What I've Just Watched: Part 2

Donald McKinney wrote:

Here's a fact about Das Boot, they did the submarine pen scenes at the end in La Rochelle. Spielberg borrowed the submarines and sets for Raiders of the Lost Ark!! Anyways...

Didn't know that!



I used to know someone who said that Dude... was his favourite film!

Oh, dear...

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (1st view) - Not quite the joyous romp of the first film but still a great piece of entertainment. Downey Jr and Law are on fine form, but Noomi Rapace is wasted in a very poor role and the removal of one character from the story bothered me greatly. Jared Harris was top notch as Moriarty (though Marks Strong's Blackwood was more sinister and memorable overall). Looks great, the design was fantastic and the central action scene superb. Good score form Zimmer too - 4/5*




The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (1st view) - SPOILERS - Following a freak tennis accident, journalist Adele Blanc-Sec wishes to cure her sister by travelling to Egypt, stealing the mummified body of Rameses II's personal physician and bringing it back it Paris to have him resurrected by an ageing scientist, who himself has cause upset in Paris by telepathically hatching a pterodactyl from 135 million year old egg. Throw into this mix a drunk, the French President, a bumbling detective, a big-game hunter and a lovestruck museum curator and you have the making of something that's a lot of fun. The final scene sets itself up for a sequel which I really hope happens. It doesn't always make sense and there's plenty to nitpick if you look closely but the light-hearted nature and oddball characters made it quite difficult to me to care about any flaws - 4/5*

Alfie (1966), produced and directed by Lewis Gilbert, maybe one of the most prolific British directors of that time, adapted from the successful play by Bill Naughton, who did the screenplay here. This is a stylish, cool comedy-drama, cut from similiar cloth as many of the Angry Young Men films of their time, but with a wit that puts it alongside Richard Lester's The Knack …and How to Get It (1965). Alfie Elkins (Michael Caine) is a promiscuous Cockney who works in a garage during the day, but at night, he's dating women. He's just broken off one relationship with Siddie (Millicent Martin), and he's just started on Gilda (Julia Foster), who he gets pregnant, they have a child, but she goes off with a bus conductor (Graham Stark), which leads to Alfie having a bit of a health scare, and as he recovers in hospital, he becomes friends with Harry (Alfie Bass), and Alfie ends up having it off with Harry's wife Lily (Vivien Merchant), who he gets pregnant, which nearly leads to tragedy. After romancing older American Ruby (Shelley Winters) and hitchhiker Annie (Jane Asher), he decides to settle down. It's a good drama with Caine talking to the audience in a frank but witty manner at regular intervals. He is a bit of an ass though, and it says a lot about the sexual manners of the days, before monogamy and safe sex became the norm. It does have a very good cast too, and it's success got director Gilbert the job of making You Only Live Twice (1967). 4/5



Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), directed by Gary Fleder (Don't Say a Word (2001), Impostor (2002) and Runaway Jury (2003)), from a screenplay by Scott Rosenberg (Con Air (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)), this is a stylish and violent thriller whose title comes from a Warren Zevon song. Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia (Andy García) is an ex-gangster now living in Denver, and is trying to make a clean life for himself now, he runs a business called 'Afterlife Advice', where dying people leave messages for their loved ones. Jimmy is in debt, but paralysed local crime lord "The Man With the Plan" (Christopher Walken) will pay off his debt if Jimmy can do one last hit, to kill the man who paralysed him. Jimmy assembles a team consisting of Franchise (William Forsythe), Easy Wind (Bill Nunn), Pieces (Christopher Lloyd) and Critical Bill (Treat Williams). However, the hit goes horribly wrong, and Jimmy is allowed to live, while the rest of his team are to be killed by a hitman known as Mr. Shhh (Steve Buscemi), can they survive and will Jimmy help them?? It's a good crime thriller, it could have been better though, and it does feel very derivative, trying to be another Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, (especially with Miramax producing it), but the cast make up for any short comings. 3/5

Speed (1994), the directorial debut of Dutch cinematographer Jan De Bont, (who had shot films like Die Hard (1988), Basic Instinct (1992) and Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)), from an original script by Graham Yost (Broken Arrow (1995) and Hard Rain (1998)), this is a suspenseful, exciting and gripping thriller that still stands strong today. Los Angeles SWAT members Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels) start the film by saving a group of people stuck in an elevator being terrorised by an unknown bomber (Dennis Hopper), they get the people out, thwart the bomber's plan and get commended for their bravery. However, the bomber wants revenge on Traven and Temple, and he rigs a bus in the city to explode, if the bus goes over 50 the bomb is triggered, and if it drops under 50, the bomb goes off. Traven is able to find the bus, and manages to get on the bus, but the bomber still plays mind games with Traven and the passengers. He has a close eye on them and what they do, so Traven and passenger Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) have to keep the bus moving at all costs and come up with a plan to get off. The film Homer Simpson refers to as 'The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down', this is a fast and furious action film, maybe the last good one made for grown ups before Hollywood changed action films. It's a brilliant premise and it keeps it up throughout, well made and taut. De Bont had it made with this and Twister (1996), but then he ruined his career with Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) and The Haunting (1999)). Oh, well... 4.5/5



