Stinger839
http://www.flixster.com/user/stinger839
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| Movie: | Dawn of the Dead (Zombi Cut), Casablanca, Fellowship of the Ring, American Beauty, Lawrence of Arabia, Jason and the Argonauts, la Cite des Enfants Perdus, Breakfast on Pluto, Spirited Away, Lost in Translation, Shaun of the Dead, Clerks, Tideland, Alphaville, The Seventh Seal, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Amadeus, The Lion in Winter, Visitor Q, Lost Highway, A L'Interieur |
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| Actor: | Sir Ian McKellen, Kevin Spacey, Cary Grant, Ricky Gervais |
| Director: | David Lynch, Terry Gilliam, Ingmar Berman, Richard Linklater, Alfred Hitchcock, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Woody Allen, Wes Craven, Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, Edgar Wright, Jean-Luc Godard, Georges Méliès, Lucio Fulci, Marc Caro, Alexandre Aja & Gregory Levasseur, Ricky Gervais & Steve Merchant, Wes Anderson, Christopher Guest, David Cronenberg, Takashi Miike |
| Quote: | "Life sometime acts like it's seen too many bad movies." - Humphrey Bogart |
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!!!!!!!!! WARNING TO SPAMMERS & THEIR BOTS !!!!!!!!!! If you spam me, you will not simply be blocked, you will be REPORTED. I have a solid record of aiding in the ACCOUNT DELETION of those who use Flixster for INAPPROPRIATE PURPOSES, and that even includes the 'hi how are you' bots and widget-crazy creations. Sorry to be ?-ist, but "Only REAL people and movie fans need apply". It's one thing when people on my friends list send me trailers, links to their blogs, polls, or announce a new list because that is awesome, and what Flixster is for!It's another thing to send me fifteen sparkling gaudy "I Love You" widgets per day when you're not even on my friends' list or have 2112 ratings but they're all 5 stars and say "pretty cool" for the review and you want me to add you as a friend; that is pointless web garbage nonsense and NOT what Flixster is for.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- PROFILE BEGIN. -------------------------------------------------------------------- _addicted to the horror genre, particularly zombies and exploitation; tend to watch foreign, documentary, dark comedy, classics, dystopian sci-fi/fantasy, independent, experimental, animation, extreme, queer, arthouse -_my birthday, May 24, was also the release date of Dawn of the Dead but I was born 7 years (fashionably) late for the premiere. -_ I got Steve Merchant added to Flixster, so that'll probably help his career. So Smerch, once you've got your Brando billions, remember the little Karl Pilkingtons, like myself, who made you what you are. -_always want suggestions or recommendations, especially for my lists -_prefer friends who are fairly active on flixster and write quality reviews often. But I have no qualms adding a new member who is interested in growing their content and fully utilizing the site (I've seen many a profile blossom from a handful of thoughtful reviews to a full-on film blog) My Top Favorite Films Share Film Knowledge \\\ I am primarily a writer of all genres, and dead set on working in film production as my full-time career (cinematography is my primary interest, then makeup/fx). I am always searching for my creative soulmate - the Jay to my Silent Bob, the Aja to my Levasseur, the Smerch to my Gervais. Later On, Check Out:..... Hyperfocal:A Series of Serious Analyses
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Hyperfocal:The Current Watch Project - MAY08 into JUNE08
Updating troubles with"That's Fucked Up" Cinema continue because I am too scared that I will lose the whole list if I try to edit, so "chronological as I see them" is current order and I'll post description changes here for "Fucked Up" Cinema. Always adding films so check the list often.Currently shambling through UNDEAD ALLEY: Dead Snow but not indepth.
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_kelly's Recent Reviews
Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street
Unrated
It's not hard for this film to be brilliant. The camera just has to be running on these people, and then it is up to the makers to dig through the three years of footage to compile a coherent story.
All of them are young, introspective, resourceful, friendly, and full of potential. But they are also all very filled with sadness, in great despair, in ill health, in dangerous situations, and rarely happy because they are all addicted to heroin. It would not be surprising if a followup done today would reveal all the participants, or at least a majority, to now be dead of a drug-related cause. At the conclusion, two main subjects have AIDS and are not receiving treatment, and one of them is still prostituting despite a looming charge of attempted murder if charged again with prostitution.
