Top Hat (Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, music by Irving Berlin)
half the American songbook comes from Astaire & Rogers movies
this one features "Cheek to Cheek", and the whole last third of the film is shot in an art deco fantasy land version of Venice
in these movies you gotta watch for "the big white room", when the characters move from a small art deco hotel room to a vast art deco open space with lots of levels you know the meat of the movie is about to begin
something like when our films unveil the Ken Adams designed villains HQ
Red Dwarf Back to Earth
so is this basically the film they kept threatening to make? it looks more like a film than a teevee show
nice selfrecursive story line, the ending resembles Murder by Death moreso than Bladerunner
Listy gits t'do a bit o' acting in this one
War for the Planet of the Apes
its like Watership Down meets Apocalypse Now
I like these new apes movies, they're the least unnecessary remakes I can think of
better character development and acting than many non-special effects movies
and the plot actually makes sense in context of the originals
because when Cornelius explains the origin of ape civilization in Escape... , it somewhat resembles what we see here. What we see in Conquest... completely contradicts what Cornelius explained just one film before, but of course by going back in time Cornelius changed Ape history. So what we see here in these new films is the first iteration of the timeline before Cornelius and Zira went back in time and messed it up, initiating a loop. Any fine divergences can be explained by the fact that Cornelius was born 2000 years later and had to work history out from archaeological evidence.
(of course Cornelius' origin in Escape... also contradicts what Dr Zaius said in the first two films but that can be overanalysed another day)
Top Hat (Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, music by Irving Berlin)
half the American songbook comes from Astaire & Rogers movies
this one features "Cheek to Cheek", and the whole last third of the film is shot in an art deco fantasy land version of Venice
in these movies you gotta watch for "the big white room", when the characters move from a small art deco hotel room to a vast art deco open space with lots of levels you know the meat of the movie is about to begin
something like when our films unveil the Ken Adams designed villains HQ
Red Dwarf Back to Earth
so is this basically the film they kept threatening to make? it looks more like a film than a teevee show
nice selfrecursive story line, the ending resembles Murder by Death moreso than Bladerunner
Listy gits t'do a bit o' acting in this one
War for the Planet of the Apes
its like Watership Down meets Apocalypse Now
I like these new apes movies, they're the least unnecessary remakes I can think of
better character development and acting than many non-special effects movies
and the plot actually makes sense in context of the originals
because when Cornelius explains the origin of ape civilization in Escape... , it somewhat resembles what we see here. What we see in Conquest... completely contradicts what Cornelius explained just one film before, but of course by going back in time Cornelius changed Ape history. So what we see here in these new films is the first iteration of the timeline before Cornelius and Zira went back in time and messed it up, initiating a loop. Any fine divergences can be explained by the fact that Cornelius was born 2000 years later and had to work history out from archaeological evidence.
(of course Cornelius' origin in Escape... also contradicts what Dr Zaius said in the first two films but that can be overanalysed another day)
Crikey.... I thought it was just apes fighting men!
sorry bout that, I watched the original 5 movies quite recently, followed by the first two of the new ones, so my head is full of the contradictory explanations of how apes took over the planet
the original 5 movies all contradict each other, on lots of different plot points
probably a good thing (for you guys) I cant find the tv series on DVD
I cant find the bit where Cornelius explains the origins of ape civilization on youtube
but I did find this clip, where a commentator explains the how time travel initiates a recursive loop
the metaphor of "changing lanes" is referred back to in the remaining movies, as the surviving humans try to change a future history that has "already" happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOB0-d9FSgE
each of the five movies is cheaper and worse than the one before, though Conquest... is unique for its dark revolutionary imagery, it came out at a time when there were violent race riots going on in American cities
I saw "Danes with wolves" for the first time in many years. Turns out it's even better than how I remembered it. I think I would place it among the five best westerns, absolutely among the ten best. The buffalo hunt and the great score by John Barry both deserve special mention.
I saw "Danes with wolves" for the first time in many years. Turns out it's even better than how I remembered it. I think I would place it among the five best westerns, absolutely among the ten best. The buffalo hunt and the great score by John Barry both deserve special mention.
