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A movie that grows increasingly more important as I grow up, because it is all about making the right choices, and doing what your heart tells you rather that what others want for you. The film has a staggering amount of unforgettable moments, from scenes to quotes, to jokes and character interactions. There are so many beautifully powerful scenes in this film, and it is truly a gem, one of my all time favorites.
It was on tv so I decided to watch it. It was an ok film, characters and story were all right - nothing to exciting or that the film made me want to read the comic it's based on (kinda similar feeling as when I watched "The Green Hornet"). I did like the 1930's setting. Timothy Dalton was good as the bad guy, but I just kept thinking he could have been doing a Bond film instead of this mediocre film.
The Rocketeer gets a "C".
This complex, 70s style thriller is always set to entertain. Unlike the sequels that followed it, Mission: Impossible is not an action film (though it does posses one great action scene at the end), but works very well regardless. I could be inclined to think that this one is the best of the franchise. 8/10
Being quick, had some free time earlier and put on Ghostbusters again, haven't seen this in some time and it is a classic watch
Saw it in theaters back in 1984 on it's original release, and looks, (especially the SFX), terribly dated nearly 30 years later. The animations are more humorous than intimidating or with intent to frighten. An almost classic piece of filmmaking, I hope they never do a third one of these although it is in the pipeline apparently. It was worth every minute almost of the two hours mas o menos spent watching this earlier, one of the very best movie releases of the 1980s without question
The Naked Face (1984)
Roger Moore stars as Judd Stevens, a widowed psychiatrist suspected of murdering one of his bisexual patients. After a while, more bodies start to turn up and Stevens finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation. However, things take a turn for the worst as Stevens is forced to go after the people behind the murders after several attempts on his life.
To start off with, Roger Moore is probably one of the most underrated actors in the latter half of the 20th century. Here Moore takes the role seriously, and once again shows a different side to his acting ability, as previously seen in 1970’s ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself.’
A slowly paced film, ‘The Naked Face’ is marketed as a deep psychological thriller, which successfully keeps you enthralled right up until the 70 minute mark. It’s a lovely piece of cinema, not only showing a rare side to Roger Moore, but actually creates a character you’re behind the entire way, and do really care for.
The film is far from bad. The problem with it is, that has a perfect build up to something that doesn’t warrant 4 murders. When the twist comes, you’re left speechless, not with shock, just with bewilderment, as something so violent has happened just to cover up something so simple. I’ve used this word a lot lately, but it just feels redundant. A great film, ruined by something so pointless that you can’t help but feel dissapointment.
★★★
Meanwhile, I feel compelled to report that the new Bourne Legacy, while watchable as a passable action thriller, is really an incomprehensible technobabble mess of a film. A half-baked re-take on the already well realized Bourne theme of good and earnest agent hunted by duplicitous and very bad spymasters. It's deja vu all over again. Renner is excellent as the new super-agent and Weisz is quite good as well, but the story they have been thrust into is just another version of the original Bourne story, but not half as interesting. An utterly pointless mess of a film. SF will blow this dud out of the water.
What a great comedy, with that great Billy Wilder stamp on it. Much in the vain of Some Like It Hot, Marilyn really flexes her comedic muscles, the thing she was great at. Every second she is on screen is marvelous, how she commands the camera with a smile or saunter. It is impossible not to fall in love with her.
It's the second time this year that I've watched this film, surprisingly enough because the girlfriend insisted on giving it a try herself. Not that I ever recommended Antichrist to her, in fact I don't know if I would recommend it to anyone or in any case only if I really knew the person to whom I might recommend the film. My girlfriend isn't the squeamish type but I couldn't have imagined, for the life of me, that she might enjoy this film. Kudos to her for still giving it an honest attempt.
Antichrist is a film that, on a basic level, deals with issues of depression and explicitly demonstrates the kind of madness in which a depression can transform itself. There's a faint hint of demonic forces that make it all happen, but one could effectively neglect that if so desired. The film does never persistently emphasise the presence of some Satanic entity controlling everything. There's as much reason to suspect that the tragedy which befalls the couple (William Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg) upsets their lives to such an extent that their sadness ends up playing tricks with their minds. Some people tend to read horror into all of this but I don't. For me, Antichrist is a drama film, showing how gravely one's life and sanity can be disturbed over the loss of a child. I tend to disconnect it from every bit of satanic horror and the film allows me to do that. There's a certain freedom for personal interpretation of the many symbols and metaphors Von Trier put in it.
The film's photography tremendously aids in creating an almost surreal mood for the film. Unique colouring and lensing give Antichrist, at times, a fairly bizarre yet highly enjoyable look IMO. The score has an unsettling, somewhat frightening aura about it, but one that effectively stimulates the viewer's empathy.