Of course when dealing with this topic, the content will be saddening, but the factor that determines whether or not the film is good is if it is revealing. And this film does reveal in horrific detail the reality of junkie living. We see their battered bodies, bruises and burst blood vessels spotting their skin from frequent injection and dramatic weight losses from neglecting eating for fixing. We see them in the throes of withdrawal and, more rarely, doped to the point of complete loss of awareness with their only spoken sentiments being about their specific despairs and missing loved ones. We see them lurking on street corners to advertise for dates, visiting public restrooms to shoot up, using pay phones to contact dealers, and running small dealing operations out of temporary and deteriorating living spaces. We see them attempting relationships with other addicts, but it seems that what draws these people together is their addiction and mutual need for supporting their addiction. We see them attempting to regain their lives when jail or death looms, but we also witness them inevitably falling back into the deadly grip of addiction.
Great documentaries reveal stark reality, and this film certainly accomplishes that.
Friday the 13th
R
The best thing I can say is that it's watcheable if it's on in the background or you're getting hammered/stoned while watching it and kind of paying more attention to conversations you're having than the screen. So it's a good Friday night "let's play MST3K!".
Things this entry taught me about Jason/Camp Crystal Lake:
-there is a sizeable marijuana crop of awesome quality on the property and apparently tons of college aged kids know about it
-there is a cavern system that terminates in a turned over bus
-Jason was still alive when his mom killed the kids and watched her get killed
-Jason keeps prisoners for over a month, chained but fed, as long as they vaguely remind him of his mother or the girl who killed his mother
-Sam (the long haired one) from the WB's Supernatural can totally kick Jason's ass and survive machete chops
-Jason is an excellent archer
-Jason will kill you if you plan to steal and/or smoke his weed
-Jason likes to use bear traps
Moral of the story: just don't fuck with Jason's weed.
The work on Jason himself is quite nice, and some of the body part FX (torn leg especially) are okay. Nothing new gorewise though and many boring blade-through-ya kills.
Spider-Man 3
PG-13
THIS RATING IS NOT OF THE MOVIE SPIDER-MAN 3. THE RATING IS OF THE RIFFTRAX COMMENTARY OF SPIDER-MAN 3. I CANNOT PROPERLY RATE SPIDER-MAN 3 BECAUSE FLIXSTER DOES NOT ALLOW NEGATIVE STAR RATINGS.
I swore I would never see this; I didn't need to see it to know how godawful it is. I was right that I didn't need to see it to know how bad it was, but I wanted to test out the RiffTrax guys to see if they could really stick it to a crap movie. They didn't, keeping their comedy very broad and PG. I laughed 6 times total, and yes I was counting, at their comments. Not impressive considering that I laughed at the actual dialogue more times than I could keep count of. This is one of the worst movies ever made, so the RiffTrax guys should have produced an epic pwn of this craptacular, but instead they went pretty damn soft on it and I was disappointed.
So there really is no reason to see this movie until some other professional peanut gallery puts together a decent commentary track.
Parents
R
This is available for free viewing on Hulu.com.
The acting is the clear winner of this flick, with set decoration coming in close second. And unlike most modern horror, this film has a plot that includes characters we the audience have a stake in. I viewed this with my best friend who said this during the screening, "Why don't they make movies like this anymore? Movies where you actually care about the characters and want to know what happens?" And it's quite true - this movie is not the most complicated of stories, but we DO care about what happens to this kid and to know what his parents are really up to.
This is a fun family horror-comedy, with a really cool final act.
Akira
R
great visuals, but the story goes nowhere
Second viewing:
When I said "the story goes nowhere" I think I meant "the story goes nowhere I didn't fully expect it to go and gets there clumsily nonetheless". But after you know the plot details of the odd in the anime-typical sense movie, there are plenty of visual rewards to satiate instead. To restate what I just said there, this is a VERY weird story for people who don't constantly immerse themselves in odd plots of the scifi, manga, or multiplot sort,, and even those viewers who do will be spendng most of their mental energy focusing on the rapid and involved plot developments on the first screening. Basically, there's too much going on for this film's good on the first run, or at least too much to reel in a wide audience. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, because fans of this genre like dense and overwhelming plots. Still that doesn't excuse how sometimes the story leaps from one plot point to the next without any associating cause other than the screenwriter knows they need to get there because that's what happens in the manga book.
On the bright side - everything visually seen in this flick. It still amazes the hell out of me to think this was animated in 1987. I really cannot believe it; AKIRA is so damn stunningly detailed for any moving picture pre-CG, not just animated.
To summarize, if you can't tolerate or understand the plot the first time out, do give it another go, and this time just enjoy the atmosphere and/or allow yourself to re-absorb the story to a point of understanding.
