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 What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock

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Donald McKinney
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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jun 23, 2014 8:13 pm

The World's Greatest Lover (1977), the second film written and directed by Gene Wilder after making his debut with the silly and absurd The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975). Here, Wilder makes a tribute to silent comedies his way, but also gives a nod of gratitude to Federico Fellini along the way. It is a very loud and hysterical film but it does have some good old fashioned laughs along the way. In the 1920's, Rainbow Studios head Adolph Zitz (Dom DeLuise) is upset as the studio is losing profit as they don't have Rudolph Valentino, so they decide to hold a contest to find The World's Greatest Lover, a new star to rival Valentino's popularity. Rudy Hickman (Wilder) is an accident prone and neurotic baker from Milwaukee, who travels out to Hollywood with his wife Annie (Carol Kane), so he can take part in the audition. But, Annie has grown tired in their marriage, and when she goes off to find the real Valentino, Rudy's erratic, neurotic nature gets out of hand, especially in the audition, which manages to impress Zitz. Wilder's brand of comedy is more fierce and loud compared to the films he did with Mel Brooks, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but it does have some good set pieces throughout, and it manages to capture the era of the 1920's really wonderfully. It's better than what some people make it out to be. 3.5/5

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The Monuments Men (2014), George Clooney is back as director, his 5th film as well, which he also stars in and has also co-produced and co-written it with production partner Grant Heslov, this one is based on a non fiction book by Robert M. Edsel. You can see what Clooney has done here, created an old fashioned war caper with a big all-star cast. Yes, it's a very smug film, but it's a lot better than the critics say it is. In 1943, art historian Frank Stokes (Clooney) is tasked with saving arts and treasures claimed by the Nazi's. He gets together a team of art historians and curators, sculptors and architects, consisting of James Granger (Matt Damon), Sgt. Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Sgt. Walter Garfield (John Goodman), Jean-Claude Clermon (Jean Dujardin), Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban) and Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville) to go into mainland Europe to locate the missing art, and return it to their rightful owners. They're scattered across France and Belgium at first and Granger gets a lot of help from museum curator Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett). While the tone of the film might seem a little uneven, (it does shy away from the real horrors of the war), but this is a unashamedly old school film. It's not all perfect, and it does come across as a thinking man's 'Allo 'Allo! in places. But it does focus on a part of the war that people don't know about, but it's a well made film. 4/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jun 23, 2014 9:07 pm

The Mechanic (1972), directed by Michael Winner, who was extremely prolific at this point in his career, between 1970 and 1973, he directed a whopping 7 films, all of varying quality. Here, Winner was offered this thriller written by playwright Lewis John Carlino, who had originally wrote it as a novel, before it was optioned as a film by United Artists. It's actually a good thriller, and it shows Winner could do well with the right material. Arthur Bishop (Charles Bronson) is an assassin who works for a top secret organisation, and he's what's known in the killing trade as a "mechanic", who has a sophisticated and complex approach to his hits, he takes time to set them up, covering his tracks well. But, the job brings great stress, and Bishop suffers a blackout as a result. After being assigned to kill one of the organisations heads, Big Harry McKenna (Keenan Wynn), he later meets Big Harry's son Steve (Jan-Michael Vincent), who is intrigued by what Bishop does for a living, and Bishop thinks Steve has the perfect personality for a hitman, and makes Steve his apprentice. It's a very serious action film, but while Winner is known for cutting corners, making his films look shoddily made, this one is meticulously made, rather like the hits set up by Bronson in the film. It's actually the best collaboration between Bronson and Winner, well made and compelling, even though it was remade in 2011 by Simon West. 4/5

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The Ploughman's Lunch (1983), written by novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan (The Good Son (1993) and Atonement (2001), and directed by Iris Richard Eyre (Iris (2001) and Notes on a Scandal (2006)), this is a powerful yet slow-burning drama which was EXTREMELY topical for it's day, as it was filmed around real events going on in the UK at that time. It's got a good selection of British actors on top form in the film. In 1982, James Penfield (Jonathan Pryce) is a motivated and ambitious reporter for BBC Radio who has been asked to write about the Suez Crisis, while the Falklands War dominates the news. James has become attracted to Susan Barrington (Charlie Dore), a TV journalist working for London Weekend Television, who was introduced to James by his old college chum Jeremy Hancock (Tim Curry). To research his work on the Suez Crisis, Susan suggests James contacts her mother Ann Barrington (Rosemary Harris), who wrote an article about the crisis, but it's not long before James ends up spending more time with Ann than Susan. It's such a realistic film, it's almost a stone's throw away from being classed as a documentary, even as parts of it were filmed at the 1982 Conservative Party conference, with Thatcher and her cronies giving speeches. It says a lot about the social classes of 80's Britain, and the gulf that was opening up between the classes. 3.5/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jun 23, 2014 9:32 pm

Shock Treatment (1981), After the success of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), creator Richard O'Brien reunited with co-writer Jim Sharman to do a follow-up, rather than making a sequel, they made an 'equal'. It was a troubled production, when the Screen Actors Guild went on strike, the production was downscaled and moved from America to London, and confined to a soundstage, which gives it an edge. Set in Denton, USA. Married couple Brad and Janet Majors (Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper) are invited to take part on Denton TV's new game show Marriage Maze, hosted by blind Viennese psychopath Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries). Brad is committed to Dentonvale, an insane asylum ran by Cosmo and Nation McKinley (Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn). Janet is groomed for stardom and world domination, while Brad is locked in a cell. Meanwhile, Denton Dossier hosts Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) and Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray) investigate who the McKinley's really are, and who has orchestrated this whole wicked scheme. On a visual level, it looks brilliant and the sets are absolutely vivid, and the songs are top notch too. But, it's absolutely insane, and half the time you really don't know what on earth's going on, but that doesn't seem to matter. It's a mad satire on American culture and TV shows. Plus, look out for a young Rik Mayall as Rest Home Ricky. 4/5

