You know, I tried and tried to place Col. Ross. So obvious - given TB is one of my favourite Bonds.
Sah-right. Sometimes your so used to seeing in actor in one film so many times you can't identify them in foriegn settings.
Next I watched the last in the original Palmer film trilogy:
THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN
This is a 360 degree turn here. Unlike the first two films this Palmer flick is imitating James Bond, Maurice Binder presents a live action title sequence with Harry posing like Bond and the camp value stepped up signifgantly. Palmer is incidently roped into a anti-communist orginization run by a mad texas oil baron named General Midwinter played with gusto by Ed Begley. The thriller aspect is rather flacid and contains rather huge plot holes and it has a lot to do with Karl Malden's character motivations. Malden, who plays Palmer's old friend Leo, is in the guise of General Midwinter's minions plans to steal millions from Midwinter by manipulating his billion dollar computer dubbed "The Brain". Malden tries to kill Palmer because he claims he's been ordered by the Brain to do as much yet later we clearly see he is smart enough to change it's orders. Also essentially, it's Malden who brings down Midwinter because he fooled the general into thinking he had enough inside agents to create a revolution in the USSR and is promptly destroyed by the Russian airforce in the film's finale. Basically, there is no reason why Harry Palmer should be in this film. Now does that make the film bad ? Not nessecarily, Caine and Begley do a lot to save this film and Ken Russell's weird directon, combined with the beautiful score, makes it a bit of a enjoyable mind f***. I am glad the films stopped here because another one would have been too embarrassing.
Next I watched the last in the original Palmer film trilogy:
THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN
I am glad the films stopped here because another one would have been too embarrassing.
Er, who wants to be the first to tell him?
LOL ! I already said I know the the TV films during the 90's, which I haven't seen though I haven't heard anything good about them. I guess should have said they stopped making the theatrical films because I think they would have continued that route.
I guess the other two Palmer films also suffer for not having John Barry doing the soundtrack. Ipcress pulls a blinder with its East European shenanigans, which involves a massive spoiler of course. Barry's mood music hints at it all, it contributes to the misleading impression of where the film is going.
I'm referring to the fact that we think - and Palmer - think he has been kidnapped and is in a Soviet prison camp, when in fact once he escapes the first thing we see is a London bus - his prison is in no sucp place!
I guess the other two Palmer films also suffer for not having John Barry doing the soundtrack. Ipcress pulls a blinder with its East European shenanigans, which involves a massive spoiler of course. Barry's mood music hints at it all, it contributes to the misleading impression of where the film is going.
I'm referring to the fact that we think - and Palmer - think he has been kidnapped and is in a Soviet prison camp, when in fact once he escapes the first thing we see is a London bus - his prison is in no sucp place!
I never noticed that in Barry's score. Good oberservation.
BTW, if you saw Funeral in Berlin, did you ever figure it out ? I watched it once and I had no idea what was going on.
I watched the "Rising Damp" film last night. Plenty of material taken from the TV series but it was still worth a watch. I'm very gutted that Rigsby and Miss Jones still haven't got together though. )
Last night Death Wish V: The Face of Death. The funniest thing about this film is the opening credit sequence, not because it was badly done but because it was a sharp contrast between the very cheap and silly film; I almost expected the credits to end with "Directed by Ingmar Bergman". Still, you gotta love the "so bad it's good nature". I love Charles Bronson but he was just too damn old to play an action hero viglante, he looked good up until Death Wish 4 when he started to look really old and a little paunchy. If you seen the other Death Wish films then I really don't need to explain the plot, well not too much. Kersey once again fails to see the pattern of all his love interests dying and falls for a woman who runs a high fashion clothing company. Her former husband was Tommy O'Shea, an irish gangster who now runs most of her business and uses it to launder dirty money. Of course the love interest is brutally killed and it all ends up in a blasting free for all. It's bad but it's all in good fun with Bronson killing people with poison cannolis and exploding soccer balls and most of the time intentionally hilarous. The cheap quality of the film shows when the re-play conversations Kersey having in his mind, the audio quality of these vocal flashbacks are so poor you wonder if they just used casettes. Also like all Death Wish films, you probably won't recognize a single actor in this film but you may recognize the guy who played the Pablo Escobar-esque drug dealer from Clear and Present Danger. Overall, it's fun if you are a big Bronson fan or you want a good laugh because of the corn.