ALSO I AM DECLARING RIGHT NOW MYSELF TO BE A CINEPHILE AGAINST A LIVE ACTION REMAKE OF THIS ANIMATION MASTERPIECE
Laid to Rest
R
A truly fun slasher. Though it breaks no new ground in terms of story, it does innovate to introduce a technophile murderer and uses this to help explain away some of his superhumanish aspects. The script does retain just enough thrill and twisting along with some human and relatable characters to be far superior than standard horror fare.
There are some really cool gore scenes and blood coloring is dead on.
_kelly's Favorite Movies
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5.
Shaun of the Dead
R
The best satirical genre movie about a movie genre - as classic as Young Frankenstein or Spinal Tap.
6.
Lost Highway
R
New favorite movie. Will figure out exactly why soon enough (besides all the obvious that many others have probably already mentioned). After a few more absorbs and reading the reviews already up, I'll add my highlights and "oops we missed this" commentary.
_kelly's Movie Scrapbook
_kelly's Talk
View All (3359)
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I recommend you see...
Junk: Shiryô-gari
by El Hombreposted 2 hours ago -
I recommend you see...
964 Pinocchio (Screams of Blasphemy)
by El HombreInteresting work, not essentially horror, but horrific enough in statement and in execution to warrant a look. A forerunner of Spielberg and Kubrick's A.I. as well, in an odd sense. Explosions of blood and vomit from characters' orifices lead to a suitably fluid-spattered finale.
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 2 hours ago -
I recommend you see...
Ichi-1
by El HombreThis movie is a decent prequel to Ichi: The Killer. This story explains a bit about how he became who he is. It stands pretty well on its own and was good about not leaving loose ends everywhere and not having parts that were unnecessary.
What it lacks in overall quality, it makes up for in campy violence and completely inappropriate humor. If you're a fan of Ichi the Killer, it's definitely worth checking out for the novelty of seeing Ichi and the onset of his first homicidal tendencies.
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 2 hours ago -
I recommend you see...
The Big Town
by Veronique"the big town" appears like a hommage to paul newman's 1961 "the hustler", an archetyped prodigal son tale people always enjoy to hear: a smug small-town boy with one special talent who hit big to the metropolitan city in his pursuit of fame and wealth, the essence of american dream, then he would bump into a lovely dame of maternal heart as well as the femme fatale who devours him alive with extreme sensuality. inevitably, he would sink into either booze or sex, or, both of them altogether. disillusioned, so he hits the road again to his home town with a broken heart. either he retracks to where he started or devastated by his presistant pursuit of dream. corny, right? but you just cannot quit it! whether it's the big-cocked dirk diggler in "boogie night", or billard master paul newman in "the hustler"...what counts is how the story is presented.
"the big town" is predicable in every scenario but it's rendered so elaborately that you accept it with adoration anyway, especially when the fresh-faced matt dillion, who was one of the promising supernovella who's got sex appeal, charisma and most of all, genius of his fluent naturalistic actings which resurrect the remants of james dean, marlon brando and paul newman in their days of rebellious outrage, and dillion had the edge to pull them off in pratically any material about troubled youth, such as his "rumble fish"...he simply looks so damned attractive with a cigarette burning in his mouth, throwing a dice recklessly as if he's gonna win, he's got "the cool" to swoon you.
it's a pleasant peep at the young, even more voluptuous diane lane as the femme fatale, and the sex scenes are surely a nice treat with elvis' "fever" in the background every time they mate. bruce dern as the obnoxious blind gambler boss and tommy lee jones as the tough-assed criminal, they're the villians alongside our prodigal charm-boy. every actor just fits into his/her part so seamlessly that makes this predictable story worth seeing. it's a compelling reminiscence of the hipster 50s with the best soundtrack of those songs which once hit the top notch of national sales. the process of viewing it is just one word to describe: smooth.
paul newman's hustler has received the ruminations of his tragic flaw: excessive ego as his fingers are smashed and his sweetheart commits suicide for humiliation that leads him into finding his true self, "hustler" is more of a think-piece to tell you the doctrine that everything you gain easy has a price to pay. but dillion's dice-thrower just slides across the path of easy dough in the poise without harsh retribution as you wish for him. so "the big town" is more of a crowd-pleasing feel-piece without grits in a well-groomed nostalgic aura so all you've got to do is to float along with protagonist like a 109 mins of hashish fantasy.after viewing this, i've found elvis' "fever" is such a cool right song to play in lovemaking(jk)..ha..diane lan was even hotter with fuller bossom, rounder hips and a cuter face of slight baby fats..suddenly i think i almost forgot how cool and handsome matt dillion used to be in those 80s movies, considering the crappy pieces he's involved in recent years.
