It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Escape Of The Planet Of The Apes
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes
The sequels may not be as good as the original film, but they each hold little bits and bites I thoroughly enjoy. Conquest definitely feels like the weaker one of the three and yet even this film offers satisfying moments IMO. Too bad Fox spent less money on the films with each sequel, for there's such tremendous potential in this franchise which I, as a Sci-Fi fanatic and something of a science fantasiser can quite appreciate.
Up to Battle now, possibly my least favourite of the bunch.
Akira
It's - what? - the 30th or so time now that I've seen this film? Seriously, this is my most favourite anime EVER. Watched it recently and now again, because the girlfriend insisted on it. I tried to convince her otherwise, for I feared it wouldn't be up to her taste but my enthusiasm had made her curious. Luckily she enjoyed the film, though I had to explain a thing or two. I recommended she read the manga but I doubt she will. Watching a two hour film is one thing but going through six thick volumes of manga isn't exactly a prospect she finds indulging. ;;)
2 movies filled with action, human drama, humour, heart warming and tear jerking stories!
Michael Bay is a Movie Making God!!
I finally finished reading the 3rd novel of the Millenium trilogy, or I should say, Misses Luds finally finished it ;) We've gone through each novel followed by the film. In this 3rd installment, I have to say that upon reading the novel I assumed it would make the best film as I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, especially Lisbeth's trial, but to my surprise I found that it was the weakest of the films by a considerable margin.
The story was cut quite a lot as expected, much like the other two entries, but this one also had multiple modifications which weren't necessary. Some elements from the novel, such as Erica's departure from Millenium and eventual return removed as it really brought nothing to the main plot, yet her receiving threats by email was kept with modifications. The sender was likely someone in "The Section". Too little time was spent showing the "Section" spying on Michael and Erica. My biggest disappointment was the trial part itself which was incredibly lackluster in the film, with very little punch.
My friend Al who did not read the novels prior to watching the movies with us had some trouble understanding all the character's involvement, to him it felt incredibly botched. I can understand as even having read the novels it felt like a solid hour could have helped this out. With the large amount of new characters from the "Section" in the film who received little to no introduction, and the large amount of characters from the first two movies who received little to no screen time, Bubble and Modig among others, I fail to understand why multiple scenes were kept which weren't necessary. One that jumps to mind is Erica's desire to halt the release of the latest Millenium due to her home invasion, and Plague only finding child pornography on Teleborian's laptop during the trial when it could have been mentioned during his initial conversation with Lisbeth.
I read that the movies were also released as a television series with extra material, possibly doubling the screen time, I would love to see this and judge how much better it could have been.
All and all, I enjoyed the series but doubt I'll watch the flicks again. The novels provide a much more enjoyable experience. I'll also hope that the Hollywood remakes with Daniel Craig will be better. 7/10
I usually love alien invasion films and I've seen quite a few. Exactly for that last reason, I've had trouble warming up to WIBLA. It's a nice summing up of war and invasion film clichés and little else. I praise the effects and I know that, given the proper dose of Red Bull in my blood, I can watch this film in video game mode and have fun. But if you're looking for an action packed alien invasion film with something original about it and maybe some mind stimulating stuff in it as well, don't see this film. I only recommend it to those who are looking for two hours of spectacle without a well scripted story.
Jack Lemmon and Glenn Ford
as you might expect, a Western starring Jack Lemmon is a little bit different than the usual
more of a life changing journey than a plot driven morality play or shoot'em up
and not the comedic adventure I was anticipating
Lemmon is the idealistic greenhorn and Ford is the world weary leather tough cattle man
as Lemmon becomes more and more cynical, Ford has second thoughts and begins to reconsider his own stance
Dick York (Darren Stevens from Bewitched, a TV Jack Lemon clone?) is the guy who is always talking about girls
Brian Donlevy has a surprisingly minor role as a gunslinger looking for a change of lifestyle to escape his reputation, a thread that leads almost nowhere
and Strother Martin appears (and almost as quickly disappears) as "Cowhand bitten by snake"
it was about then that I realised it wasn't going to be a comedy
throw in some interesting Mexican fiesta action involving that old Spanish favourite, pulling the heads of chickens buried up to their neck in the dirt
and a form of bull fighting where the aim is to slip a ring over one of the bulls horns, where a horse ridden by one of the protagonists was repeatedly butted in the gut by the bull
(yes folks, animals were harmed in the making of this program)
and you have a pot-pourri of a movie that is always interesting but somehow lacks focus or ultimate dramatic significance
Lemmon gets over the girl he was besotted with, Ford and Lemmon agree that they need to find a middle ground between self centred cynicism and bleeding heart sentiment
and live happily ever after as manly men
and speaking of manly men...
