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
Having watched 'Octopussy' this afternoon, here's another movie featuring trains and train stunts! I haven't seen this since it's release in the cinema! Director Peter Hyams ( 'Capricorn One', 'Outland') is always an interesting film maker to me! Here he's doing a remake of a 1952 Richard Fleischer thriller! The legend that is Gene Hackman plays a Deputy District Attorney trying to get Anne Archers witness back to testify before the bad guys kill her, as they travel on board a train! Hyams regular James B Sikking plays one of the hit men aboard the train playing cat and mouse with Hackmans wily good guy. Hyams keeps the tension up, and the train stunt finale is nicely staged! Enjoyable thriller, mainly for Hackman, who makes it all look so effortless!
Best dialogue from the original:
What kind of a dish? (referring to the Hood's wife)
Sixty-cent special. Cheap, flashy. Strictly poison under the gravy. :))
Hard to beat Charles McGraw and Marie ("Queen of the B's") Windsor, but I should try to see the remake.
I didn't realize an actor had played the Gran Torino, I thought they'd bought an actual car.
But yeah, terrific film. Looking forward to Juror #2.
The film's opening scene was incredibly effective-it gave me all the information I needed without explicitly saying much. It begins with a shot of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, zoomed in on the protagonist's star. We see the star when it's freshly placed, with crowds flocking around, taking pictures, and celebrating the protagonist's success. As the years pass, the star begins to crack, and people walk over it, dropping trash without noticing whose name it bears. This simple, visual storytelling brilliantly set up the backstory of Elisabeth, the protagonist.
Visually, this is easily the most striking film I've seen this year. Each shot feels meticulously crafted to serve the narrative, and honestly, it's so beautiful that every frame could stand on its own as a painting. The frequent close-ups were especially effective, adding a layer of intensity and creepiness to certain scenes. The color grading was perfect, enhancing the film's atmosphere. It's truly a visual masterpiece.
The story and writing are incredibly clever. I don't think I've ever seen a film with such a creative narrative. In an age where original ideas feel scarce, this movie felt like a breath of fresh air-gripping from start to finish. The way it tackles ageism in Hollywood, particularly how it affects women, through a blend of camp, horror, and dark comedy, was both smart and unique. Even though many of the characters didn't have much dialogue, they were all memorable and stuck with me long after the film ended.
The cast is fantastic, starting with Demi Moore, who likely drew on her own experiences with Hollywood's obsession with looks and aging. This is one of her best performances, and she deserves all the praise for it. There's a particular moment-without giving too much away-where her character ages further, and it was mesmerizing to watch. Margaret Qualley also shines in her role as Sue, a fame-hungry, egotistical character willing to do anything to get ahead. The contrast between the two characters, who are ultimately reflections of the same person, highlights how we can be our own harshest critics and how societal views on aging and appearance can deeply affect us. The rest of the cast delivers solid performances as well.
Overall, this is my favorite film of the year so far!
1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
2. The Master (2012)
3. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
4. Boogie Nights (1997)
5. Phantom Thread (2017)
6. Hard Eight (1996)
7. Magnolia (1999)
8. Licorice Pizza (2021)
9. Inherent Vice (2014)
Great ranking. Similar to mine. I personally think my favorite of his is Punch-Drunk Love. It feels so different, in many ways. A lot of top names in the cinematic world call it one of their favorites. Namely, Pixar people.
Thank you! It’s super entertaining and unique indeed. I love all the unconventional love stories in his movies, including the one in PDL. The scene when Barry handles the guys after hitting his car and hurting Lena is one of my favorite scenes ever.
FAF$M.......5/6
I'm never quite sure which one of the Dollar films I like best, including the third one. The first one is short and quick, but it's basically Yojimbo with cowboys, the second one has a fascinating villain but slightly drags in the middle and the third one, while expertly made, is a very straightforward story for a film so long. I'll need to revisit them.
What I do know, is that I like Once Upon a Time in the West better than all of them. My favourite western ever (though I'm not a genre specialist).
Oh I just love this movie. Hackman & Archer have such good chemistry, and it moves at a great pace. One of Hyam's best (if smaller) films.
Must say I wasn't crazy about the 2018 reboot. Granted, it was better than the Rob Zombie entries, which I disliked very much, but it still lacked in atmosphere as far as I'm concerned.
Ever since H2O, I've been missing that Halloween atmosphere in every outing. Even heavily flawed entries like Curse or Revenge had a decent Halloween atmosphere, making them more enjoyable for me than the trashy surroundings we got in the 2007 and 2018 versions.
Having said that, Kills delivers on that atmosphere imo, and is therefore preferable to anything that came before all the way back to at least H2O but probably part 4. It has its problems, but I very much enjoyed it. Good climax too.
Haven't watched Ends yet, maybe that's for October 2025 though.
A fellow Ring fan? Good to read, @FoxRox. And both Ring and The Ring are two of my favourites.
