Last Movie you Watched?

Rule #1: Don't fuck with Bruce Lee

The Big Boss and Fist of Fury

The Big Boss was decent. It's been screwed around with more than Star Wars and it shows with the sharp cuts out of nowhere. Still good entertainment, but Fist of Fury is the superior film.

One thing I liked about The Big Boss is you don't see Bruce in any fights until the halfway point. He's constantly taunted and hit, but refuses to fight. Makes the moment where he does start fighting all the better because you've been waiting almost 40 minutes to see it.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

It's not only that I do not feel the "Clem" character to be at least a bit likeable, it's also true that the film does not emit a modicum of true romance. The whole modern understanding of romanticism is empty; I could call it "pussy romanticism", although it has some other shades I am not interested in elaborating on. Establishing the love affair does not take enough time and isn't convincing at all, the film soon starts with the very long "erasing the memories" process. It also does not help that I strongly dislike Dunst and particularly Wood as "actors". The Ruffalo character is also a nuisance. The Mierzwiak-Mary "sub-plot" also didn't do anything for me. And whoever calls Carrey a great actor must be out of his mind.
The DVD back side summary as well as the film title promise much more than the film delivers. It's in the "pseudo" category with THERE WILL BE BLOOD. A good initial idea for a fantasy romance but not well done at all. I won't need Mierzwiak's method to forget about it.

Quote :

. It's in the "pseudo" category with THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

And this is come from a diehard Michael Mann fan.

It's a love story, but it doesn't fall into the box of romanticism.

Well, actually I wanted to write down which directors are among those who really know how to make serious and believeble films, and Mann is clearly one of them; the only film of his that does not fall into that category is COLLATERAL. I even prefer THE PRESTIGE to SPOTLESS, by a long shot, accepting its fantastical element (as I do SPOTLESS's, obviously). One of the few recent films that were recommended on MI6 (by a few people) that is really excellent is IN BRUGES. SPOTLESS is not. It's actually pretty crap.

Manhunter wrote:

Well, actually I wanted to write down which directors are among those who really know how to make serious and believeble films, and Mann is clearly one of them; the only film of his that does not fall into that category is COLLATERAL. I even prefer THE PRESTIGE to SPOTLESS, by a long shot, accepting its fantastical element (as I do SPOTLESS's, obviously). One of the few recent films that were recommended on MI6 (by a few people) that is really excellent is IN BRUGES. SPOTLESS is not. It's actually pretty crap.

Yes, internet consensus R4les.

Michael Mann = Serious Mann.

Deadlier Than The Male
I won't insult this film by calling it a "spoof" because IMO it's not generally played for laughs
this is a genuine attempt to copy the "Bond formula" and create an action / adventure which also contains humour
in that sense DTTM has much more in common with the 80s movies who sought to distil the "formula" and replicate the huge success of the Bond franchise, which they were able to do with considerable success,
than it does with the more familiar Bond spoofs of the period in which it was made (the 60s), where silliness and camp humour was too often allowed to undermine and overwhelm any sense excitement or tension
in this movie everyone plays it straight, there are no sly nods or winks to the audience, or camp over the top performances and the movie is all the better for that
the hero is named "Hugh Drummond" (more familiar as Bulldog Drummond, but never referred to as such here), but the character portrayed is pure "Connery Bond" and Richard Johnson is probably the most convincing substitute for the real thing I've seen
it helps that we are actually still in the 60s and so the period detail surrounding the character is still contemporary
but the real ace in the pack is Richard Johnson, who's performance displays a fine understanding of the nuances of the "Movie Bond" character, saying as much with the inflection of his voice and a slight adjustment of his facial expression as with dialogue, which he delivers with understated dry wit
like any good Bond he appears quietly confident in himself, but not smug, not pushing himself forward and demanding attention,
he is suave, with a dry self depreciating wit and often appearing slightly amused by what's going on around him
he lets the good things in life come to him, allows things to develop, anticipates most eventualities and has options in mind
and he is capable of delivering the same flashing, steely glances of dark determination as Connery when comes time to get down to business
on the down side he's only an insurance investigator…
he's also saddled with a young American sidekick, to increase his appeal across the ditch, but this works out ok as the actor chosen is also an appealing performer who's eager naivety provides an effective counterpoint to "Drummond Bond's" composed experience
with beautiful girls, Mediterranean locations, occasional touches of the exotic and bizarre, as far as "ersatz" Bond movies go this is about as good as it gets

looking forward to the sequel, "Some Girls Do", however I see that features robots (female of course), so it may well turn out to be another case of the sequel going to far

Note - apparently Richard Johnson was Terence Young's original preference to play James Bond, but he turned the producers down, as he didn't favour a lengthy contract…(yeah right?)
I watched an interview with him that was a DVD extra, in real life his mannerisms and demeanour are much like the character he played, so it may have been as much luck as skill that made him so well suited to the role
his brief marriage to Kim Novak broke up around the time this movie was made… hmmmm, any connection?

