Last Movie You Watched.

Heh, I just watched the first Blade Runner. Seems a touch overrated. I'll probably give the new one a go so good to read this so I don't go in with high expectations as I did the first.

I checked out Leaving Las Vegas. Nicholas goes full Cage in this and it's very cringe inducing in parts. Had the role been recast it might have been a bit better. Elizabeth Shue really should have been in better pictures. Cracker score though.

That said, I bring it up because one Carey Lowell is cast in a thankless role as a 'Bank Teller', but damn she should have kept her hair long. I'm assuming it's a wig but bloody hell it suits her. After so much discussion on her hair in LTK, this proves what a missed opportunity it was to not  exploit the beauty of Carey Lowell.

John Wick 2 and 3 - Keanu Reeves has come to know his acting limitations (action and comedy) well, bless him ... and with the Wick movies, he's rapidly built himself a new action franchise. The 'gun-fu'/general fight choreography in these is a dizzying treat to watch, and there's an underlying streak of arch 'this is daft, but isn't it fun?' humour here too.

perusing the iplayer and thought, what the heck...

Escape to Athena

on the face of it a brilliant cast. Moore, Savalas, Gould (always enjoy his roles even in turgid films), Roundtree, Powers and yes, Niv. (Even Sonny Bono...) Not to mention the likes of Michael Sheard and Siegfried Rauch.

And yet it's a touch off. It doesn't go anywhere with any degree of pace -there's good moments, there's dragging moments and as someone remarked, it feels like it's *set* in 1979 not 1944 rather than made in 1979 and set in 1944. I can't explain it, maybe the location filming actually works against it.

There's Sir Roger. He said he was miscast and perhaps he was. Like his mate Sir Michael in Eagle Has Landed, the German accent he sports goes places and Germany isn't always one of them. This is Moonraker-era Sir Roger and thus still looks like he's the right age for these sort of roles. Indeed, he's a touch more physical in the fight scenes than some of his Bond outings.

There's the beautiful Stef Powers in a fistfight with a Jerry...there's Gould doing some kind of schtick and yet, through it all, Savalas just powers ahead as if he's in a separate film and finds all his co-stars are gumming up the works. Poor Niv is showing his age and perhaps the onset of the illness that claims him eventually.

It's not a bad film, it's enjoyable just for the cast.

Someone recommended that once... Haven't been able to get a copy of it here in Oz.

It's alright. Just doesn't take itself anyway fast.

Fear City (1984)

Abel Ferrara directed thriller about a serial killer targeting the strippers of mob owned strip clubs in New York. Tom Berenger is the lead as an ex-boxer turned "talent manager" for the Mafia who's ex-girlfriend stripper played by Melanie Griffith (who left him for another woman played by Rae Dawn Chong) maybe on the killer's hit list. Billy Dee Williams also shows up as a detective who's on the case and doesn't much like the mob guys butting in and while he doesn't get as much screen time as I'd like he does get in sometimes political incorrect one-liners and brings a lot of cool to the role. The film despite not being as strong as Abel's later work such as King of New York or Bad Lieutenant is an absolute blast. Very violent and featuring lots of topless dance scenes (for the story, of course). The film really captures sleazy '80's New York very well you can almost bottle it. The killer is also unusual as he's kind of an unassuming scrawny looking guy but is killing his victims like a psychotic ninja using martial arts and nunchucks (you read right). This film was a very fun watch and that usually isn't something that applies to a Ferrara film as his films are usually meditative and grim. It is quintessential New York though like a lot of his output.

A couple of randoms: Frenzy and MASH.

Frenzy has this brilliant opening which shows London as it was in the day. As someone who now goes that way daily (three times a day), it's amazing to see how much the Pool has changed and you have a good theme by Ron Goodwin. The film has a darker edge than some of Hitch's outcropping, certainly goes a bit more into detail for certain things and there's a certain enjoyable nature to Barry Foster's acting. It is quite disgusting but then it's brilliant in that otherwise he seems normal when in the market. I'm not entirely sure on the lead, Jon Finch but he doesn't do too badly though the focus seems more on Foster sometimes. Historically it's a fascinating film as not too long after it, the fruit and veg market disappeared entirely.
A favourite scene for the bizarre nature is when Foster is wrestling with the corpse in the potato lorry.

MASH

there's always something beyond enjoyable about this film, the way the lines zing, the characters and the actors (again Elliott Gould is top notch) right down to the end and that football match.
"I'm going to tear your fucking head right off"/"Houlihan you incredible nickinpoop...that's the end of the half!"

Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall Finch in much else.