The Ides of March (2011), George Clooney's 4th film as director after Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Leatherheads (2008), based upon Beau Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North. This is a dark political thriller with no violence but alot of mind games and foul play afoot, as there often is in the world of politics, this shows how it brings out the worst in people. Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the Junior Campaign Manager for Mike Morris (Clooney), who is Govenor of Pennsylvania and a Democratic Presidential Candidate. Morris is campaigning against Arkansas Senator Ted Pullman (Michael Mantell) in Ohio to win support for the Presidential race. Meyers helps with the speeches for Morris, but when Pullman's Campaign Manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) meets up with Meyers and tries to coax him to join their side, it all goes wrong, especially after Meyers has an affair with intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood), who had a prior affair with Morris. Meyers tells his boss Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) about it, and Meyers is sacked but he isn't going to give up without a fight, especially after Duffy goes back on a deal. This film is about the loss of innocence, about how we can try and stand for what we believe in, even when there's corruption all around. Even if the film says more about Clooney's political beliefs, it's still a good film. Gosling has all the makings of a great actor (holding his own against scene-stealers like Hoffman and Giamatti), and Clooney becomes more and more confident as director as well. 4/5

Where The Buffalo Roam (1980), before Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Rum Diary (2011), producer/director Art Linson had a go at a film based on events in the life of Hunter S. Thompson. Taken partially from Thompson's books Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and The Great Shark Hunt. The film is very funny and weird, and boasts a spirited, inspired take on Thompson. It begins with Hunter S. Thompson (Bill Murray) trying to write an obituary on his friend Carl Lazlo, Esq. (Peter Boyle). It first flashes back to 1968 in San Francisco, where Lazlo breaks an absolutely plastered Thompson from a hospital, to write an articles on youngsters getting particularly harsh sentences for possession of marijuana. The film jumps forwards 4 years to Thompson covering Super Bowl VI in Los Angeles, where he recreates the game in his hotel suite, and ends up with Lazlo smuggling weapons to freedom fighters, and later that year, causes trouble on the press plane while covering the 1972 presidential election campaign, from getting press members high on drugs to encountering Nixon. It's all over the place, and while Depp's two takes on Thompson work better, Bill Murray gets the good Doctor's mannerisms and ticks down perfectly, shame it didn't do well, and Murray should have continued with more films like this. 4/5



Big Night (1996), directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott, based upon a screenplay by Tucci and Joseph Tropiano, this is a touching yet warm dramedy where the food that's created throughout is almost a character itself. It was a huge independent hit at the time, winning awards and it's still stood up now. Set in the 1950's, Italian brothers Primo (Tony Shalhoub) and Secondo (Tucci) have come to America to find fortune, they've set up an Italian restaurant called Paradise in a small town on the Jersey shore. Business is very slow, and what customers they do get aren't used to the traditional Italian food and how they do things, which infuriates Primo, who is a perfectionist in the kitchen. Business has got so bad, that the bank are threatening to foreclose on the restaurant. In the same town, there is a rival restaurant, owned by Pascal (Ian Holm) who wants the two brothers to come and work for him, but Secondo refuses all offers as they want to make it on their own. But, Pascal offers him the chance to hold a night for singer Louis Prima, as Prima owes Pascal a favour, so the brothers prepare the night to end all nights, but will Prima turn up. It's a well made little film, done almost like a play, set mostly in this one restaurant and it's kitchen. Shalhoub and Tucci play well of one another, while there's love interest from Isabella Rossellini and Minnie Driver. Once you see this film, you'll want to try and make timpano like they do. 4/5



Don't Lose Your Head (1966), the 13th Carry On film, and the first one of two not to have Carry On in it's title, (due to the series moving from Anglo-Amalgamated to Rank), but it had lost non of it's cheekiness or innuendos. This was one of the best of the period, and one of the best of the Historical Carry On films. A spoof of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel, this is set in France and England during the dark days of French Revolution in 1789, where aristocrats faced the guillotine. But, two English noblemen, Sir Rodney Ffing (Sid James) and Lord Darcy Pue (Jim Dale) have been saving aristrocrats from the guillotine, and giving them sanctuary in England, such as Duke de Pommefrites (Charles Hawtrey). Ffing does it under the guise of The Black Fingernail, which infuriates Revolutionary leader Citizen Camembert (Kenneth Williams) and his assistant Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth), who take revenge by kidnapping the Fingernail's true love Jacqueline (Dany Robin), and Camembert lures the Fingernail into a trap using his mistress Desiree (Joan Sims), but not everything goes to plan. This is a very funny Carry On film, with double entendres at the plenty with witty dialogue and some rude suggestive stuff throughout, and a well done swashbuckling finale at the end. The cast give it their best, and it prove to be one of the better made Carry On's. 4/5



Follow That Camel (1967), for the 14th Carry On film, with Sid James unavailable, later unwell, and the producers still unable to use Carry On in the title. They Carried On (sorry) with this spoof of Beau Geste, and used a big American star to help break the Carry On team into America. It didn't work, as the film took some risks too, which don't all work sadly. This begins when rich young Bertram Oliphant West AKA Bo (Jim Dale) is accused of cheating at a cricket match, so he runs away to join the French Foreigh Legion, there he and his valet Simpson (Peter Butterworth) is placed under the philandering Sergeant Ernie Knocker (Phil Silvers), who spends his time at a local cafe with Zig-Zig (Joan Sims), instead of being on patrol looking out for enemies. His superiors Commandant Burger (Kenneth Williams) and Captain Le Pice (Charles Hawtrey) think he's a hero. But, when Bo's love Lady Jane Ponsonby (Angela Douglas) comes looking for him, she finds herself being captured by Sheikh Abdul Abulbul (Bernard Bresslaw), so Knocker and Bo have to prove to the brutal Commandant that they have it in them to be heroes and stop the Sheikh. It starts off rather half-hearted, and remains that way until the last third of the film where it takes off, sadly it's all too little, too late. While Silvers does add new blood to the Carry On proceedings, he's just doing his Bilko routine. Marty Feldman spoofed Beau Geste much better 10 years later. 2.5/5