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971; dir. Robert Altman)

Wow. My favorite Altman film so far. How the hell did this guy direct the way he did? I can't say much about the film, aside from that I was transfixed.

Love the music:

Way of the Dragon

Worth it just to see Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris face off in the Colosseum. The surrounding movie happens to be rather good as well. Not as balanced as Fist of Fury, but still a quality Lee outing.

Game Of Death

Good thing I knew what I was getting myself into, otherwise I would be severely pissed off. The entire setup is a pretense to get to the actual Lee footage. While it works, it isn't terribly entertaining and certainly not up to the previous films. To it's credit, the production values are pretty high by comparison and it does have it's moments (and a John Barry score). It's still not worth a full watch.

One moment that hits a bit too close is Lee's "character" Billy Lo gets shot on set and ends up faking his death. Creepy, considering that's how his son Brandon died 15 years later.

Tubes wrote:

Way of the Dragon

Worth it just to see Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris face off in the Colosseum.

Your head must've had exploded by the overgrown amount of awesomeness?


Cape Fear (1991)



Even if this was by Scorsese, it's still not as good as the first one, but pretty good try. De Niro is more psychopatic and hilarious but not as interesting as Mitchum and Nick Nolte is good variation to Gregory Peck, if not even little bit better. The family drama is a welcome add and Elmer Bernstein's score might be little bit more suspenseful than Bernard Herrmann's but the editing is sometimes out of place, like in the ending fight where is starts to roll around without no apparent reason, the boat didn't roll so what was the purpose? Make it more "artsy"?
Oh well, it's still not a bad remake, but I gotta go with the original. You just can't top Mitch, no way, no how.

8.5/10


Martin Scorsese Countdown:
1. Taxi Driver (1976)
2. Goodfellas (1990)
3. Raging Bull (1980)
4. The Departed (2006)
5. Casino (1995)
6. Cape Fear (1991)
7. The Aviator (2004)
8. The Color of Money (1986)
9. Gangs of New York (2002)

Apart from the occasional scene in which the '62 version hits some heights, gotta say the '91 version will always be my favourite of the two; it takes a routine revenge story about an embittered ex-con tracking down a witness and his close-knit family to a dangerously psychotic ex-con tracking down his lawyer who betrayed him and his crumbling family. Even the dialogue sounds better with a rewrite - comparing the way both versions tackle the "minimum wage" argument, it pains me how Mitch just throws out "you heard of the minimum wage act?" in what is (apart from that line) the best scene in the film. Plus its got all those moments of both greater hilarity and shock, such as DeNiro being tied to the bottom of the car and the way he kills Joe Don Baker and the maid, only for Nick Nolte to slip and get covered in their blood. Its gross, but its so damn fun.

And as usual, I'm not getting the Mitch love like the rest of you. But then again, my favourite moment of his in when he whacks that gregariously fat madam in FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.

Carry on Sergeant -as some form of tribute viewing to Terence Longdon but remaining an entertainment viewing. The film that spawned what some might consider a monster.

Sink the Bismarck

the late Dana Wynter is the suitable opposite to Kenneth More being a sensitive, quietly spoken Wren against or with his cold, standoffish (and yet quietly spoken) Head of Operations. Another is that she shared top billing with him (one could argue that More didn't matter). Cast wise though maybe not stellar to many it wasn't too shabby. A few 'core members' of Night to Remember's cast (More, Goodliffe, Watling and Naismith), not to mention Michael Horden (C-In-C, KG5) and the legendary Ed Murrow.
Model-wise it is stellar. Nowadays it's CGI and as Pearl Harbour showed not used too well. One example of the model-work is one of the Swordfish attacks with the Bismarck looming one Stringbag blazing away. Actually looks like a newsreel footage or similar.
The More/Wynter interplay is one of the better aspects of the film but not the only one. Otherwise this is the only film with Wynter I had to hand. Maybe not what she will be best remembered for but will in my mind.