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Speed Zone (1989), released as Cannonball Fever in some countries, this originally started out life as The Cannonball Run 3, but when most of the original cast and crew refused to return, it was scrapped, and the producers changed the title, although some countries changed the title to get more people in. It's just the sort of hokum you'd expect film a film like this, just a bit of cheesy, brainless fun. Various participants gather for the illegal Cannonball Run at a motel in Washington D.C. That is until nasty Washington chief of police Spiro T. Edsel (Peter Boyle) has all of the drivers arrested, and the sponsors have to find new drivers, which are found quickly. Gus Gold (Eugene Levy) bullies old school rival Charlie (John Candy) to drive his BMW with Tiffany (Donna Dixon) as a passenger. English gambler Alec (Matt Frewer) and hitman Vic (Joe Flaherty) end up on the road together, as do bickering millionaire brothers Nelson and Randolph Van Sloan (Dick Smothers and Tom Smothers), who look set to cheat to win. Most of the budget was spent on the all star cameos, many of them were only on set for a limited time, so it affects the production values as well, there are a few good set pieces, including a new meaning to a "fly drive", it's a load of old cobblers but remove your brain and expectations before viewing, and it's worth it. 3/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jun 23, 2014 9:57 pm

Hysteria (1965), from Hammer, who around this time made a series of psychological thrillers, to try and get away from the gothic horrors they were becoming renowned for. This one was directed by Freddie Francis, (Paranoiac (1963), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) and Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)) and produced and written by Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster. It's a very stylish and compelling thriller, done with panache. It has American Chris Smith (Robert Webber) who was found on the side of the road after a bad car accident, and is suffering a nasty case of amnesia. He has been having sessions with Dr. Keller (Anthony Newlands) to try and see if he can remember anything, but with no luck. Chris only has one clue, a photograph of model Denise James (Lelia Goldoni), but private investigator Hemmings (Maurice Denham) is having no luck finding her. But a mysterious benefactor has given Chris a luxury penthouse apartment to live in, although Chris seems to be hearing noises coming from next door, even though the flat next door is unoccupied and derelict... It's a good thriller, and it does have a very jazzy flavour to it, it's a different kind of Hammer film, and their thrillers certainly had more style. However, Hammer have blood on display in this one, and a few cheeky references to Psycho (1960) along the way. But this manages to be complex and a very engaging film. 4/5

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Die! Die! My Darling! (1965), known as Fanatic in the UK, this Hammer thriller is based on Nightmare by Anne Blaisdell, and adapted by Richard Matheson, author of I Am Legend (1954), and screenwriter of Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963) and The Devil Rides Out (1968), and directed by Silvio Narizzano (Georgy Girl (1966)), this is a tense and unnerving thriller which is compelling and deadly. American woman Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers) comes to England to marry Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Before she does, Patricia wants to visit Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead), whose son she was engaged to marry before his untimely death. Mrs. Trefoile lives in a near derelict house on the edge of a village with servants Harry (Peter Vaughn), Anna (Yootha Joyce) and Joseph (Donald Sutherland). However, Mrs. Trefoile is a religious fanatic, and she ends up blaming Patricia for her son's death. To the point where Patricia reveals that she wasn't going to marry her son, she takes Patricia prisoner, to try and cleanse her soul. It's a shocking film, and it's quite violent and heavy going for it's day. But it has a brilliant powerhouse performance by Bankhead, who wages hell upon Powers, and they make a brilliant pairing in the film. The result is one of the best thrillers made by Hammer, even though it didn't have their usual repertoire of actors on board. 4.5/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jun 23, 2014 10:44 pm

Basic Instinct 2 (2006), 14 years after the first Basic Instinct film caused a storm, plans for a sequel passed through various studios and various directors were attached. Then it came to Michael Caton-Jones, (Doc Hollywood (1991), Rob Roy (1993) and The Jackal (1997)), who decided to have a go. But the problem is the film has a very dodgy script and it feels like those erotic thrillers Channel 5 used to show on Friday nights. Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) now lives in London, and she's just been involved in a high-speed car crash with English footballer Kevin Franks (Stan Collymore). He died, she survived, and while Scotland Yard Detective Supt. Roy Washburn (David Thewlis) tries to send her down for murder, she gets off on a technicality. Tramell is ordered to see psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey), who believes Tramell is a narcissist. However, after people closely associated with Glass end up dead, Glass suspects Tramell did it, and his suspicions are further aroused when he reads the manuscript of Tramell's latest novel, which is a bit too close to reality... It should have been a good film, but it's horribly dated, and the plot simply doesn't ring true and moving it to London doesn't work either, which is a shame. Stone is brilliant though, but that sadly doesn't a good film make. It makes you wonder how bad the other proposals were before they settled on this plot. 2/5

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The Double (2013), directed by Richard Ayoade (Submarine (2010), co-written with Avi Korine (Mister Lonely (2007)), and loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1846 novella. This is a bleak thriller and a pitch black comedy all in one. It owes a lot of the works of Franz Kafka, David Lynch and Terry Gilliam, and it's a major step forward for Ayoade as a director, after this, who knows where he'll go, he's made an indelible mark. Set in a bleak future, Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) lives a quiet existence, but he gets treat badly by most people he encounters everyday, even his boss Mr. Papadopoulos (Wallace Shawn) ignores him. However, when Simon meets co-worker Hannah (Mia Wasikowska), who lives in an apartment opposite him. He feels he can get ahead in life, but he gets the shock of his life when a new worker starts at his workplace, James Simon (Eisenberg again), who is identical to Simon, but has a more abrasive and impulsive than Simon. Soon, James takes over Simon's life, and this drives Simon to near insanity, and he has to take action. It's a dark and mysterious film, and certainly not a film for everybody. But Ayoade gives it an offbeat edge with a lot of visual wit on display and a lot of colourful characters. You won't see another film like this soon, but it shows what can be done with a lot of imagination and a limited budget. Absolutely brilliant. 5/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyTue Jun 24, 2014 1:51 am

"Thinking man's 'Allo 'Allo". I like that!



