash technique to kill him. Ogami sees the Shogun watching from a distance and he swears to the Shogun that he will destroy him and all of his ninjas.
The Supreme Ninja (Kayo Matsuo) receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō. Lord Kurogawa (Akiji Kobayashi) doesn't believe the Supreme Ninja's women are up to the task, so she proves otherwise by ordering her ninja's to kill Junai (Kurogawa's strongest ninja).
Ogami and Daigorō meet secretly with a client to discuss a business proposition. Ogami is offered the task of killing Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive ten pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three-brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.'
During Ogami and Daigorō's journey to find Lord Kiru, they are attacked several times by The Supreme Ninja's women. Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the Supreme Ninja herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the Supreme Ninja flees by running away backward.
Ogami and Daigorō keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigorō in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigorō to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange.
The Supreme Ninja meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigorō.
Later that night, Daigorō is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigorō gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigorō is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the Supreme Ninja. Daigorō is tied up and suspended over a deep well. Kuroawa demands that Ogami surrender, or he will drop Daigorō down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigorō over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the Supreme Ninja, who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigorō up to safety. Instead of killing the Supreme Ninja, Ogami walks away with Daigorō.
Ogami and Daigorō board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the Supreme Ninja. During the night, the remaining rebels start a fire on board the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him, but that they will not attack him as along as he makes no move against them. Ogami agrees to their terms and they leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigorō in his cart and throws them both overboard to safety. The Supreme Ninja attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigorō, himself and the Supreme Ninja to shore and to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the Supreme Ninja that they must share their body heat or die. The Supreme Ninja doesn't understand why he would save her and realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigorō leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide.
The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert area, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' then fight off and kill all of the rebels. Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they haven't gone far before they see Daigorō standing in their way. He points to Ogami, who is waiting. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down and killed. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then kills Lord Kiru with his sword.
As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigorō looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish". | revenge, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | null |
tt0020629 | All Quiet on the Western Front | The book tells the story of Paul Bäumer, a German soldier who—urged on by his school teacher—joins the German army shortly after the start of World War I. His class was "scattered over the platoons amongst Frisian fishermen, peasants, and labourers." Bäumer arrives at the Western Front with his friends and schoolmates (Leer, Müller, Kropp and a number of other characters). There they meet Stanislaus Katczinsky, an older soldier, nicknamed Kat, who becomes Paul's mentor. While fighting at the front, Bäumer and his comrades have to engage in frequent battles and endure the treacherous and filthy conditions of trench warfare.
At the very beginning of the book, Erich Maria Remarque says "This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped (its) shells, were destroyed by the war." The book does not focus on heroic stories of bravery, but rather gives a view of the conditions in which the soldiers find themselves. The monotony between battles, the constant threat of artillery fire and bombardments, the struggle to find food, the lack of training of young recruits (meaning lower chances of survival), and the overarching role of random chance in the lives and deaths of the soldiers are described in detail.
The battles fought here have no names and seem to have little overall significance, except for the impending possibility of injury or death for Bäumer and his comrades. Only pitifully small pieces of land are gained, about the size of a football field, which are often lost again later. Remarque often refers to the living soldiers as old and dead, emotionally drained and shaken. "We are not youth any longer. We don't want to take the world by storm. We are fleeing from ourselves, from our life. We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces."
Paul's visit on leave to his home highlights the cost of the war on his psyche. The town has not changed since he went off to war; however, he finds that he does "not belong here anymore, it is a foreign world." He feels disconnected from most of the townspeople. His father asks him "stupid and distressing" questions about his war experiences, not understanding "that a man cannot talk of such things." An old schoolmaster lectures him about strategy and advancing to Paris while insisting that Paul and his friends know only their "own little sector" of the war but nothing of the big picture.
Indeed, the only person he remains connected to is his dying mother, with whom he shares a tender, yet restrained relationship. The night before he is to return from leave, he stays up with her, exchanging small expressions of love and concern for each other. He thinks to himself, "Ah! Mother, Mother! How can it be that I must part from you? Here I sit and there you are lying; we have so much to say, and we shall never say it." In the end, he concludes that he "ought never to have come [home] on leave."
Paul feels glad to be reunited with his comrades. Soon after, he volunteers to go on a patrol and kills a man for the first time in hand-to-hand combat. He watches the man die, in pain for hours. He feels remorse and asks forgiveness from the man's corpse. He is devastated and later confesses to Kat and Albert, who try to comfort him and reassure him that it is only part of the war. They are then sent on what Paul calls a "good job." They must guard a supply depot in a village that was evacuated due to being shelled too heavily. During this time, the men are able to adequately feed themselves, unlike the near-starvation conditions in the German trenches. In addition, the men enjoy themselves while living off the spoils from the village and officers' luxuries from the supply depot (such as fine cigars). While evacuating the villagers (enemy civilians), Paul and Albert are taken by surprise by artillery fired at the civilian convoy and wounded by a shell. On the train back home, Albert takes a turn for the worse and cannot complete the journey, instead being sent off the train to recuperate in a Catholic hospital. Paul uses a combination of bartering and manipulation to stay by Albert's side. Albert eventually has his leg amputated, while Paul is deemed fit for service and returned to the front.
By now, the war is nearing its end and the German Army is retreating. In despair, Paul watches as his friends fall one by one. It is the death of Kat that eventually makes Paul careless about living. In the final chapter, he comments that peace is coming soon, but he does not see the future as bright and shining with hope. Paul feels that he has no aims or goals left in life and that their generation will be different and misunderstood. When he dies at the end of the novel, the situation report from the frontline states, "All is Quiet on the Western Front." | cult, murder, violence | train | wikipedia | All Quiet on the Western Front won a deserved Best Picture Academy Award in the year it came out and brought great prestige to Universal Pictures as the first Oscar in that category won by that studio.Lew Ayres is the student leader of a bunch of German school boys in 1914 who listen to the voice of their school master and enlist in the war that's just been declared.
Later on at the front, he gets a view of combat he wasn't quite ready for.All Quiet on the Western Front with its eternal message of peace and life will be one eternal film, it will be shown and appreciated for many generations to come..
The three main reasons why I consider this movie so forceful are the acting, the cinematography, and simply the sincerity.Lew Ayres, the man who plays Paul Baumer, convincingly portrays the main character in many ways.
First of all, the sheer innocence of his facial appearance adds a poignant touch to the film, because the overwhelming theme of the story is how the war effects all young people of each nation, whether that person dies in the trenches or survives only to lament his days in the war.
These peripheral characters all help add to the general tone of the film (and the book) because they show how dark and terrible the war can be; and they in turn show how propaganda can be so harmful, because most of the soldiers in Paul's regiment are volunteers who receive a very rude awakening when they discover what the war is really all about.
As I write, this is probably the oldest film I've currently seen (I haven't seen too many flicks pre-1950s - shameful, I know), but one that still holds astonishingly well to this day; a poignant and hard-hitting anti-war drama that details life in the German side of the trenches of WWI, it has lost none of its knuckle since it first veered onto the screens nearly 75 years ago.
The war depicted here is not one of glory and heroism, but one of hardship, horror and desperation.(Also, isn't it kinda eerie how those dramatic battle sequences, in which the opposing soldiers become little more than human targets, now, with retrospect, echo the vicious gameplay of a shoot-em-up video game?)The only really noticeable problem with this film comes in the heavy use of US accents, which clash somewhat with the German setting and therefore sound just a little offbeat.
Right from the start, we know what's inevitable for the optimistic young soldiers as they head out to the trenches, but at the same time we value their hope and innocence and yearn that they might be able to retain it all the same, making it all the more tragic as the events of the battlefield lay waste to their youthful spirits.With its gripping direction and powerful imagery, it's a film that manages to leave a considerable imprint on the viewer, and I speak from experience on that one - upon reaching the end, both myself and the entire party I viewed it with were left speechless, and it took a good couple of minutes before any of us could pluck up the courage to break that uneasy silence.
'All Quiet on the Western Front' remains one of the must-see movies of its decade, and it's easy to see why, after all this time, it still has such a firm hold on that classic status - it may have arrived on the scene as far back as 1930, but its emotive edge is timeless.Grade: A+.
A film about the horrors and suffering in the First World War. Through the story takes us to a group of young German soldiers.
Not everything is about Paul, but through his character we can understand the essence.Louis Wolheim as Stanislaus Katczinsky is mentor of young soldiers, and his performances are full of humanity and humor.In the conditions of trench warfare, man is exposed to the horror that it destroys the mind and body.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the first great non-silent anti-war movie and arguably the most powerful one to date.
Based on the critically acclaimed homonymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque, it portraits the transformations a young German soldier suffers during the World War I: the innocence before the war and the promise of everlasting glory, the shock with reality and the realization of his own mortality and of the hypocrisy of war and finally the return to the world away from the trenches, a world that didn't stop to wait for him.Full of symbolisms, violence and impressive camera work, the whole film is a cinematographic masterpiece.
The viewer is placed directly in the battlefield to the point he can almost grasp the blood-soaped earth of the trenches and smell the rotten corpses in no-man's land.There's two layers I can find in this movie: the first one tells us about the physical destruction endured in a war – hunger, dirt, explosions, amputations, diseases, death
The film does not try to hide the truth, war is ugly and dirty, it is constant suffering and painful.
The entire cast delivers stand up performances, especially Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres who depict masterfully two generations united by war.The only flaw I could find on this is the strong American accent on the few German words spoken, fact that can distract a bit especially on the beginning of the movie.Overall, this is an overwhelming experience and a mandatory watch to every war film lover!.