The Defender (1957)
This two-part episode of the legendary TV series, Studio One, stars Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner as defense lawyers who defends an accused murder played by Steve McQueen. I think this is probably one of the great courtroom dramas ever made. For once it's not about if the defendant is guilty or not guilty, it's about taking the path you choose in a court of law. Bellamy is convinced from the start that Mcqueen is guilty of murder and though he continues to defend him, he can't bring himself to believe his innocence. Surprisingly the tension and drama all comes from Bellamy and Shatner, they are a father and son who clearly never saw eye to eye. Shatner believe's McQueen is innocent and though he never really convinces his father it's the prosecutor who tells him that you can't think of guilt or innosence, you just have to do your job because it's your profession. Today's courtroom dramas aren't like this that operates on this clear logic.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Yeah I tried watch it again but my opinion just gets lower and lower. Marc Foster created a very nonsencial film that lacks narrative and direction. James Bond is simply not present in this film, he's always doing things without the slightest bit of regret or thought. He's respsonible for the death of two members of the british secret service and kills suspects on a whim. What the hell is wrong with M ? Not only should this guy should NOT be a Double-O agent, he should be imprisioned for life. His motivations make no sense either, why exactly did he rescue Camille, who tried to kill him moments earlier, that first time ? How could he have possibly know she was in danger ? Why did he hand a random guy his phony business card ? How could he have known anything was going on at that opera house by simply glancing at bags on a table ? Also seducing Feilds was right down there with Steve Urkel seducing Laura Winslow in Family Matters. "I can't seem to find the stationary", please.
Also in the vein of Licence To Kill it's a matter of not taking breather just once to enjoy the woman, food, or drink. Hell the writers don't even give Bond enough time to put on his tuxedo. I am not saying you need one in every film but if your going to have one, give him a chance to get one ! He actually steals one at the opera house in a matter of secounds and amazingly, it fits. That is just too much to buy. They try to shove in some of the old 007 charm pathetically with the clumsy Fields seduction, I reiterate, "I can't seem to find the stationary".
I really could not care less about Greene's evil scheme of stealing water and lord do they try and make this seeming important. Every once and a while the issue of Bolvia's water supply comes up from some random conversation and Greene simply states that water is the most precious resource and for no reason at all, Bolivia's Agua is the priority. There is also a painfully left wing slant in this film, "going after the oil is wrong." ! I am not going to start a political debate but all I am going to say is Felix Leiter and M should really know better.
Simply put this is a very poor Bond film that seemed to be a whole film with huge chunks removed.
I guess the other two Palmer films also suffer for not having John Barry doing the soundtrack. Ipcress pulls a blinder with its East European shenanigans, which involves a massive spoiler of course. Barry's mood music hints at it all, it contributes to the misleading impression of where the film is going.
I'm referring to the fact that we think - and Palmer - think he has been kidnapped and is in a Soviet prison camp, when in fact once he escapes the first thing we see is a London bus - his prison is in no sucp place!
I never noticed that in Barry's score. Good oberservation.
BTW, if you saw Funeral in Berlin, did you ever figure it out ? I watched it once and I had no idea what was going on.
I did watch FIB, and never quite got the hang of it. The opener has a good joke as Palmer is phoned and asked to come to the office. 'Tell him...' he begins, then catches a glimpse of his lover in the kitchen. 'I'll be late' he finishes. But after that it becomes a case of the hero being buffetted between plot points.
Eric Rohmer's Love in the Afternoon, or Chloe in the Afternoon.
I like Rohmer's stuff, it's great conversational dialogue throughout, it flows very well and seems effortless. This is about an amiable married man who eyes up lots of women in the street and toys with having an affair in a lazy sort of way.
A female acquaintance reenters his life - or office where he works - popping in for a chat and it goes from there. I rented this for some nice shots of Paris, well it's there and in the background - wide boulevards as the lead drinks coffee and watches the world go by, but it's only in a handful of scenes.
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
see, I'd never heard of Logan's Run...so I guess I'll retract that statement :P
I didn't think the Matrix movies were anything like this...they're not clones...