Valhalla Rising (1st view - Dreamlike and violent - 4/5*

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Escape Plan (1st view) - The features on the DVD make a big deal of the fact that this films has both Arnie and Sly in it, but fail to mention that the film is also a great big pile of average - 3/5*

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyFri Jun 27, 2014 5:59 am

Saving Mr Banks (1st view) - I've never been a great fan of Mary Poppins despite the fact that there are some great things about it - David Tomlinson, dancing penguins, David Tomlinson, Chim Chim Cher-ee, Dick Van Dyke, Dick Van Dyke's accent, David Tomlinson, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious oh, and David Tomlinson. However, I feel that I'll like Mary Poppins more when I next watch it thanks to this film, even if it does seem that lot of Saving Mr Banks is pure fiction. A charming and quite lovely film with a great performance from Emma Thompson - 4/5*

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptySun Jun 29, 2014 10:01 pm

The House in Nightmare Park (1973), directed by Peter Sykes, (Demons of the Mind (1972), Steptoe and Son Ride Again (1973) and To the Devil a Daughter (1976)), and co-written and produced by Terry Nation (Doctor Who, Blake's 7, Survivors), this is a very silly comedy-horror film, which EMI originally wanted to be a direct sequel to Up The Front (1972), but Nation and Sykes said no, and made it an effective yet daft caper. In 1907, struggling thespian actor Foster Twelvetrees (Frankie Howerd) is asked to do a dramatic reading at a large country house for Stewart Henderson (Ray Milland). Also at the country house is Stewart's family including his sister Jessica (Rosalie Crutchley), his brothers Ernest (Kenneth Griffith) and Reggie (Hugh Burden), and Reggie's daughter Verity (Elizabeth MacLennan). The Henderson family all have sinister intentions, which scare Foster, and they claim to have another brother locked away somewhere in the house, which piques Foster's interest. Plus, the family except Stewart treat Foster with nothing but contempt and even jealousy. It's actually effective as a comedy horror, the scares and frights are all there, but the comedy is quite hit and miss and even Howerd is a lot more restrained than what he was in the Up Pompeii films, but he manages to hold his own against Milland. It's a good film, but it's no Carry On Screaming (1965). 3.5/5

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Spanish Fly (1975), directed by Bob Kellett, (Up Pompeii (1971), Up The Chastity Belt (1971) and Up The Front (1972)), and produced by Peter James (The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Beowulf & Grendel (2005)), who came up with the story which was inspired by a German play called Die Spanische Fliege by Franz Arnold and Ernst Bach. It feels like a Carry On film, but with a lot less laughs than there should be. London Businessman Mike Scott (Leslie Phillips) is sent to Spain to do a photo shoot with some models for the lingerie company owned by his wife Janet (Sue Lloyd). In Spain, he reunites with his old school chum Sir Percy de Courcy (Terry-Thomas), who is a scheming aristocrat who is making business by selling cheap and nasty Spanish wine as expensive French wine. The wine is undrinkable, so Courcy has his chauffeur Perkins (Graham Armitage) collect some "local herbs" to make the wine taste better, unfortunately, they put Spanish Fly aphrodisiac in the wine, which Scott ends up drinking, in the company of the models... Filmed in Menorca, which has some lovely locations, but the film feels 10 years out of date, if it had been made 10 years prior, it might have been a silly farce, but by the 1970's, it's a stones throw away from what was to come in the Confessions films. Even the stars are showing their age, and they're past their prime. 2/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyTue Jul 01, 2014 4:10 pm

Sunset (1988), written and directed by Blake Edwards, who had faced studio interference with A Fine Mess (1986) and had problems with Hollywood unions on That's Life! (1986), but he suddently had a small hit with Blind Date (1987), which he found a new star in Bruce Willis who was about to hit it big, so Edwards struck while the iron was hot with this one. While it is a love letter to Hollywood of the 1920's, it's very hit and miss. In 1929, Hollywood is in a transition with moving from silent films to talkies. Studio head Alfie Alperin (Malcolm McDowell) is about to start production on a great western about the life of Wyatt Earp, with cowboy star Tom Mix (Willis) up for the role of Earp. To help with the production, the real Wyatt Earp (James Garner) is employed to help as technical advisor. However, as shooting gets underway, Mix and Earp get caught up in a murder mystery, with Earp's former girlfriend Christina (Patricia Hodge), who is now married to Alperin, caught up as a suspect in the investigation, but Earp deducts something isn't right, and he's correct when more deaths occur. It could have been a great old fashioned buddy movie, but the action seems half-hearted and so does the comedy, you get the impression that Edwards was dialing this one in while he was waiting for a better project to come along. Willis need not have worried, he was about to release a little action film called Die Hard... Wink 2.5/5

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Law Abiding Citizen (2009), directed by F. Gary Gray (The Negotiator (1998), The Italian Job (2003) and Be Cool (2005)), and written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium (2002), Ultraviolet (2004) and Salt (2010)), this is a violent legal thriller which on the surface, looks like it's taken it's inspiration from the Death Wish films, but underneath, it's a very intelligent and complex thriller, even though it's a vigilante revenge film. When Clyde Alexander Shelton (Gerard Butler) witnesses his wife and daughter getting killed before his eyes by thugs Clarence James Darby (Christian Stolte) and Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart), he wants to see justice done. But when Prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is unable to bring up any DNA evidence, he cuts a deal with Darby to testify against Ames. Shelton is furious about this going on behind his back, and 10 years later, when Ames is finally executed, and it's botched badly. Rice is curious to know how this happened, and then Darby ends up dead too. Shelton is arrested, but claims they have no evidence, but he knows something. It could have been a sleazy mess, but this has the benefit of having an intriguing and mysterious plot, which all makes sense in the end. While the plot might seem ridiculous after you've watched the film, it's good fun to watch, and there's a lot of violent deaths on display and some well staged moments of action. 4/5