All the above might inspire a viewing of Antichrist, but before you go there, I need some time to explain what it is about this film that I don't like. The film doesn't hold itself back when it comes to explicit material and while in principle I have a tough stomach and a few decades of experience with exploitation films, I find some things presented in the third act downright appalling, disturbing even, and I can't quite figure out why Von Trier put it in there. Because the film carries such a depressing mood, presented very realistically, the effect of strong images runs twice as deep.
And so I conclude by deciding whether I can recommend this film or not. Were it not for the final half an hour or so, I might say yes immediately. There's great acting involved and a particular style of photography which I feel can best be described as intriguing. But out of the blue comes a disturbing finale and some folks may take that as a challenge, but please be warned. Some stomachs will come out unscathed and might in fact argue that I'm being too dramatic, but other stomachs will suffer severely. So be warned.
Rambo 2 pisses some people off because it changed Rambo from a story about a troubled veteran to the Rambo that's world famous, the super soldier that can kill everything. I like Rambo 2 and Rambo 3 (4th one is ok ), two of my favourite films. They're not as good as the first one but I love em for what they are: pure popcorn films.
Iron Sky **
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol ***** (Still not sure if it beats the first Mission Impossible.)
Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the death of one Elvis Aaron Presley, so what better than to put on a DVD of Roustabout. Not The King's finest hour on screen, but the music throughout makes it a worthwhile watch, worth a viewing, not just for Presley fans
How To Marry A Millionaire (1953)
6/10
No better marathon my friend. I am glad you feel the way I do. This film didn't do anything for me. I watched it strictly for Marilyn and she is barely in it. Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable are more the focus, especially the former. Marilyn is just cast as a dumb blonde, and I hate to see that. Her character was funny, but overall the film just doesn't match up to films of that era. I must admit though, I smirk when Lauren's character breaks the fourth wall, mentioning her then real-life husband Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen. This film was supposed to be Marilyn going head to head against Betty to the press's wishes, because Betty was the queen on the Fox lot, and Marilyn an actress competing for the title. To their dismay they got along well, and Betty even let Marilyn get the exposure, saying to her that she had had her time in the spotlight. A very nice woman by all accounts. I think the film is more famous for being the absolute first film to use CinemaScope. A film at the time, called The Robe is thought by many to be the first, but it was shot after Millionaire, but released to theaters first, hence the confusion.
If you would like a little time out from the real world and escape for a while then, put this one one your dvd machine and sit back and watch this film.
I remember going to my local flea pit with my dad to see this when I was a young boy. And it blew me away with the soundtrack and battle scenes.
Queen can do no wrong when it comes to soundtracks and with the cast including Dalton and Topol, it is well worth a watch.
8-10 :)
Dors is typically glamourous in this quint little light hearted murder mystery. Crime autor Andrew Dax (Patrick Holt) and his wife Kate (Diana Dors) retreat to a country cottage so Andrew can work on his next book. It's there that they stumble into a murder plot and a lost relative.
Here's a little bit of trivia, Archie the dog, who is owned by Andrew and Kate in the film, was in real life own by Terry-Thomas and his then wife Ida Patlanski. And it was T-T whom gave an up-and-coming Dors an early role as the deliciously named Cuddles, in his How Do You View tv show. :-B
5. Diana Dors
1. Yeild To The Night (1956)
2. Miss Tulip Stays The Night (1955)
3. Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary (1953)
4. Tread Softly Stranger (1958)
5. The Great Game (1953)
6. Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
7. A Kid For Two Farthings (1955)
8. My Wife's Lodger (1952)
9. A Girl, A Boy & A Bike (1949)
10. It's A Grand Life (1953)
11. Theatre Of Blood (1973)
12. As Long As They're Happy (1955)
13. Diamond City (1949)
14. Steptoe & Son Ride Again (1973)
<center><font size = 4>part 6</font></center>
<center><font color = darkblue size = 6>THE INSIDER (1999)</font></center>
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The Insider, Mann's next film after HEAT, takes us into a real case of one man's war against the tobacco industry. As he does this, he suffers personal losses, faces corruption and draws enough media attention to become a public figure. Sure enough, at one point he actually collaborates with a journalist to get his story public and in the real world he currently seems to be making a living out of giving lectures on the subject.
Jeffrey Wigand (Russel Crowe) discovers certain highly unethical methods, applied by the tobacco industry, to make smoking extra addictive. When fired by his employer for openly stating his objections to said methods, his life turns into a nightmare. An adventurous journalist, Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), is willing to go very far himself to get Jeffrey's story out in the open and stop the constant terrorising of him and his family.