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
see, I'd never heard of Logan's Run...so I guess I'll retract that statement :P
I didn't think the Matrix movies were anything like this...they're not clones...
ah well. not to everyone's taste, I suppose
Actually Pen, The Island closely follows the plot of a 1960s sci-fi / horror flick called The Clonus Horror, from which the entire premise of growing clones for the harvesting of organs was lifted. Here's a link to the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078062/
If you haven't seen Logan's Run you should try to catch it sometime. Its a fun movie from a different era and is significant in that it was released one year before Star Wars. It very much represents the end of the "golden age" of sci-fi films like Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and 2001 whereas Star Wars ushered a fundamental shift in the kinds of sci-fi movies that were made going forward.
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
see, I'd never heard of Logan's Run...so I guess I'll retract that statement :P
I didn't think the Matrix movies were anything like this...they're not clones...
ah well. not to everyone's taste, I suppose
No they weren't clones but it's still the same idea of a false world created in the guise of more sinister purposes. They essentially dumbed down The Matrix's plot.
Excellent film, a prime example of the sort of gritty 70s crime which they just doesn't make anymore. Gene Hackman is very good as the maverick narcotics cop, as is Roy Scheider who plays his partner. Of course, the greatest scene is the notorious chase in which Hackman drives beneath an elevated train chasing a sniper who was just tried to kill him. The kinetic energy and realism of this seen is fantastic. Apparently much of the daredevil driving was done in actual traffic with members of the public and the all of the collisions in the chase were unintentional. Imagine a filmmaker doing that today?
I'm sure this is definitely one I will revisit many times.
Excellent film, a prime example of the sort of gritty 70s crime which they just doesn't make anymore. Gene Hackman is very good as the maverick narcotics cop, as is Roy Scheider who plays his partner. Of course, the greatest scene is the notorious chase in which Hackman drives beneath an elevated train chasing a sniper who was just tried to kill him. The kinetic energy and realism of this seen is fantastic. Apparently much of the daredevil driving was done in actual traffic with members of the public and the all of the collisions in the chase were unintentional. Imagine a filmmaker doing that today?
I'm sure this is definitely one I will revisit many times.
I love The French Connection. I still wonder who picks their feet in poughkeepsie. )
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
see, I'd never heard of Logan's Run...so I guess I'll retract that statement :P
I didn't think the Matrix movies were anything like this...they're not clones...
ah well. not to everyone's taste, I suppose
Actually Pen, The Island closely follows the plot of a 1960s sci-fi / horror flick called The Clonus Horror, from which the entire premise of growing clones for the harvesting of organs was lifted. Here's a link to the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078062/
If you haven't seen Logan's Run you should try to catch it sometime. Its a fun movie from a different era and is significant in that it was released one year before Star Wars. It very much represents the end of the "golden age" of sci-fi films like Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and 2001 whereas Star Wars ushered a fundamental shift in the kinds of sci-fi movies that were made going forward.
shows how observant I am about movies then haha. I'll have to find those ASAP
Not sure if Hay ever made it over the pond. He was popular in the late 30s early 40s as a stuffy, bumbling authority figure whose authoritative manner was often in contrast to his shady brand of incompetence or wrongdoing. He was often aided and abetted by the shrewder, rotund young Moore Marriott (whose yelping voice is a dead ringer for one of the lost boys in Disney's Peter Pan) and some old boy. Hay is the master of the double take and double talk, with a fine line in withering sarcasm. He is the quintessential comic figure in that sometimes you are laughing at him, others times with him.
In this film, Hay is being praised because his small town police station has had no arrests in 20 years. Of course, this is because they're rubbish! During the radio interview, as he's being praised for the lack of poachers in the area, his two sidekicks appear at the window with a rabbit and other livestock slung over their shoulders and he has to shoe them away!
I watched these movies as a kid and the humour stands up very well, with an action climax involving a London bus that will put the Bond fan in mind of Live And Let Die and OHMSS.
I remember loving Will Hay - back in the late 70's/early 80's when a lot of children's tv consisted of a few cartoons and black and white comedy films. Other favourites were Harold Loydd (amazing stunts), Laural and Hardy and George Formby and Norman Wisdom. I'm 39 and my wife is 30 and she can't believe what passed for kids tv when I was young - I guess a lot happened to tv in nine years or so. Still, I'm glad I had those films.
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I remember loving Will Hay - back in the late 70's/early 80's when a lot of children's tv consisted of a few cartoons and black and white comedy films. Other favourites were Harold Loydd (amazing stunts), Laural and Hardy and George Formby and Norman Wisdom. I'm 39 and my wife is 30 and she can't believe what passed for kids tv when I was young - I guess a lot happened to tv in nine years or so. Still, I'm glad I had those films.
