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Regal and the other major chain theaters are horrible at the overkill of trailers. A 7pm start time means the actual film doesn't start until 720
I can barely remember it's been so long since i've been to the cinema. Blade Runner 2049 i think was the last.
I do kind of miss those appallingly hilarious adverts for local businesses we used to get at our local :))
Last film i went to see before lockdown was Mendes '1917' . Enjoyed it, but have no desire to ever watch it again! Pretty much what i think of most movies these days, apart from Bond of course!
I haven't seen '1917' yet. The newest film i've seen recently is Once Upon A Time In Hollywood which i absolutely loved.
But then i am fond of Tarantino's films
I can take or leave him tbh! Dislike the man himself, but he has made some good films (but a lot of bad ones too!) Still think 'Pulp Fiction' is his finest, though i did enjoy 'Django Unchained' a lot!
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in this lovely comedy of mistaken identities and some excellent recognizable classic showtunes and of the footwork of Mr Astaire and Miss Rogers is brilliant.
Hollywoods version of Venice is somewhat amazing, build in two soundstages at that time.
Havent really seen this much since viewing it in the cinema on its release! Bought this bluray steelbook on a whim. Delivered today, i had a couple of hours, so i watched it. I remember not really liking it, despite the talent on board. Jost Vacano lensing, Basil Poledouris music, Phil Tippetts old style effects and Rob (The Thing) Bottin designed the Robosuit! Peter Weller as Robocop/Murphy and the lovely Nancy Allen.
and Ronny Cox and Miguel Ferrer top a solid cast.
I think its Paul Verhoven i have the issue with. He tends to cheapen shots for me, and he loves over the top violence. However, I did enjoy this viewing.
The story about in the future Detroit, hoping to build a super city, but plagued with crime!
Weller plays Murphy, a cop just transferred , he gets brutally shot, and is put forward as subject for a new cyborg cop! Of course things dont go to plan! The action is well staged, with old style effect shots and i love the news items/ads thst interrupt the story throughout! Has gone up in my estimation after this watch!
Have always loved this film! I remember coming out of the cinema absolutely buzzing after i saw this!
I just love the black humour and satire in the film. Yet i think it still tells a very human and touching story.
Have always loved the brash work of Verhoeven, but Robocop is his best.
This is an enjoyable movie. It was originally a part of the fantastic DC Animated Universe, and you can still see some of the connective tissue left over after it became a standalone. The cast is okay, but James Woods as Owlman is the great highlight of them all. He's the reason you watch this movie, honestly, except for the action. I don't know if I'd nominate it for any awards, but it's a decent little flick. It maybe could have used about five more minutes of runtime to flesh out a couple things, however.
Batman: Under the Red Hood
I'll be honest, I'm not the greatest fan of this movie. Jason Todd was never my favorite Robin, I didn't actually care when he died, and when he was resurrected I cared even less. The movie itself isn't bad, merely the subject matter. Jensen Ackles is a good Jason/Red Hood, however, and Bruce Greenwood is a decent Batman (he didn't really hit his stride until Young Justice, however). The great disappointment in the cast is the one a good portion of the movie hinges upon: John DiMaggio as the Joker. He's just not good. I've seen a great many cinematic and animated Jokers in my time, but John DiMaggio hands down is the worst. Being honest once more, I haven't watched this movie in probably almost ten years, and it has gotten a little better to me.
Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
The sequel to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and while not bad, it just doesn't live up. Maybe it's just because Darkseid as presented in this movie is just kind of underwhelming. He barely does anything until the last 10 minutes of the movie. It's less a movie about Superman and Batman than it is about Supergirl, however, and she's more than a worthwhile protagonist. Summer Glau deserves a lot of credit for her performance. I hope she gets the chance to play the role again someday. It's strange, this is a less cluttered movie than its predecessor, but somehow that doesn't work in its favor. Maybe it's because Public Enemies made did its damnedest to make all those characters mean something overall, while this movie kinda wastes anyone that's not Superman, Batman and Supergirl. Hell, Wonder Woman barely has a purpose in the movie, and that's just disappointing.
Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam
Unique among these DC animated movies, this one is a collection of shorts, some which had previously been released with other movies. First on the list is the titular Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam, which is also the longest of them. Basically 22 minutes of a slugfest, with about 7 minutes taken out here or there for a Shazam/Captain Marvel origin story. Would've worked well as an episode of Superman: The Animated Series once upon a time. Next up is The Spectre, which can be boiled down to "50s-era noir with a supernatural superhero tossed in for good measure". You get a good sense of who the Spectre is, but other than that, there's not much meat here. Nice film grain filter overlay, though. Helps that noir feel. Third of four is Green Arrow, a straightforward little yarn about the Green Arrow (duh) foiling an assassination attempt at an airport that eventually leads him into a fight with his archenemy Merlyn. Tight action piece, but that's about all I can really say about it. Last but not least, we've got Jonah Hex. Not much to say about this one, it's basically just any old western but in animation format. There's no superpowers here, just Hex riding into town and clearing out a group of murderers. Thomas Jane is great as Hex, leading me to feel he should be cast as a live action version of him should they ever attempt another film. All in all, not a bad bunch of short films, really.
The best of his MGM sound features are Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and Speak Easily (1932). Of these, my favorite is Parlor, which teams Buster with the great Charlotte Greenwood to produce some delightful ribber-limb slapstick. But none of the MGM sound features took full advantage of Buster's talent.
After getting fired from MGM, Buster began making comedy shorts for Educational. He had a bit more creative control but far smaller budgets. Nevertheless, Buster's personality shines through the best of these films: The Gold Ghost (1934), One Run Elmer (1935), Grand Slam Opera (1936), and Jail Bait (1937).
In between these shorts Buster went to France and made Le roi des Champs-Élysées (The King of the Champs-Élysées, 1934), one of his last starring features and certainly the best from the sound era. The French showed far more understanding of Keaton's comedic persona than MGM. Also recommended is a short Buster made in France nearly two decades later: Un duel à mort (A Duel to the Death, 1952).
Back in America, Buster made another series of shorts, this time for Columbia. These have been over-criticized for their brassiness and vulgarity (Columbia was home to the Three Stooges), but they're often faster and heartier than the Educational shorts. The best are: Pest from the West (1939), Nothing But Pleasure (1940), The Spook Speaks (1940), and The Taming of the Snood (1940).
Most of Keaton's later work consisted of cameos in feature films (such as Chaplin's Limelight), appearances on television, commercials, and industrial films. Of the latter, Paradise for Buster (1952) gives Keaton the most room (37 minutes) and freedom to work with. One of Keaton's few dramatic roles was in a TV production of The Awakening (1954) and it shows what an excellent actor he was outside of comedy. Among the best of Buster's final projects was The Railrodder (1965), a short travelogue made by the National Film Board of Canada. Its making-of documentary Buster Keaton Rides Again (1965) shows him hashing out gags and discussing film-making and his career.
Yes I liked it, interesting movie. Together with Atomic Blonde a nice female spy movie to watch.
A proper spy, espionage film yet incredibly modern, and it was actually a film that kept me guessing. Plus, for those that have seen it, the bath scene was a really dark and visually interesting image and sequence, as was the torture sequence.
I think that I liked it more than I think I liked it. Lol. It definitely calls for another viewing to fully evaluate 🤔
Still holds up amazingly well. One of Pacino's finest amongst a catalogue of fine performances. Cazale an understated powerhouse.
Not gonna lie, I don't really care for this movie. Maybe it's the fact that they tried to distill 12 issues of a comic miniseries into a 75 minute movie, maybe it's just the subject matter itself, but the movie is too short to contain the story it wants to tell. The beginning and the end are good singular sections of storytelling, but the middle is a cluster of ideas that don't mesh, and certainly don't work with the beginning or the end. The idea of Superman dying and putting his affairs into order would have been significantly better if it were less disjointed. The cast doesn't really feel into their roles, the musical score isn't all that good, and the animation itself feels subpar compared to other entries in the DC Universe Original Animated Movies line. All in all, this story of Superman's last days just doesn't live up to what it wanted to portray.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Much like the earlier Batman: Gotham Knight, this movie takes on the form of several short tales, though this time there's an overarching connective story as Hal Jordan tells new recruit Arisia several stories of other Lanterns. Though there were some artistic differences between the stories, and each had its own director, there was more consistency than Gotham Knight's shorts had. The stories focused on Lanterns that most adaptations leave out or push to the side, with my particular favorite being the sentient planet Mogo. Though utilizing the same or modified character designs from the earlier First Flight movie, there's no direct links between the two films, unless somewhere in the middle of that movie there's an off screen chunk where this could happen. If Sinestro wasn't still a Green Lantern or in this movie at all, maybe one could say this was a sequel to First Flight, but that's not the case. Overall better than First Flight or Gotham Knight, really, not a bad movie at all.