Nerve - teens participate in the titular online game by live-streaming themselves completing increasingly dangerous dares for financial reward/ to increase their 'followers'. Begins with at least a reasonable hold on believability (especially when one recalls the likes of the 'TidePod Challenge' in recent years), but becomes increasingly preposterous. A fun enough way to pass 95 minutes.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall Finch in much else.

He did Polanski's MacBeth but that's about it, that I can recall him from (I remember watching that version during my GCSE's).

Frenzy is the one late period return to form unheralded masterpiece of Hitch's career. It is representative of the darker places he had wanted to go from the mid-60's onward and the Universal suits refused to allow him to do so.

A Bridge Too Far-amazing scope and scale for a film about a failed military campaign in the pre-CG era and probably the last of its kind. Unfortunately it tries to tell too many stories at once but has great moments sprinkled throughout. Phenomenal sound design for 1977.

I do love A Bridge Too Far, got me interested in MARKET-GARDEN and it does have some fine moments. Always enjoy Connery's role as Urquhart, nothing earth-shattering but I think he did well enough to capture how Urquhart must've been like after returning from Arnhem when confronted with Browning. And the same goes for Hackman ("God bless Field Marshal Montgomery!"). As you say a few too many stories but I think it does it's best considering how the book was. Always makes me wonder how a film version of Cornelius Ryan's Last Battle would've played out in that regard.

for D-Day, as is old habit, THE LONGEST DAY

the other multi-starred Ryan adaptation. It has its moments and perhaps suffers from far too many stars ("a cast of 48 international stars...") but not a bad movie by any means. Of the large cast John Wayne is a favourite, of course Kenny More's little turn and others. A favourite shot is the aerial showing the French soldiers storming Ouistreham harbour -no drones, no CGI and tons of extras amidst SFX.

As far as Bond goes, a liberal sprinkling of faces known and partly known (Jack Hedley, FYEO for example). It feels a little funny seeing Sean Connery in such a role just before Dr No (which surely at the time was 'just another role'- how odd to think, still, Dr No being simply another film that could've passed by the wayside but led to all we know and love), sharing a scene not only with Kenneth More but Norman Rossington and in the same film, there's Gert Frobe.

Godzilla 2

The big, angry monster goes stomping around downtown.

Sort of like me when I need ink for my printer and the fuckers don't have any.

Three Days of the Condor.

That last scene between Turner (Redford) and Higgins... Certainly seemed to foreshadow real life conflicts. Are Turner's actions justified in the bigger picture? Of course, the CIA should not have killed it's research office because one of them stumbled across a top-secret mission, and I guess it justifies Turner's decision to involve the New York Times as innocent people were killed. But there would be information that Turner wouldn't be privy. It's not exactly patriotic to expose an operation without knowing the bigger picture, but then is the CIA acting in the interests of the country if it's assassinating it's own people. Is it a case of utilitarianism?

Fascinating last scene to wrap up an already excellent film.

Fifty Shades Freed



This is my baby , Mozzer. He is a big, big dog and he has a bowel disorder. Watching him shit massively and then cleaning it up* is more stylish and artistic experience than watching this film. Probably sexier too.

*Obviously I don’t do that bit. That’s what husbands are for.

And Ambler, you can stop hiding behind ‘Guest’.

Ambler was forced to deactivate his account, hence his posts are now under the guise of 'Guest'.

He’s here though. Any reason he can’t open a new account?

He's not posting as 'Guest'. He tried getting away with a new name - he asked for us to change his name to Classified Nut, but clearly it wasn't enough to hide his online presence from someone in his life that he had to delete his account.  Since 'Erica Ambler' was deleted, his posts remain under 'Guest'. Unless he's created a new account, he hasn't been here since May 28.

Ok, that green thing isn’t what I posted...

Santa wrote:

Ok, that green thing isn’t what I posted...

Santa wrote:

Sure looks like it.

I think it’s one of those Google Translate issues .

Haven't seen Longest Day in ages but Bridge Too Far is totally its spiritual successor.

Three Days of the Condor is a much underrated film that grows better every rewatch. The tone and pacing are spot on if admittedly the love story is a bit much thrown in the middle of things. That said i even enjoy that and the film overall has a vibe closer to early Ludlum novels I feel. It would be my favorite Sydney Pollack film were it not for the amazing The Yakuza. It's definitely my favorite Redford performance and favorite non-Bond 70's spy thriller though it has closer ties with the paranoia films like Parallax View, All the President's Men and also with thrillers like Black Sunday. (All of which are great of course.) Heck, I could even tie it into my favorite underrated gem of the decade: the astounding Night Moves.
I need to finally sit down and read the book, which IIRC was called Six Days.

I'll have to check out The Yakuza and Night Moves. Frustrating to not have access to so many great movies of the past. They finally gave The Day of the Jackal a rerelease in Oz, so jumped at the chance to get it. Should arrive within the week.