The problem with such polarizing based-on-true-events stories is you mostly hear things from only one side and you don't know which elements were removed from or added to the real case. I'm not planning to take a stand for the tobacco industry, of course, so the nature of the evil makes it fairly easy to sympathise with Wigand anyway. Also, I don't think Mann is the kind of guy who wouldn't pursue 'the truth' with passion. But in the end, it's a film, and so one only has the reality of the film to consider, unless one is more familiar with the real case of course.
Either way, the question is how good a film is this? Granted, it isn't HEAT and it by no means tries to be. This is a drama film, reflecting on the real evil in our society. And it's a well-made film to be sure. The acting, for instance, is superb. Take Crowe (for Pacino is a given). I like him in most films but I was never under the highest of impressions, yet in The Insider I'm with this man all the way. His tragedy saddens me, I tend to empathise with Crowe even more than with the character he plays - if that even makes sense. The fact is, I think Crowe's somewhat shy but very tragic performance breaks my heart time and again. That Oscar nomination was well deserved IMO.
As usual, Mann fuels his film with an unexpected energy. The opening scenes, while mildly disconnected from the rest of the story, introduce us to Bergman with fire. The ambient score, by Pieter Bourke, Lisa Gerrard and Graeme Revell, immediately sets the tone. With additional music by, among others, Massive Attack, The Insider is yet another testament of Mann's brilliant awareness of the importance of film music. He never ceases to bring out nothing but the best from his composers.
Then there's the cinematography and yet again I am pleased to refer to the genius Dante Spinotti for that. With every choice he makes, I'm being pulled more and more into the film. Granted, the creative sparks of HEAT are more or less absent but then, this is a film that wants to be viewed almost as a documentary of sorts and Spinotti understands quite well how to set up his shots and which film stock to use for precisely that effect. He too more than deserved the Academy nomination.
The Insider is a film that asks us to empathise with a man who's hunted down and in fact haunted by powerful companies, the tobacco distributing companies that clearly exist today - among us - because he has uncovered a disturbing truth. As they are immensely powerful, even knowledge of the truth will be insufficient to keep them away. For common folk, seeking media attention seems to be the last resort and in fact, that's the way things go today. But The Insider is also beautifully made, exceptionally well acted, fabulously shot, impressively scored and above all, told in an engaging and inspiring fashion. This isn't HEAT2, but to Mann's credit it doesn't want to be HEAT2. The Insider is its own thing and IMO, it's a good thing. Everyone should watch this film, for the issues it deals with, for the technical qualities and for its creative choices. A story like this could have been told in a tedious, dull manner but Mann proves time and again to be talented enough for an endeavor like this.
<font color = red>Final score:</font> 9/10
DD's Michael Mann retrospective score card:
HEAT: 10/10
The Insider: 9/10
Thief: 9/10
Manhunter: 8/10
The Last Of The Mohicans: 7/10
The Keep: 5,5/10
DD's David Fincher retrospective score card:
Seven: 9,5/10
The Social Network: 9,5/10
Zodiac: 8,5/10
The Game: 8/10
Panic Room: 8/10
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: 8/10
Alien³: 7,5/10
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button: 7,5/10
Fight Club: 7/10
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Good fun comedy and the court scene is great.
Best Line: "take a man's pants"
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) 7/10
How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) 6.5/10
Pretty average film. 6/10
One of the best Sci Fi films of the 1950's IMO, this may be the only film I'd put above a similar effort by Steven Spielberg. I love the effects and the bravery of this film, even if the conclusion is
River Of No Return (1954) 6/10
The first time i have seen not play the dumb blonde. The film itself is not great.
The Seven Year Itch (1955) 7.5/10
The best so far. Only just under an 8 and I'm sure when i watch it again one day it will be even better.
Ranking
The Seven Year Itch (1955) 7.5/10
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) 7/10
How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) 6.5/10 R
River Of No Return (1954) 6/10
Agreed!
City of the living dead
Pure heaven for a Fulci fan like myself.
Pure popcorn movie. Quite enjoyed it and no doubt a sequel will be in the pipeline! Good effects too! Just a shame Liam Neeson was not in it more?
Viva Las Vegas.....plot itself is imo mediocre , its the songs and Ann Margret that makes it good.
Love a little , live a little.....good , Edge of Reality is awesome song.
When Elvis met Nixon , very good although its somewhat OTT.
Man of the Yr , Williams and Walken.....Williams plays a presidential candidate , this movie has a few chuckles although I kinda expected to laugh more.
10 out of 10
Pure Scifi/Western fun. I recommend it for everyone! :D