"the big town" is a nice tribute to the hipster 50s. the director ben dolt is in the television branch of re-made "twilight zone". so "the big town" may seem sort of melodramatic but in a nice way.
here's "fever":posted 9 hours ago -
I recommend you see...
Testament
by edwinIt's almost a far gone conclusion that a post apocalyptic film is going to be decorated with sets of destruction, chaos, squalor, grime, etc. It's a fair assumption. That's what makes Testament such a unique entry into the genre.
The film focuses on a Californian family. They are, quite fittingly, a nuclear family. The father, Tom (William Devane), is a health nut. He goads on his son, Brad (Rossie Harris) to keep up with him as they cycle. A bit harsh, maybe, but lovingly, certainly. He's a jovial family man. There are two other children, an adolescent daughter and an active five year old (Lukas Haas in his first role). Running the household is the Mother Carol (Jane Alexander). She is the heart and soul of the film. Tom's morning bike ride goes through town introducing us to neighbours along the way - including an Asian gas station owner and his young son with down syndrome, always looking for someone to take him fishing.
Ted works in San Diego, and heads to the office, everyone assuming it will be a day like any other. Carol checks the answering machine to hear that Ted says he'll be running late, then calling back to say he will be coming for dinner. The tv scrambles, then a rumble and blinding light. That is the extent of the explosion in Testament. It is, by apocalyptic definitions, a quiet low key picture. The effect of the blast on their town is minimal. Ted however does not return home on time, nor at all. Without news, the family waits day after day hoping he can make it through what must be the twisted and demolished landscape outside of their town toward the city. In distressing fashion, his fate is confirmed later by his own words.
As time passes, fallout begins to set it. It creeps in like an invisible fog, slowly taking its toll. People begin to die from radiation sickness; gasoline and food supplies begin running out; the cemeteries fill, and eventually bodies must be burned on a spire as the sky's light is ever slowly being choked out by nuclear ash and dust. While movies like Threads show us what it would like to live directly in the blast area, Testament actually hits home with more impact it its subtlety. Most of us living in these smaller towns. It's quite possible this is what life would be like immediately after for us.
Testament gets under your skin with its brooding psychological impact. One of the films most crushing scenes comes as a mother washes her son by candle light, slowly realizing he is dying. In fact if there ever was a perfect word to describe Testament, it would be crushing. It's almost unbearable. Threads is as well, but in a different way. That was like a chainsaw to the face, this is like a punch to the stomach. But even when it looks like all is lost - and may be - hope still finds a way to shine on. In Carol, and in the young challenged Chinese boy, who remains happy with life's smallest pleasures. After all, that's where the key to survival lies.As promised, a review of Testament. Although vastly different in style and execution, Threads and Testament go quite well together. One as the immediate and long term effects directly within the blast zone, and one on the outskirts. Testament takes a more existential approach, demonstrating the slowburning after effects which would eventually consume us, seen and unseen. Where Threads terrifies, Testament distresses.
posted 11 hours ago -
I recommend you see...
The Guardian
by AnnaFake and awful performanses, predictable plot, full of stereotypes! Actually there is no need for so many words, three are enough to describe this movie: WHAT A CRAP!
No I am not recommending you this movie! I am just warning u! Don't watch it!
posted 13 hours ago -
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I recommend you see...