Dump her. If you can't have a chat about Bagpuss and The Clangers, you shouldn't be together, it doesn't matter what the sex is like...
Yes, I remember coming home to see Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy, which was really clips from his movies with a wise guy narrative pasted over the top. Great stuff, and the music was very good too, when they got around to showing the full movies. Sadly, when I rented Lloyd's stuff on DVD the music was done by Carl Davis and it sounded all melancholic like The World at War. It put me right off.
I'm 40 and thinking of dating a 30 year old, thesecretagent, any drawbacks other than incompatiblity in sex drive and children's TV nostalgia?
Little known Scottish film released thru FilmFour that has never quite gained cult status. Jamie Bell plays the eponymous teenager who struggles to get over the suspect death of his mother while his chilly, rich dad (Ciarin 'Julius Caesar' Hinds) has married his younger, bitchy secretary and his sister flees the nest for Australia. Foe is a Peeping Tom who lives in a tree house in the family pile, but an unexpected turn of events sees him having to eke out a living on the streets of Edinburgh.
It's good stuff, probably better to catch late on TV as you see it unfold. Bell is very good though maybe lacks the vulnerabilty to make you worry about Foe's plight; he seems pretty together in a Paul Weller sort of way.
Fritz Lang's masterpiece about a man named Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) who is wrongly accused of a kidnapping and nearly lynched by a mob. He survives and only his brothers know that he is still alive. When the principle agressors of the mob are put on trial, Wilson waits to see that they are hanged for his "murder".
This probably the greatest example in cinema of how people act on impulse instead of rational thought. There is real no antagonists in this picture and more like a few angry jerks but no one truly evil. People act on impulse because it's natural and not because something is wrong with them. The rumors of wilson's guilty started on impulse, the angry mob acted on impulse, and Wilson himself wanted those men dead because his vengance was based on impulse. Spencer Tracy puts on a remarkable preformance and his de-evolution was terrific. He started as a good every-man who kept his brothers out of trouble and by the end of the film he pulled a gun on all his loved ones to satisfy his perverse goals.
The film has a tacked on ending you'd expect from Hollywood at the time but the impact of the film still remains.
FIREWALL (2006)
Now we turn to a rather stupid thriller starring Harrison Ford. We've seen this movie before with Ford a million times before. He's someone with a respectable occupation that requires book smarts but gives no leeway for the audience to believe he could fight like a marine. In Indiana Jones, it made sense. He would go on adventures trying to find lost artifacts and the danger could be expected. Here you can't believe Jones could be anything of a fighter. He's a IT specialist for god's sake.
So plot is pretty simple and starts off clever at first. Ford's family is held hostage and the kidnappers demand he by-passes the security Firewall at the bank he works for so they can steal the money. This hi-tech robbery is un-interesting. Not unlike Macgyver, Ford manages to photograph the bank accounts of wealthly clients using a combination of some fax machine parts and an Mp3 player or whatever. To further stretch out this lousy thriller guess what else happens ? Ford is framed for murder by the kidnappers. Again, not unlike films Ford has starred in all ready and here it's done in an un-interesting fashion. Theres no thrills or tension as Ford tries to foil the villians who could have easily started executing the family one by one until there demands are met. Lastly there was the fight at the end. I reiterate, Ford is playing an IT specialist and yet he manged to fight and kill a man, a ruthless theif and cold blooded murdered, who is half his age. They even had the guall to end this film, family and all, walking down a road with a rainbow in the sky. Yeesh. Just skip this one.
The first feature film from the creators of the animated series, I've seen this film several times and I absolutely love it.
It is essentially a noir love story involving the love of Bruce Wayne's life, combined with the arrival of a murderous vigilante, the Phantasm, for whose crimes Batman becomes prime suspect.
Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the joker are both excellent as they each attempt to unmask the Phantasm.
For fans of comic book heroes, this is essential viewing.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” - Carl Jung
Fritz Lang's masterpiece about a man named Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) who is wrongly accused of a kidnapping and nearly lynched by a mob. He survives and only his brothers know that he is still alive. When the principle agressors of the mob are put on trial, Wilson waits to see that they are hanged for his "murder".