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The Panic in Needle Park (1971), based on the 1967 book of the same name by James Mills, adapted by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne (A Star Is Born (1976) and Up Close & Personal (1996)), and directed by Jerry Schatzberg (Scarecrow (1973) Sweet Revenge (1976) and Reunion (1989)), this is a harrowing film for it's day, even more so as you see the drug use done in graphic realism, it was a hot potato at the time. Set in New York, Helen (Kitty Winn) has just come home after suffering a quite nasty abortion, she shares an apartment with her boyfriend Marco (Raúl Juliá), who doesn't seem to care much for Helen. He goes away for a bit, but things change when Bobby (Al Pacino) turns up, as Marco owes Bobby some money, but he see's Helen is in a bad state and cares for her, even visiting her in hospital when she has a bad turn. When she gets out, she's introduced to Bobby's friends, who are all drug dealers and addicts, and they begin a doomed love affair. This was only the second film Pacino had made at the time, but it was his role as the streetwise Bobby that got him cast in The Godfather (1972), and it's a very dirty, grotty look at what drug addiction is really like, and what it can do to people. The film is essentially about the end of the swinging 60's, and the hangover that followed. 4/5

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Footloose (1984), written by Oscar winning songwriter Dean Pitchford, (Fame (1980)), and directed by Herbert Ross (Play It Again, Sam (1972), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and The Goodbye Girl (1977)), this is an old fashioned David and Goliath tale set in small town America, and it was inspired by events that happened in Elmore City, Oklahoma. It's an extremely cheesy film, a product of it's time, but it's proud of that. Teenager Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) moves from Chicago to the small town of Bomont in Utah, with his mother Ethel (Frances Lee McCain). Ren gets the shock of his life when he discovers that dancing and rock music have been banned in Bomont after an accident that claimed the lives of youngers years ago. Ren soon finds himself at odds with the domineering Reverend Shaw Moore (John Lithgow) a staunch supporter of the ban. But Ren is determined to have the ban lifted, and he wants to see the school have a prom, despite the objections of Moore, Ren finds he has the support of Moore's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer), who is a rebel. It's a very flashy film, but it's main plot feels like it came from a 1950's teen rock and roll film, and now it's been brought forwards to the 1980's. It also has some music video style sequences to the excellent Kenny Loggins theme tune, it's a good song and dance film, very corny, but it knows that and it's better for it. 4/5

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Jersey Boys (2014), Clint Eastwood is back, this time with his take on the award winning Broadway musical by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, who also wrote the screenplay. This is an unashamedly old fashioned musical telling the story of the musical group The Four Seasons, but it has a lot of colour to it, and it shows that Eastwood, even at 84, can still direct engaging and moving films and he's made a very good musical. It begins in 1951, in Belleville, New Jersey. Where Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young), Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza) and Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda), get by in music groups and sometimes committing small crimes. However, all that changes when they're introduced to singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio (Erich Bergen) by Tommy's friend Joe Pesci (Joey Russo), and they form a musical group, which they call The Four Seasons, and Frankie Castelluccio becomes Frankie Valli. Their rise to fame soon follows, but Tommy owes money to loan sharks, which tests the group, and they have to go to local mobster Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) for help. Eastwood went with this after his planned remake of A Star Is Born stalled in pre-production, and while you could argue something like this would have been better suited to Martin Scorsese, Eastwood makes it an enjoyable and gently amusing musical, capturing the period well and staging the musical numbers with panache. 4/5

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Chef (2014), written and directed by Jon Favreau, now best known for directing Iron Man 1 & 2 (2008/2010) and Cowboys & Aliens (2011). But this comedy-drama is closer in tone to his debut Made (2001), and it's a contrast to Favreau's big budget film, this one has heart and warmth. With a low-budget, it seems to have revitalised Favreau and it's well worth it for the food that's being cooked in the film. In Los Angeles, Chef Carl Casper (Favreau) wants to show off his cookery skills when he learns that critic and blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) is coming to the restaurant, he wants to cook up a special menu, but the restaurant's owner Riva (Dustin Hoffman) tells him to stick to the set menu. It doesn't go well, Michel gives a bad review, Carl attacks him on Twitter, then shouts at him in the restaurant, and it ends up on YouTube. Carl loses his job, he takes his son Percy (EmJay Anthony) to Miami where he gets a ramshackle food truck, which he and Percy clean up, and then drive across America to help Carl rediscover his love for cooking. It's a very good character piece, and the film has a sharp and funny script with a lot of heart and humour, it's a film which shows how food can bring people together. It has a brilliant supporting cast including Sofía Vergara, John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. 4/5

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Boom! (1968), directed by Joseph Losey (The Boy with Green Hair (1948), The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971), and adapted by Tennessee Williams from William's own 1962 play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. The play was a massive flop, but that didn't stop it from being adapted as a film, starring the most bankable acting couple working at the time, it should have been a success, but that didn't happen. Set on a remote island somewhere in the Mediterranean, it has aging millionaire Flora 'Sissy' Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) slowly dying from a terminal illness, but she lives a life of luxury in her cliff side mansion, which is ran by her eccentric band of servants. She lives a quiet life until one day, English poet Christopher Flanders (Richard Burton) seemingly arrives by scaling the cliff and walking into the grounds of her mansion. Goforth and Flanders fire off one another, with Goforth believing he's The Angel of Death, and that he's come to take her away, something Flanders denies but Goforth feels death come nearer, especially with The Witch of Capri (Noël Coward) arrives. It's a camp film, and it's near impossible to take seriously, and despite some nice touches, score by John Barry and cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, the film is just an excuse for Burton and Taylor to shout at each other, the film took away their commercial tag for good. You can see why John Waters loves it. 2/5