Batman: Year One
This one is pretty much the exact opposite of All-Star Superman. Much like it, it's based on a short miniseries, however because Year One was only four issues instead of twelve, there's nothing left out here for the sake of the runtime. No, in fact, there are added scenes here to flesh out some of the more ambiguous moments. Again, like All-Star Superman, this one is faithful to the series it's adapting, sometimes strictly so. I'm fairly certain if you paused the movie in the right spots, you could replicate every single panel of the comic, from start to finish. The cast is mostly excellent. Bryan Cranston should be allowed to play live-action Jim Gordon at some point, he's damned brilliant in the role. The one member of the cast that doesn't work is sadly the title character himself, Ben McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Ironically, he went on to play the only good member of the cast on Gotham, playing Jim Gordon. Also included is a short focusing on Catwoman, played by Eliza Dushku. It's nothing spectacular, but it's a nice way to kill fifteen minutes.
70's slasher I had not previously watched, it certainly has its moments. Its stars Lynne Fredrick Peter Sellers fourth Wife and she is a stunner and died way too young.
THE NAKED FACE
(Very light spoilers until further notice.)
Dr. Judd Stevens (Roger Moore) is a Chicago psychoanalyst. One day, one of his patients is murdered right after leaving his office. Stevens claims not to know who or what is behind the murder, but one of the police detectives investigating the case is suspicious of him. Soon after, more people around Stevens turn up dead, and his own life is threatened, so he sets out to clear his name and find the real perpetrator.
Based on Sidney Sheldon's first novel, The Naked Face is a good little thriller, generally competent in most aspects if not outstanding in any of them. Under the direction of Bryan Forbes, it displays a certain flair and makes very good use of the Chicago setting. It moves at a stately pace, but it remains consistenly interesting thanks to the sense of mystery and the characters.
The idea behind the plot and the reason for the murders is rather clever, but to be honest, I must say it hasn't aged that well in terms of originality, having since reoccurred in other famous films and in one especially renowned TV show. Since much of the story's appeal hinges on this, it hurts the film slightly, as one is left expecting something more. Another aspect that diminishes the surprises and the impact of the story somewhat, is that a key supporting character is played by someone who went on to greater fame, so in hindsight, it's easy to suspect this character, who begins as fairly anonymous, will turn out to be crucial in the story. In all fairness, however, these kinds of things can't really be held against the film. One aspect of the story that can be legitimately criticized is that said supporting character and their relationship with someone else could have been explored in more detail. There is also Rod Steiger's detective, McGreavy, who holds an old grudge against Dr. Stevens, over his having helped send someone who murdered a colleague of McGreavy to a mental institution rather than to prison. This is an intriguing part of the story, and a later twist in this subplot proves enjoyable enough in terms of the surprise, but the motivations for it remain sadly underexplained and lacking in clarity.
So far I've sounded fairly negative about the plot, but it is in fact pretty good, just not excellent. It's easier to point out its shortcomings than its good qualities, which are comparatively inconspicuous. It's a solid story with some pleasant twists and turns, and truth be told, a film certainly doesn't depend entirely on its plot to be successful. Luckily, the shortcomings of The Naked Face are mostly limited to this one area.
Bryan Forbes was undoubtedly a good director. Even some of the films he directed that can be considered failures, such as Deadfall, displayed passion and originality. The Naked Face benefits from his stylistic touches. Example: A couple of scenes in the film show Stevens' consultations. These moments are mostly limited to tight camera shots of the doctor and his patients, which helps to create a feeling of paranoia, and suggests everyone is a suspect when it comes to the murders. One of these scenes is edited in such a way that the patients who appear in it get but a few moments of screentime before we move on the next one, which gives this scene a cold, distant quality that suits the story of the film. Other interesting visual touches include a shot of a reflection on the pendulum of a clock, and a cool transitional shot involving a close-up of an eye opening. Overall, the film's visual style is sober, but not boring.