This probably the greatest example in cinema of how people act on impulse instead of rational thought. There is real no antagonists in this picture and more like a few angry jerks but no one truly evil. People act on impulse because it's natural and not because something is wrong with them. The rumors of wilson's guilty started on impulse, the angry mob acted on impulse, and Wilson himself wanted those men dead because his vengance was based on impulse. Spencer Tracy puts on a remarkable preformance and his de-evolution was terrific. He started as a good every-man who kept his brothers out of trouble and by the end of the film he pulled a gun on all his loved ones to satisfy his perverse goals.
The film has a tacked on ending you'd expect from Hollywood at the time but the impact of the film still remains.
FIREWALL (2006)
Now we turn to a rather stupid thriller starring Harrison Ford. We've seen this movie before with Ford a million times before. He's someone with a respectable occupation that requires book smarts but gives no leeway for the audience to believe he could fight like a marine. In Indiana Jones, it made sense. He would go on adventures trying to find lost artifacts and the danger could be expected. Here you can't believe Jones could be anything of a fighter. He's a IT specialist for god's sake.
So plot is pretty simple and starts off clever at first. Ford's family is held hostage and the kidnappers demand he by-passes the security Firewall at the bank he works for so they can steal the money. This hi-tech robbery is un-interesting. Not unlike Macgyver, Ford manages to photograph the bank accounts of wealthly clients using a combination of some fax machine parts and an Mp3 player or whatever. To further stretch out this lousy thriller guess what else happens ? Ford is framed for murder by the kidnappers. Again, not unlike films Ford has starred in all ready and here it's done in an un-interesting fashion. Theres no thrills or tension as Ford tries to foil the villians who could have easily started executing the family one by one until there demands are met. Lastly there was the fight at the end. I reiterate, Ford is playing an IT specialist and yet he manged to fight and kill a man, a ruthless theif and cold blooded murdered, who is half his age. They even had the guall to end this film, family and all, walking down a road with a rainbow in the sky. Yeesh. Just skip this one.
Too late. Watched firewall the other night. It promised a lot, but failed dismally.
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Too late. Watched firewall the other night. It promised a lot, but failed dismally.
I want to know why the family had a gun the first place. For protection ? They lived in the middle of the woods. I guess they really don't like racoons picking at their garbage. )
And what is up with the "muscle" this thief has hired ? None of them looked intimidating; One looked like a male model and another a stoner . If I was a director or producer casting heavies for a film, I'd actually go down to blue collar job and hire men. They don't need to be good actors when you have to fill those types of roles.
Twenty three years after Oliver Stone released the first Wall Street movie, he is back with a follow up. Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, using the financial crisis from a couple years ago as a back drop for two stories, one that involves the relationship between two investment banks and one that involves the realtionship triangle between Gordon Gekko, his estranged daughter and the Wall Street trader she is going to marry. Both stories are compelling, but the story involving the Wall Street firms could be confusing for anyone not up to speed on some of the financial jargon used.
Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a role he was born to play, just released from prison for insider trading and wanting to get back to the high stakes life he loves while also reconciling with his daughter played by Carey Mulligan. Shia Lebouf plays energy trader Jake Moore, in love with with Gekko's daughter and looking for revenge against the Wall Street firm he suspects of forcing his former firm out of business. Josh Brolin plays Bretton James head of the firm that Moore thinks forced his old firm out of business and a former adversary of Gekko. The wonderful cast also includes Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella, all in smaller, but pivotal roles. Eli Wallach in particular is fun to watch. In addition, Charlie Sheen has a short scene reprising his role from the original as Bud Fox.
I am a big fan of the original Wall Street and this is a worthy follow up to that film. Like the financial markets to day as compared to twenty years ago, the movie moves faster than the original, but it holds your interest throughout and has some classic moments that are worth the price of admission.
Comments
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Sah-right. Sometimes your so used to seeing in actor in one film so many times you can't identify them in foriegn settings.
Next I watched the last in the original Palmer film trilogy:
THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN
This is a 360 degree turn here. Unlike the first two films this Palmer flick is imitating James Bond, Maurice Binder presents a live action title sequence with Harry posing like Bond and the camp value stepped up signifgantly. Palmer is incidently roped into a anti-communist orginization run by a mad texas oil baron named General Midwinter played with gusto by Ed Begley. The thriller aspect is rather flacid and contains rather huge plot holes and it has a lot to do with Karl Malden's character motivations. Malden, who plays Palmer's old friend Leo, is in the guise of General Midwinter's minions plans to steal millions from Midwinter by manipulating his billion dollar computer dubbed "The Brain". Malden tries to kill Palmer because he claims he's been ordered by the Brain to do as much yet later we clearly see he is smart enough to change it's orders. Also essentially, it's Malden who brings down Midwinter because he fooled the general into thinking he had enough inside agents to create a revolution in the USSR and is promptly destroyed by the Russian airforce in the film's finale. Basically, there is no reason why Harry Palmer should be in this film. Now does that make the film bad ? Not nessecarily, Caine and Begley do a lot to save this film and Ken Russell's weird directon, combined with the beautiful score, makes it a bit of a enjoyable mind f***. I am glad the films stopped here because another one would have been too embarrassing.