Great acting, direction and production all made this original THE best of the anti-war films of the 1920s and 30s.Other similar great movies I strongly recommend are J'ACCUSE (French), WESTFRONT 1918 (German), THE BIG PARADE (USA--silent) and THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK (USA).
From the fact it was made in 1930, you could class 'All Quiet on the Western Front' as a war movie museum piece, but Lewis Milestone's film is a seminal piece of anti-war propaganda, focusing on the Great War from the perspective of a group of German soldiers, in particular Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres).
Ayres gives a sensitive and powerful performance: by the 2nd World War the actor chose to serve as a medic, where he gained distinction.Remembered for the sequence with the butterfly at the end in particular, this early talkie manages to set its scene and transmit a powerful message.
We watch the protagonists as they stare death in the face and learn what is and isn't important when you risk your life at every passing moment.This was one of the first films to announce America as a major film-making nation as with it's epic battle sequences and first class acting, All Quiet on the Western Front impresses on a technical level, as well as impressing with it's detailed and thought-provoking account of war.
Still one of the most worthwhile films about the hard realities of war, "All Quiet On The Western Front" has numerous memorable images and thoughtful moments.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is a classic history - drama movie in which we are in World War I and through the experiences of a young soldier we watch the tragedy and the pain of war through the eyes of individuals.
This movie is based on a novel by German author, Erich Maria Remarque.I liked this movie because it shows the truth about war and especially World War I and how difficult are things there for soldiers.
I have to admit that the direction of this movie which made by Lewis Milestone was very good (won the Oscar for the Best Director) and of course the interpretation of Lew Ayres who played as Paul was simply outstanding.Finally I have to say that "All Quiet on the Western Front" is a must see movie when we talk about history movies.
Interestingly, another book came out of Germany about the war, Enst Junger's "Storm of Steel" which paints the same bleak picture of the war, but concludes with patriotic pride that the millions of dead were worth it as a test of strength.The film 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is one of those works of art that come only once every few years.
A poignant look at a time when many fighting were just young boys trying to be heroes, All Quiet on the Western Front seems worthy of the gold statuette.Opening inside a classroom, a professor is convincing a classroom of impressionable teenagers to enlist, revealing the first unfortunate aspect of WWI.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is Lewis Milestone's epic adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's best-selling novel, the name of the author might sound unfamiliar so let's only say that he was a German World War I veteran.The film was made 12 years after the end of the most barbaric and devastating massacres that prefaced Contemporary History with bloody letters and won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Directing.
And if not an adventure, it still conveys the strange exhilarating feeling of an escape from the world's lies and politicians' vanity, to reach a point where people can become fully themselves, as said Louis-Ferdinand Celine, a French WWI veteran and author: "Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth" in 'Journey to the End of the Night'.More than an accusation, confession or adventure, the story is a tribute to a lost generation, the year of the release is even more significant because those who survived the War were not only alive, but young enough to have kept intact memories.
Some shot show shadowy soldiers jumping from below as to suggest a human submersion, the atrocities and pointlessness of War never seemed so raw and real as in "All Quiet on the Western Front", because it showed what a slaughter World War I was, whether Spielberg's point was only to show that the second one was a good war.When the few survivors came back to their hometown, they realize that the attitude and the enthusiasm toward the war were unchanged.
Part way into the second act and after Katczinski and the other old hand's have softened (or is it that the new recruits have simply hardened giving us an illusion) we are treated to a scene with some lovely French peasant girls, and the betrayal of Himmelstoss, getting him blind drunk so the three young boys can have a girl each is particularly funny.Possibly the saddest part of the film is towards the end where Baumer is injured and able to spend some time on leave at home.
The first 10 minutes of All Quiet on the Western Front is easily one of the best openings to any film I have ever seen in the past few years.The doors open and the camera pushes in to reveal hordes of soldiers moving in formation, marching for their country.
Paul's notions of life and war are immediately shattered and the film follows his progression as he questions the meaning of his life and the purpose of the war.An example: "How does a war even start?" "It's when one country offends another." "Well, I guess I can go home because I'm not offended."This is a perfect example of the mindset and attitudes displayed by the characters who are simply trying to survive and find enough food for another day.Dramatic and heart-wrenching, All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the best WWI films.
Treated as a hero at home and given constant advice about the war from elderly men who are far from the front lines, Paul loses his sense of home and purpose and is left lost in the new world he discovers.Despite some poor acting at times and humor that has not aged well, All Quiet on the Western Front is a good film.
If you're interested in an early film about soldiers in the Great War, it's definitely worth a watch..
There is, however, one surprisingly good action sequence featuring a French attack on the German trenches, although the most effective scenes are often those, like the one in the hospital and the one where Paul addresses the dead French soldier he has killed, which do not involve any actual fighting.
Perhaps the best acting performance comes from Louis Wolheim as Stanislaus Katczinsky, a gruff, cynical older soldier who becomes Paul's closest friend and who, even in the early days of the war, embodies a spirit of sardonic disillusionment.
The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, and, the film expedites the same candor as the novel does about what the acrimonious truth to what World War I was actually about..
Film makers learnt quickly how to be more subtle at propaganda but sometimes a sincere message makes a point better.German boy is indoctrinated by school mouthpiece of the caviar-guzzling class to go to war, he does with stars in his eyes, loses the stars, tries not to get killed, that's all.
I cannot really say much except that this film is a piece of work that would make anyone who watched it a pacifist; the grim anti-war message is further supported by the loss of innocence by the main character Paul, the ignorance of the slaughter on the home front by the folks and general behind the front lines in relative safety, and the romanticism of the glories of war held by Paul's professor.
Because in a world where we believe that Saving Private Ryan is a masterpiece (It is no doubt) of war cinema All Quite on the Western Front (AQWF) has done it in a magnitude beyond its time and that's some mind boggling truth to realize.
Adapted from the book of the same name this is the experiences of the Great War from the eyes of the German soldiers and particularly the sensitive Paul Baumer.The films begins with their teacher giving an impassioned speech about the glory of serving in the Army for the 'Fatherland'.
Many a time it seems the soldiers died from what looked like a minor injury.Still this is an important war film in the history of cinema..
This film is widely considered to be an all-time classic, and I thought it worth showing my 12 year old as we are approaching the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1.
All Quiet on the Western Front was the first great war film of the American sound era and graphically shows that.And it shows that from the enemy perspective.
All Quiet on the Western Front was the first great war film of the American sound era and graphically shows that.And it shows that from the enemy perspective.
The movie (just like the book) shows us that these men are not soldiers but human beings who are trying to survive in the war to end all wars.
I hope to come across more of Ayres work in the near future, he was a great actor from what I saw in this movie.While Ayres gives a magnificent performance he is overshadowed by Louis Wolheim who portrays the leader of the bunch, Kat. Wolheim died a year after making this film and to me this was his best work.
Considering that this film was made in 1930, it is a remarkable achievement that a film with such a powerful message was allowed to see the light of day, especially considering the circumstances.Centering on the first World War from a German perspective, it is a story about a group of teenagers who are recruited to join the army.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" is different from most movies about World War I, because it tells the story through the Germans' point of view.
Nearly everything mankind can remember about The Great War 1914-18 is derived from the film version of Erich Maria Remarque's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT , the brainwashing of a nation's youth in to joining the army , of having no personal animosity towards the enemy etc .
But as good(great even) as these movies are, I give the title "quintessential war movie" to All Quiet on the Western Front.The whole film is beautifully shot, with the cinematography and editing still holding up well today, and the whole is compellingly written in story and dialogue that it has not once for me lost its ability to shock and involve.
All Quiet on the Western Front is an early antiwar film about World War I.
Soon after being deployed to the front lines, they realize that war is not as heroic or honorable as they came to expect.For being such an old film, All Quiet on the Western Front feels surprisingly modern and refined.
Movies like All Quiet On The Western Front show the true madness of war.
All Quiet on the Western Front is one of the greatest anti-war movies of all time.
His experiences in "All Quiet on the Western Front" were certainly shared by the soldiers on either side of No Man's Land.There are other anti-war movies that deal with the attempted de-humanisation of those who are trained to kill and the sheer horror of modern mechanised warfare, but this film is one of the first and there are few that can ever equal it.
Although made over 70 years ago, Lewis Milestone's " All Quiet on the Western Front" is the greatest anti-war film of all time.
100 years from now (if man is still alive) this film will still be the greatest anti-war story of all time.
All Quiet On The Western Front, in my opinion is the greatest war film ever made.The battle scenes are great, I think they are sometimes up to todays standards.Lewis Ayres plays Paul Baumer and Louis Wolheim plays Kat short for Katczinsky.If you want to see a really great war film I strongly recommend this one.10/10.
In 1998 All Quiet on the Western Front was #54 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years
100 Movies" list. |
tt0098168 | Ram Lakhan | Sharda (Raakhee) is happily married in a rich aristocratic household to Thakur Pratap Singh (Dalip Tahil) and is the mother to two young boys. Thakur Pratap Singh's father shows mercy to his nephews Bhishamber (Amrish Puri) and Bhanu (Paresh Rawal) after they serve jail time for siphoning the family wealth and stealing within the household and whiling away their time - drinking and gambling. Sr. Thakur (Lahiri Singh) is tricked into signing a will that deprives his son, daughter-in-law and two children from the ancestral wealth and the right to even live in the manor's premises.
