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My younger brother and I used to watch this show when it was originally aired. One of the best comedy ensembles, Atkinson, Pamela Stephenson ( now helping her genius husband Billy Connolly through his final years!) Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, the latter two then got their own show, which was hit and miss ( but the head to heads were brilliant!)
Other than that, I'm looking forward to watching more episodes. Though I have had many (not nearly all) of them on those two "Best of" DVDs which I had never watched before, much of the series (including whole episodes) seems to be on YT, something I wouldn't have expected at the time I bought those disks (just checked...it was in 2008!).
I have seen countless films and tv series that have paid homage to High Noon, but never seen the film itself until now. Also, I think this might be the first time I have seen anything starring Gary Cooper. Two things surprised me; 1) how the film allows Cooper's character to show concern at the possibility that he might not get any support from the townsfolk (a level of..... depth, for want of a better word, I didn't expect from a film of this vintage), and 2) how the last hour of the film plays out in real time (or near enough).
My dad was an expert on westerns, all his life he loved the genre, but I can't ever remember him mentioning this film. I know he was a big fan of Roy Rogers (and Trigger) and Randolph Scott (as well as Audie Murphy and of course John Wayne). One thing that I didn't inherit from him, is his love of Westerns. But I am trying. Last year I watched The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, and earlier this year, I saw The Wild Bunch.
Some of my favourite films are Westerns,from the 'Dollar' trilogy, to Clint Eastwoods 'High Plains Drifter' 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' 'Joe Kidd', through to 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ', 'The Wil Bunch', 'The Professionals', 'Monty Walsh' more recent would be 'The Long Riders', 'Tombstone' and 'Open Range' High Noon is a great one, you mention John Wayne, its alleged that Wayne hated 'High Noon', because he didn't agree with the township not backing the hero!
Was expecting a lot from this, but have to say was a bit underwhelmed by it! I sort of agree with Mark Kermodes take on it, extremely well made, but not sure what drew David Fincher to it! There are pluses, Fassbender is very good as the fastidious Killer ( we never learn his name!), there is a nice running joke of him using sitcom characters as his aliases, and that fight sequence!!!, Whoa! But I came away feeling unsatisfied by it! ( Maybe it was his music choice.. The bloody Smiths! 😅)
Quite a nice and enjoyable comedy, especially for railroad fans like me. The first Ealing movie in Technicolor.
However, it stretches my "suspension of disbelief" more than most James Bond movies. Story is that the town "Titfield" (I suppose the name - in a 1952 movie - refers to the songbird and nothing else) is about to lose its longtime branch line train to the next bigger town, Mallingford (filmed at Bristol). The townspeople manage to take over the line from British Rail pending successful completion of a trial period, much to the chagrin of the local bus company who had planned to get a monopoly on the connection. So the bus company plans to sabotage the single steam engine, watertower and tracks that the train line has, and manages to destroy the locomotive. The townspeople, awaiting the government inspector, then undertake to revive the original 1830s locomotive, the "Thunderbolt", to get the train going on time the next day.
All of this goes a bit too smoothly and unbelievably, and one wonders what would and should have happened to the protagonists. For instance, they "borrow" a British Rail steam engine at Mallingford, actually drive it off the turntable and go through town with it only to break down the museum's doors where they want to carry out(!) the Thunderbolt. Even the 30 people or so involved couldn't carry even the oldest steam engine which probably weighed at least 20 to 30 metric tons.
And it is surprising that while several people are wrongly arrested for sabotaging the train that was destroyed, nobody is held accountable for stealing and at least severely damaging the locomotive used for breaking into the museum, nor for pushing a lorry (aka truck) and a steamroller off a railroad crossing with the steam engine (although this was a sort of self-defense). It all goes a bit too smoothly and one ends up dangling too much for my taste.
Mostly funny, but one of the lesser Ealing comedies, in spite of being directed by Charles Crichton (he of later A Fish Called Wanda fame thirty years later) and another great job by DOP Douglas Slocombe (Indiana Jones Trilogy - the originals - etc.).
For a full appreciation of the context in which HIGH NOON was written and film, I highly recommend High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic (2017) by Glenn Frankel. In somewhat of a surprise (to me anyway), Carl Foreman, in his later years, didn’t really hold much of a grudge against John Wayne. He felt that at-least Wayne had been open and honest about his opposition. What bothered him more was “distance” that many of his friends put between themselves and him during the blacklist.
It is interesting that over the many decades since the release of HIGN NOON, politicians with very different views have admitted to having an affinity to the role of Cooper’s Will Kane. For example, it was the favorite film of US presidents Ronald Reagon, Bill Clinton and Dwight Eisenhower screened it at the White House.
Given that today, November 13th is "Felix Unger" day, more than one poster on twitter pointed out that the character's name was among those used.
Alien covenant 4K I enjoyed this rewatch more so than previous viewings, this film does have issues though some aspects work better for me as time has passed. I did squirm quite a lot as this film is nightmare fuel, David is a complete psychopath and I did find myself screaming at a few of the characters to kill him on site. I can't think of many cinematic characters that have committed horrendous acts on the level of David, a very dangerous individual.