Er, who wants to be the first to tell him?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LOL ! I already said I know the the TV films during the 90's, which I haven't seen though I haven't heard anything good about them. I guess should have said they stopped making the theatrical films because I think they would have continued that route.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I never noticed that in Barry's score. Good oberservation.
BTW, if you saw Funeral in Berlin, did you ever figure it out ? I watched it once and I had no idea what was going on.
This two-part episode of the legendary TV series, Studio One, stars Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner as defense lawyers who defends an accused murder played by Steve McQueen. I think this is probably one of the great courtroom dramas ever made. For once it's not about if the defendant is guilty or not guilty, it's about taking the path you choose in a court of law. Bellamy is convinced from the start that Mcqueen is guilty of murder and though he continues to defend him, he can't bring himself to believe his innocence. Surprisingly the tension and drama all comes from Bellamy and Shatner, they are a father and son who clearly never saw eye to eye. Shatner believe's McQueen is innocent and though he never really convinces his father it's the prosecutor who tells him that you can't think of guilt or innosence, you just have to do your job because it's your profession. Today's courtroom dramas aren't like this that operates on this clear logic.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Yeah I tried watch it again but my opinion just gets lower and lower. Marc Foster created a very nonsencial film that lacks narrative and direction. James Bond is simply not present in this film, he's always doing things without the slightest bit of regret or thought. He's respsonible for the death of two members of the british secret service and kills suspects on a whim. What the hell is wrong with M ? Not only should this guy should NOT be a Double-O agent, he should be imprisioned for life. His motivations make no sense either, why exactly did he rescue Camille, who tried to kill him moments earlier, that first time ? How could he have possibly know she was in danger ? Why did he hand a random guy his phony business card ? How could he have known anything was going on at that opera house by simply glancing at bags on a table ? Also seducing Feilds was right down there with Steve Urkel seducing Laura Winslow in Family Matters. "I can't seem to find the stationary", please.
Also in the vein of Licence To Kill it's a matter of not taking breather just once to enjoy the woman, food, or drink. Hell the writers don't even give Bond enough time to put on his tuxedo. I am not saying you need one in every film but if your going to have one, give him a chance to get one ! He actually steals one at the opera house in a matter of secounds and amazingly, it fits. That is just too much to buy. They try to shove in some of the old 007 charm pathetically with the clumsy Fields seduction, I reiterate, "I can't seem to find the stationary".
I really could not care less about Greene's evil scheme of stealing water and lord do they try and make this seeming important. Every once and a while the issue of Bolvia's water supply comes up from some random conversation and Greene simply states that water is the most precious resource and for no reason at all, Bolivia's Agua is the priority. There is also a painfully left wing slant in this film, "going after the oil is wrong." ! I am not going to start a political debate but all I am going to say is Felix Leiter and M should really know better.
Simply put this is a very poor Bond film that seemed to be a whole film with huge chunks removed.
summary borrowed, yet again, from IMDB
A man goes on the run after he discovers that he is actually a "harvested being", and is being kept along with others in a utopian facility.
such a pleasure to watch, no matter how many times I've seen it. Acting is brilliant, the story is original...
also, Sean Bean, as always, is deliciously evil as Dr. Merrick :x
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
I did watch FIB, and never quite got the hang of it. The opener has a good joke as Palmer is phoned and asked to come to the office. 'Tell him...' he begins, then catches a glimpse of his lover in the kitchen. 'I'll be late' he finishes. But after that it becomes a case of the hero being buffetted between plot points.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I like Rohmer's stuff, it's great conversational dialogue throughout, it flows very well and seems effortless. This is about an amiable married man who eyes up lots of women in the street and toys with having an affair in a lazy sort of way.