Sr. Thakur is then killed off in a car bomb and when Thakur Pratap Singh refuses to bow down to cruel Bhishamber Nath after finding out their masterplan and after his wife is humiliated publicly by then, he is severely beaten up, stabbed brutally, and left on a nearby railway track to be cut to pieces by the next passing train, leaving behind his widowed wife Sharda, and two young sons, Ram and Lakhan. Sharda who witnesses the whole scene vows to avenge the death of her husband, and hopes she will achieve this by visiting the temple everyday - praying for justice. She talks about the day when her sons grow up and ultimately destroy their father's assailants, and it is then and then only will she disperse her husband's ashes.
The evil duo Bhishamber and Bhanu exploit and enjoy the family's riches. Those sons grow into the upstanding police officer Ram (Jackie Shroff) and the easily tempted dreamer, smart talker and street procession dancer Lakhan (Anil Kapoor). If the family is to be avenged, Ram will have to lead his brother away from the path of corruption he's strayed onto to make quick money and protect him from the influence of Bhanu and Bhishamber.
Years later, Ram is now the Police Inspector and is a major obstacle in Bhishamber's illegal activities while Lakhan is the fun-loving, wanna be quick millionaire, precocious young man, still living in his brother's shadow and mother's love for him. Ram also has an affair with the Commissioner's daughter, Geeta (Dimple Kapadia) and is constantly teased by his younger brother for not coming out in the open with it.
When Lakhan finds out that there is a big reward for the capture and arrest of notorious gangster Kesariya Vilayti, he single-handedly captures him and claims the reward. Thinking police work is quite simple and easy, he applies for the job, completes his training and also becomes a police inspector like his brother. He also seeks to use this to woo his childhood sweetheart Radha (Madhuri Dixit) and deal with her stingy, eccentric but easily fooled and well-meaning father Deodhar Shastri (Anupam Kher).
Satisfied that her sons have chosen the right path, Sharda goes on a religious pilgrimage to pray for their unity. When she returns she finds that nothing is the same anymore, Ram and Lakhan have quarreled and no longer speak with each other based on their ideological differences and because Lakhan uses his power to help smugglers and make extra money in an attempt at raising his clout so he can exact revenge against the evil Bhishamber and Bhanu. Ram continues to live in a their older family home, while Lakhan has moved into a spacious bungalow, supposedly bought through bribes and black deals. While Ram continues to create obstacles for Bhishamber, Lakhan joins Bhishamber's gang and is on their pay-roll.
However, after Lakhan is tricked by Bhishamber and the ruthless, womanising and dastardly Sir John, Ram has to come to terms and save his little brother and finish what was once started. | good versus evil, revenge, murder | train | wikipedia | a fallen legend. whatever happened to the legend who gave us masterpieces like Karz, Hero, Vidhataa??, even Raam Lakhan, Meri Jung, Karma, Sadaagar was quality fare, his decline started with Pardes, got worse with Taal & he became downright mediocre with Yaadein, a total insult to anyones intelligence, to make matters worse, he came up with Kisna after this, lets not even go there.anyways, back to Raam Lakhan, this was a lot of fun, i remember as teenager, we began worshiping anil after this & tezaab, every boy in school had a fringe just like him. he was phenomenal as lakhan. Jackie was passable as his brother & anupam hilarious. Madhur became everyones fantasy after this.Sigh...the good old days.. A Subhash Ghai classic. One of Bollywood's classics from the apt hands of Subhash Ghai, 'Ram Lakhan' tells the tale of two brothers Ram and Lakhan. Typical to its masala-based Bollywood style entertainment this movie has it all - romance, action, revenge, emotional quotient, music (a major plus point for Ghai for roping in seasoned Laxmikant Pyarelal duo) and the very vital entertainment factor that worked so well back then and still does.Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor give extremely competent performances cast opposite Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit respectively. Rakhee Gulzar plays the mother who waits eagerly to avenge her husband's unjust death. A complete family entertainer, 'Ram Lakhan' is a Subhash Ghai classic.A must watch.. Ram Lakhan- Subhash Ghai at his best. As a child I loved Subash Ghai's films, I loved his Karz, Karma and Saudagar. Ram Lakhan is Subhash Ghai at his best. Unfortunately these days he has fallen on hard times, I thought Pardes was average, Taal was a bore, Yaadein was awful and Kisna was no better. The main influence for Ram Lakhan was the 1975 Yash Chopra classic Dewaar. Subhash Ghai however added his own unique touches to the story.The story was that of two brothers Ram and Lakhan (Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor) who live with their parents ( Dilip Tahil and Rakhee Gulzar) and their grandfather. Their grandfather dies but before he died he mistakingly signed an agreement saying that his property would go to Amrish Puri. They get forced out of their house and then Dilip Tahil dies leaving Rakhee to bring up her sons on her own.Years later Jackie Shroff becomes a police inspector and Anil Kapoor is a good for nothing. Seduced by money Anil Kapoor starts working for Amrish Puri and his smuggling racket. When Ram finds out they fall out. It soon transpire that Lakhan is only working for Amrish Puri so that he could get their house back. Cue lots of fun, songs and action. The songs are just fabulous. My favourites are My name is Lakhan or mere do anmol ratan. The scripting was great, all the actors performed well. Rakhee Gulzar as their Mother stole the show as the vengeful mother, in fact she got stuck in that role (Sugandh, Karan Arjun, Baazigar, Solider, Sham Ghanshyam). Awesome, simply awesome.. "I am Lakhan,I am Lakhan.". With a poll on IMDb's Classic Film board coming up for the best titles of 1989,I decided to search around for a Bollywood movie which I could view for the poll.Thanks to having enjoyed seeing the 1989 Curry Western Joshilaay,I decided to take a look at co-star Anil Kapoor's additional 1989 credits,and was delighted to stumble upon a fun sounding 1989 film,which led to me getting ready to meet Ram and Lakhan for the first time.The plot:Furious over being told by their uncle that he's going to place the ownership of his house to his son Thakur Pratab Singh,Bhanu and Bhishambar Nath decide to take advantage of their uncle's poor eye sight,by getting him to unknowingly change the house ownership to them in his will.Being desperate to use the house as a location for their criminal activates,Bhanu and Bhishambar kill their uncle,and then chuck Singh,his wife and his young sons Ram and Lakhan.Horrifed by what he has seen,Thakur fights to save his family from being thrown out of their house,but is pushed onto some tracks,and killed by a speeding train.Ignoring all of their tears,Bhanu and Bhishambar force Thakur's wife, (who keeps her husband's ashes secretly by her side) and children to live in a broken down cottage.Years later:Sicken by the memories of his dads murder,Ram becomes a police officer involved in the force's half-hearted attempts to take on the cities criminal underworld.Whilst Ram has followed a path of law & order,Lakhan has become a quick talker who attempts to make some fast cash on the streets on the city.Seeing a wanted ad with a huge reward,Lakhan decides to use his street smarts and quickly grabs the gangster.Believeing that he can be a far better cop than his brother is,Lakhan decides to become a police officer,but soon discovers that the smell of dirty money might be one that he cant resist.View on the film:For the films stylish appearance,co-writer/ (along with Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan) director Subhash Ghai and cinematography Ashok Mehta give the title a rich,Gothic melodrama atmosphere,thanks to Ghai and Mehta using thunder and sharp shots of colour to show the ghost of Thakur being a presence that is strongly felt in the family.Along with the Gothic atmosphere,Ghai displays the movies strong action scenes in long tracking shots,which show the distances that the cities leading gangsters dirty money has covered.Despite the toe-tapping songs featured sadly not being subtitled,the screenplay by Ghai,Ram Kelkar and Anwar Khan is able to strike a superb balance between melodrama and a revenge-fuelled gritty cop battle,with the writers smartly using the cop threads of the film to keep the title moving from the lightly Gothic to the sickly sweet,over exaggerated melodrama.Being given an eye-catching intro,Anil Kapoor delivers an excellent performance as Lakhan,with Kapoor showing Lakhan's good intentions to get drowned by the tantalising corruption that he finds himself surrounded by.Walking the thin blue line,Jackie Shroff, (who was the directors second choice,after Shatrughan Sinha had turned down the role) crafts a terrific performance,with Shroff working brilliantly as a double team with Kapoor,thanks to Shroff showing a real fury which perfectly contrasts Kapoor's more laid-back attitude,as both brothers discover that instead of working on their own,they can take on the underworld as the ultimate team:Ram Lakhan. |
tt0049333 | Hot Blood | Marco Torino (Luther Adler), king of the gypsies in southern California, is terminally ill. He wants his younger brother to succeed him, but Stephano (Cornel Wilde) is determined to become a dancer instead.
After turning a potential employer against him, Marco arranges a marriage for his brother to Annie Caldash (Jane Russell), a sexy gypsy. Stephano angers her father Theodore (Joseph Calleia) and brother Xano (James H. Russell) by resisting Annie's charms and refusing to marry her. He is in love with a blonde named Velma (Helen Westcott).
Annie comes up with a scheme. Her father wants her to be paid a rich dowry from Stephano's, then run off before the marriage. Stephano's brother is trying to raise money for a trip to "the promised land." She persuades Stephano to stage a phony wedding at which she will faint during the ceremony, whereupon they will split the dowry and teach their greedy relatives a lesson. But it is Stephano she ends up fooling, by going through with the marriage.