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The Cars That Ate Paris (1974). the directorial debut of Peter Weir, who up until then had made short films, documentaries and TV shows in his native Australia. This film was inspired by a holiday Weir had undertaken in Europe, with strange towns he visited off main roads. It was financed by the Australian Film Development Corporation to the tune of $250,000, and made in little under a month, and it's a good schlock film. Paris, New South Wales is a seemingly peaceful town, but it has one hell of a dark undercurrent. The locals of the town, led by Mayor Len Kelly (John Meillon), arrange fatal car crashes to anyone who passes through the town, and they salvage the cars, and the survivors are lobotomised and kept for medical experiments. However, when Arthur Waldo (Terry Camilleri) and his brother, George Waldo (Rick Scully) are caught up in an accident where George is killed, Len spares Arthur and has him live in his family home. Big mistake, as Arthur has a dark past, and he uses this to his advantage to try and make an escape from Paris. It's a dark and disturbing film, but amazingly, it has a wickedly black sense of humour too. It has some great stunts as well, which come out well on film considering it was done for almost next to nothing. This got Weir's career off to an excellent start, and Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Gallipoli (1981) soon followed. 4/5

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Velvet Goldmine (1998), written and directed by Todd Haynes (Poison (1991), Safe (1995) and I'm Not There (2007)), this is a visually stunning but absolutely insane and nearly incoherent music drama, set around the most flamboyant time in music history, and ever so partially inspired by the lives of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, (even though Haynes claims it isn't really), this is a weird outsider's view on the brash glam rock scene. In 1984, homosexual journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is asked to find out what happened to bi-sexual glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who faked his own death and disappeared from public life a decade before, Stuart is chosen as he was at the concert where the assassination happened. Stuart investigates Slade's life, and explores the relationship Slade had with his wife Mandy (Toni Collette), his dubious manager Jerry Devine (Eddie Izzard) and also Slade's friendship with American hard rocker Curt Wild (Ewan McGregor), and the working relationship they had, but Stuart finds a lot of secrets. It's a very colourful and loud film, but it's plot owes a big debt of gratitude to Citizen Kane (1941), with the search for the elusive "Rosebud" here being the hunt for a reclusive rock star. It's not perfect, and a lot of it is hammed up and camped up to high heaven. Bowie wanted nothing to do with the film. Shame, he would have liked it. 3.5/5

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I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006), from South Korean director Park Chan-wook, best known for his more violent offerings like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), comes this surprisingly sweet and VERY offbeat romantic comedy. It's a very simple story, but it's beautifully made, and it's a surprising change of direction for Park Chan-wook, but a welcome one. It has Cha Young-goon (Su-jeong Lim), a young woman who starts to think she's a cyborg. She's committed to a mental hospital, where she refuses to eat, as cyborg's don't eat, but she soon falls for fellow patient Park Il-sun (Rain), a young man who hops around wearing a rabbit mask, and he believes he can steal people's souls, and Young-goon wants Il-sun to steal her soul, so she can kill the "people in white. She's given shock therapy in order to eat, all Young-goon believes that's doing is recharging her, and making her not want to eat even more, but a Il-Soon comes up with a plan in order for Young-goon to eat something. Although there are a couple of moments of excessive violence we've come to expect from him, but ultimately, it is a very sweet and innocent love story, think One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest reimagined by someone like Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Michel Gondry, and you have the idea!! 4/5

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Flipper (1996), written and directed by Alan Shapiro (The Christmas Star (1986) and The Crush (1993)), this is a remake of James B. Clark's 1963 film of the same name which spawned a sequel and a television series in it's wake. This was made as an attempt to rival the success of the Free Willy films going on at the time, and while there was a lot of hype, nothing came of it. Which is a shame, as it's an old fashioned family adventure. Teenager Sandy Ricks (Elijah Wood) is sent off for the summer to stay with his uncle Porter (Paul Hogan) who runs a fishing trawler on the seaside island town of Coral Key, just off the Florida Keys. Sandy is upset at having to spend the summer there, especially as he'll be missing a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. But, things change when after witnessing Porter's rival and enemy Dirk Moran (Christopher Banks) shooting at a pod of dolphins, and one of the dolphins gets separated from the pod in the chaos. This dolphin follows Sandy and Porter back to the mainland, and Sandy soon becomes friends with the dolphin, who he names Flipper. It's a sentimental family film, but it's the sort you don't really get anymore, as they'd get accused of being mawkish and sugary. But, this manages to be compelling enough for an hour and a half, and there's some beautiful cinematography in the film, both above and below the water. 3/5

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Super Troopers (2001), the Broken Lizard comedy group, consisting of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske and Paul Soter had started off at Colgate University, New York and gained fame for their brand of comedy. Their first feature, Puddle Cruiser (1996) was made at Colgate University for $160,000, and it enabled them to make this old-fashioned and incredibly daft old school comedy. Set in the community of Spurbury, Vermont, which is very near the Canadian border, the film focuses on an inept group of State Troopers, consisting of Arcot "Thorny" Ramathorn (Chandrasekhar), MacIntyre "Mac" Womack (Lemme), Jeff Foster (Soter), rookie Robert "Rabbit" Roto (Stolhanske) and troublemaker Rodney "Rod" Farva (Heffernan), who are all under the command of Captain John O'Hagan (Brian Cox), who warns the troopers that the station is up for closure unless they get their act together and improve results. When they come across a shipment with 130 kilos of marijuana, they investigate further. It's the sort of comedy that National Lampoon would have killed for back in the 1980's, but it still manages to work, and there's a lot of infantile humour, some of it works, and some of it doesn't. But there's a good camaraderie between the cast, which holds the film together. Broken Lizard returned with Club Dread (2004). 3.5/5