I Saw The Devil (1st view) - Violent and grim Korean revenge thriller. Great performances and some of the best action scenes from the last year - 4/5*

Thor (2nd view) - The best of the 18 million superhero films that came out last year - 4/5




The Infidel (1st view) - Decent comedy with the most stupid ending I've seen in ages - 3/5*

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), after years of Tarzan films, including the famous Johnny Weissmuller ones, this was an attempt by Hugh Hudson, then hot of the Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire (1981) to take Edgar Rice Burroughs' character seriously for a change, the result is a bit slow, but it looks beautiful. It begins when Earl of Greystoke (Paul Geoffrey) and his wife Alice (Cheryl Campbell) are shipwrecked on the coast of remote Western Africa. Alice gives birth to a baby boy, but Alice dies from fever and the Earl is killed by an ape. But their baby son is found by a family of chimpanzees, who take him and raise him as one of their own. He grows up learning to survive and hunt, but as he grows into an adult (Christopher Lambert), he and his "family" are discovered by a party of explorers, who are attacked by African natives, the only survivor is Philippe D'Arnot (Ian Holm) who discovers who the jungle boy really is, and convinces him to come home to England to take his seat as Earl of Greystoke, alongside his Grandfather (Ralph Richardson) and his ward Jane (Andie MacDowell, dubbed by Glenn Close), but will he adapt to normal life?? It's beautifully filmed, but it all feels a bit cold and clinical, the scenes in the jungle are very good, but it changes tone despite the great Ralph Richardson, in his final role, appearing. 3.5/5



Devils of Darkness (1965), a B-movie horror directed by British TV director Lance Comfort, from a screenplay by Lyn Fairhurst, this is a fairly unmemorable horror film that comes across as a poor man's version of The Devil Rides Out, it had potential to be better, but it's quite boring as well. Years previously in Brittany, the evil Count Sinistre (Hubert Noël) was buried alive only for him to curse a young gypsy girl Tania (Carole Gray) and he makes her his bride. Years later, and every year, the village where Sinistre lived pays a traditional homage where they protect their dead in the graveyard from evil spirits. American Paul Baxter (William Sylvester) and his girlfriend Karen (Tracy Reed) are staying in a hotel and two others staying in the hotel disappear, and Karen vanishes as well. Shortly after that, Paul is met by the Count, posing under the alias of Armond du Moliere. Unable to find Karen, Paul returns to England, and an acquaintance of Karen's at the hotel, Madeleine Braun (Diana Decker) falls victim to the powers of Count Sinistre, and William has to put a stop to his plan, which involves a community under the graveyard. It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd added a bit of humour and cheese to the proceedings, but it's a very dull film played straight, and that's the killer, plus there's no big star in it, which might have livened up proceedings. 1.5/5

Heavy Traffic (1973), after Fritz the Cat (1972) made a lot of money being the first X-rated cartoon, director Ralph Bakshi was offered to do the sequel The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974), he turned that down in favour of something alot more personal. It's an episodic, personal odyssey, but it's absolutely brilliant as well. This tells the story of young twentysomething cartoonist Michael Corleone (Joseph Kaufmann), who we see in live-action playing pinball, but it disolves into animation as it shows his family life, his Italian father Angelo (Frank DeKova) has connection with the Mafia and work unions who is constantly cheating on his Jewish wife Ida (Terri Haven), they constantly fight but Michael tends to ignore them and he carries on with his cartoons. In a bar, he meets black bartender Carole (Beverly Hope Atkinson), who accepts to hang out with Michael because she likes his cartoons, his father doesn't approve of his son going out with a black girlfriend, and he's having problems of his own with the union, and Carole and Michael have aspirations of moving out to California together. It's a brilliant film done with a raw energy and Bakshi's visual eye, from mixing animated characters on real streets to old 1930's cartoon sketches coming to life, but it perfectly encapsulates the angst someone in their 20's go through, it's as relevant now as it was then, and the soundtrack is brilliant as well. 5/5



Obsession (1976), after making the musical fantasy Phantom of the Paradise (1974), director Brian De Palma teamed up with screenwriter Paul Schrader with this homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), it does have a Hitchcockian theme to it, but it has alot more to it than that, and it's a good, if heavy going mystery as well. It starts in 1959 in New Orleans, when Elizabeth Courtland (Geneviève Bujold) and her daughter Amy (Wanda Blackman) are kidnapped and the kidnappers want patriach Michael Courtland (Cliff Robertson) to pay up $500,000 ransom. The police think they can handle it, but the rescue attempt goes wrong when Elizabeth and Amy are killed. 16 years later, and Michael is still grieving, but when he and his real estate business partner Robert LaSalle (John Lithgow) travel to Florence, Italy to sort a deal out, Michael goes to the church where he an Elizabeth met years previously, and there he meets Sandra Portinari (Bujold again), who looks exactly like his dead wife. He starts dating her and tries to mold her in the image of Elizabeth, and Michael intends to marry Sandra, but there's alot more to her than he realised. It's a deceptive thriller, with a brilliant score by Bernard Herrmann (his penultimate score), and with good camera work by Vilmos Zsigmond. It's the best film Dario Argento never made, (alot of it is similar to his work), and it has a touch of Don't Look Now about it. Hitch wasn't happy by it, but it's success enabled De Palma to do Carrie (1976). 4/5

Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970), one of the first Blaxploitation films to make it big, based upon Chester Himes' 1965 novel, the 6th in a series of Harlem Detective books, and co-written and directed for film by Ossie Davis, (best known as John F. Kennedy in Bubba Ho-tep (2002)), this is a down and dirty cop movie but with a black streak of humour throughout. Two New York detectives, Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) are on the tail of a huge bale of cotton, filled with $87,000 of the life savings of poor black families. The detectives go looking for this bale of cotton but it always seems to be one step ahead of them, and it brings trouble wherever it goes. While investigating, they keep coming across black nationalist leader Reverend Deke O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart), who had planned to use the $87,000 to help some of the poor families reunite with distant relatives in Africa. But, Gravedigger and Coffin Ed don't have a softly-softly approach to solving crime, and they don't trust the Reverend one bit either, as he has an agenda of his own. A very ambitious film for it's time, combining urban humour with the gritty hardships of the ghetto of Harlem, but it has some memorable moments and some good action too. A sequel followed 2 years later, but that's rarer than hen's teeth sadly. 3.5/5



Come Back, Charleston Blue (1972), the sequel to Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970), and very loosely based on Chester Himes' novel The Heat's On from 1966. Even though the first film was successful, producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. couldn't convince United Artists to do another, so he took the sequel to Warner Bros., although it did OK business at the time, it's forgotten now. Shame, as it's better than the original. Detectives Gravedigger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge) and Coffin Ed Johnson (Raymond St. Jacques) are faced with a strange new wave of murders happening in Harlem. The victims are all slit at the throat, and the murderer leaves a blue steel straight razor as a sort of calling card. Turns out 40 years previously a Prohibition vigilante known as Charleston Blue used to go around killing criminals, until he disappeared. But, his old girlfriend, known as Her Majesty (Minnie Gentry), still believes he's alive somewhere. But, Gravedigger and Coffin Ed discover it's not as simple as that, with evidence pointing to photographer Joe Painter (Peter De Anda), who seems to be wanting to take on the mafia by himself, with a few of his "brothers" helping out. It's a faster paced film with some good action moments, including a shoot-out in a graveyard and exploding heroin all over Harlem. It's a shame so few people have seen it, as it deserves a wider audience. 4/5

Super Fly (1972), another influential blaxploitation film, this one was the debut of Gordon Parks, Jr., whose father Gordon Parks had directed Shaft (1971)), this one is famous for it's soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield, and it was, at the time, the most famous of the blaxploitation films. For such a low-budget film (made for $300,000, it grossed $30 million on it's original release), it manages to do a lot. Rising drug dealer Youngblood Priest (Ron O'Neal), who has made alot of deals around New York City, but Priest doesn't want to be selling drugs forever, and he tells his friend, Eddie (Carl Lee) that he's planning to get out of drug-dealing once and for all, but he has plans to go out with one last big score, by making $1 million in 4 months, they get help from retired drug dealer Scatter (Julius Harris), who is able to provide them with 30 kilograms of cocaine, but Priest soon realises that he is in a no-win, no-win situation, that he might never get out of the business, especially when he has mafia and New York's detectives on his tail, and most of Priest's associates end up dead. He has to take drastic action, otherwise it could either end in prison or his death. The film captures the era of 1970's Harlem perfectly, and it does have some good moments in it, (despite dodgy acting). But, it's a pity you don't get blaxploitations films like this anymore... 3.5/5



Super Fly T.N.T. (1973), after the success of Super Fly (1972), it's producer Sig Shore and star Ron O'Neal came up with an idea for a sequel, which was written by Roots creator Alex Haley. With O'Neal directing, they opted for a plot that would be different to the original, you have to admire the guts they had to do this, but it doesn't all work, and alot of it is slow. Youngblood Priest (O'Neal) is now living in Rome, having fled Harlem, and lived in London and Paris before settling on Rome. He gets by on money by partaking in card games with other local gangsters, and he lives with girlfriend Georgia (Sheila Frazier). During one such card game, he is introduced to Dr. Lamine Sonko (Roscoe Lee Browne), who is a diplomat from the African republic of Umbia, which is in the the throes of a violent revolution. Dr. Sonko comes with an offer to help bankroll a gun-running operation that would put an end to the revolution, and restore order. Priest originally refuses, but after seeing what it's like in Umbia up close, he agrees to do it, but he needs to raise the cash to do it, and that isn't going to be easy. It's inferior to the original, and it does take it's time in getting going, and the ending is confused, (it was changed hastily at the last minute when the studio learnt that Shaft in Africa (1973) had an almost identical story to this), the end result is a brave attempt but foolhardy on the whole. 2.5/5