Roger Moore's Dr. Stevens is a rather subdued, introspective character, who displays little of the overt charm of 007. Moore is certainly up to the task of playing this character, who is in some sense a variation of The Man Who Haunted Himself's Harold Pelham, albeit displaying much less in the way of internal conflict. Stevens is a widower, but beyond one scene in which his former brother-in-law tries to convince him to move on from the death of his wife, this aspect isn't explored in great detail. It's just as well, really, since it's a little intriguing touch that's mostly there to get us invested in the character and to root for him. Moore plays the part with a quiet dignity that's perfectly appropriate for the role. A clear visual touch that's meant to suggest this isn't James Bond we're looking at are Dr. Stevens' glasses, which give Moore a bookish look that immediately sets him apart from the adventurous secret agent.
Rod Steiger was the Dirty Harry of actors. You didn't quite direct him, you just turned him loose. He displays his usual overacting tendencies here, kept barely in check, but one thing he can't be accused of is being boring. In fact, much of his hamminess in the early part of the film turns out to have a satisfying in-story explanation, even if the twist that introduces said explanation still needed more work in another aspects. Elliott Gould, who previously appeared in Escape to Athena with Roger Moore, plays Steiger's detective partner, and has good chemistry with both Steiger and Moore. David Hedison also has a nice turn as Dr. Stevens' brother-in-law, as does The Breakfast Club's John Kapelos, who barely has a line or two but whose face is instantly memorable, always a welcome quality in a small part like his.
The most enjoyable supporting role, however, comes courtesy of Art Carney as Morgens, a private eye hired by Stevens to investigate the case. The first scene between Moore and Carney is very well written and acted. To make sure he isn't involved in the murder attempts, Stevens picks this guy off the phone book at random, and when he goes to see him, both him and the place he lives in don't look like much. Stevens' first instinct is to leave, but Morgens eventually convinces the doctor he is probably competent enough to take on the case. A highlight of the film, for sure.
The film is rounded up with a fine music score by Michael J. Lewis (the composer who was rumored to have written a rejected score for GoldenEye, something which turned out not to be true).
It's a good film. Watch it.
HEAVY SPOILERS AHEAD
A couple of crucial observations here for those who've seen the movie.
OTHER STUFF
1. Séance on a Wet Afternoon / The Stepword Wives
2. The Naked Face
3. Deadfall
Quite enjoyable, and actually fairly accurate (at least based on most reviews at the time), although Paul had some issues with it. The soundtrack – which for copyright reasons, does not include any Beatles written songs – does have a fair number of tunes that the band covered in those days (Please Mr. Postman, Money, Long Tall Sally, etc..). The “playing” band consisted of (among others) : Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Mike Mills (R.E.M.) and Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters). That’s quite a little band in their own right!
Overall, an interesting look at the start of The Beatles legend and the unique mix of English, German, French and American cultural elements that marked the band.
Loose sequel to Crisis on Two Earths (none of the earlier film is acknowledged, aside from a brief mention of there being other members of the League outside the core members from both films), Doom is a decent movie. It's about what happens when Batman's plans to disable the League should they ever go rogue end up in the wrong hands. The middle of the movie is thus filled with several different fight scenes between League members and their counterparts from the newly-formed Legion of Doom (also, there's a point where the League is calling the Legion by the name "Legion" despite the fact that I don't think it's ever mentioned around any of them). The animation is beautiful, the cast (mostly comprised of DCAU veterans, always a plus for me) is excellent and the plot itself is one I'd love to see in a live action adaptation. All in all, one of the best efforts in this line of films.
Superman Vs. the Elite
Having never seen this before, I walked into it totally blind and the first I'mma say half of the movie didn't interest me in the slightest. Once into the second half, however, that completely changed. Once the Elite stopped acting like heroes and just pretty much admitted they were the villains, things got significantly better. By the end, when Superman was actually fighting the Elite, it was so good. Superman when he's dropped his moral code is just terrifying. The art style wasn't great, but it grew on me, and the cast was wonderful, particularly George Newbern as Superman. He and Tim Daly are second only to Christopher Reeve in the role of Superman, and this movie only reinforced that. After having never seen this movie, it's now become one of my favorites in this line.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
As a fan of the graphic novel, I had high hopes for this two parter. For the most part, I was pleased with the result. It's not a perfect adaptation, some changes don't really make much sense. Lines of dialogue that had power in the graphic novel are almost completely different in this movie. I don't really like that they took out the monologue narration, becasue they kept it in Year One and it worked perfectly. Here, they just occasionally slip some of that narration into the dialgoue, and it just doesn't work. The cast (led by Peter Weller putting in a commanding performance as Batman) does their best with it, but that just doesn't turn narration into spoken dialogue. And then there's the way the gangs talk. These lines come straight from the graphic novel, and it just makes me wonder what weird kind of gangs Frank Miller saw in the 80s, because I just can't believe they really talked like that. The choice to make this two parts worked out incredibly well, because they don't miss any beats, even if they change them. Not as good as Year One, but overall pretty good.