An angry Stephano leaves with Velma, finding work in cheap dance clubs. He begins to miss Annie. He returns to the gypsy camp to find Marco and her together, surprisingly happy. Mistakenly believing they are now together and pulling a swindle, Stephano objects, but Marco explains that he is merely enjoying the last precious days of his life. Stephano agrees to become the new gypsy king, with Annie his queen. | romantic | train | wikipedia | Tangled up in red. After a hat trick ,after three films ,two of which are absolute classics "Rebel without a cause" and "Johnny Guitar" and another one which was largely and unfairly ignored ,the poetic western "run for cover",all that Nicholas Ray would do would be necessarily a disappointment .I must confess "Hot Blood" failed to excite me.There 's one of Ray 's permanent features :the old character ,feeling that his days are numbered ,who is in search of someone younger to take over from him:that was the subject of his wonderful "lusty men" or of "run for cover" .The problem is that it's very difficult to believe these people are gypsies:the music does not sound "gyspsy" at all,being closer to musicals ,but no tune is particularly memorable.A gypsy called... Annie? The scene when Russell read her rival's cards could have been very funny,had her lines been a bit more subtle.Cornel Wilde and Jane Russell are attractive actors but there's no real chemistry between them.Cause he's been forced to get married against his will (the scene when Wilde realizes he's been had is the best),Stephano refuses to consummate the wedding but the girl is not prepared to accept it.But he does not know his brother suffers from TB.The colors are gaudy ,with red as the predominant color.But it's a far cry from "Johnny Guitar" filmed in "Trucolor" (sic)."Hot blood" is a faux pas in Ray's brilliant career: its follow-up ,"Bigger than life" showed the director at the top of his game again.. Will Cornel accept his destiny?. What should have been an interesting film had they played it more dramatically turns into an also ran in Hot Blood. Some how it just doesn't quite gel on the screen. Neither do Cornel Wilde and Jane Russell gel either.The real star here is Luther Adler who is Wilde's older brother and King of the local gypsy tribe in Los Angeles. But undisclosed health reasons are forcing an abdication on the king. He wants very much to move his younger brother Cornel Wilde into the throne.But Wilde isn't having any, he's having too much of a good time as a part time dance instructor and full time hell-raiser. What Adler decides is he needs a good woman.Enter Jane Russell who Wilde buys as a gypsy bride from her father Joseph Calleia. Would you believe that someone would have to be tricked into marrying Jane Russell? Sad, but true and Wilde is the unlucky patsy who's the mark in one of the great gypsy con games. I think Nicholas Ray might have succeeded with this film had it been treated more dramatically. A few numbers for Jane Russell never hurt in films like His Kind Of Woman, but there was too much emphasis here. And doubles were obviously used in the dancing for Wilde and Russell.This had the potential to be a lot better, but fans of the two stars will enjoy. And Luther Adler is just great in his part.. Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.. Everybody's looking for the Big Bajour, but what they end up finding is love, sweet love. In this laughable movie about American gypsies, Jane Russell is an independent gypsy, working from town to town to sign contracts to marry a gypsy prince, swipe the dowry & skip town. But when she does that with gypsy prince Cornel Wilde's heir apparent brother (Luther Adler), she plays the bajour (swindle) on Wilde himself, having decided that he will be better as a husband than as a victim. Having gone along with the scam since he had no love lost for his brother, Wilde is furious over this trapped marriage and vows not to honor his vows. Russell vows to get him come hell or high water, and being the hot-blooded gypsy girl she is, gives him a wedding night he won't soon forget, the kind that usually ends up with some interior decorator making a heck of a commission.Russell and Wilde make one heck of a couple, but it is clear that they are about a decade too old for their parts. Adler is perfectly cast as the older brother and easily wins the acting honors. This is a strange assignment for director Nicholas Ray, being a semi-musical with little plot beyond some catfights, a few flaccid songs and a wedding night whip number that creates a lot of heat for the well paired leads. The massively red color photography is eye-catching, but the entire gypsy atmosphere seems truly forced. The only thing missing is Maria Ouspenskaya giving her werewolf lesson and the view of Dracula's castle in the background. |
tt0348843 | Jism | At the beginning, Izna, a porn star (Sunny Leone), is lying dead in the grass, but she says that she wants to ask forgiveness from somebody for her sins. The story flashes back six months.
Izna is hired by an intelligence officer Aayan Thakur (Arunoday Singh) and Security Chief Guru Saldanah (Arif Zakaria) to become a 'honey-trap' and help them retrieve critical information from a dreaded assassin, Kabir Wilson (Randeep Hooda). During this mission, Aayan gets to know about Izna's previous relationships with Kabir when Kabir himself used to work for the intelligence. During one of his missions where Izna was being used for drug-peddling in a pub, which she was unaware of, Kabir arrested the guilty drug-peddlers, and Izna explained that she was innocent. Kabir took a coin from her and explained how the coin saved her from an arrest. He had seen her pick it up from the street after she dropped it, something a person in a drug-cartel would not do. Izna started loving Kabir and followed him home, handing him a love letter written in her own blood. Both started loving each other but one day, Kabir disappeared without any word. Six years passed and Izna did not find him despite many efforts.
After Izna agrees to the mission, she is taken to a residential colony in Sri Lanka to live where Kabir also lived with an identity of a musician. Izna is asked to act as Aayan's fiancee and is given a story of how they both met each other. Izna then is asked to go to Kabir's house to introduce herself as his new neighbour, but he acts as if he does not recognise her. The very next day, he writes "Sorry" on her window in his blood but flees as soon as a phone call comes. Kabir attacks Guru Saldanah's team but Saldanah makes an escape and plans to stop the operation. Aayan plans to steal the data from Kabir while Izna takes Kabir out. Izna sends a letter to Kabir telling him that she wants to meet him, and Kabir leaves his house. Aayan moves to Kabir's house to steal the data. When he copies data from Kabir's laptop, it gives Kabir an alert to his phone, and Kabir runs towards his house. Aayan escapes with the data, but he later discovers that it had all been falsified. Izna says that she will never forgive Kabir and will bring him down.
Kabir, who still trusts Izna, had never had reason for suspicion of her; not so with his trusted friend Sumit, who suspects her and warns Kabir about her. Kabir proposes to marry her and asks Izna to shift to his house and leave Aayan. Izna agrees to this. But in the meantime, Aayan, who has fallen for Izna, is angered upon hearing this. She claims that she will only be able to steal the data once she gets into Kabir's house. She moves to his house and starts staying with Kabir. Kabir asks Sumit to arrange for a priest for the marriage, who accidentally reads an SMS to Aayan on Izna's phone, which proved she was a spy. Sumit goes to kill Aayan, but instead, he is himself killed in a gun battle. Aayan calls Izna for some urgent talk and expresses his fears that they can no longer play this risky game as when Kabir will find out that Sumit is killed, he will kill Izna. Aayan gives her poison and asks her to mix it into Kabir's drink.
When Izna is not at home, Kabir goes to Aayan's house and discovers Sumit's hearing aid. To find more about Sumit, Kabir searches the house and ends up discovering a book inside Izna's bag which has a similar story that Izna told to Kabir regarding her meeting Aayan. This confirms Sumit's suspicions, and Kabir waits for Izna. When she does return, she offers him coffee. However, she blends the poison Aayan had given her into the coffee she serves him. Kabir tells Izna that years ago, he had left Izna for a sting operation, only to discover, during the operation, that the country's own officers, security forces and politicians were corrupt. Therefore, he had shortlisted them and then he had them killed. According to Kabir, he was a patriot, not a terrorist.
Dumping out the poisoned coffee undrunk, Kabir tells Izna that the Guru Saldanah is a fraud, and his team impostors, who will kill Izna once they get the hard disk containing the original data. He asks Izna to escape and offers her a new passport, tickets, and access to an account maintained at a Swiss bank from which she can withdraw unlimited money. When Kabir kisses her before their separation, Izna shoots him in the stomach, upon which Kabir immediately dies. Running away with the hard disk containing the original data, she goes to Guru Saldanah and hands over the hard disk to him. However, she is soon surprised to know that Guru Saldanah is indeed a fraud, as Kabir had pointed out, and that after the task, she was supposed to have been killed. Aayan was given this responsibility, but he had changed his mind as he was in love with her. As Saldanah tried to kill Izna himself, Aayan tackled him and killed him instead.
Izna told Aayan that because of their fraudulent mission, she killed an innocent person, and that too, the love of her life who blindly trusted her. Izna says that she would prefer to die with Kabir than live with Aayan, and attempts to leave with the hard disk. Aayan threatens to shoot Izna if she leaves the house. Izna then leaves the house. Aayan follows her and then shoots her in the back. Aayan approaches her and turns her over. Still alive, Izna shoots Aayan twice and kills him. Then she is seen with Kabir after death, and she tells him that without him, Heaven is not a heaven, and with him, she has no reason to be afraid of Hell. | tragedy, neo noir, murder | train | wikipedia | Jaddo Tha....
Nasha Tha..!.
Jism is a psychological thriller.
NOT your average film where the point of the movie is totally obvious from the start.This movie reminded me a little bit of a film with Richard Gere and Kim Basinger" Double Indemnity" that had the "Married women/ Lawyer" plot line.
But that was the only similarity.
I think the subtlety in the sex scenes are a lot hotter than your regular "take it all off" scene's.
What's so hot about that?
As for a lack of sexual chemistry, between the central character's alluded to by a previous comment, I beg to differ with that.
The chemistry was most obvious in the song sequence "Jadoo Hain Nasha Hain" which is my personal favourite.
The music in that song was excellent and I understand the singer won an award for that song.
Well deserved.
This song captures the female character's state of mind, while the song "Avarapan, Banjarpan" captures the psychological state of Kabir Lal.(John Abraham).This story is about a journey.
About choices that take you down paths that you can't re-trace.