Black Caesar (1973), written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen, who came from writing television shows like The Fugitive and Columbo, and later screenplays for films like Phone Booth (2002) and Cellular (2004) comes this down and dirty rags to riches crime drama. It's quite powerful, and despite being shot on the cheap, it has a clout. Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson), has grown up on the mean streets of Harlem in New York, back in the 1950's he was brutally attacked by a racist white cop called McKinney (Art Lund), and since then, he's turned to a life of crime. We pick up Tommy's life in 1965, as he joins the New York mafia, and works his way up the ranks eventually becoming head of his very own black crime syndicate in Harlem. He even has his own father Mr. Gibbs (Julius W. Harris) helping out, and Tommy ends up falling for Helen (Gloria Hendry), who he ends up marrying. Now in control of his own criminal empire, he uses it to take control of organised crime throughout New York City, and it isn't long before he's being targeted for assassination, and the cops are on his tail as well. It's well filmed with a likable lead performance by Williamson, who mixes toughness with coolness, and it comes across as one of the best blaxploitation films of it's day, violent but done with a cool, blackly comic flair as well, plus this has an ace score by James Brown too. 4/5



Hell Up in Harlem (1973), after Black Caesar (1973) was a success, American International Pictures head Samuel Z. Arkoff ordered writer/producer/director Larry Cohen to have a sequel made almost immediately for a Christmas 1973 release. You can tell it's done with haste, but it has some moments that stand out. It follows on from the end of Black Caesar, with Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) battered and bloody and looking for medical aid and sanctuary. As Tommy regains his strength, he plots how he's going to get revenge on those who tried to kill him, it takes him to a raid on a Mafia controlled island just off the coast of Florida, but Tommy is able to force the Mafia bosses to make peace, just by having them eat 'soul food'. By this point, Tommy wants out of the business, he and his wife Helen (Gloria Hendry) have just had a son together, so Tommy leaves the business for a new life in L.A. with his father Mr. Gibbs (Julius W. Harris) now in charge in New York, but he ends up being betrayed by Tommy's enforcer Zach (Tony King), so Tommy has to come back to Harlem one last time to get even once and for all. It doesn't have the smooth character development that Black Caesar had, indeed this just feels like one action sequence after another, tonally different, but some of the action does work, but you wish they had a point to it. But, it does manage to hold it together for an hour and a half, against the odds. 3/5



*Sorry for all the Blaxploitation films overload!!

I was going to say, I noticed a theme here

Arthur (1st view) - The original has gone down as some sort of classic despite the fact it's not very good, so the idea of it being remade bothered me not at all. But it does star Helen Mirren, inexplicably a national treasure, and Russell Brand, who inexplicably still gets given work. But it is pretty funny at times - 3/5*




Leap Year (1st view) - I was half expecting dancing leprechauns to appear at some point in this film. They chucked in just about every other stereotype - 3/5*




You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (1st view) - Probably the best Allen film from the last decade that I've seen but I am waiting for the day he makes a film that doesn't involve wealthy, highly educated, arty, opera-living professional types. Maybe he has and I haven't seen it. Apparently Nicole Kidman should have been in the role played by Lucy Punch. How I wish that that had happened - 4/5*

The Unbelievable Truth (1st view) - Great comedy drama about a young model and the ex-convict she becomes interested in - 4/5*

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2nd view) - The only decent Will Ferrell comedy - 4/5

I like You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, and for Woody Allen films that don't have the upper classes at the opera, have you seen Cassandra's Dream?? Oh, and Whatever Works doesn't have any of that.

Slaughter (1972), another blaxploitation film done by American International Pictures, and directed by Jack Starrett (who later did Race with the Devil (1975)), this is a fast, violent and mad revenge film, it did well upon release, and it's got some good going for it, and it doesn't outstay it's welcome either. Slaughter (Jim Brown) is a Vietnam Veteran, who was a former Green Beret Captain. His parents are killed in an seemingly targeted hit. Slaughter vows to get revenge on those who did it, and learns it a Mafia Bomb Blast, and goes after those responsible, eventually killing one of them as they try to flee in an airplane, but it turns out that by doing so, he's blown an undercover operation on the men Slaughter targeted. But, Slaughter makes a deal with Federal Agent A.W. Price (Cameron Mitchell) to go after the men who got away on behalf of the U.S. government. It takes him to Mexico and South America where it puts him up against mob bosses Mario Felice (Norman Alre) and Dominic Hoff (Rip Torn), and Hoff sends out his mistress Ann (Stella Stevens) to seduce Slaughter, but nothing is going to get in his way. From the roaring opening theme tune by Billy Preston (used by Tarantino in Inglourious Basterds), this is a film with a hardass attitude. The action comes fast and furious, and it's a product of it's time, but Jim Brown is a good action hero, mixing badass and tenacity. A sequel followed soon after. 3.5/5



Slaughter’s Big Rip-off (1973), after the success of Slaughter (1972), a sequel was ordered almost immediately. This one was directed by Gordon Douglas, (whose credits had included lighthearted fare such as Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) and In Like Flint (1967)), but it's not as memorable as the first film, and it offers up more of the same. Seeking revenge for Slaughter (Jim Brown) having brought down mob boss Dominic Hoff, his successor Duncan (Ed McMahon) seeks revenge on Slaughter, even trying to hit him with a WW1 biplane during a picnic, which ends up with some of his friends dead. Slaughter finds himself the centre of a manhunt by Duncan, who has now sent hitman Kirk (Don Stroud) on his tail, but Slaughter uses his tenacity to stay ahead. Slaughter could have gone into hiding, but he stays visible so that it might smoke out Duncan and his associates. Agent Reynolds (Brock Peters) warns Slaughter it could endanger his life, and even Slaughter's new girlfriend Marcia (Gloria Hendry) is threatened, but Slaughter is able to get files on the mob and Duncan's actions so he can take them down. It's not particularly memorable, but it's Jim Brown who manages to hold it together as Slaughter, although Ed McMahon makes a good baddie as well. This was shot and edited on the hoof to cash in as quickly as possible on the original, and it shows. 3/5

Donald McKinney wrote:

I like You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, and for Woody Allen films that don't have the upper classes at the opera, have you seen Cassandra's Dream?? Oh, and Whatever Works doesn't have any of that.