Soldier Of Fortune
Clark Gable in a sub Casablanca vehicle, set in post war Hong Kong, with Susan Hayward as the love interest
is it just me or do many of Gable's films seem to involve him taking a woman who is already with another man?
his manliness always seems to have to be asserted at the expense of another, which irritates me a bit
the basic plot here is interesting enough, but not particularly well developed and spread pretty thin, hence we have a long scene involving the minor characters, featuring a bar brawl and a wedding, which is entirely irrelevant to the main story
on the other hand this lack of thematic depth also allows room for some "extensive local colour" scenes shot on location, which may well be the main reason for watching this film
like "Ferry To Hong Kong" the film is a fantastic time capsule of views of life in Hong Kong before it turned into a forest of concrete and glass towers
way better than the Theatrical version!!
5/5
hey Jimmy, where are the 2 sequels?!?
Crude in places but nicely shot movie. 6.5/10
Now that is what i'm talking about. Kane Hodder back as Crowley, Tony Todd getting more screentime as Rev. Zombie and Danielle Harris now playing Marybeth. I was let down with the first one, so I went into this with very low expectations, and was surprised, it's just better all round, with even more brutal kills; Hatchet, Chainsaw, Belt Sander, Bare Hands etc... And the Jason reference was brief, but it did bring a smile to my face.
5/5
I never get tired of this film!!
This is a perfect action movie and there hasn't been too many perfect action movies!!
Two others I can think of (that came out of the 80s too) are The Road Warrior and Lethal Weapon 1
Did you know Die Hard is based on a 1979 book by Roderick Thorpe which was the literary sequel to his 1966 The Detective book which became Frank Sinatra's 1969 film of the same title;
and then it was intended to be the sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger Commando?
Julie Andrews does James Bond?
as I was watching the opening credits I thought, "these look very James Bondish"
sure enough, in due course, the name "Maurice Binder" appeared, followed soon after by that of "John Barry"
however although this is an espionage film, it's not action packed or exotic enough to be classed among the true Bond imitators
Julie Andrews is the private secretary of somebody high up in the foreign office, who's husband died in a mysterious car crash which invades her dreams and is never properly explained (unless I missed something)
she's also been shagging some foreign office cad, who also has a pregnant wife
having discovered his caddishness she heads for the Caribbean to forget her sorrows… where she runs into Omar Sharif, a Russian agent from the Paris embassy
is it a co-incidence or something more sinister? this then is the fulcrum of the film and is tied in with a local Caribbean folk story of the Tamarind seed for greater metaphorical significance (!!!?)
Sharif's character is a charming rogue who mixes lies and truth with equal ease to keep everyone guessing
Anthony Quayle is the gruff British spymaster who "gets things done"
Bryan Marshall suitably rugged and "Bondian" as his offsider, who can't keep his pants zipped up
and no one does Eastern European spymaster better than Oskar Homolka, with his "Breshnev-esque" looks
however Blake Edwards does not seem to possess the technique required to create real suspense or thrills, so although the film is solid enough entertainment, ultimately it is unable to fully maximise it's potential
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082476/
Maurice Binder did the opening credit for it and it looks like a Bond film.
It's one of my favorite films from the 80s and it's way overdue for a Region 1 DVD release!!
