| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo Drifter - Unrated | February 26, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Il deserto rosso (Red Desert) - Unrated | February 26, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Cache (Hidden) - R | February 26, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Parallax View - R | January 25, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Cobra Verde (Slave Coast) - Unrated | January 25, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Brigadoon - G |
It's not just cos I'm Scottish, honest; isn't this just a really difficult movie to dislike? Of course it's hard to hate anything with Gene Kelly (and his mile-wide grin) in it, except maybe "Viva Knievel". Even so, this Minnelli treat falls a little short of Kelly's cast-iron classics, such as Minnelli's own masterpiece; "An American in Paris", or the eternally charming ode to early-Hollywood; "Singin' In The Rain". However, there is still much to enjoy. Two amazing-looking and preposterously talented leads (Kelly and Cyd Charisse- who's world-reknowned pins are sadly under wraps for the majority), classy numbers: "It's Almost Like Being in Love", "Bonnie Jean", possibly the best musical/chase scene ever filmed, and an alky sidekick who has some ace one-liners and looks like an hilariously uncanny but family-sized version of one of the guys I work with. I'd wager Brigadoon could even bring a smile to Monty Burns' cheeks. Though considered a flop at the time, posessing a supremely far-fetched story and supposedly hindered by budgetry constraints (Kelly was keen to film on location in Scotland- but the painted backdrops add an otherworldliness to the proceedings), "Brigadoon" is an enjoyable experience. Kelly and Charisse's "Heather on The Hill" scene is up there with the best of MGM. "Brigadoon" is so bloody uplifting, me and my girlfriend watched it to cheer ourselves up after going to see the absolute balderdash that was "The Killing of John Lennon". Our cinematic blues vanished in the mist! Alas, it's a shame that two of the stars; Van Johnson and Charisse, passed away recently. |
January 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Killing of John Lennon - Unrated |
"All words are Chapman's own..." This tentative phrase starts this duffer of a biopic of self-proclaimed "nobody"; Mark Chapman who gunned down surly ex-Beatle John Lennon in New York in 1980. It may explain why the dialogue and (extensive) monologues in the movie are so bloody tedious. The very fact it's a biopic about a dislikable, unsympathetic nobody makes it a pretty pointless exercise in itself. Suitably "wacky" Jonas Ball (Napoleon Dynamite after a three day bender, with supreme stubble) plays Chapman in a kind of "look-at-me, aren't I barmy?" way that may be right on the money in relation to his subject, or irritating to the extreme- depending on your standpoint. The rest of the characters are acted to TV movie standard at best, and are difficult to feel for or relate to. Even from a historical standpoint, it's got more holes in it than Lennon's corpse. Piddington directs with what some may call visual flair- the film stock itself may have an interestingly grainy quality- but what reveals itself to be an overused bag-of-tricks to pad out a thoroughly unengaging story of an uninteresting man. If you are a Beatles fan, theres little you won't already know; in fact the whole tale could be told as effectively in the time it takes you to watch the trailers. Plus the movie doesn't include any of Lennon's minor or major compositions (no doubt down to financial reasons). If you're a "Catcher in The Rye" fan (as Chapman was, to ridiculous extremes), avoid this movie like the plague 'cause it may make you miffed with Salinger's classic for it's leading role in this tosh. My immediate reaction was "I can't believe it's worse than "I'm Not There!" Still, I might still dislike this less than "Double Fantasy". Bleh. |
January 20, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Nuit et Brouillard (Night and Fog) - Unrated | January 8, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| The Rookie - R | December 28, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| The Ladykillers - Unrated | December 21, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| The Happiness of the Katakuris - R | December 20, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| R-Point - R | December 20, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Ninja Terminator - R |