Nope, haven't seen either! Will check them out.



War Horse (1st view) - Spielberg's 27th film and he's still the master of his craft. Sentimental it may well be, but it would surely take a hard heart not to be moved by the journey. I was in tears for the last 20 minutes or so. For a 12A film, there were some of the darkest scenes I think I've seen within that rating. Can't wait to see it again - 5/5*

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), after Candyman (1992) came out, based on Clive Barker's short story The Forbidden from Volume 5 of his Books of Blood, it was successful enough to warrant a sequel, from a pitch by Barker and directed by Bill Condon (who later did Gods and Monsters (1998) and Dreamgirls (2006), this is a cheesy horror, that does have it's moments, when they do come. Set in New Orleans, it has Cambridge academic Professor Philip Purcell (Michael Culkin) murdered after giving a lecture on the Candyman legend, by the Candyman (Tony Todd) himself, but Ethan Tarrant (William O'Leary) ends up being accused of Purcell's murder, as his father was murdered in a similiar murder with traits of the Candyman murders. Ethan's sister, schoolteacher Annie Tarrant (Kelly Rowan), doesn't believe Ethan could have done it, and her students believe the Candyman has come back, she dispels the myth by saying his name 5 times in the mirror. Although he doesn't appear at first, the murders soon start all over again, beginning with Annie's husband Paul (Timothy Carhart), but Candyman doesn't murder Annie, for a good reason. Candyman was a silly but memorable horror film, this manages to be the same, with the supernatural shocks that we've come to expect from Clive Barker's work. This is bloody and gory, but it's not as good as the original, but it'll do, and it doesn't stick around too long either. 3/5



When We Were Kings (1996), an Oscar winning documentary directed by Leon Gast, (The Grateful Dead Movie (1974) and Hells Angels Forever (1983)), and produced by Taylor Hackford. This is about one of the most talked about fights of the 20th Century, the run-up to it, and the impact it would have on the African community and American sports as well. It's colourful and a good watch. The documentary is about the lead-up to The Rumble in the Jungle, what was then to have been the biggest and best boxing match in the world, between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. It was meant to be a comeback for Ali, having lost the Fight of the Century in 1971 against Joe Frazier. The Rumble in the Jungle was held in Zaire, and promoter Don King had a music festival known as Zaire 74, which would feature James Brown and B.B. King. The fight was delayed a month after Foreman was injured during training. Ali and Foreman spent 2 months training in the heat of Zaire, and became accustomed to the climate, the fight was part funded by the country's brutal dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, which raised moral questions. It's a well made documentary with some brilliant footages of the build-up to the fight, and it shows a side to Africa that you don't see in those poverty adverts. Ali was the big talker, always one to put down his opponents, whereas Foreman was quieter and got into training. It shows a time in sports when boxing brought people together, and it should still do that. 4.5/5

Licence to Kill (1989), after The Living Daylights (1987) introduced Timothy Dalton as James Bond, showing a more realistic side to Bond, Cubby Broccoli decided to go one further, and make Bond as close to Ian Fleming as possible. The result was daring for it's day, but some of it works, while other bits just fall flat. It's a shame, as this should have been the best. James Bond (Dalton) has just attended the wedding of his friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) to Della (Priscilla Barnes), after they capture drugs lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi). But, Sanchez escapes, seriously maims Leiter and murders his new wife. Bond swears revenge on Sanchez, but M (Robert Brown) has his 00-status revoked for going renegade on a personal vendetta. Bond travels to the South American Republic of Isthmus, along with pilot Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), Bond is able to get into Sanchez's inner circle of criminals, and is able to sow the seeds of distrust. But, there's alot more to this personal vendetta than Bond had bargained for, even Q (Desmond Llewelyn) comes along on holiday to help Bond out, but Sanchez is a hard man to kill. It's very far removed from Bond films before, maybe it was too far ahead of it's time for then, audiences weren't ready for that until Daniel Craig came along. But, it has good moments, including the final truck chase and the opening aerial fishing. It's a pity Dalton didn't do anymore Bond films, as he was close to how Fleming did him. 3/5