Enter The Dragon actually, funny how the version I saw seemed to have some bits taken out of it from what I remember, but it was say, 95 per cent intact
still some mystery to this day around the Lee death but I don't think it was anything sinister
This movie hasn't aged well. :-|
I don't think anyone was out to get him or anything
I saw 'Dragon' with Jason Scott Lee years ago and by all accounts it's a fairly accurate representation
at least Lauren Holly was in it so who cares :-h
No, this was not McClorys aborted rival 70's or 90's Bond film, but a 70's thriller staring Daid Janssen and Karin Dor (who with black hair, resembles Claudine Auger). When a USAF Fighter acidently jettisons one of it's Warheads over the Jordanian desert, a weapons expert (Janssen) is sent in to disarm it before it falls into the wrong hands. There's a fairly decent shoot-out at the end, but otherwise, this film has not much else going for it.
BLAH!
0.5 out of 5 (the 0.5 is for Blake Livelyness factor otherwise I would had given it a ZERO)
http://www.imagebam.com/image/257829135350640
http://www.imagebam.com/image/fd99f4135350528
one of the worst comics to movie adaptations I've seen in recent years;
the lasts that's I've seen being: Catwoman and Elektra and both Fantastic 4 and the Nolan's Batman films!!
why did Martin Campbell even signed up for this?
he should be doing another Bond films!!
Die Hard with a Vengeance 3/5
I'd always considered this to be the weakest of the Die Hard film series - considering that it was a rejected script for Lethal Weapon 3, now I know why
Live Free and Die Hard 4/5
pretty decent considering Bruce was already 52 when he filmed this and Mary Elizabeth is cute as Lucy
plus you had the twist near the end when Major Grant turned bad and joined forces with Colonel Stewart
That Coleman reporter woman really played on my nerves though, I was hoping she'd get killed by the end, but no, it wasn't to be.
:L
always remembered for the (runway plane) end bit, it's worth the wait until then.
When it was released in 1988, the Houston Chronicle Newspaper had a full 2 page print AD for it and it only said
“40 Stories Of Sheer Adventure!"
and
"An Adventure That Will Blow You Through The Back Wall Of The Theatre.”
it didn't have any graphics showing the Nakatomi Tower nor did it had a photo of Bruce Willis;
you couldn't tell what the movie was about from looking at that print ad.
plus the premiere was at the Cineplex Odeon Spectrum 9 State of the Art theater
the best movie theater in Houston at the time, before Cinemark and AMC started building stadium seating theaters with 20-30 screens and treating moviegoers like cattle
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/15820/
(which I was the General Manager from 1990 to 1992)
and shown in
70mm Six-Track Dolby Stereo
It was one of the best movie experience I'd ever had in my life (along with Terminator 2 - which I saw at this same theater a couple of years later)
I absolutely loath the 'let it snow' end song, as they did with the second movie, after all the blood, guts and horror that had gone on before, all of a sudden everything is lovely and we see McClane and wife back together and horrible music. As soon as either 1st or 2nd die hard is over I either turn off the sound or leave the room.
The 3rd installment in New York is good, lots of fun but Jeremy Irons never really cuts it as an enraged former soldier of fortune who is on a revenge mission for his brother and/or out to steal some gold bullion.
I've seen the 4th a couple of times, but it's all computer technology, as it's the late 2000's, the film producers have a MANDATORY REQUIREMENT to fill as much as they can in to the picture with cell phones, computer packages, and all things such, due to the time of release or where we are today, a sort of either Craig release to a degree if you will.
Action and plot takes a back seat as usual.
:L
it was okay until the confusing ending
so I will drop my rating and give it 3/5
she was a Plot Device i.e. McClane needed a helicopter in the script and she, being a news reporter, has a helicopter handy
which is a script problem to me - how often do news reporters go to the Airport or any other place to report the news in a helicopter?
in a news van, sure but not a helicopter unless the news requires them to fly around over the scene of the news
I doubt the FAA will let her fly around over Dulles Airport just to make a field news report about a drug lord that's flying into Dulles
3/5
I hope the youth gangsters represented in this movie is not a norm in London
Conan the Barbarian (Schwarzenegger), still a very good movie. I still love the part where he hits the camel K.O.
Stand by me, another tale beased upon a Stephen King story, brilliant movie that does the novella more than justice.