A female acquaintance reenters his life - or office where he works - popping in for a chat and it goes from there. I rented this for some nice shots of Paris, well it's there and in the background - wide boulevards as the lead drinks coffee and watches the world go by, but it's only in a handful of scenes.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Glad you enjoyed, i saw it quite awhile ago and remember enjoying the first half more than ther second half. However, if you think the story is original I might suggest you try to see Logan's Run with Micahel York Jenny Agutter and a small appearance by the late Farrah Fawcett.
That film is two hours or more I want back from my life.
Also the rip-offs don't stop at Logan's Run. 1984, The Matrix trilogy, and Michael Crichton's Coma for starters. I really wish studios would stop giving Michael Bay money to blow things up.
see, I'd never heard of Logan's Run...so I guess I'll retract that statement :P
I didn't think the Matrix movies were anything like this...they're not clones...
ah well. not to everyone's taste, I suppose
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Actually Pen, The Island closely follows the plot of a 1960s sci-fi / horror flick called The Clonus Horror, from which the entire premise of growing clones for the harvesting of organs was lifted. Here's a link to the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078062/
If you haven't seen Logan's Run you should try to catch it sometime. Its a fun movie from a different era and is significant in that it was released one year before Star Wars. It very much represents the end of the "golden age" of sci-fi films like Forbidden Planet, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and 2001 whereas Star Wars ushered a fundamental shift in the kinds of sci-fi movies that were made going forward.
No they weren't clones but it's still the same idea of a false world created in the guise of more sinister purposes. They essentially dumbed down The Matrix's plot.
Excellent film, a prime example of the sort of gritty 70s crime which they just doesn't make anymore. Gene Hackman is very good as the maverick narcotics cop, as is Roy Scheider who plays his partner. Of course, the greatest scene is the notorious chase in which Hackman drives beneath an elevated train chasing a sniper who was just tried to kill him. The kinetic energy and realism of this seen is fantastic. Apparently much of the daredevil driving was done in actual traffic with members of the public and the all of the collisions in the chase were unintentional. Imagine a filmmaker doing that today?
I'm sure this is definitely one I will revisit many times.
I love The French Connection. I still wonder who picks their feet in poughkeepsie.
shows how observant I am about movies then haha. I'll have to find those ASAP
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Not sure if Hay ever made it over the pond. He was popular in the late 30s early 40s as a stuffy, bumbling authority figure whose authoritative manner was often in contrast to his shady brand of incompetence or wrongdoing. He was often aided and abetted by the shrewder, rotund young Moore Marriott (whose yelping voice is a dead ringer for one of the lost boys in Disney's Peter Pan) and some old boy. Hay is the master of the double take and double talk, with a fine line in withering sarcasm. He is the quintessential comic figure in that sometimes you are laughing at him, others times with him.
In this film, Hay is being praised because his small town police station has had no arrests in 20 years. Of course, this is because they're rubbish! During the radio interview, as he's being praised for the lack of poachers in the area, his two sidekicks appear at the window with a rabbit and other livestock slung over their shoulders and he has to shoe them away!
I watched these movies as a kid and the humour stands up very well, with an action climax involving a London bus that will put the Bond fan in mind of Live And Let Die and OHMSS.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
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Dump her. If you can't have a chat about Bagpuss and The Clangers, you shouldn't be together, it doesn't matter what the sex is like...
Yes, I remember coming home to see Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy, which was really clips from his movies with a wise guy narrative pasted over the top. Great stuff, and the music was very good too, when they got around to showing the full movies. Sadly, when I rented Lloyd's stuff on DVD the music was done by Carl Davis and it sounded all melancholic like The World at War. It put me right off.
I'm 40 and thinking of dating a 30 year old, thesecretagent, any drawbacks other than incompatiblity in sex drive and children's TV nostalgia?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Little known Scottish film released thru FilmFour that has never quite gained cult status. Jamie Bell plays the eponymous teenager who struggles to get over the suspect death of his mother while his chilly, rich dad (Ciarin 'Julius Caesar' Hinds) has married his younger, bitchy secretary and his sister flees the nest for Australia. Foe is a Peeping Tom who lives in a tree house in the family pile, but an unexpected turn of events sees him having to eke out a living on the streets of Edinburgh.