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Bedazzled (1967), the original and best version, (never mind the 2000 remake), a satirical take on the Faust tale, as interpreted by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, then at the top of their game with their BBC TV series, it's still a very funny film, and Pete and Dud made a good team, even if they hated each other in real life. Set in Swinging London, this has Wimpy short-order chef Stanley Moon (Dudders), who yearns for waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron), and finds help from the devil himself, known as George Spiggott (Cook), who offers Moon 7 wishes so he can be with Margaret, alot of the wishes are too good to be true, and they are!! It has him going from an intellectual to a millionnaire to a pop star, and nothing goes as planned!! The film is a brilliant time piece of 1960's Britain, and it was made whilst Cook and Moore were at the peak of their success, and it has the very best of their humour, a satirical take of modern life, (for then), and with some very funny dialogue and situations, (nuns on trampolines!!) It also features Raquel Welch as Lust and Barry Humphries as Envy, oh, and it was directed by Stanley Donen, best known for Hollywood musicals like Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), you wouldn't have thought he'd have gone for this, good on him for doing so!! 4/5

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Tin Cup (1996). written and directed by Ron Shelton, who has always specialised in making sports related films, including Bull Durham (1988), White Men Can't Jump (1992) Cobb (1994) and Play It to the Bone (1999). Here, he weaves a sweet and likable romantic comedy, based around the sport of golf. It was ever so partially inspired by the career of Gary McCord, who worked on the film too as a technical adviser. Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) was once a promising golf prodigy who earned the nickname Tin Cup, but his career never went anywhere and now he's running a run-down driving range in West Texas along with his friend Romeo Posar (Cheech Marin). When Psychologist Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo) comes asking for a lesson, McAvoy asks why, and it turns out Griswold is in a relationship with professional golfer David Simms (Don Johnson), whom McAvoy knew years before. In return, Simms asks McAvoy to caddy for him at a benefit tournament. It begins McAvoy's comeback to the U.S. Open that he'd turned his back on years before. It's a very sweet romantic comedy, and it's an underdog film as well, it ticks all the cliches that many movies like this have to meet, but it manages to look good on screen, with a sun-snogged hue to the scenes. Plus, Costner trained with McCord, and did many of the golf shots on screen himself, which are great. 3.5/5

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Cruising (1980), William Friedkin was in Hollywood's bad books after the financial failure of Sorcerer (1977). Trying to get back into their favour again, he opted for a 1970 novel by Gerald Walker about going undercover in New York's gay scene. It was a bit dated by 1980, but Friedkin updated it to reflect the times. What could possibly go wrong?? Oh dear. This one caused a tidal wave of tabloid controversy on release. It begins with body parts being discovered in the Hudson River. all homosexuals who lived in the Greenwich Village area. Police think it's the work of a serial killer, so Captain Edelson (Paul Sorvino), sends young police officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) to go undercover into the seedy world of gay, S&M and leather bars. He befriends gay struggling playwright Ted Bailey (Don Scardino) who guides him through this murky world. The undercover work also takes it's toll on Steve's relationship with girlfriend Nancy (Karen Allen). The murders continue as he looks for the killer. It's a very seedy and dirty film, it's a fascinating world to make a film in, but it's very dark and bleak. Sadly, Pacino was simply miscast in the film, and it tries to be suspensful, but it just goes for sensationalism and shock and bloodshed, but it is a very haunting and atmospheric film ultimately. To think that Steven Spielberg was once attached to direct this!! Shocked What would he have done with the film?? 3/5

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Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), after the blockbuster success of Airplane! (1980), Paramount immediately ordered a sequel. However, despite early involvement, Jim Abrahams David Zucker and Jerry Zucker left to do Police Squad! instead. Paramount hired Ken Finkleman (Grease 2 (1982)), to write it, and then gave it to Finkleman to direct. It's actually pretty fun, not as good as the first one, but then what is? Set in the near future, man has colonised the Moon, and a Space Shuttle called the Mayflower One is set to launch from Houston. On board are Captain Clarence Oveur (Peter Graves) and computer officer Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty), who has since left Ted Striker (Robert Hays) who was declared mentally incompetent after a shuttle crashed, and was sent to an asylum. Striker knows the shuttle is dangerous, and has to stop it, he's able to escape from the asylum, and get a seat on board, but memories of the accident and the following lawsuit plague him. Then the computer overheats, and heads for the heart of the sun. It's an extremely silly film, but amazingly the gags are very good, some work and some don't, but Finkleman, who got help with the gags from future Simpsons writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, seems to have got the knack of what made the original work, but the plot is just a carbon copy of the first film, but all in space now. 3.5/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyMon Jul 07, 2014 11:32 pm

Not seen a film in almost two weeks!

Pacific Rim (2nd view) - At its best whenever the monsters were attacking things. It never felt like this was a global thing, despite the many references to attacks all over the place and different countries opting for giganic walls, it all seemed small and localised and not very threatening. But still very entertaining despite some dodgy performances and a largely crap script - 4/5

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Phenomena (1985), written and directed by Dario Argento, who had just given audiences the triple whammy of Suspiria (1977), Inferno (1980) and Tenebrae (1982). His follow-up was just as good, and it's a very creepy murder-mystery. While it touches upon all the hallmarks and themes which have all been commonplace in many of Argento's films for years, this one has a good cast and a very atmospheric setting. Set in Switzerland, American Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly) comes to study at the Swiss Richard Wagner Academy for Girls, chaperoned by Frau Brückner (Daria Nicolodi). However, Jennifer suffers from sleepwalking, and one night she ends up outside the Academy, and ends up being rescued by Scottish forensic entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasence), who is curious by her, and her ability to communicate with incests. Back at the Academy, Jennifer is studied for her sleepwalking by the Academy's Headmistress (Dalila Di Lazzaro), but it makes Jennifer feel very uneasy. However, students at the academy end up dead, and Jennifer is the suspect. While it may look like a carbon copy of Suspiria on the surface, it's got some good visuals, and a hard rock score by Goblin, Motorhead and Bill Wyman. It's what you've come to expect from Argento's films, although it's far from vintage, it's a good suspenseful thriller with some good ideas on display. 4/5