127 Hours (2010), How do you follow up Slumdog Millionaire?? Danny Boyle could have gone for big blockbusters. Instead, he went the other way, and went for a story that he's wanted to do since Millions (2004), but it took the Oscar success of his previous film to get it made. It's a vivid, claustrophobic drama about the will to live and survival, and Boyle tops Slumdog Millionaire with this. Based on a true story in April 2003, it has climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) going on a hiking trip in the rural, baron wilds of Utah. However, while out climbing in Blue John Canyon, an 800lb boulder fell, trapping his right forearm in the narrow canyon. He tries everything to get it free, but to no avail, with little food and water left plus he didn't tell anyone where he was going, and now open to the elements, he knows he'll die in a few days, all he can do in that time to think about his loved ones, especially two hikers Megan (Amber Tamblyn) and Kristi (Kate Mara) whom he'd met just before his accident, his ex-girlfriend Rana (Clémence Poésy) and his parents (Treat Williams and Kate Burton). But soon, Aron has to make a tough decision, which might be his only hope of survival. James Franco puts in a brilliant lead performance as Ralston, who tries to keep his cool in the face of adversity, but it's Boyle's directing and offbeat shooting and editing decisions that keep this film on it's toes. Boyle was the right man for this, and it'll be great to see where he goes off to next. Plus, Utah looks excellent. 5/5

War Horse (2011), Steven Spielberg takes on World War 1, adapting Michael Morpurgo's 1982 children's book with a very English screenplay by Lee Hall and Richard Curtis. It's not an out-and-out war film, but it plays as the backdrop to this touching, moving tale of a horse that brings people together, it shows Spielberg has the power to tell good stories. It begins in Devon when farmer Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan) buys a horse which he can barely afford, but his son Albert (Jeremy Irvine) bonds with the horse, whom he names Joey. But, when World War 1 breaks out, and in need of cash, Ted sells Joey to the British Army, which leaves Albert heartbroken. Joey becomes the horse of Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), who soon departs for the battlefields of France, but after a defeat on a German army camp, Joey is taken in by the German's, before he then ends up with French girl Emilie (Celine Buckens) and her Grandfather (Niels Arestrup), and before long, Joey ends up back with the German's again, but by this point, Albert has joined the army, and has never given up hope of believing his horse is out there somewhere. This is a moving, heartbreaking and emotional film, Spielberg brings the best out of the English countryside, and shows the horrors of the trenches without being overtly graphic. The horse manages to steal the film, with a brilliant supporting cast as well. Spielberg has done wonders with his first 'British' film. 4.5/5



Jurassic Park III (2001), to make another sequel to Jurassic Park, especially after The Lost World was so dark, may have seemed pointless, but Spielberg was open to story ideas, and even though he passed on directing this one to do A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), he left the directing in the capable hands of Joe Johnston. While it is a sillier more cheesier film that the other two, there is some fun to be found and had. Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), 8 years after what he went through in Jurassic Park, has moved on from those events and gets on with paleontologist, and he makes absolutely clear to a seminar that nothing on earth will get him to return to the islands where the dinosaurs are. However, businessman Paul Kirby (William H. Macy) has a proposition for Grant, to take them on an aerial tour of Isla Sorna (AKA Site B), in return, Kirby will fund Grant's research. But, they end up landing on the island, and Grant realises it was all a rouse to get Kirby and his wife Amanda (Téa Leoni) onto the island to look for their lost son Eric (Trevor Morgan), but they have bigger problems to face, much larger ones, and they've evolved... While it does take a good approach, (maybe one The Lost World should have gone in), it does falter in places, but it doesn't outstay it's welcome, and the dinosaurs look amazing this time with colours and intelligence as well, and director Johnston grounds this one in B-Movie shocks. Spielberg still wants to do a 4th film, maybe now it's time to return. 3.5/5

Donald McKinney wrote:

When We Were Kings (1996), an Oscar winning documentary directed by Leon Gast, (The Grateful Dead Movie (1974) and Hells Angels Forever (1983)), and produced by Taylor Hackford. This is about one of the most talked about fights of the 20th Century, the run-up to it, and the impact it would have on the African community and American sports as well. It's colourful and a good watch. The documentary is about the lead-up to The Rumble in the Jungle, what was then to have been the biggest and best boxing match in the world, between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. It was meant to be a comeback for Ali, having lost the Fight of the Century in 1971 against Joe Frazier. The Rumble in the Jungle was held in Zaire, and promoter Don King had a music festival known as Zaire 74, which would feature James Brown and B.B. King. The fight was delayed a month after Foreman was injured during training. Ali and Foreman spent 2 months training in the heat of Zaire, and became accustomed to the climate, the fight was part funded by the country's brutal dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, which raised moral questions. It's a well made documentary with some brilliant footages of the build-up to the fight, and it shows a side to Africa that you don't see in those poverty adverts. Ali was the big talker, always one to put down his opponents, whereas Foreman was quieter and got into training. It shows a time in sports when boxing brought people together, and it should still do that. 4.5/5

For years this was my favourite documentary. It managed to take a subject I had no interest in at all and make it one of the best films I'd ever seen.


The A-Team (2nd view) - So when I saw this is at the cinema I said the following -

I've never seen the show so have no particular nostalgic leanings towards this film, and I never thought that Mr T was the coolest dude ever (though I did once have his autograph which I've now lost). The show did have a fine then tune though, thankfully reused in the film. I'll happily watch Liam Neeson in anything and he was more than watchable in this, as was Sharlto Copley, though his performance was nothing compared to his debut last year. But I've read glowing reviews that say this was funny with lots of inventive action. It wasn't funny at all really, although it may not have helped that I couldn't figure out what was being said half the time and the choppy editing annoyed me as well. Apart from one gloriously brilliant OTT sequence involving a flying tank, the action wasn't all that special either, and if this had been the 4th film in the series, "sank the container ship" would be the new "nuked the fridge". And Quinton Jackson as B.A was terrible. Really, do not give your worst actor the only plotline that requires any sort of emotional conveyance because it comes off as laughable.