I enjoyed this film, it's a shame they never made the sequel
" Swedes with wolves "
I recently watched Snowtown an Australian film, telling the story of the Snowtown Murders in South Australia. Not for the faint of heart as it has torture scenes in it. Really disturbing.
Have you ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation?"
A Matter of WHO (1961), directed by Don Chaffey. For some reason this film lost money on its initial release. I've caught about half of it on YouTube and it's actually very entertaining. Made in black and white, it stars Terry-Thomas as an investigator for the World Health Organisation trying to discover the source of a smallpox outbreak.
To be honest, I caught this because I was getting it mixed up with Terence Young's The Poppy is Also a Flower, but I'm glad I did. Honor Blackman turns up as a nurse, and Bond actors Geoffrey Keen and Martin Benson (Solo in Goldfinger) can also be seen. Even the John Barry Seven appear!
EDIT: I'm happy to report that The Poppy is also a Flower (1966) is on YouTube. Directed by Terence Young and co-written by Ian Fleming, this is obviously of interest. Has anyone else seen it?
Another Terry-Thomas film, The Naked Truth (1957) a lovely comedy with a bit of satiric bite to it. Dennis Price plays the publisher of a muck-raking scandal magazine, The Naked Truth, who blackmails his subjects into paying him not to print stories about him.
His latest victims, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Shirley Eaton and Peggy Mount, plot to murder Dennis, but impede each other with their separate efforts. Interestingly, the male victims deserve all they get - Sellers is a TV show host who loathes his elderly audience and is secretly a slum landlord in an area where many of them live, while Terry-Thomas is a philandering cheat. The female victims are merely guilty of having a love-life before their current fame.
A really fun film with a top-notch cast including, of course, the fabulous Miss Eaton. Scandal magazines of this sort really existed in the USA and left Hollywood in a state of terror for a while. Careers were ruined by them.
Planes Trains And Automobiles. I just love this movie - Steve Martin on top form and the late, great John Candy turning in a brilliant performance full of humour and pathos. He was taken from us far too soon.
"Those aren't pillows!!!!!!" ) ) )
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I saw Dunkirk today. It's surprisingly tense and personal for such an epic movie. Anyone who thinks Nolan shouldn't direct Bond should watch this movie. So far this year Dunkirk is the best movie I've seen in the cinema, and it may still be at the end of the year.
You Must be Joking (1965), part of a run of British comedies I'm watching for research. Army psychiatrist Terry-Thomas sends a group of servicemen from all the British armed forces on a bizarre treasure hunt as an initiative test. I guess this is a British attempt to make a cheap version of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but I honestly didn't laugh once - admittedly I was cooking while watching, but still...
The cast is packed with old favourites such as Wilfred Hyde-White, James Robertson Justice and Leslie Phillips, most of whom probably knocked their part off in an afternoon.
Directed by Michael Winner, several years before he hit the jackpot with Death Wish, and adding further proof to my theory that even Winner's best films would be ten times better directed by anyone else (Hannibal Brooks was a particular disappointment when I finally got to see it recently).
Planes Trains And Automobiles. I just love this movie - Steve Martin on top form and the late, great John Candy turning in a brilliant performance full of humour and pathos. He was taken from us far too soon.
yes I like that one too, probably Candy's best performance in a film. Turns out he could act!
A few of those John Hughs comedies do that trick, buildup the unsuspected emotional sucker punch subtly while all the grossout slapstick stuff holds our attention, I think this is the one where he worked the trick best
have you watched SCTV? I think John Candy regularly did more brilliant work in SCTV than he ever got a chance to do in film. I just read recently it was his idea to throw teevees out the window during the opening credits: "SCTV is on the air!!"
While writing and cooking today I've watched a Dirk Bogarde spy movie double bill. Hot Enough for June (1964) is a comedy I discussed in the Best/Worst Bond Spoofs thread, while 'Sebastian' is a different kettle of fish entirely. Released in early 1968, Bogarde plays Mr Sebastian, a charismatic mathematical genius who runs a code-breaking section of British Intelligence staffed entirely by young women. He's reaching the point of burn-out when he recruits Becky (Susannah York), who sees both his brilliance and vulnerability and sets out to romance him.