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The Mother of Tears (2007), written and directed by Dario Argento, who since the mid 1980's, had struggled to reach the heady heights in quality of his earlier work, mainly because there's so many new pretenders on the block. This one started work in the 1980's, but Argento couldn't make it work as a script, and it took him 20 years to get it right. The final result is like a compendium of Argento's work, rather than a comeback. In Rome, American student Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento) is studying the restoration of certain pieces of artwork. She's dating single father Michael Pierce (Adam James), who is the curator of the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome. After Sarah opens a box containing ancient artifacts belonging to Mater Lachrymarum (Moran Atias), the last surviving member of the order of The Three Mothers, Sarah finds herself in great danger from demonic agents of Mater Lachrymarum. Michael tries to get help from Padre Johannes (Udo Kier), who has experience in Mater Lachrymarum's evil. But Sarah soon finds herself on the run from witches. This is the third in a trilogy, which consisted of Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980), and while it does have some very dodgy and cheap CGI on displace, it does show that Argento does have a good imagination on display, but you do end up wishing that Argento had got this made back in the 1980's, when it would have looked better. 3/5

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She's The One (1996), written and directed by Edward Burns, who had made his debut as writer and director the year before with The Brothers McMullen (1995), which had been made for $23,000, but picked up by Fox Searchlight, who would produce his next film, which would go into production before The Brothers McMullen opened. It's a charming little romantic comedy-drama which is at heart about family pains and love. It focuses on two Irish-American brothers, Mickey (Burns) and Francis Fitzpatrick (Mike McGlone), who both have different lifestyles. Mickey is a taxi-driver, and non-plussed that his ex-fiancee Heather (Cameron Diaz) has cheated on him, while Francis works on Wall Street, and is married to Renee (Jennifer Aniston), but he's having an affair behind her back. After Mickey meets Hope (Maxine Bahns), a passenger in his cab, he marries her impulsively, and Francis becomes angry as he wasn't asked to be best man at the wedding, but Mickey and Francis' father Frank (John Mahoney) is on hand to give advice and support with their hardships in relationships. It's hardly original, but it has a ramshackle charm about it, a feelgood charm. It was intended as a direct sequel to The Brothers McMullen, but Burns decided against it. Burns has confidence as a director, but it's a shame his career didn't take off like predicted at the time. However, this has a nice score by Tom Petty. 3.5/5

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Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), directed by Jon Favreau (Elf (2003), Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010) and Chef (2014)), and based on the 2002 illustrated book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg, (Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (2004)). This is a visually stunning sci-fi adventure which was snobbishly dismissed by some as "Jumanji in space", it's a brilliant old fashioned family adventure that you seldom get now. Brothers Walter (Josh Hutcherson) and Danny (Jonah Bobo) are always at each others throats, much to the ire of their father (Tim Robbins), who has left their older sister Lisa (Kristen Stewart) to look after them, even though she's staying in bed. Looking for something to play, Danny finds an old clockwork board game in the basement called Zathura, which he starts playing. After each turn, it posts out cards which predict what's coming, from a meteor shower to a defective robot attacking them to Lisa getting frozen. Danny and Walter discover their house is now floating through deep space, and to get home they have to finish the game. It's a very imaginative film, especially when you consider that it's technically set all in one place, (sort of), but this is a love letter to films of the 1980's, where you'd get imaginative and intelligent family films like this, it's a shame that this one floundered at the box-office, as we could do with some more films like this. 4/5

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Guest House Paradiso (1999), well it had to happen. Razz With the success of the BBC series Bottom, as well as their live stage shows. Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall wrote this film spin-off, with Edmondson directing the film, (he'd had experience from directing some Comic Strip episodes), and it's exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from them. Just remove your brain for an hour and a half, and you'll laugh like a loon. Richard Twat (Mayall) and Eddie Ndingombaba (Edmondson) run the worst hotel in the United Kingdom, which is located next door to a poorly managed nuclear power station. Richard and Eddie's bad manners and violence towards one another leaves the guests, including Mr. Johnson (Bill Nighy) and Mr. Nice (Simon Pegg) completely appalled, but things look up for the Guest House Paradiso when famous Italian actress Gina Carbonara (Hélène Mahieu) arrives at the hotel seeking refuge from her violent fiancé Gino Bolognese (Vincent Cassel), who she ran away from at their wedding. Richard immediately see's the opportunity for more guests, but trouble is leaking... It's a very silly film, done on the cheap, and proud of it. But, there's nothing funnier than seeing Edmondson and Mayall knocking the shit out of one another. It's a shame we'll never see another one, as no-one could create grubby environments and characters and violent slapstick like Edmondson and Mayall. 4/5

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Strictly Sinatra (2001), written and directed by Peter Capaldi, who had won an Oscar for Live Action Short Film for Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life, a comic short he did for BBC Scotland. That enabled Capaldi to do a feature film, which was set in Capaldi's native Glasgow, and was set around the small time world of showbiz and the Glasgow mob. It's a good film, but it's a slight affair, although it could have been better. In Glasgow, small time lounge singer Toni Cocozza (Ian Hart) has a passion for singing Frank Sinatra songs, he dreams of becoming a famous singer in his own right. He ends up getting an offer from local Chisolm (Brian Cox) and his boss Connolly (Iain Cuthbertson), with the promise of getting more gigs in better venues, and maybe some TV appearances. But, Toni soon discovers he's being asked to do more than he bargained for, including helping the mob with some robberies. Toni's pianist Bill (Alun Armstrong) and his girlfriend and cigarette girl Irene (Kelly Macdonald) find out about Toni's double life, and they give Toni an ultimatum. It could have worked as a TV one-off, but it doesn't have the scope or ambition for a film, plus someone like Bill Forsyth could have added whimsy,humour and charm to the proceedings, but it doesn't know what it want it wants to be. As for Capaldi, he's directed for TV since, and has since become the new Doctor Who. 2.5/5