The Raven : Another Corman adaptation of Poe, with Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, and of course Vincent Price hamming it up as only they could. Plus Jack Nicholson in one of his first movie roles. Way less serious (and terrifying) than the preceeding movies in the series, that's for sure, but still fun to watch.
Gravity : Let's face it, Sandra Bullock should have won that Oscar, because she gives quite a performance here. Highly recommanded.
ABBA : The Movie : Filmed at the height of Sweden's second best export (best being, of course, Ms. Ann-Margret). It doesn't really work, and I say that as an ABBA fan who has seen Mamma Mia twice on stage. Add to that the fact that a scene can make viewers quite uncomfortable, given that the actor that plays the part of the reporter tasked with getting an interview of the band got into very big trouble with the law, and you'll probably agree with me that, if you want a movie that pictures a band at the height of stardom, better watch A Hard Day's Night.
Jurassic Park : The first one, and the best of the original trilogy.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom : One of my favourite Indy movie. Can't beat the originals, right ?
Add to that Anything Goes, the musical filmed live at the Barbican, plus the first season of La Guerre des Trônes (covering the period from the Hundred Years War to François 1°) and Apocalypse : Hitler attaque à l'Ouest (or 1940, the terrible, horrible, no good year), and that about wraps it up. As usual, I brought too many movies and TV series seasons, but that's always the case.
With the little I know of John Wayne offscreen, that doesn't really surprise me.
Still impressive after all these years, Ridleys Scotts original is still the best. Beautifully made, great cast ( I wonder what originally cast Jon Finch would have been like instead of Tom Skerritt?), and Sigourney is wonderful and the Alien is still scary as ever! The chestburster scene and Ian Holms reveal are still amazing scenes! Production design still amazes too, and Jerry Goldsmith does an excellent score!
Outland (1981)
Jerry Goldsmith also scores this, and you feel the film makers were trying to channel some of Scotts film. Alas to no avail. Still, its got our Sean in the lead, looking and sounding cool as the Marshal on a mining planet who takes on the devious Peter Boyle ( excellent as ever!) who is supplying a drug to the workers to make them more productive but sends them insane! Peter Hyams does his best as Director, but its just watchable only! Some wag dubbed it 'High Moon' as its ending is similar to Gary Coopers western!
Well this does look good in 4k! Ridley Scotts sci-fi masterpiece. Great cast, Harrison Ford ( cant believe they originally wanted Dustin Hoffman!) Sean Young looks gorgeous ( what happened to her?) Daryl Hannah, Joe Turkel ( his death scene is so powerful ) and best of all Rutger Hauer, speaking his lines like he was quoting Shakespeare! But everything is about the world Scott and his team created! Visually amazing, fantastic effects, and then there's Vangelis score, love that final theme! So glad they got rid of that awful narration and that stupid final scene, the last shot of the lift door closing is a much more satisfying end! This is one disc that was worth the upgrade!
Great movie I bought it on 4K earlier in the year, it is more relevant today than it ever was. That fist fight does go on a long time though lol I am a big fan of Piper from his WWF/WCW days, They Live is Piper's best film by some distance.
I absolutely agree. I also want to celebrate Carpenter's score. The music gives the film the proper mood.
They Live score does remind me of Twin Peaks, or rather the other way round. Carpenter musically often nailed foreboding.
Please stop making this trash now, its gone its over. I am amazed how bad FASTX is, Jason Momoa is a terrible actor, the amount of CGI used on human faces and bodies must be some kind of record.
Yep, its bad. They way I see it there are two main issues, aside from what you have said:
- The cast list is just too big, and they added even more to this one.
- Dom is the least interesting character in it, and he is the main character. Also watching Vin trying to act and emote is hilarious.
The series peaked with Fast 5. 6 and 7 were ok but that is really where they shouldve ended.
I bought the first 9 films and I am a fan of the series, I agree 5, 6 and 7 were good and definitely the peak. After watching 10 I give 9 a pass, 10 is that bad.
When the FAST films were more grounded (I use that term loosely) they were mindless fun. Now the FAST films are just CGI fest's that are a mess.
As bad as FASTX Part 1 is I will still watch Part 2 lol
The Fast films actually use a lot of real and practical effects.
Problem is it is smothered in poor CG, and the completely CG scenes look even worse. Mainly becuase they dont obey the laws of physics.
I grew up on Burt Reynold's and Hal Needham films, the more real world stunts the better.
Brilliant John Williams score, that must have been amazing.
1) I don't know what I expected going in, but I didn't expect to see a Bollywood song and dance number in a MCU movie.
2) I will never, ever hear "Memory" the same way again. =^.^=
3) And most importantly : Do not miss the mid-credit scene. And for the love of all that's good in the world, do not spoil it.
One word about the theater : The screen was too high. I really should have chosen a seat further away from it. But how was I to know, right ?
You forgot to mention the Morricone score! There, did it for you :-)