Martyrs
by katleyMartyrs, is one of those movies that you walk out of, not sure what you thought of it. The French have brought us quite a few horror flicks here lately, that have combined gore (lot's and lots of gore) and surprisingly good plots, and Martyrs is no exception. Ok the plot I'm not going to lie is going to be very hard to describe without giving away any details. So the film starts with a girl who we soon come to know as Lucie running down a street, drenched in blood. We find out that she was beaten and tortured. Then we see her make friends with Anna, at the local nut house. Flash forward 15 years and you get Lucie brutally killing the family who supposedly held her captive 15 years prior. She calls Anna to help her, and soon after that things just go on a downward spiral that you could have never predicted. Including creepy ass girls, demented sociopaths, and then you finally learn the true meaning of Martyrs. I know the plot seems vague, but that's just because it's so detailed and graphic that I couldn't go into much more detail without ruining everything. I'm not sure were to start with this movie. There was a lot to love. For example the originality, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I have never seen anything like this before. But there is also a bit that some might not love including some of the more graphic and disturbing scenes. Now I am not one of those people, I thought that they really added to the film in all the rights ways, but I'm not going to lie they are hard to swallow and not for the faint of heart. Moving onto gore, there's so much that it would be impossible to list it all. You get, very bloody gunshot wounds, some bloody self mutilation, a chick cutting her arm off, someone being skinned alive, medal being removed from the skull, stabbings, a sliced throat, some gruesome beatings, and a woman getting her skull smashed in, and that's just a taste. Acting, some of the best acting I've ever seen. Now I watched Frontiers earlier this year and afterwards didn't think that you could get much better acting, but this tops it in so many ways. And you won't think about it as your watching it, the acting is so good that as your watching the film you can't even tell anyone's really acting. Soundtrack, intense, heavy music, that blended extremely well with this one, a good score. Directing, Augier successfully created intense, tension filled moments in every scene. And the way it was shot gives it this highly disturbing poetic look that works wonders. I am ecstatic to see what we get next from Augier. Ok so throughout the first half of this film you will develop many questions about what is going on. They are all answered during the second half of the film. Now this is were the film turns from outrageous, outgoing, brutal violence, to disturbing graphic depictions of torture. The transition that they made was quick and sleek but very noticeable. All of your questions will be answered, but not with what you were expecting and it is somewhat unbelievable. Bottom line, Martyrs is a hard core horror movie that leaves no room for questions. You get one of the most frighteningly original plots to come out in a long time, an unimaginable amount of gore, and acting that puts everything you've seen since the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to rest. Even with a slightly unbelievable sub plot Martyrs still proves to be one of the best most entertaining horror films I've seen in a long time. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
He's Just Not That Into You
by DeanAnemic is really the best word to describe this. It was interesting to see what this all-star cast would do with this script, but so very cliche. So utterly trite. The writing is on the wall from the word go.
I thought it might be an interesting ride seeing how they got to the end, but I was wrong. It was simply dull.
Pretty faces with bad lines.
The interaction between Justin Long's character and that of Ginnifer Goodwin had promise, but they really turned it into watered down tripe.
If you watch this take note of the female leads too...what do they do for a living? Really? Other than standing around talking to one another about how they don't get men and how men don't get them I don't see what their company does other than serve as a backdrop.
I really felt cheated here as a couple of enjoyable female leads are in it (Jennifer Connelly especially as well as Johannsson and Barrymore), but it falls so short and never looks to redeem itself.
Watch it for the pretty faces (male and female) and...well...that's about it.Utterly tepid.
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
I Drink Your Blood
by John"I Drink Your Blood" was the first film ever rated "X" by the MPAA. I was never bored and I was constantly amused by the acting, script and pretty poor production values But it was made with not budget.. This entertaining film is pretty much a blood and sex packed piece of celluloid, but it's not without its charm.
If you're into graphic, low budget violence and shock, check this."I Drink Your Blood" was the first film ever rated "X" by the MPAA. I was never bored and I was constantly amused by the acting, script and pretty poor production values But it was made with not budget.. This entertaining film is pretty much a blood and sex packed piece of celluloid, but it's not without its charm.
If you're into graphic, low budget violence and shock, check this.posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
Milk
by EduardoDiversity in major motion pictures is not an issue precisely because they are constructed in order to avoid the issue. It is part of the formula. In a romantic comedy the formula is something like this: an urban/upper class good looking guy meets an urban/uppr class good lookin girl. They both instantly dislike the other but can't seem to stop running into each other. Through plot machinations a situation is contrived where they bond leading them to fall in love. After a false crisis in which one of them feels betrayed for about 10 minutes our characters learn valuable lessons, make up, kiss and live happily ever after. In an action film the formula is something like this: a soldier/cop/fbi agent who is great at what he does but disliekd by his superiors for his unorthodox ways and disdain for bureaocracy finds himself in the middle of the biggest case/mission in his life, a case/mission which implies saving the office/city/world and one in which he is intimately involved because the bad guys have also kidnapped his girlfriend/wife/sister/daughter. The formula for a biopic is just as simple: a famous musician/actor/politician's humble beginings are superficially explored as he rises above his means and circumstances to impose his prodigious talent upon the world. Along the way he battles discrimination/drugs/alcohol/daddy issues before overcoming adversity and changing the music industry/film industry/world forever by becoming who we know him to be.