"Godfrey Ho (cut 'n paste Ninja "auteur") and Richard Harrison (embarrassed star) strike again in a flick which manages to be even worse than "Ninja Thunderbolt". Judging by the two movies (and a whole host of others from the era), Ho seems to favour the "lets sellotape two unrelated ninja movies together and put it out" technique of film-making. One tale involves Harrison and his quest to find a ludicrously cheap-looking statue that'll grant him powers to become the "Supreme Ninja". The other features intrepid 'tec Jaguar Wong (stop giggling) fighting endless baddies trying to rescue an ex-ninja's sister, kidnapped by party-wig-wearing drug lord Tiger Chang. So far, so guff. To be fair, this movie may suffer from having the lowest special-effects budget of all time. Check out the children's toy robot used as the hilariously unthreatening "Ninja Messenger". However, such fiscal drawbacks are used to create some hilarious quirks for the characters, as well as some moments of complete insanity. Harrison- playing Ninja Master Harry (you'll be glad to hear theres also a Ninja Master Barry) sports not only a s**tload of mascara and a natty camouflage ninja suit, but also an amazing tennis suit (when he's working out in non-ninja guise) which must be seen to be believed. And naturally, he possesses the ability not only to change from civvies to ninja attire in a puff of smoke, but also the swordskills to defeat any watermelons standing in the way of his mission. Ninja Master Harry is so tough he doesn't even flinch when he receives death threats over his novelty "Garfield" phone. The other, "Jaguar" part of the movie contains one of the genres most feeble and pointless reasonings behind a punch-up. Ice-cool Jaguar asks a not-too friendly looking gang for directions to a restaurant. Mayhem ensues; Jaguar casually battering the thugs to a pulp before tersely demanding "Where is the restaurant?!" prompting the baddie to point- the cameraman panning to reveal said eaterie about two doors down from the fight. Had me in stitches for quite a wee while. Other highlights include Harrison's girlfriend struggling with live "drunken" crabs in the kitchen (as he grimaces, admirably straight-faced in the next room, the least sexy sex scene ever filmed, dodgy dubbing of the highest order (even though large portions of the dialogue are obviously voiced in English) and a chubby red ninja who bears an uncanny likeness to Ozzy Osbourne inexplicably exploding behind Harrison in the film's final shot. Seen on medication, "Ninja Terminator" could be life affirming. |
December 16, 2008 | N/A | |||
| 2046 - R | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Infernal Affairs III (Mou gaan dou III: Jung gik mou gaan) - PG-13 | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Infernal Affairs II - PG-13 | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Chinjeolhan geumjassi (Lady Vengeance) (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) - R | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| A Bittersweet Life (Dalkomhan insaeng) - Unrated | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Battle Royale (Batoru Rowaiaru) - Unrated | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Batoru rowaiaru II: Chinkonka (Battle Royale II) - Unrated | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot) - R | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Ringu 2 - Unrated | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Ringu ( Ring) - Unrated | December 12, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Raid on Rommel - PG |
Me and my best pal at primary school were obsessed with WWII tales of derring-do and lapped this up one afternoon in the school holidays when it was on telly. Apparantly made for TV originally, it stars typically sour-faced Dick Burton (revisiting the familiar ground of "The Desert Rats") leading the pre-requisite rag-tag team on an attack on Tobruk. In fact, just about all the action shots were nicked from the Rock Hudson movie "Tobruk" from a few years earlier. Despite the obvious shortcomings it has a few memorable bits, lots of (nicked) explosions and the enviable bonus of a scene with Dick Burton going apes**t with a flame-thrower. And as for the cliffhanging climax; we all love a good old ambiguous ending,don't we?! |
December 12, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Spoorloos (The Vanishing) - Unrated |
There's been a great many duff Hollywood remakes of successful european movies over the years, but not many instil the feeling of Bruce Banner-esque rage in my bones as the Jeff Bridges/ Kiefer Sutherland version of "The Vanishing". What's worse is the fact that this low-key and skillfully structured French/Dutch masterpiece and it's gaudy American namesake are directed by the same guy. George Sluizer, what was on your mind?! Anyway, lets forget the crap Hollywood version with its compromised, Disney ending and focus on Sluizer's original, which manages to eke out an unbearable amount of tension and curious dread in the viewer, and- clinically- without even showing a drop of blood onscreen. This is partly due to the aforementioned structuring, which is ingenius to the max and slowly reveals to the viewer the motives of the film's villain: an intelligient everyman who happens to be a sociopath (not a psychopath; another cliche the film stresses to avoid). Another memorable factor is the core struggle between the two fantastic leads: French stalwart Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu as the reserved, sociopathic family man with an evil plan and Gene Bervoets as the paranoid young traveller, chronically obsessed with finding his missing girlfriend: Saskia, over a number of years. When the two finally meet after some masterly and elliptical plotting, the suspense grips like a vice. Add to this gallic stew of suspense one of the great shock endings of all time and you have a bona fide classic of modern European cinema. Shame about that godawful remake! |
December 12, 2008 | N/A |
410 ratings
52 reviews