It's good stuff, probably better to catch late on TV as you see it unfold. Bell is very good though maybe lacks the vulnerabilty to make you worry about Foe's plight; he seems pretty together in a Paul Weller sort of way.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Fritz Lang's masterpiece about a man named Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy) who is wrongly accused of a kidnapping and nearly lynched by a mob. He survives and only his brothers know that he is still alive. When the principle agressors of the mob are put on trial, Wilson waits to see that they are hanged for his "murder".
This probably the greatest example in cinema of how people act on impulse instead of rational thought. There is real no antagonists in this picture and more like a few angry jerks but no one truly evil. People act on impulse because it's natural and not because something is wrong with them. The rumors of wilson's guilty started on impulse, the angry mob acted on impulse, and Wilson himself wanted those men dead because his vengance was based on impulse. Spencer Tracy puts on a remarkable preformance and his de-evolution was terrific. He started as a good every-man who kept his brothers out of trouble and by the end of the film he pulled a gun on all his loved ones to satisfy his perverse goals.
The film has a tacked on ending you'd expect from Hollywood at the time but the impact of the film still remains.
FIREWALL (2006)
Now we turn to a rather stupid thriller starring Harrison Ford. We've seen this movie before with Ford a million times before. He's someone with a respectable occupation that requires book smarts but gives no leeway for the audience to believe he could fight like a marine. In Indiana Jones, it made sense. He would go on adventures trying to find lost artifacts and the danger could be expected. Here you can't believe Jones could be anything of a fighter. He's a IT specialist for god's sake.
So plot is pretty simple and starts off clever at first. Ford's family is held hostage and the kidnappers demand he by-passes the security Firewall at the bank he works for so they can steal the money. This hi-tech robbery is un-interesting. Not unlike Macgyver, Ford manages to photograph the bank accounts of wealthly clients using a combination of some fax machine parts and an Mp3 player or whatever. To further stretch out this lousy thriller guess what else happens ? Ford is framed for murder by the kidnappers. Again, not unlike films Ford has starred in all ready and here it's done in an un-interesting fashion. Theres no thrills or tension as Ford tries to foil the villians who could have easily started executing the family one by one until there demands are met. Lastly there was the fight at the end. I reiterate, Ford is playing an IT specialist and yet he manged to fight and kill a man, a ruthless theif and cold blooded murdered, who is half his age. They even had the guall to end this film, family and all, walking down a road with a rainbow in the sky. Yeesh. Just skip this one.
The first feature film from the creators of the animated series, I've seen this film several times and I absolutely love it.
It is essentially a noir love story involving the love of Bruce Wayne's life, combined with the arrival of a murderous vigilante, the Phantasm, for whose crimes Batman becomes prime suspect.
Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the joker are both excellent as they each attempt to unmask the Phantasm.
For fans of comic book heroes, this is essential viewing.
Too late. Watched firewall the other night. It promised a lot, but failed dismally.
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I want to know why the family had a gun the first place. For protection ? They lived in the middle of the woods. I guess they really don't like racoons picking at their garbage.
And what is up with the "muscle" this thief has hired ? None of them looked intimidating; One looked like a male model and another a stoner . If I was a director or producer casting heavies for a film, I'd actually go down to blue collar job and hire men. They don't need to be good actors when you have to fill those types of roles.
Twenty three years after Oliver Stone released the first Wall Street movie, he is back with a follow up. Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, using the financial crisis from a couple years ago as a back drop for two stories, one that involves the relationship between two investment banks and one that involves the realtionship triangle between Gordon Gekko, his estranged daughter and the Wall Street trader she is going to marry. Both stories are compelling, but the story involving the Wall Street firms could be confusing for anyone not up to speed on some of the financial jargon used.
Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko, a role he was born to play, just released from prison for insider trading and wanting to get back to the high stakes life he loves while also reconciling with his daughter played by Carey Mulligan. Shia Lebouf plays energy trader Jake Moore, in love with with Gekko's daughter and looking for revenge against the Wall Street firm he suspects of forcing his former firm out of business. Josh Brolin plays Bretton James head of the firm that Moore thinks forced his old firm out of business and a former adversary of Gekko. The wonderful cast also includes Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella, all in smaller, but pivotal roles. Eli Wallach in particular is fun to watch. In addition, Charlie Sheen has a short scene reprising his role from the original as Bud Fox.
I am a big fan of the original Wall Street and this is a worthy follow up to that film. Like the financial markets to day as compared to twenty years ago, the movie moves faster than the original, but it holds your interest throughout and has some classic moments that are worth the price of admission.
Recommend