These formulas have proven to be both bankable and remarkably easy to replicate (change the names, settings and actors and they can be sold as different films) but the main reason they keep being used is because they have proven acceptable. The biggest no-no for any massively successful industry is to risk alienating its client base. The leads for all of the above formulas tend to be young, good looking and white. It has been proven that people of different ethnicities and age groups will go see films staring people who do not represent them or their interests. Why change the formula by having our lead be female/latino/elderly? The risk of potentially alienating a client base which has quite happily churned money over to watch films about rich caucassians but may very well not be willing to do the same for films about poor eastern europeans is far too great to run. This is precisely what makes "Milk" such a daring mainstream production: it is a formula film through and through but it replaces the traditional white, affluent characters with explicitly homoexual ones.
By not straying very far from the formula Gus Van Sant seems to be screaming at Hollywood; Why can't romantic comedies be about homosexuals without their sexuality being front and center? Why can't action heroes be african american without their friends, girlfriend and family being a stereotypical charicature of a racist Hollywood producer's idea of what it is to be black? Why is the world according to film so monochromatic when it is bursting with color every time we stick our head out of our window? The formulas can be applied to any combination of ethnicities/cultural backgrouns/genders/sexual orientations and work just as well, so why do they rarely if ever involve anything outside the filmic norm (which in no way reflects the real world)? "Milk" is a sweet, simple very straightforward and very effective biopic highlighted by a very rightly, very unanimously praised Sean Penn performance. It does not seek to deconstruct or reinvent the genre by being about a homosexual or being steeped deeply in gay culture and that is in no small part its point: it works.
While the fact it works so well as a typical biopic is in many ways its biggest strength, I also found it to be its one genuine weakness. If the performances are flawless and the direction (particularly during the first half which featured a remarkably accurate 1970's aesthetic) fantastic, the writing often skims over some particularly fascinating aspects. Gay neighborhoods of the era in San Fracisco, for example, were not simply "queer" but were also places where prostitution and drug sales were rampant (something that is alluded to in the film). Why the combination? How did this change (as it seemed to after Harvey was elected)? We never find out. There is also a darkness to Harvey beneath his outgoing exteriior. He was an often ruthless politician (Dan White got the worst of it at times but the Mayor of San Francisco certainly did not have it any easier) and a scene where he confesses what has happened to the vast majority of his previous lovers is profound in the implications it raises but the screenplay never does anything with it other than to treat it as an anecdote. Finally, Harvey's controversial policy of "outing" homosexuals by force (if need be) is given little more than one scene where its implications are never truly weighed. In the script's eagerness to please and to "work" it seems to have sacrificed some fascinating subtext in order to paint Harvey in a more mainstream-favorable light. I personally think this was a mistake as this would not have made Milk any less likeable, relatable or inspirational. Quite the opposite, in fact.
That aside, kudos to Gus Van Sant for making a sweet film that is neither saccharine nor trite. It is as happy as its lead character and a true labor of love from everyone involved. Few films today can manage to be brazenly optimistic without falling into the trap of irony. This one managed it without breaking a sweat.The Oscars certainly didn't whiff, Mickey Rourke's fairytale comeback be damned.
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
Free Jimmy (Slipp Jimmy fri)
by BarryWhat in the hell was this?.,......absolute mince immafraid. I had hoped for much more mand was seriously dissappointed.....you might not be but then again.......................
Hey, you should really really not bother your life, time or breath seeing this mince! With the list of names that had given their voices to it the best one out of the whole program was the damned elephant....and he was out his face.
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
Other Men's Women (The Steel Highway)
by Veronique"other men's women" is one of those experimental pieces of works in the early sound movie stage. even it's directed by the maverick who created the legend of james cagney's "public enemy", william a wellman, but inevitably it's raw and primitive, in need of more polishing mellowness since cienma then still had its tiny span to adapt into the sound to emulate popcorn noises in theater. it also features fresh-looking enormously pretty mary astor with innocent wide eyes and lips of cheery blossom. most of all, it has young jimmy cagney before he hit big as the tough bootlegging gangster.
the flick is upon the absurd melodrama of threesome romance among the railroad coal-refilling workers whose code of buddy language is "have a little chew on me"(a sign of exchaning pop-gum), tiptoeing upon the freight train, leading a freewheeling proteriat lifestyle of hard-labour, booze and easy dame after work. somehow the sceneries do have a touch of americanistic realism which could compete with italian neo-realism despite its occasional backfires of overly deliberate melodrama. and the descriptive viewpoint is entirely male-centered, and mainly on the struggle of brotherhood and the illicit passion which is suppressed and un-fulfilled except a brief kiss without further developments. the rest of the story is relentlessly mushy about the manly principle of never crossing your pal's wife even you desire her to death...blah blah blah.