There was a melancholy feel to this film that gives you the impression that this movie is not about making a "cheap sexual thriller", but it's about exploring the minds of the protagonists.
Sex in my opinion is another character in this film, that keeps walking a line between lust and love, and keeps colliding with each other throughout the story.
Especially Kabir Lal, who we know feels that the path he has taken is wrong, but keeps going down it anyway, irrevocably drawn down it by the power of lust and love.
"Jism" is not about showing "Jism", but about the alluding to it.
If you sat down to watch this movie hoping it was a movie about a "down and dirty sexual fling" then too bad, you chose the wrong movie.
This was a lot better than that.
Bips was a sizzler, and John was quite good actually.
Unlike in many other Indian movies, the two central character's carry most of the burden of the film.
Without their acting being effective this movie would not have worked.
But the supporting cast was very good too.
Though their roles where small they where effective.
Especially the role of Sonia Khanna's alcoholic sister in law Priyanka who puts a spanner in the works.
Kudos to the makers of "Jism" for daring to try something different..
Good remake of Double Indemnity.
When I saw double indemnity I just loved it and then when Jism came out I saw and I found out it is a remake of double indemnity.
Very good movie to watch..
Bipasha Basu is just hot and John abraham is a very talented actor though he does needs to improve a little on some of his acting skills.
A must watch.My rating- 10/10.
Perhaps I Should Have Watched For The Right Reasons ?.
Channel 4 in the UK has been showing a late night season of Bollywood movies .
I have to be brutally honest and say this holds little interest for me since I can't be bothered with watching a three hour movie padded out with song and dance numbers but JISM pricked my interest somewhat since it had caused some controversy .
It was marketed as a steamy erotic Bollywood remake of Lawrence Kasdan's BODY HEAT and Bollywood movies are very puritanical where sex is concerned so I watched mainly to see how erotic it could be The truth is that there seems to be no Hindi word for " erotic " , every time the two protagonists Kabir and Sonia get it on the action cuts to the bedroom after they've had sex .
If you're going to watch JISM for purely the wrong reason ( And let me reiterate I was just watching out of curiosity ) then you're going to be bitterly disappointed .
That said the film still works because the leads John Abraham and Bipasha Basu really do burn up the screen with their sexual chemistry.
Terrible.
This so-called Sexy Thriller was neither Sexy nor Thrilling.
Since so much hoopla was about the sexiness and eroticism of this movie, I am going to address those issues instead of lamenting the usual lack of good acting, script and direction in majority of commercial Hindi movies (and there was plenty of that in the offering as well).
The suffering at DesiMovieMansion began early during the movie and lasted all the way to the end.
The sex scenes were pathetic and the actors looked terribly self-conscious while doing intimate scenes.
The kissing scenes were not much better than the usual hindi movie moments of discomfort.
As for showing "jism" it was almost a no-show.
Just some legs and midriff (and a somewhate bare back once).
Although given Bipasha Basu's not-so-hot body, this was probably a blessing in disguise.
The average hindi pop song video is HOTTER than than the love scenes in this movie, and the average hindi pop song video girl would have been a better choice over Ms. Basu.
There was no sexual tension between John and Bipasha during the woo-ing phase.
Considering that Gulshan Grover marries Bipasha because she's the trophy-wife, it was laughable (unintentionally) when he was completely exhausted after a romp with her.
Bipasha on the other hand, had all her clothes on and even her make-up didn't get sumdged a bit.
May be she got-on-top of poor Gulshan, who couldn't handle all that weight!Save your time and money and don't even bother renting this overrated DesiMovieGarbage.
Beautiful and Much Underrated....
It is 2018 and I watched the classic "Jism" for the first time.John Abraham's debut and he shines throughout.
The subtle acting makes one engrossed in the movie.
Bipasha Basu plays a convincing role.
The direction was top-notch.
with very few movies achieving what this movie does.
The story may be adapted, but it is also well adapted to suit the situations depicted..
I have been to Pondicherry almost 12-13 years after this movie was made, and the scenery and culture of the city has been beautifully captured in this film..
Terrible copy of a beautiful Hollywood movie.
Disgusting says it all.
Out of shape female lead, clueless acting by male lead.
Just because they are involved with each other in real life they thought they would look natural in the movie?
Just the opposite it seems.
If the Producer wanted to make a sizzling soft porn he should have at least have the decency not to copy a Halle Berry movie for Gods sake.
The songs are melodious but when you copy a Hollywood movie can we just avoid them?
Disgrace for a Mahesh Bhatt movie.
Strongly suggested NOT TO BE SEEN movie.
I will stick to Hollywood movies.
On the positive side I am pleased they shot this in Pondicherry.
And not some studio.
Or Mumbai for that matter.
Decent remake of "Double Indemnity".
"MINOR SPOILER!!!"I don't watch a lot of Bollywood films, but most of what I saw, I've always enjoyed.
I noticed that the love scenes in Bollywood movies always consisted of singing and dancing.
There was never any kissing or deep fondling of any sort.
Bollywood love scenes are extremely tame by Hollywood standards.I watched "Jism", because, heck, the title of the film sounded.....intriguing.Man!
This is like, the sexiest Bollywood film I've ever seen!
The two main characters, Khabir and Sonia generate a lot of sexual heat.
They kiss deeply and hold each other a lot.
The actors that played Khabir and Sonia are so pretty to look at.
The acting is very good.
The beautiful actress that plays Sonia is sweetly sexy.
She doesn't try to act sexy, she just is.
I can understand why the foolish Khabir would fall for her.
The actor that plays Khabir plays Khabir as a charming, foolish and a very likable character in spite of his alcoholism.
I've seen "Double Indemnity" and "Body Heat" so I pretty much know what's going to happen in the movie, but I was still impressed by the acting.
When Sonia shows her true colors to Khabir, her coldness was such a shock to me, as well as to Khabir.
Khabir is pretty much tortured after committing the murder and realizing that the woman he loved was just a user, it was sad to see all this realized on his face.
The minor actor that I was most impressed with was the actor that played Siddharth, a policeman and Khabir's best friend.
Siddharth vacillates from wanting to beat the hell out of Khabir to wanting to protect Khabir.
The performance of the actor that plays Siddharth is outstanding, especially at the ending of the film.This movie is a very, very pretty movie.
Everyone in the film looks pretty affluent (with the exception of the character of Frankie) and they all dress stylishly and expensively.
The surroundings (Pondicherry) in which these people live are quite beautiful, all lush and green.
As a matter of fact, this movie is such eye candy it almost detracts the plot of the movie.The best scenes are the romantic musical scenes of the movie where Sonia and Khabir are out on the beach.
He is lying down on the sand with his shirt opened all the way and Sonia is on top of him, practically sitting on his crotch and writhing away to the music.If anyone has ever seen "Double Indemnity" or "Body Heat", this movie adds nothing special to the same old plot.
But it still is worth watching if you want to see beautiful people in beautiful surroundings acting in less than beautiful ways.I really like this movie.
It's not a perfect film, but it's still worth watching for the very good acting.I give this film a B+..
Double Indemnity Bollywood style and it's HOT!.
This was John Abraham's first film and he definitely made his presence known.
He just breaks your heart as this happy-go-lucky man who falls in love with a dangerous married woman (played by Bipasha Basu), and as they say "Satan provides work for the idle man" and this is just what happens to Abraham here.
That and more as he grows dangerously and toxic-ally in love with this woman with a secret past, a deadly present and not to mention the not so good future.
His world as he knows it slowly begins to crumble with his insatiable thirst for more of Basu's character.
She feeds his urge until she no longer can, then the nature of her past becomes revealed as she shows her true face to him.
Bitter and heartbroken, Abraham does the inevitable in this film that will leave the faint hearted shocked and breathless to say the least..
Bollywood noir?.
The German DVD of Jism advertises it as "Bollywood noir".
Or is it rather a "Ken & Barbie in lust and death" piece?
Some commenters claimed Jism to be a remake of Double Indemnity, which certainly is considered a classic noir.
Looking at a popular set of criteria: "We'd be oversimplifying things in calling film noir oneiric, strange, erotic, ambivalent, and cruel...." (Oneiric is dreamlike).
Erotic it certainly is - not by exposing private parts, but just in the ways people talk and act.
Strange?
Ambivalent?
Cruel?
All to some degree.
I failed to find "oneiric" elements, but the above list is not meant to be all-required.Other frequent associations with film noir include the roles of femme fatale (check - very fatal, for him and herself), the lone, miserable, maverick male (anti-)hero (check); strong darkness/light contrasts (Jism has some, but not over-strong), and an unhappy ending (check - though it could have used a surprising twist there...) So yes, I'd support the classification as a neo-noir movie, especially when set in contrast to other Bollies.
In any case, it's an entertaining sexy thriller.
I give it a 7 and will watch it again..
Took Erotica to new level.
Hindi films have seldomly shown erotica, maybe in Feroz Khan and Raj kapoor films a bit but JISM took it forward, The film was promoted as an erotica film, The film is similar to Body Heat The film was Pooja Bhatt's first production The film starts well, the John-Bipasha scenes are well handled, the erotic scenes too are well handled, the twist happens when Gulshan enters the frame, the scenes involving his murder are well handled and twists and turns do startle you However the pace is too slow especially in the first half, while some characters could be better handled, the end too is flawed raising questions regarding Bipasha's change in characterDirection by Amit Saxena is decent Music by MM Kreem is good, Awarapan is good, Jaadu Hai Nasha and other songs are fab, this film took Shreya Goshal's career to new level.John Abraham in his debut did a good job though his voice is dubbed yet he does a good job sadly people only noticed his looks.