Incidentally, it is explained on the beautiful Arrow Video edition of Ring that "Ringu" is actually not what the Japanese Nakata film should be called. The "u" at the end is a forced "u", initiated by people who tried to mimic the subtle Japanese pronunciation but failed to do so monstrously. As a result, we're now stuck with a title that almost sounds like an insult to the Japanese and makes us look very stupid. ;-) The Japanese film is simply called "Ring" and the Verbinski remake is called "The Ring". That's where the distinction is made. "Ringu" is like calling a certain Ryan Gosling film "Only Gad Forgives" in an attempt to mimic a Texan and overdoing it barbarically.
I didn't know this before I checked out every single bonus feature on the Bluray, but now that I know how "Ringu" makes us sound like morons, I avoid that title at all cost. ;-)
I didn’t know any of that. The official Arrow 4K I own of it still says “Ringu” on the box, so I figured it was official, but now I know differently. Sorry if my post came off as offensive.
Offensive? Not at all, @FoxRox. I didn't know either until one of the interviews on the Arrow edition of Ring, Ring 2, Rasen and Ring 0 clarified this to me. I'm also glad that J-horror is still appreciated. How do you feel about Ju-On? (There's an Arrow BR box of Shimizu's original 4 films which I can highly recommend too.)
Honestly I haven’t seen nearly enough J-Horror myself, but I did watch Pulse not super long ago which was very good. I have not seen any of the classic, Japanese Ju-On films, but I watched the first American Grudge a long time ago and thought it was alright from memory. But yeah, I definitely need to see more. Dark Water is on my list as well.
Dark Water is a lesser film in my opinion (both versions), but I highly recommend Ju-On The Curse 1,2 and Ju-On The Grudge 1,2. The narrative of these films can be confusing and disorienting at first; many viewings later, I am finally beginning to get a feel of what's happening to whom and when. But the gift keeps giving, as I find these films among the scariest I have ever seen. Their intentionally cheap look only enhances the terror that comes from the Saeki family's curse. And the fact that novelizations and manga all deliberately put different spins on the same story shows Shimizu's determination to make us work hard for the best experience. Nothing that comes after these four films, which stand on their own, has ever matched their power. Only the first American remake is worth our time. But the deeper you dig into the Japanese originals and the more you learn about their production, the more trapped you become in their curse. I love Ju-On. Along with Ring, those four films (all of which were confusingly named "Ju-On" without a number or subtitle in Japan) I treat them as the finest product of J-horror. Although all of this is, as usual, very subjective.
That’s very high praise! Thanks for the recommendation. I might try one or two more Ring sequels first, though I have my doubts any will come close to the originals. I do love curses and urban legend stuff done well.
wasnt-fan-of-H18-either-so-havent-seen-the-one-that-came-after
As-for-Leone-trilogy.....FAF$M-is-perfect-as-GBU-can-be-bit-long-if-youre-watching&sleepy.....then-again-any-normal-2hr-film-can-feel-long-if-youre-sleepy
HD-version-of-HorrorExpress-is-awesome,really-benefits-from-upgrade
KellysHeroes-needs-upgrade,sound-out-of-synch
HeMan-would-benefit-from-upgrade-too&new-commentary-perhaps-by-Dolph&Frank-and-others
Freud's Last Session
Titus (1999)
and
Hologram Man
I'll admit that I can be an eclectic fellow when it comes to (film) taste. One week I can be in Fellini or Melville mood, the next one I may enjoy a not-so-great Halloween sequel. I'm funny like that ;)
Then again, I also love both FRWL and MR, I suppose that's a similar thing on a smaller scale...
Anyway, how did you like Titus ? It's been a while, but I remember that I quite liked it.
It's a neo-noir (It's Mike Hammer!) made in the 80's. It seems like they were trying to make a Dirty Harry style franchise. It didn't really work but it has its moments.
The Kenneth More and Robert Powell versions are ok though nothing compares to the excellent Hitchcock adaption. I did not know about another retelling I will have to look out for it, good casting with Cumberbatch.
I did feel that there were maybe too many occasions when the main protagonists really should have died, I could be critical of some of the lore though Prometheus had already made it a bit crazy.
The Xenomorph's looked fantastic and the end boss was very creepy, there were some genuinely terrifying moments in the film, there were plenty of good subtle set ups and pay offs.
How does it compare to the rest of the films in the series, right now I would rate it higher than Covenant, Resurrection and the poor Alien vs Predator movies.
I wonder if the ending was re shot as it was said during the production a
There’s good and bad in both these movies. Sadly it’s mostly bad for me.
After the generally good TFA, TLJ feels like it’s trying to hard, and has many instances that go to far, even for Star Wars.
Biggest offender, Princess Leis surviving her time in space.
Whoever thought this was a good idea was wrong.
I’m not too keen on the scene where Finn and Rose are about to be executed, with hundreds of Stormtroopers nearby, then suddenly after the ship has been torn in two, just Finn and Rose survive and nobody else can be seen.
It’s poor storytelling.
To make matters worse, in TROS the filmmakers seemingly had no idea what to do, so they resurrected Emperor Palpatine.
How he survived is left unclear, also unclear is how Rey ventured into a large portion of the Death Star, which at the end of ROTJ,, was blown into a million pieces!
To make Rey the grand daughter of Palpatine also seems weak. I don’t buy it.
I hope if they make future Star Wars trilogy’s, that the story is fleshed out before they make them.