as the notorious grapefruit scene in "public enemy" suggests, director wellman may have an obvious reluctance to deal with women in his movies, when a guy's showed off by a dame, he doesn't know or not willing to cope with that but smash a bundle of grapefruit to her face then takes off since misogynism is primarily due to man's fright to confront the womanly menace. (ha)..there's rarely a place to deepen into a woman in "other men's women" since its two female roles are either disposable waitress(joan bondell) you swoon on monday and ditch by tuesday when you're lonely and miserable or the demure angelic wife (mary astor) who remains passive without actions, the object of desire, something you want greatly but could never have. then a whole long-winding story on brotherhood and the code of manhood.
but un-deniably, the fun of "other men's women" is its naturalistic shooting of proteriat lives within the inland states of america, just like a fragment of past coming into reality which you cannot resist appreciating and life was so simple when you could just climb upon the ladder of a freight train to do your own petite illegal drifting without costing a cent."other men's women" is the work of maverick director william a wellman who made cagney's public enemy. pre-code flick, but nothing too controversial or immoral about it. it showcases the naturalistic side of old america of inland states that you may appreciate if you endure its melodramaticity.
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...Hey, you should really see this!
posted 1 day ago -
I recommend you see...
La Terza Madre (Mother of Tears: The Third Mother)
by katleyPerhaps one of the biggest disappointments since Romero's Diary of the Dead, Mother of Tears the Third Mother is nothing but a mediocre movie and a rotten end to what would have gone down as one of the best movie trilogy's ever. Ok so the plot is based around Sarah, a girl who works in a museum, one day she opens a package, and unleashes a dark spirit. Soon like a plague terror and violence start to spread over Rome like some sort of virus. Then Sarah finds herself being hunted down by witches from all over the world, who want nothing but her head on a platter. Now Sarah must use her psychic powers to conquer the Mother of Tears before it's too late. I'm not even sure were to start with this one. I would definitely see this one as a love it or hate it movie, with no in between. I am unfortunately one of the people who saw nothing good in this one just a bunch of disappointment. I am a huge fan of Argento's work, especially the Three Mothers movies. Suspiria, and Inferno were absolutely brilliant, and it's sad that this movie will be pared next to those in this trilogy. Ok so acting, I wasn't impressed at all. Asia Argento wasn't so bad at least not considering what she was given. But she was hardly enough to hold up the rest of the cast. Proving 1 good actor means nothing if you have 3 dozen bad ones. Gore, the only place that this movie did not let me down was with the gore. You get, evisceration, slit throats, someone being strangled with their innards, eye gougings, a pole through the vagina and out the mouth, some cannibalism, a head bashed in, mouth ripped open, an impalement, and a bit more. All and all if you were to cut the movie down to the 15 minutes that it would take to watch all the gore scenes, you would be very happy, but if you have to sit through the other 75 minutes or so, not so much. Soundtrack, nothing, nada, zip, I remember no music in this film. Directing, Ugh I think the only thing worse than getting older is not only having people able to see it in your face, but your work as well. Argento has to be one of the most brilliant minds in horror cinema, and to watch this rubbish and know that it was made by him is an awful feeling. The two previous movies (Suspiria, and Inferno) had a way of being classy, original movies yet at the same time were graphic, and disturbing. This one was none of those things; there were boobs and lesbians, taking out anything classy. A cheesy predictable plot that lacked any originality. Some graphic gore that was nothing reminiscent of the original?s in the sense that there was no creative thought, and the only thing disturbing about this one was knowing who was behind the camera. Bottom Line, Mother of Tears was an utter disappointment and will leave fans of the original films with their jaws dropped. (Not in a good way) I say forget this movie was ever made and don't look back.
Skip it!!
posted 2 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Withnail and I
by QuintoDon't think I've ever seen two performances as convincing as the two leads, nor dialogue be delivered as amusingly. The characters are the very definition of memorable.