Bipasha Basu go a sex symbol tag with this film, her voice again was dubbed for 4th time since Ajnabee, Raaz, Gunaah.
her expressions were too much at times.
Vinay Pathak and Ranveer Shorey play their pars well, those days they were not so famous Gulshan Grover is okay while Anahita Oberoi is good.
jism (A)--------------Rating: 4/5.
jism (A)--------------Rating: 4/5It is a thriller flick that has a new concept.....
Cast has done a great job to smoothly moves away without any hesitations for us....
Music and background score was extreme as tuned for ghost thriller....
Romance between the cast was weight for the movie....
An adult flick which decently taken.....Kabir Lal is an alcoholic lawyer whose life is looking as if going down the drain.
One morning he sees a stunningly attractive woman on a beach and is instantly enamored by her.
By chance he sees her again in a restaurant and offers to buy her a drink.
In the process he learns that her name is Sonia and she is married.
Unable to resist, he asks her whether she would show him her home.
It marks the beginning of a passionate affair, during which Kabir is told that Sonia's husband neglects her.
But Sonia cannot leave him because she cannot support herself without her husband's money.
Sonia suggests murder and Kabir, blind with lust, agrees.
They manage to kill Sonia's husband and make it look like an accident, but then Kabir gets to see Sonia's other side: she no longer is the passionate lover as before, but is a cool-headed mean woman now who won't let go of her wealth at any cost..
Bipasha sizzles in Pondicherry..
This movie is a frame to frame copy of Lawrence Kasden's classic 'Body Heat' from 1981.
At this time the theme of adultery and extra marital affairs was a new for Bollywood.
So this was an experiment.
This movie also marked the beginning for Pooja Bhatt's directorial career.
As a director she was impressive.
She proved that she has learnt direction from her father's movies.
Unfortunately this was a disappointing attempt to remake a classic.
But this was bound to happen when a subject or theme which is more suited to western tastes is indianised.
The movie failed to recreate the superiorism and charisma of the original.
The elements at base level were taken in to consideration but the detailed and complex portions were ignored.
The interesting segments of the movie were supposed to be the events and investigations scenario after the murder.
However this was covered at a basic level.Too much time focuses on the intimate and sexually natured scenes in the first half.
The movie also seemed rushed towards the end.
Even the climax was changed which left a bitter taste in my mouth.The movie is not bad as one could imagine.
The direction and cinematography are the highlights of the movie.
The setting of Pondicherry gives the movie the right atmosphere and glamorous look.
Bipasha Basu has sex appeal no doubt, but it was too early in her career to attempt such a complex role.
Some of her facial expressions were weak.
However she did look very good in her different variety of dresses.
John Abraham made his acting debut.
He makes a honest and sincere effort.
Maybe it would have made a better impact if he had dubbed his own voice.
Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey presences makes the movie interesting to watch at regular intervals.
They bring life in the movie at certain points. |
tt0046478 | Ugetsu monogatari | In the farming village, Nakanogō, on the shore of Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province in the late 16th century, Genjurō, a potter, takes his wares to nearby Ōmizo. He is accompanied by Tōbei, who dreams of becoming a samurai. A respected sage tells Genjurō's wife Miyagi to warn her husband about seeking profit in times of upheaval, and to prepare for a probable attack on the village. Genjurō arrives with wide profits, but she asks him to stop. Genjurō nevertheless works long hours to finish his pottery. That night, Shibata Katsuie's army sweeps through Nakanogō, and Genjurō, Tōbei and their wives are uprooted. Genjurō collects his pottery from the kiln, and decides to take the pots to a different marketplace. As the two couples travel across a lake, a boat appears from thick fog. The sole passenger tells them he was attacked by pirates, warns them back to their homes, then dies. The two men decide to return their wives to the shore. Tōbei's wife Ohama refuses to go. Miyagi begs Genjurō not to leave her, but is left on the shore with their young son, Gen'ichi, clasped to her back. At market, Genjurō's pottery sells well. After taking his promised share of the profits, Tōbei runs off to buy samurai armor, and sneaks into the ranks of a clan of samurai. Lost from her companions, Ohama has wandered beyond Nagahama in her desperate search for Tōbei. She is raped by a group of soldiers.
Genjurō is visited by a noblewoman and her female servant, who order several pieces of pottery and tell him to take them to the Kutsuki mansion. Genjurō learns that Nobunaga's soldiers have attacked the manor and killed all who lived there, except Lady Wakasa and her servant. He also learns that Lady Wakasa's father haunts the manor. Genjurō is seduced by Lady Wakasa, and she convinces him to marry her. Meanwhile, Nakanogō is under attack. Miyagi and her son hide from soldiers and are found by an elderly woman who hurries them to safety. In the woods, several soldiers desperately search her for food. She fights with the soldiers and is stabbed. She collapses with her son still clutching her back.
Tōbei steals the severed head of a general, which he presents to the commander of the victorious side. He is rewarded with armor, a mount, and a retinue. Tōbei later rides into the marketplace on his new horse, eager to return home to show his wife. However, he visits a brothel and finds her working there as a prostitute. Tōbei promises to buy back her honor. Later, the two return to Nakanogō, Tōbei throwing his armor into a river along the way.
Genjurō meets a priest, who tells him to return to his loved ones or certain death awaits him. When Genjurō mentions the noblewoman, the priest reveals that the noblewoman is dead and must be exorcised, and then invites Genjurō to his home where he paints Buddhist prayers on his body. Genjurō returns to the Kutsuki mansion. He admits that he is married, has a child and wishes to return home. Lady Wakasa will not let him go. She and her servant admit they are spirits, returned to this world so that Lady Wakasa, who was slain before she knew love, could experience its joys. They tell him to wash away the Buddhist symbols. Genjurō reaches for a sword, throws himself out of the manor, and passes out. The next day, he is awakened by soldiers. They accuse him of stealing the sword, but he denies it, saying it is from the Kutsuki mansion. The soldiers laugh at him, saying the Kutsuki mansion was burned down over a month ago. Genjurō arises and finds the mansion he has lived in is nothing more than a pile of burnt wood. The soldiers confiscate his money, but because Shibata's army burned down the prison, they leave Genjurō in the rubble. He returns home by foot, searching for his wife.
Miyagi, delighted to see him, will not let him tell of his terrible mistake. Genjurō holds his sleeping son in his arms, and eventually lies down to sleep. The next morning, Genjurō wakes to the village chief knocking on his door. He is surprised to see Genjurō home, and expresses concern. He explains that he has been caring for Genjurō's son, and that the boy must have come to his old home in the middle of the night. Genjurō calls for Miyagi. The neighbor asks if Genjurō is dreaming, as his wife is dead. Miyagi's spirit tells Genjurō: "I am always with you", while he continues on pottery, and their son offers food to her. | tragedy, psychedelic, murder, atmospheric | train | wikipedia | The closing scene is one of such deeply-felt compassion and understanding that it is almost frightening; it prefigures in a way the stunning and more personal close of the subsequent Mizoguchi film "Sansho the Baliff".On a lighter level, it is an amusingly sly allegory of the actual history of Japan for the 20 or so years prior to 1953, where in the end the women, embittered (or dead) as a result of their men's quixotic quest for military glory or war-profiteering, entreat them to give up their misguided and destructive dreams, settle down, and get back to their real responsibilities.Which they did.Originally available on LaserDisc..
The movie starts out pretty uncomfortably, two peasants in 16th century Japan who dream of richness and glory so blindly, they can't even hear the pretty straight-forward protests of their loving wives who try to convince them that their happiness is fine at home.
When one, a pottery smith, makes a small bundle selling his wares, they decide to make a much larger batch together and become rich.Forced out of their homes by an approaching war and uncertain where to go, they take their wares to a thriving market place, where the second peasant's ambition to be a samurai divides them and causes all four characters, the two peasants and their wives, to be separated, all fending for themselves amongst the war and various classes differently.At this point the film reverses itself and instead of being a pretty skin-deep, tragic bud of greed, it blooms into a beautiful and haunting tale of obsession and illusion.
The two main stories of the peasants and their wives are opposite only in their imaged realism, where one peasant falls completely under the curse of an enchanting ghost and the other lies and steals his way to fame, only both of them are eventually knocked down from their own hubris and forced to finally awaken to what their wives have said all along.It's quite exquisite, this movie, with its long takes and its lack of the usual constructs that make up messages of obsession and greed.
Suffice it to say that I recommend this film wholeheartedly to anyone looking for cinematic poetry (though not, probably, to those who, misled by its being set during the Japanese Civil Wars, expect an action film).Perhaps the most striking thing about the film is the camera-work; on a first viewing one is scarcely aware of it much of the time, but the camera is in constant motion, emblematic of the restlessness which pervades not only the era and the central characters but, by implication, all of human life (in this regard, it's a very Buddhist film).
Ugetsu, based on a popular "fairy tale" in the Japanese folk tradition, is perhaps the greatest "ghost story" on film.
In the beginning of the springtime in the period of the Japanese Civil Wars of the Sixteenth Century in Lake Biwa in the Province of Omi, the family man farmer and craftsman Genjurô (Masayuki Mori) travels to Nagahama to sell his wares and makes a small fortune.