This is a really fascinating piece of work, co-produced by Michael Powell, a great director whose career was destroyed by the hostile press reception given to his 1960 film Peeping Tom (which is highly recommend). Peeping Tom was written by Leo Marks, a former cryptographer who also provided the story for Sebastian. It's *very* of its era in a lot of ways and the plot veers in different directions , but that remains part of the film's charm.
Dirk Bogarde is really superb, demonstrating just what a good actor he became as he got older and outgrew the handsome young leading man label. The film is carried, however, by a large female cast given strong roles, particularly Susannah York, Lilli Palmer and Janet Munro. The movie also benefits from an absolutely lovely Jerry Goldsmith score.
This really should be something of a cult film, but appears never to have had a DVD release. It's on YouTube though, and well worth a look.
I've just watched John wick 2, the first had a better story but this one has some wonderful action/fight sequences. The final fight scene has echoes of scarramangas fun house and enter the dragon. An entertaining watch.
Atomic Blonde
maybe Charlize Theron should be the next Bond?
...if their goal was to make Daniel Craig fight scenes look like Roger Moore fight scenes by comparison
beneath all the violence and gore the plot seems more like something out of Le Carre ... in fact I think I remember the actor playing Theron's boss from Tinker Tailor
Baby Driver
I like the way the music is so tightly wound into the action and the plot
the characters show very good taste when they bond over Queen's "Brighton Rock"
Atomic Blonde
maybe Charlize Theron should be the next Bond?
...if their goal was to make Daniel Craig fight scenes look like Roger Moore fight scenes by comparison
beneath all the violence and gore the plot seems more like something out of Le Carre ... in fact I think I remember the actor playing Theron's boss from Tinker Tailor
Baby Driver
I like the way the music is so tightly wound into the action and the plot
the characters show very good taste when they bond over Queen's "Brighton Rock"
Two films that I really want to watch.
Maybe a bit of the emoji movie just for the heck of it ;%.
I'm watching an absolute favourite of mine, Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970).
It stars Clint Eastwood as not The Man With No Name, aka Hogan and Shirley MacLaine as Sara.
Outside of the Leone trilogy, this may very well be my favourite spaghetti western with Clint.
What do you think about it? There is not a great deal of reviews on it and I'm thinking of making one soon™.
I'm watching an absolute favourite of mine, Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970).
It stars Clint Eastwood as not The Man With No Name, aka Hogan and Shirley MacLaine as Sara.
Outside of the Leone trilogy, this may very well be my favourite spaghetti western with Clint.
What do you think about it? There is not a great deal of reviews on it and I'm thinking of making one soon™.
Though Not a spaghetti western I like two mules for sister Sarah, another good morricone score and I think it was the first of a few films Clint starred in directed by Don siegel, It was a film I struggled with when I was younger but came to love later in life.
Comments
For any fans of the SAW movies ........ Jigsaw's Back ! -{
half the American songbook comes from Astaire & Rogers movies
this one features "Cheek to Cheek", and the whole last third of the film is shot in an art deco fantasy land version of Venice
in these movies you gotta watch for "the big white room", when the characters move from a small art deco hotel room to a vast art deco open space with lots of levels you know the meat of the movie is about to begin
something like when our films unveil the Ken Adams designed villains HQ
Red Dwarf Back to Earth
so is this basically the film they kept threatening to make? it looks more like a film than a teevee show
nice selfrecursive story line, the ending resembles Murder by Death moreso than Bladerunner
Listy gits t'do a bit o' acting in this one
War for the Planet of the Apes
its like Watership Down meets Apocalypse Now
I like these new apes movies, they're the least unnecessary remakes I can think of
better character development and acting than many non-special effects movies
and the plot actually makes sense in context of the originals
because when Cornelius explains the origin of ape civilization in Escape... , it somewhat resembles what we see here. What we see in Conquest... completely contradicts what Cornelius explained just one film before, but of course by going back in time Cornelius changed Ape history. So what we see here in these new films is the first iteration of the timeline before Cornelius and Zira went back in time and messed it up, initiating a loop. Any fine divergences can be explained by the fact that Cornelius was born 2000 years later and had to work history out from archaeological evidence.