I'll always hold Mask of the Phantasm as the best Batman film ever, be it animation or live action.
Covering the second half of the graphic novel, which is Batman's final battle with the Joker and his eventual conflict with Superman, this one is a little more muddled than Part 1 was, though it's obvious that the writer eventually realized his attempts to turn the monologues into dialogue didn't work out as well as he'd hoped, as there's fewer this time. While I'm not one to shy away from politics in my media, and quite often enjoy films that have a different political slant than I myself do, the story of the movie jumps back and forth between glorifying establishment politics and denouncing them at the same time, which is more than a little weird. Superman's character design worked well in the graphic novel, but doesn't look so good in animation, sadly. Once again, the cast is phenomenal. The casting director for these films is fantastic at picking just the right voices for just the right roles. While not a bad movie, this one doesn't quite work as well as Part 1, which is disappointing, but understandable given the "Part 2" in its title. The best way to watch these two films is by getting the Deluxe Edition that combines them, because then the whole thing just plays like a single story, which it was obviously meant to be.
Superman: Unbound
Yet another Superman movie I hadn't seen before, and interestingly this has similarities to Superman Vs. The Elite in that, while that film explored why Superman doesn't just outright murder people, this one explores why Superman is the way he is. A lot of the plot of this movie revolves around the fact that Superman was raised on Earth and not Krypton. He initially doesn't see eye to eye with Supergirl because thanks to her being cryogenically lost in space for years, Krypton was only destroyed a few months ago rather than three or so decades ago, and so she has memories and a sense of loss he never had. Brainiac, the lead villain here, is almost secondary to this. While he does eventually threaten the Earth, when he appears at first, he has no knowledge of it. On the one hand, that's a shame because it meant John Noble's excellent voice acting was relagated to a villain that's almost a minor character, but on the other hand, exploring Superman as a character is a far better story element. Another similarity to Superman Vs. The Elite is that just like that film, Lois is already well aware that Clark Kent is Superman. Ultimately, I think The Elite was a far better film, but this one was fantastic.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
This is quite the Flash movie masquerading as a Justice League movie, though it's not like this is the first time this sort of thing has happened. Justice League: Doom was more of a Batman movie, and The New Frontier was very clearly a Martian Manhunter/Green Lantern movie. Written and animated at the same time as the Flashpoint event happened in the comics, this isn't a straight adaptation of that multiverse changing storyline, and that's very much a plus for me, because I hated the Flashpoint comic event, and I actually like this movie. The movie sets the Flash as the lead immediately, and the few moments he's not in focus are used primarily to set up the rest of the new Flashpoint world. This is a world closing in on armageddon, and the cause is a war between Atlantis and the Amazons. Helluva race against the clock, really. The cast is, as it seems I'm always pointing out, fantastic. The character designs look a little funky, but I'm pretty sure this movie has the same art designer as the Young Justice show, and those characters look off to me quite often. It's worth noting that this is the movie that officially kicks off the DC Animated Movie Universe, that just recently came to an end with Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, though it also works as a standalone film. I'm almost halfway done with this line of DC movies, now, and hopefully I can keep up the momentum.
Me too. I watch it a lot! I think it's a brilliant and faithful adaptation.
Director Bill Forsyths debut is a gently funny comedy about a hapless group of lads who, dealing with Glasgows unemployment and "social deprivation!" hatch a plan to rob the local factory of its kitchen sinks and make their dreams come true, of holidays , retirement and electric guitar purchase! Not laugh out loud, but it keeps a smile on your face and the requisite saxophone score music brings a nostalgic tear to the eye for that era! A little gem that was followed by the even better 'Gregorys Girl'