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 2 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Seul Contre Tous (I Stand Alone) (One Against All)
by DimitrisMore than a sequel to the butcher's short in Carne,Nahon methodically shares with us fears and loathings in a Miserere of illusions.Perhaps the downwardness of it all.
posted 2 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Watchmen
by DimitrisAnarchy's drastic "genitalia" was rarely shown as a stupefied emotion in mainstream productions and Snyder's crematory is not to be taken for granted!So we fill our bellies with top notch trampolines,Matrix remnants,sex scenes like kitchen tapestry and the soundtrack comes and goes from Mozart to Dylan.
Moore must immediately ban all studios from ever adapting (again) a creation of his on the big screen.For what it's worth,I won't neglect the well-portrayed characters of Comedian and Rorschach.sorry for the ones who liked it but:
A: read Alan Moore and
B: it's as stupid as the adaptions of Constantine and V for Vendetta...
seriously,what's with all this messing around of great comic books?huh?????
but who am i to judge the millions who loved it...
Snyder should start eating his own semen..please mr Snyder,don't show us ur ego too much...at least McTiernan knew how to embrace action and detail...posted 2 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Stay Alive
by katleyI don't care how many reviews you read saying this movie sucked, I have to say I rather enjoyed it. So the plot is based around a group of friends who inherit an underground video game after one of them dies. After they play the game one by one the friends start to die the same way their characters died in the game, can they uncover the mystery of the game, or will it be too late? Now I know the plot might sound a bit played out, but I found it surprisingly original. Acting, reasonable you get a solid lead cast, that needs to work on their emotional delivery a bit, but nothing too wretched. I think that the best was done with what was given. Gore, could have been better. You get a nails through the body, shears through the stomach, some flashes of blood, a hanging, impalement, someone being run over by a horse drawn carriage, and a few good shots of a killing in a video game. All and all not bad, but could have been so much better, this movie had all of the makings for a solid hardcore R rating, but was butchered for a PG-13, bad move, very bad move. Soundtrack, I liked a lot of the music on this one, but it failed at creating any kind of suspense or tension, Except for the wicked video game controller vibration sounds. Directing, sadly Bell chose to go resort to cheap scares a bit in the film. But you do get some cool shots of the video game. But even though this one might be generated more in the teenager direction it still kept the audience intrigued. You wondered what was going to happen to these characters and what was going to come next. Bottom line, Stay alive might have had quite a few flaws but still managed to keep its audience engrossed with the film. It has to be said that slasher movies were not meant to have a PG-13 rating, but somehow this one found ways to make it work. With reasonable acting, a semi-original plot, and some nice gore shots, I say check this one out. But be warned this is a love it or hate it movie with no guarantee.
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 2 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Merrily We Go to Hell
by Veronique"marrily we go to hell" is a pre-code celebration of reckless brass toward hedonism as well as some possible suggestive content of marital promiscuity. sylvia sidney is still typecasted as the virtuous good girl who sticks to her beau even he may be a drunk wimp who cannot just make up his mind whom he truly loves, incurred with a very shakespearan issue "to be or not to be", absolute melodrama. besides that, you could take a peep at young gay cary grant who seductively tosses his champagne while leering the dame next to him.
so sidney is enormously rich but well-behaved nice dame who's got attracted to a handsome alcoholic who has a strange sort of quibing cuteness to charm the lady of silks into the slave of love. so she's determined to love him and wed him even he's abscent in their engagement party, forgot to bring along his matrimony ring in the ceremony and mostly he still possesses a self-contradictory crush to a broadway prima donna of blonde hair. gorgeous sidney of brunette hair still tolerates that since her beau always says "you're the swellest dame i've ever met" without any assured announcement of L. O. V. E. later she descends along with him while he's hanging over the blonde on the other hand, so merrily they go to hell in booze and decadence despite our swell dame still looks helplessly chaste in decay. would good sydney win the man she deliriously loves?
the best pleasure of pre-code movies is its indulgence of thorough melodrama without the moralistic hindrance for better light of doctrine. somehow sylvia sydney, whose mostly reputed work remained today is still hitchcock's "sabotage", shimmers in her adorable ingenune naivete whether it's pre-code or post-code, unlike norma sheer who conducts like man-hunting tramp before code but stingy mama after code. but i do harbor a private wish to see sylvia sydney act sluttish just like loretta young in pre-code "midnight mary" to gratify male audience's voyeuristic covet, but it ain't goody sydney. (lol.)it's a rare pre-code movie which is nearly lost. pre-code flicks have the best of melodrama without the moralistic redemption i disdain. sylvia sydney, the grief-stricken wife in hitchcock's "sabotage", is now in the arms of fredric march to merrily go to hell. (i simply love the title!)
posted 2 days ago
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