- and seeing it again, I agree with that pretty much, but the added bonus of DVD subtitles makes it more understandable. But I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more despite everything that's wrong with it - 4/5

The Sitter (2011), from director David Gordon Green, who did Pineapple Express (2008) and Your Highness (2011), this is an amusing and very naughty comedy, the critics have been a little harsh on this film as alot of it is laugh out loud funny, and there's good camaraderie between it's star and the child actors, this has future cult favourite written all over it. College student Noah Griffith (Jonah Hill) has been suspended from college and his mother (Jessica Hecht) has had enough of him lazing around the house watching TV all day, and wants him to get a job, and a chance encounter has Noah babysitting 3 kids for the evening, including conflicted young teen Slater (Max Records), wild girl Blithe (Landry Bender) and naughty adopted Puerto Rican Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez). However, Noah's on-and-off girlfriend Marisa (Ari Graynor) wants Noah to get some coke from drugs dealer Karl (Sam Rockwell) for a party, and she'll have sex with Noah in return. He can't say no to this, so Noah, with the kids in tow, head off into New York, what could possibly go wrong?? With 3 kids in tow, anything and everything. It is a modern day version of Adventures in Babysitting (1987), only more naughtier. Hill is his usual self, and the kids hold their own against him, (especially Records), not all of it works, but it's entertaining for the long term, but you get the sneaking suspicion there's a longer cut that makes more sense out there... 3.5/5



Haywire (2011), Steven Soderbergh never makes two films the same in a row, he's dabbled in everything from comedy crime capers to drugs films to disaster films to sci-fi films to war films and real life dramas, now, he does an out-and-out action film with a mixed martial arts fighter who Soderbergh saw on TV as it's star, and it's a very good film. Covert agent Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) works for a secret firm that the American government get to do certain undercover jobs. Mallory reports to her boss Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), after a job in Barcelona where Mallory is sent to rescue hostage Jiang (Anthony Brandon Wong) for Rodrigo (Antonio Banderas), she then finds herself in Dublin working for MI6 agent Paul (Michael Fassbender) as "eye candy". However, while at a party, Mallory finds the dead body of Jiang in a barn, and Paul later tries to kill her. So, she finds herself on the run, beginning with a chase through the streets of Dublin, staying ahead of an unseen spy and then the Irish Garda. She is able to sneak back into America, where her life is in even more danger, but she needs to get to her Dad (Bill Paxton), who knows of her employment. It's a twisty thriller, with some brilliant, violent moments of action throughout. It's Carano as Mallory who manages to hold her own against the all-star supporting cast, also including Channing Tatum, Mathieu Kassovitz and Michael Douglas. But, Soderbergh up there with Danny Boyle and Michael Winterbottom as one of the most unpredictable directors working today. 4/5

Matinee (1993), Joe Dante had just come of Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), and he now had the clout to make whatever he wanted, and he went with this clever and heartfelt tribute to the monster movies of old, the films Dante grew up with and eventually worked on. It got a lot of critical acclaim at the time, but no-one went to see it. Shame, as it's Dante's best film. Key West, Florida in October 1962, and the Cuban Missile Crisis has America in a state of panic, but in Key West, it's even more scary as Cuba is a mere 90 miles away, this is worrying for Gene Loomis (Simon Fenton) and his brother Dennis (Jesse Soffer), whose father is on a submarine near Cuba. Meanwhile, horror director Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) is opening his new film Mant! in Key West on an exclusive screening, screened in Atomo-Vision and Rumble-Rama, (explosions and buzzers in the seats.) He thinks opening the film at that time isn't tasteless but people's fear is perfect. As the town and it's people, prepare for what could be immediate and almost certain doom, Woolsey prepares the cinema for his magnum opus, but will it go alright on the night?? Lawrence Woolsey is based on William Castle, who used tricks in cinemas his films played, and the film within a film is spot on brilliant, Goodman makes a good and charismatic showman, if only film had focused on him more than the young cast, but it's only a little niggle in a very enjoyable and funny film. 4/5



Crank (2006), written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who later did Gamer (2009) and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012), this is a very enjoyable, very violent, very suspenseful and very funny action thriller. It's different from all the rest and it unleashed Neveldine/Taylor's brand of cinema upon the world, it's not going to be the same!! Hitman Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) wakes up feeling a bit funny, and he discovers that he's been injected with a synthetic drug known as the Beijing Cocktail, which stops adrenalin flowing, and his heart will slow down and he will die. It was Chev's boss Carlito (Carlos Sanz), a powerful crime lord in LA who did this, as a hit Chev did for Carlito has had bad repercussions, and Carlito wants Chev out of the way. From when Chev wakes up, he should have an hour to live before he dies, but he doesn't, thanks to advice from Doc Miles (Dwight Yoakam), Chev has to keep getting excited and into danger in order to get the adrenalin pumping around his body, but that isn't going to be easy, and while going around LA looking for Carlito, Chev leaves behind a trail of destruction and carnage in his attempts to stay alive. It's jaw-droppingly off the wall and insane in some places, but it's OK because the film knows that, and it has fun with it's hero getting into some impossible situations and stuff which will have you saying "OH, MY GOD!!" If only more action films were as fun and entertaining as this one, and Neveldine/Taylor have only just got started. 4.5/5