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Crooks in Cloisters (1964), directed by Jeremy Summers, (The Punch and Judy Man (1963), Ferry Cross The Mersey (1965) and The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967)), this is a silly crime caper comedy about a bunch of crooks put into a fish-out-of-water scenario, it came out when the Great Train Robbery had just happened, and it sent up the robbery. It has a good little ensemble at it's heart, and it's got good locations as well. Small time gangster Little Walter (Ronald Fraser) has just pulled off the Smallest Train Robbery in the UK, and Scotland Yard, led by D.I. Mungo (Alister Williamson) is on their tails. So, Walter and his gang, which consist of Lorenzo (Grégoire Aslan), Specs (Davy Kaye), Squirts (Bernard Cribbins), Willy (Melvyn Hayes) and Bikini (Barbara Windsor) are forced to hide out on a remote Cornish island where an abandoned abbey stands. So Little Walter and his gang have to live like monks until the heat dies down. They end up adapting to their new lifestyle, and then they're discovered by fisherman Phineas (Wilfrid Brambell), who helps them out on the mainland. It's a silly film, but it's a good timepiece of Cornwall back then, and it has a cast of regulars from British TV and film at the time. You can see where the inspiration for Nuns on the Run (1990) came from watching this. This is a prime example of the type of British film that they simply don't make anymore. 4/5

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Sorcerer (1977), William Friedkin had a double whammy with The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), here he was going for a triple whammy by remaking Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear (1953). Clearly Friedkin needed his head checked, he lost it mentally making this film, forcing Universal and Paramount to spend $22.5 million into making it, and filming it for over a year. It flopped, but it's not the disaster everyone made it out to be. It follows 4 men. New Jersey gangster Jackie Scanlon (Roy Schieder), French investment banker Victor Manzon (Bruno Cremer), Israeli terrorist Kassem (Amidou) and mysterious assassin Nilo (Francisco Rabal), all hiding out in a remote South American village for crimes they've commited. When a nearby oil well explodes, 4 men are needed to drive very highly volatile cases of nitro glycerine over 200 miles over rough terrain to the fire, the stakes are enormous, but they have nothing to lose. It's a very suspenseful, taut film with some good moments on it. It's very violent, gritty, dirty and down to earth. It was never gonna be as good as Wages of Fear, but Friedkin had a good stab at it and makes it his own. It's well shot and the score by Tangerine Dream is perfect. Thank God the film has been re-released and given a remastering, as it's finally becoming reclaimed as one of the best and misunderstood films of the 1970's. 4.5/5

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PostSubject: Re: What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock   What I've Just Watched: Part 3 - The Search for Spock - Page 36 EmptyWed Jul 09, 2014 11:20 pm

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974), the first American feature of English director John Hough (Twins of Evil (1971) and The Legend of Hell House (1973)), this is a car chase film with suspense and excitement. This is the Grindhouse version of The Sugarland Express (1974), and a great double bill with Vanishing Point (1971) it would make too, it's a product of it's time and proud of it. It begins with NASCAR racing driver Larry (Peter Fonda) and his mechanic Deke (Adam Roarke) who pull off a heist in a supermarket ran by George Stanton (Roddy McDowall, in an uncredited cameo), and they make off with $150,000 in cash by holding Stanton's wife and daughter hostage. They make a getaway, but Larry is confronted by Mary (Susan George), with whom he'd had a one night stand with, and she convinces them to take her along for the ride, which they reluctantly do. But soon, they have Capt. Everett Franklin (Vic Morrow) on their tail by cop car and helicopter, trying to stop Larry, Mary and Deke from making an escape, but with Larry at the wheel, he's very determined, and they switch cars, from a Dodge Charger to a Chevrolet Impala and then onto another Dodge Charger, but the law are closing in fast on our criminal trio, but they won't give in. It's a very suspenseful film, which ends in a big finale with them and cops zig-zagging through a large walnut grove with trees and roads everywhere. Peter Fonda is an underrated actor, and he has a coolness to rival Steve McQueen (who was considered for this) and Susan George is wild too. Quentin Tarantino loves this film, if only Death Proof had been more like this... 4/5

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The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), written and directed by Wes Anderson and inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, coming quickly off his sweet romance film Moonrise Kingdom (2012), this is a large and very funny caper film with a lot of Anderson's unique touches, with Anderson's biggest cast to date, made up of old friends and collaborators, as well as a few new faces to his massive repertory company of actors. Set in 1932, in the European republic of Zubrowka, at the titular Grand Budapest Hotel, newly employed lobby boy Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori) is educated by the hotel's dashing and charming concierge Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes). When one of the hotel's resident guests Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) dies, her son Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis (Adrien Brody) and the family are horrified to learn that Madame D. bequeathed a valuable painting to Gustave. The police think Gustave killed Madame D. Gustave is imprisoned, Zero along with his new love interest Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) break Gustave free, and try to prove his innocence. This looks as overblown and indulgent as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), but it isn't, it's much more entertaining, it's a murder mystery thriller disguised as a clever and quirky caper comedy. It has a who's who in the cast, some of them appearing for less than a minute, but it all adds to the fun of the film, there's a lot to take in with this film, a second viewing would benefit, but it's a great story and visually stunning. 5/5

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The Borderlands (1st view) - One of the better found footage films of recent years, and possibly the first one ever that manages to avoid the question of why they didn't just drop the camera and leg it - 4/5*

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