Tubes wrote:

Game Of Death

Good thing I knew what I was getting myself into, otherwise I would be severely pissed off. The entire setup is a pretense to get to the actual Lee footage. While it works, it isn't terribly entertaining and certainly not up to the previous films. To it's credit, the production values are pretty high by comparison and it does have it's moments (and a John Barry score). It's still not worth a full watch.

One moment that hits a bit too close is Lee's "character" Billy Lo gets shot on set and ends up faking his death. Creepy, considering that's how his son Brandon died 15 years later.

i've never watched the film version where they tried to stitch something together with additional footage using an ersatz Lee (and probably never will)

however I enjoyed a documentary reconstruction that was on the bonus disk of the "Way Of The Dragon" Special edition dvd I have
in the first part they went through what Bruce was doing in real life at the time and what his thought processes were for the movie, the story he wanted to tell and the message he was trying to convey in terms of his personal philosophy of life, using interviews with people who were close to Bruce
but only the main fight sequences had actually been filmed, so in the second part they only present a broad brush reconstruction of the proposed films structure, using a narrator and some story board diagrams to fill in the gaps around the individual combat scenes

one of the few times I've felt the "special edition" extras were actually essential viewing

colly wrote:

And as usual, I'm not getting the Mitch love like the rest of you. But then again, my favourite moment of his in when he whacks that gregariously fat madam in FAREWELL, MY LOVELY.

I'd be interested to see which Mitchum movies you've seen
IMO many of his best efforts from when he was "young and cool" are not as readily availlable as those of other actors

but he's one of those actors you will either like or not like based on how appealing you find his own particular brand of charisma, rather than his exeptional acting skills, so to each his own
;)

The films I've seen Mitch in...

Films Seen: 19
>THE HUMAN COMEDY (1943)
>CROSSFIRE (1947)
>OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
>THE BIG STEAL (1949)
>MACAO (1952)
>THE LUSTY MEN (1952)
>ANGEL FACE (1952)
>RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954)
>NOT AS A STRANGER (1955)
>THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
>HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON (1957)
>THE ENEMY BELOW (1957)
>THUNDER ROAD (1958)
>CAPE FEAR (1962)
>THE LONGEST DAY (1962)
>FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1975)
>MIDWAY (1976)
>THE BIG SLEEP (1978)
>CAPE FEAR (1991)

The ones I've seen this year (I think) are - THE LUSTY MEN, MIDWAY, RIVER OF NO RETURN, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR ALLISON, THUNDER ROAD and THE HUMAN COMEDY. The trio of NO RETURN, HEAVEN KNOWS and THUNDER ROAD really dulled him for me. But I do remember being a fan initially because I wouldnt keep seeking out more of his films to watch (eg. I've got THE YAKUZA and THE HUNTERS at home) but the more I watch, the duller he's getting. Maybe I should stick to the tried and tested?

crumbs, all I've seen are Enemy Below, Scrooged and Longest Day.

Die Hard

Still one of the best action movies out there. Required viewing for Action Movie 101. Just about pitch perfect in terms of idea and execution.



Die Hard 2

Would have been a lot better if the entire premise didn't fall apart once you poke at it a bit. The biggest issue is they chose Dulles as the airport the terrorists would hold hostage. There are several airports that planes low on gas could have diverted to that where never mentioned, primary of which is BWI in Baltimore. The scenario would have worked better if they had chosen a more secluded airport.

Another bit I have an issue with is turning McClane into Wesley Crusher. He is right about absolutely everything and in turn makes everyone else looks stupid. If you can ignore that (and the extra long grenade fuses, the disregard to how blanks work, and the massive explosion when a plane with no gas belly flops on the tarmac), it's a fun ride. Heck, even while noticing that stuff, it's still a fun ride. Just not nearly up to snuff with it's predecessor or successor.

Something Borrowed

I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, here, but I wanted to at least get a brainless romantic comedy out of it.
No.
It was beyond terrible. I felt like I was in the theater for 5 hours. I almost left, but I wanted to see how they finally ended the thing.
The acting suck, the story telling sucked. No one had chemistry, the male characters had no charm, etc...
All the characters were completely unlikeable. I was so indifferent by the end that I was beyond indifferent. I was simply mad at the movie.

Really, I thought it was indicative of the empty meaningless way so many people live their live, irregardless of others and as if they were the only individual in the world that mattered. The movie attempted to celebrate this, but failed, because in the end it left me feeling like that characters were hollow, unhappy shells of miserable human beings.

I want my two hours back.