(of course Cornelius' origin in Escape... also contradicts what Dr Zaius said in the first two films but that can be overanalysed another day)
the original 5 movies all contradict each other, on lots of different plot points
probably a good thing (for you guys) I cant find the tv series on DVD
but I did find this clip, where a commentator explains the how time travel initiates a recursive loop
the metaphor of "changing lanes" is referred back to in the remaining movies, as the surviving humans try to change a future history that has "already" happened
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOB0-d9FSgE
each of the five movies is cheaper and worse than the one before, though Conquest... is unique for its dark revolutionary imagery, it came out at a time when there were violent race riots going on in American cities
I enjoyed this film, it's a shame they never made the sequel
" Swedes with wolves "
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
To be honest, I caught this because I was getting it mixed up with Terence Young's The Poppy is Also a Flower, but I'm glad I did. Honor Blackman turns up as a nurse, and Bond actors Geoffrey Keen and Martin Benson (Solo in Goldfinger) can also be seen. Even the John Barry Seven appear!
EDIT: I'm happy to report that The Poppy is also a Flower (1966) is on YouTube. Directed by Terence Young and co-written by Ian Fleming, this is obviously of interest. Has anyone else seen it?
His latest victims, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Shirley Eaton and Peggy Mount, plot to murder Dennis, but impede each other with their separate efforts. Interestingly, the male victims deserve all they get - Sellers is a TV show host who loathes his elderly audience and is secretly a slum landlord in an area where many of them live, while Terry-Thomas is a philandering cheat. The female victims are merely guilty of having a love-life before their current fame.
A really fun film with a top-notch cast including, of course, the fabulous Miss Eaton. Scandal magazines of this sort really existed in the USA and left Hollywood in a state of terror for a while. Careers were ruined by them.
Dunkirk followed by You Only Twice.
You could say, an interesting contrast.
"Those aren't pillows!!!!!!"
The cast is packed with old favourites such as Wilfred Hyde-White, James Robertson Justice and Leslie Phillips, most of whom probably knocked their part off in an afternoon.
Directed by Michael Winner, several years before he hit the jackpot with Death Wish, and adding further proof to my theory that even Winner's best films would be ten times better directed by anyone else (Hannibal Brooks was a particular disappointment when I finally got to see it recently).
A few of those John Hughs comedies do that trick, buildup the unsuspected emotional sucker punch subtly while all the grossout slapstick stuff holds our attention, I think this is the one where he worked the trick best
have you watched SCTV? I think John Candy regularly did more brilliant work in SCTV than he ever got a chance to do in film. I just read recently it was his idea to throw teevees out the window during the opening credits: "SCTV is on the air!!"
This is a really fascinating piece of work, co-produced by Michael Powell, a great director whose career was destroyed by the hostile press reception given to his 1960 film Peeping Tom (which is highly recommend). Peeping Tom was written by Leo Marks, a former cryptographer who also provided the story for Sebastian. It's *very* of its era in a lot of ways and the plot veers in different directions , but that remains part of the film's charm.
Dirk Bogarde is really superb, demonstrating just what a good actor he became as he got older and outgrew the handsome young leading man label. The film is carried, however, by a large female cast given strong roles, particularly Susannah York, Lilli Palmer and Janet Munro. The movie also benefits from an absolutely lovely Jerry Goldsmith score.
This really should be something of a cult film, but appears never to have had a DVD release. It's on YouTube though, and well worth a look.
.... Should have been great. Bloody autocorrect again.
maybe Charlize Theron should be the next Bond?
...if their goal was to make Daniel Craig fight scenes look like Roger Moore fight scenes by comparison
beneath all the violence and gore the plot seems more like something out of Le Carre ... in fact I think I remember the actor playing Theron's boss from Tinker Tailor
Baby Driver
I like the way the music is so tightly wound into the action and the plot
the characters show very good taste when they bond over Queen's "Brighton Rock"
Maybe a bit of the emoji movie just for the heck of it ;%.
It stars Clint Eastwood as not The Man With No Name, aka Hogan and Shirley MacLaine as Sara.
Outside of the Leone trilogy, this may very well be my favourite spaghetti western with Clint.
What do you think about it? There is not a great deal of reviews on it and I'm thinking of making one soon™.