This supernatural story is very well constructed in a historic context of the Japanese Civil Wars of the Sengoku period, with two family dramas caused by the blindness of greed.
we can analysis the idea of Japanese ghost film via 2 aspect of the film.Firstly, while Genjuro was selling pottery in the market, he was been order by Lady Wakasa and its nurse maid to send the good to their mansion personally, which was the starting point of ghostly love relationship.By the hand of prestige cinema photographer, Kuzo Miyagawa, the mystic atmosphere, the trembling music of sanmise, the ghostly voice of men grudging, gives the mansion an appeal of a haunted mansion.
which above all explores the art of Japanese traditional beauty.although it is an black and white film, but Kuzo Miyagawa create an color of bewitch ghostly character on Lady Wakasa.The very motive for the existence of Lady wakasa was to have a taste of love, as she was kill before she can understand what love is, after resurrect by the nursemaid, she have become and spirits that looking for the ideal man to love.
The second aspect for Genjuro associate with spirits was at the end part of the movie, while He push open the cripple door of his home, he saw an empty house, yet after the camera return an image of the room, Miyagi, Genjuro's wife appear, who was setting beside the stove alone tailoring clothes, and waiting for his husband to eat and change into comfy kimono, Genjuro feel extremely tire after all the events therefore he quickly falls asleep, next morning, when the villager master realize he is return went into his home and explain the tragic of her wife.
In the end the loss of what was important all along becomes apparent, and a message of humility becomes the films point.Though it is not nearly as accessible a film as Kurosawa's period pieces of the same time, Ugetsu succeeds on a level that they do not.
"Ugetsu" main themes, I believe, are the submission of women on feudal Japan - the transformation of the lives of the wifes of the two pottery dealers is treated very handsomely, each one striving to lead a decent life after being abandoned by their husbands, but failing in the end.
But a film handled with the elegance and competence of someone who knows about more than filmmaking; who just happens to be able to express himself in film, and so can posit us inside the film in richer ways than simply cinematic.What I mean is this: on the surface this is one of the narratives on bad karma the Japanese were so fond of sharing with themselves, an older story from the late 18th century dressed up in film material.
The story is set during a civil war, where a farmer lives happily with his wife and son, as well as a friend who dreams of leaving his impoverished state to become a samurai.
After finding some success, exploiting the war to make a grand profit, their greed brings them away from their wives: one into realizing his samurai ambitions, the other to the home of a pale beauty.Much has been said of the film's visual splendor.
Genjuro's journey is the main one and the heart of the movie, with Tobei's darkly comical journey as much more of a side story.and one can't talk about Ugetsu without mention of it's ending.
'Ugetsu' is a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi based on stories in Ueda Akinari's book titled Ugetsu Monogatari.
Tōbei ends up seeking out Samurai soldiers leaving his wife Ohama alone and helpless during chaotic wartime.Along with 'Rashomon', 'Ugetsu' is considered by many critics to be the film that opened doors for Japanese cinema in the western world and gave the cinema in Japan a global exposure.
Like 'Rashomon', this film was also based on Japanese folk tales, but Mizoguchi's humanist filmmaking made it relevant for the 1950s and its relevance hasn't waned at all in the last 50 years.
Although 'Ugetsu' is set in 16th century Japan during the Japanese Civil War, for me it clearly is an allegory for Japanese society during WWII and the allegory here is a lit bit more overt and obvious than the same in 'Rashomon'.This can surely be seen as a feminist film.
The film is also a commentary on the disappearance of Buddhist ideals and principals in modern Japanese society.Along with Mizoguchi's style of storytelling, one can't help but admire the skill of his camera work.
Its messages are those of knowing your place, not extending your reach, avoiding the temptations of glory and flesh, the safety of home and most importantly the fact that sometimes the past and the afterlife are not yet ready to leave this world.It's a multilayered story, focusing mostly on the husbands of the two families, as they travel to a distant marketplace in the midst of war in order to sell their pottery.
It seems ironic to think that over fifty years ago, a mere eight years after the end of WWII, Mizoguchi could so skillfully debunk the Japanese male psyche and 'Yamato spirit'; yet in 2007 we have the Governor of Tokyo scripting films about the glory of the kamikaze and Japan's crusade of Asian liberation.
Miyagi (Kinuyo Tinaka) is the wife of a clay-potter and mother of their little baby during civil wars in 16th century Japan, and they get torn away from each other as her husband (Rashomon's Masayuki Mori) tries to sell his- to him precious and valuable- wares in the city, keeping her away from (potential) harm.
Ohama (Mitsuko Mito) is the wife of a peasant Tobei (Eitaro Ozawa, possibly my favorite of the male performances) who's only ambition is to be a samurai, to the point of foolish abandon of everything including her.While the two wives end up estranged from their husbands, Lady Wakasa (one of Japan's truly great actors in general Machiko Kyo) invites the potter to her abode, where the temptations overwhelm him and upon her insistence he takes up with her as a "new" husband to her.
It comes before a certain sad twist, but before it Genjuro has finally reunited with Miyagi, and as he sleeps Mizoguchi just stays on her for a minute or so, not for anything specifically for the story, but somehow this little moment of serenity- perhaps a dream or perhaps now- really struck me; few directors would think to do this unusual move.Ugetsu is also, aside from it putting in some spooky elements not quite like kabuki, is a great story of people in conflict, with themselves, each other, and how the women show the side of strength &/or weakness and how it ends up influencing the men around them.
Weird if alluring title aside this was one fine film by classic Japanese movie-maker Mizoguchi.The main characters of this story set in medieval rural Japan are 2 families: the potter Genjuro's and his neighbor Tobei's.
The cinematography by Kazuo Miyagawa (Rashomon, Yojimbo) serves up some very striking visuals, very notably when the families are in the boat traveling along the river islands over the silent fog-covered water, and later in scenes of Genjuro's dalliances with the mysterious lady Wasaka, where the shots spliced with such surgical precision as to appear seamless.Ugetsu definitely deserves to be seen by all film buffs..
When this ghost story set in Japan's medieval era won the top prize at the Venice film festival in 1953, it showed the rest of the world that Rashomon was no fluke, and that something extraordinary was happening in Japanese cinema.
Today we can see that Japanese movies during the 1950s are one of the highlights of the history of cinema, with directors like Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi and Naruse actively working (sometimes making several movies a year) as well as slightly lesser accomplished directors (Ichikawa, Masumura, Kobayashi, Kinagasa or Oshima and Imamura just starting their respective careers)Ugetsu was widely regarded as among the best films ever made during the 1960s and 1970s.
One can weep with sadness at the outcome of the film, when one notices that the woman of Genjuro was only a ghost, but one can also simply cry for joy at the idea that one has just seen such a beautiful movie..
Ugetsu (1953)The Japanese tradition of ghost stories always seems to tie them into nature, and so here the fogs over the lake and the house in the woods lead to the appearance of figures from another time.
But it would be equally hard to imagine all this beautiful filming without the enchanting, and humanly moving, plot.It's a kind of masterpiece that some people will want to watch five times over, and others will find a bit slow.
One of the greatest of all Japanese films, this makes many Top 10 lists of the greatest films of all time.Genjuro (Masayuki Mori), a potter, and his brother Tobei (Eitaro Ozawa), a farmer, are seeking fame and fortune, or fortune and fame as the names are listed.The lake scene is not to be missed.
The film -- which feels like an imaginative Japanese re-interpretation of both western and Shingeki theatrical traditions -- is grounded in socio-political commentary and also ethereally hallucinogenic.Starting as a story of the inevitable corruptibility of two success-driven men and the different paths they take to achieve their dreams in an opportunistic, profit-driven, Hobbesian world of self-interest, the film expands into an allegory on servitude and oppressiveness / art and fantasy/ love and life as conceived with a childlike wonder and awe."The value of people and things" -- both in moral and non-moral terms -- is in constant fluctuation while the film glides from the fantastical and haunting, to the practical and daunting.
if she never met love is pain but if she finds but never unite is awesome ,Friend of Lady Wakasa try to unite him with her is also big emotional scene ,I watched this film too long ago and I remember this big.
Another Kenji Mizogushi's masterpiece a little inferior than Saikaku Ichidai Onna,settled in sixteen century two families living together in hard life in a province near the lake,Genjurô making handcraft ceramic products to sell in near village,and his farmer neighbor Tobei who intend to be a famous Samurai...when the war is broke out...against all advises they go to the village by boat,there they making money and Tobei and his wife split,and end up molested became a prostitute while Tobei looking for glory....Genjurô finds a beauty woman to marry living an easy life,but it don't seen to be what really is...anyway this old Japanese tale adapted in this movie is really astonishing and a true gem!!!.
Rather, with little money for movie making, directors had to do their best, minimizing costs and picking only the most promising scripts.It reads as a metaphor of ambition, quest for military glory, the damage caused and the price paid by protagonists and their surroundings.It is very well filmed with some good camera angles.
Their love story develops in the country home of the lady, and the lyrical scenes of love whether in the interiors, the beautiful garden, or a hot spring are all filmed in such a degree of perfection and in such perfect settings that it's no wonder Genjuro thinks he is truly in paradise.
The acting of each one of the characters in this story are all great, particularly Genjuro and Lady Wasaka, who make up a very intense love story, but the outstanding feature is the perfection of the director's plan, the seamless development of plot, and the incredible beauty of every shot, even peripheral vision is aesthetically perfect, at all times, like in a Kabuki set.
A beautiful film that takes place in Feudal Japan, 1 part ghost story, 2 parts the folly of greed..
"Ugetsu" (Japanese, 1953): This is going to sound weird, but much of this film, by Kenji Mizoguchi, reminded me of "The Wizard of Oz".
Director Kenji Mizoguchi's film is based on the 18th century supernatural stories in the Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Moonlight and Rain), and takes place during civil warfare in 16th century Japan.