Saw a bit of this film called THE BLUE LAGOON on the telly. From what I saw, it was a naked 15 year old Brooke Shields and 19 year old Christopher Atkins having sex. And more sex. And somehow it scored just a PG rating. :|

Reminds me of that comedian I saw at MICF, Sanderson Jones. Just for the sake of "civil liberties", he showed us a naked picture of the young Brooke Shields. No wonder he got investigated by police at the Edinburgh festival.

Yeah, wild. It's like LOGAN'S RUN. A PG-rated film with a slow-mo orgy and a totally naked Jenny Agutter. Though I'm all for a totally naked Jenny Agutter.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)



- Cuban?
- Yes, I know.

Stumbled across on this by luck during the annual re-run on TV and decided to take a needed re-watch. Surprisingly this is the first Leslie Nielsen film I've watched after his death. And damn, I'm reeeeally going to miss that guy :( . His comedic timing is one of a kind, and the poker face is just irresistible. Undoubtly the best ZAZ trio film and one of my favorite comedies of all-time.

9.5/10

Battle for the Planet of the Apes was the culmination of Film4's 'Apes trilogy' the other night showing Beneath (skipping Escape) and the other two. Only having seen the first one (once saw most of Beneath but being very young I seemed to have fled) I sought these out.

Knowing what I know they all pale against the first one though like the first one feel nightmarish, gloomy (well...) but lack Goldsmith's score even if they try to copy it. Of the sequels Battle seems the best with James Franciscus a suitable enough replacement for Heston (I realise Heston crops up at the end but Franciscus looks and feels like a...well, Heston clone). Linda Harrison perhaps rival Jenny Agutter as best looking woman in a post-apocalyptic setting. Film features James Gregory which is a small but pleasant bonus.
The other two feel mistitled, Conquest should've been Battle and vice versa. Conquest isn't too bad (for one thing there's Ricardo Montalban) but Battle feels...empty.

A good enough film series the recent viewing slightly tilting me towards Rise of the Planet of the Apes which if it goes the way of most films I want to see in the cinema will wait until it comes out on SkyMovies or some such.



And I'll add the original Assault on Precinct 13 wasn't too shabby neither.

The Leopard (1963)

It took me three days to finish watching this, as it's a long film. I didn't enjoy the only other Visconti film i've seen (The Stranger), but The Leopard is a different animal, with more engaging actors and production values, as well as drawing inspiration from Renoir and being a clear influence to directors like Coppola. It's obvious that the film was shot in scorching heat, with the amount of sweat on actors' faces. Burt Lancaster never struck me as a particularly memorable actor before. He seems to really live and breathe his Sicilian prince character though. Opposite Alain Delon and especially Claudia Cardinale, he's got an animal magnetism and charm that few actors can have. The highlight has to be Cardinale of course. Who wouldn't want to be Burt Lancaster's moustache?

colly wrote:

The films I've seen Mitch in...
Films Seen: 19
>CROSSFIRE (1947)v
>OUT OF THE PAST (1947)v
>THE BIG STEAL (1949)v
>MACAO (1952)v
>THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)v
>HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON (1957)v
>THE ENEMY BELOW (1957)v
>THUNDER ROAD (1958)v
>CAPE FEAR (1962)v
>MIDWAY (1976)v
>CAPE FEAR (1991)v

The trio of NO RETURN, HEAVEN KNOWS and THUNDER ROAD really dulled him for me. But I do remember being a fan initially because I wouldnt keep seeking out more of his films to watch (eg. I've got THE YAKUZA and THE HUNTERS at home) but the more I watch, the duller he's getting. Maybe I should stick to the tried and tested?

an immpressive tally, although you seem to be very light on westerns?
surely you must have seen "El Dorado" at least?
and no "Ryans Daughter"? (that would be my cut off point for watching him)

I think he was at his best when he was younger
"Blood On The Moon", "Man With A Gun" are my favourite westerns of his
"Bandito" is also enjoyable
but "Persued" I'm not so keen on

He was never quite in the top rank of stars, and so much of the material he was working with is not always of the highest quality, so the law of diminishing returns starts to kick in if you dig too deep into his back catelogue

I own EL DORADO - I tried watching it late one night, got tired and went to bed. Havent watched it since. As for RYAN'S DAUGHTER... I havent even got to LAWRENCE OF ARABIA yet.

As for those other Westerns - they might have to take a back foot because I'm going to try and tighten the purse strings (again) after a bad fortnight of way too much spending, but I'll keep em in mind.

EL DORADO will make you a believer in Michele Carey.