There are some beautiful shots, such as a boat slowly disappearing into the mist and fog, as well as great moments, such as when the samurai reunites with his wife under very different circumstances (which I won't spoil), and the film is certainly well done and worth watching.
Kenji Mizoguchi's Epic period piece "Ugetsu" is a war movie, ghost story and love story all rolled into one, but really it is derived from several stories from Ueda Akinari's book of the same name.
A fantastic tale of war, love, family and ambition set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.Along with Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film "Rashomon", "Ugetsu" is credited with having popularized Japanese cinema in the West.
Kenji Mizoguchi's "Ugetsu monogatari" (which means "Tales of the Moon and Rain") is at once a Confucian morality tale, and also a likely look at the analogies between the effects of the 16th century feudal wars on the country and the effects of WWII on the country.
Mizoguchi and screenwriter Yoshikata Yoda adapted elements from all three tales to create something new and relevant.It follows the lives and desires of two couple who inhabit a small Japanese village during the 16th Century, when civil wars and ravaging bands of Samurai soldiered plundered the countryside near Lake Biwa in Omi province.
Truly one of the greatest and most stunning films of all time, Ugetsu (1953) is a Japanese masterpiece, a ghost story- and so much more.
Masterfully combining two stories from its source, Tales of Moonlight and Rain, Ugetsu is set during the Japanese Civil Wars and follows a farmer whose pottery takes off, sales booming in wartime.
Blending artfully and seamlessly the long passed history, the supernatural ghost stories, the elegiac poem, and not turning away from the scenes of brutal reality and violence, Mizoguchi created the film of serene elegance, mesmerizing beauty, and timeless humanity.
This Japanese film is one of many I found because it was featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and it was rated very highly by critics, so I was looking forward to sitting down and watching it, directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, Sansho Dayu).
Ugetsu and The Life of Oharu were the first films by Kenji Mizoguchi which proved his artistic talent to the western world.
Violence, glory and contempt of women are the carrying themes in these two intense stories.The film by Mizoguchi is aesthetically breathtakingly beautiful and it's full of poetic imagery: the scene at the lake, the breakfast on the lawn and the final shot where the camera raises above the entire village.
The film's original Japanese title is Ugetsu Monogatari which means "Tales of the Moon and Rain". |
tt0048733 | Tom and Chérie | Mousketeer Captain Jerry has been gazing at a portrait of a gorgeous French mouse called Lilli, then writes Lilli a love letter and calls his assistant Tuffy, and tells him to deliver it. Tuffy goes out and, after briefly mocking Jerry, looks at the letter and goes a deep shade of red after looking at it. But, when Tuffy is about to go out and deliver the letter, Tom appears saying "En garde!" ("On guard!") and swipes his sword at him, scaring him back in. He pokes his sword through the door. Tuffy tries to tell Jerry about the cat (in very fast French!), but Jerry shows the little mouse his book, reminding him that "Un mousketeer est brave" ("a mouseketeer is brave"). Tuffy then looks in the mirror and asks himself if he is a man or a mouse. But after going out and encountering Tom again, he decides he is a mouse. Later, Tom is hiding in wait for Tuffy. Tuffy tries to disguise himself with a knight's helmet. He says hello to Tom, but Tom is not fooled. He immediately jumps in front of Tuffy and fights him. Jerry hears the commotion from outside. Tom then lifts off the helmet and it falls right on top of his head, knocking him down a nearby cellar window. Tuffy is still swiping his sword until Jerry pokes him on the back.
Tuffy tries to call for the cat but to no avail. He tries to persuade Jerry that Tom was here, but Jerry brings him back to his mousehole and punishes Tuffy by getting him to write 'Un mouseketeer est brave' approximately 100 times on a blackboard. Then Tuffy goes to the door and holds his hat out. It gets chopped into pieces by Tom. Tuffy then nervously peeks out, but Jerry pokes him on the back with his sword, sending Tuffy rocketing past Tom to Lilli's house. He knocks on the windowsill. Lilli comes to the window and sees the love letter. She giggles while reading it, then disappears and returns with another letter with perfume on it. Tuffy then goes to deliver it to Jerry. But to see if Tom is around, he puts his hat on his sword and waves it. Tom waves his hat and then appears and fights Tuffy again.
Then Tuffy hides in a vent and pokes Tom in the bottom, saying "Touche, pussycat!" The fight continues. Tuffy runs inside Jerry's quarters and gives the letter to Jerry. He kisses it, writes another love letter, gives it to Tuffy and then the little mouse delivers it, encountering Tom every time. And by every fight Tuffy has with Tom, he gets more tattered and torn by the minute. Eventually, Jerry receives a letter from Lilli telling him that their love is finished. Heartbroken, Jerry tears up her letter and throws away her portrait. But all is not lost, as Jerry simply replaces her portrait with that of another beautiful, rich French mouse (Marie) and begins his correspondence with this one.
A battered and exasperated Tuffy is forced to deliver this letter. Tom jumps out once again, yells "En garde!" and is ready for another duel. However, the little mouse just ignores him and walks past. Tom then challenges him three more times but Tuffy keeps ignoring him. After the final attempt, Tuffy looks up at him, says with contempt, "En garde, En garde, En garde! Foo!". He now goes on with his assignment to deliver the letter, leaving Tom behind still holding his sword and puzzled. | comic | train | wikipedia | Colors Highlight This "Cute" Mouseketeer Story.
The first thing that hit me with this cartoon is the brilliance of the colors, especially the purples and pinks.
This is an extremely good-looking cartoon with bold colors and terrific artwork.
Check out the floors and the walls for the shadows, light and details as well.As for the story, we are back in the "Mouseketeer" days with Jerry and his little pal Nibbles writing love letters and reading the Mouseketeers Code, respectively.Jerry has is subordinate mail the love letter but Nibbles can't go far because "the Cardinal's cat, a big pussycat, is outside with a big sword.....and I am too young to die," he reports.
"Besides, I'm chicken."At least the guy is honest, but Jerry has to remind him about the "Code" and the bravery that is part of it.The funny stuff begins 20 seconds later with sight gags like Tuffy wearing a knight's head of armor (you have to see it) and various other ploys the young student uses to try to combat his bigger adversary.
It's a "cute" cartoon more than funny, but certainly entertaining all the way.
This is presented in CinemaScope (about 2:35:1) widescreen, which was kind of cool to see, as is part of the Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume Two DVD..
Fun for everyone except Nibbles..
This is one of a series of shorts where Tom and Nibbles are "the king's Mouseketeers" with Tom as their main foil (sorry).
While this is not the best of them, I personally love this one, because I have a soft spot in my heart for Nibbles (the little mouse who gets all the hazardous duty here and none of the benefits) in this one.
The ending is quite appropriate here.
I don't blame Nibbles one bit, either.
Well worth watching.
Recommended..
Just a few more Nibbles cartoons to go.
Mouseketeer captain Jerry repeatedly orders his young protégé Nibbles to deliver love letters to his girlfriend Lilli.
Waiting outside for Nibbles is the cardinal's cat Tom, who is always on the lookout for a sword-fight and continually makes Nibbles task a lot harder.How much you enjoy Tom and Chérie will depend on how much you like young mouseketeer Nibbles, for he is very much the central character in this episode.
I can't abide Jerry's cutesy sidekick, so was already against this one, but I also found the repetitive gags sorely lacking and the animation not up to scratch (the backgrounds, in particular, look slapdash).The ending is the only part I enjoyed, Lilli finishing with Jerry, only for the mouse to shift his affections to another female named Marie.
What a player!
Naturally, Nibbles finally loses his temper, refuses to fight Tom, and stomps off into the distance.
Good riddance!
(unfortunately, the little mouse would return for at least a couple more adventures)..
Great Tom and Jerry cartoon, but Nibbles is the true star here.
Tom and Cherie is not the best of the "Mousketeers" cartoons, but it is very entertaining.
This time, Jerry is more of a side character, and Tom is still his dastardly self.
This time the true star of the show is Nibbles, who starts off running away from Tom and in the end stands up to him(I never thought he had that in him to be honest, so I was shocked, but in a pleasant way).
The story is somewhat predictable and Tom's "En Gardes" can get repetitive, but for instance the animation here is absolutely wonderful with lovely colours and all the characters are drawn well.
The music is a delight as well, sweet, lively and fun, while the visual gags range from amusing to hilarious.
Overall, just a delightful cartoon, recommended!
9/10 Bethany Cox. Time for a change....
For once, Jerry is not the spot of affection in his cartoons.
Instead, we almost feel a bit of anger towards the mouse.
In one of Hanna-Barbara's "Mouseketeer" cartoons, Jerry plays a captain Mouseketeer who keeps sending his young protege (Nibbles, to be exact) out with love letters to his beloved Lilli.
Of course, every time Nibbles leaves the hole, he's confronted by Tom who wants to fight.
This keeps up for a while, with Nibbles coming back more and more worse for wear.
Finally, he delivers a letter to Jerry that says Lilli is leaving him.
Jerry is heartbroken...
for about two seconds, and pulls out a picture of his NEW girl-mouse.
Nibbles is sent on another mission, but this time, he's had enough.
Engaurde?
Engaurde?
PHEW!" he spits at Tom as he walks down the lane to deliver the letter.This is one of Hanna-Barbara's better Tom & Jerry cartoons, especially since it took a break from the basic "Tom chases Jerry, Jerry fights back" style we all grew to love.
An absolute favorite of mine, no doubt about it. |
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