Kong Skull Island, in which Tom Hiddleston despite being ostensibly the star is effortlessly out-charisma'd by Samuel L. Jackson, outclassed by John Goodman, and (perhaps unavoidably) overshadowed by a CGI ape. Honestly, I'm glad he's out of the running for Bond.
Kong Skull Island, in which Tom Hiddleston despite being ostensibly the star is effortlessly out-charisma'd by Samuel L. Jackson, outclassed by John Goodman, and (perhaps unavoidably) overshadowed by a CGI ape. Honestly, I'm glad he's out of the running for Bond.
I enjoyed this film and I agree about hiddleston... The unfortunately. I think the night manager so far is his only really decent performance.
Yes the sub ended up pink, Also when it was filmed Cary Grant was hooked on LSD !
I thought Tom was very good in Skull Island. It must have
Been a bugger to get in to that Gorilla suit every day.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Kong Skull Island, in which Tom Hiddleston despite being ostensibly the star is effortlessly out-charisma'd by Samuel L. Jackson, outclassed by John Goodman, and (perhaps unavoidably) overshadowed by a CGI ape. Honestly, I'm glad he's out of the running for Bond.
I enjoyed this film and I agree about hiddleston... The unfortunately. I think the night manager so far is his only really decent performance.
I agree as well, I totally understand the appeal for him when he plays Loki in the Marvel films but I'm not convinced he's a good leading man.
I've just watched Alistair Macleans 1971's "When Eight Bells Toll" for the umpteenth time. Sean Connery returning for DAF and then Roger Moore taking over the role of 007 in 1973 scuppered the planned sequels featuring British spy Philip Calvert played by Anthony Hopkins.
Plenty of Bondesque moments, I love the underwater sequences in the film, and maybe EON got the idea for the fight between Bond and the diver in the JIM suit in FYEO, with the fight between Calvert and the diver in Standard Diving gear in W8BT. The climax show down in W8BT reminds me of the dockside Warehouse shoot out also found in FYEO A typical Sunday afternoon film for me. I've enjoyed most of the films made from the Maclean novels, with Where Eagles Dare, Fear is the key and Puppet on A Chain which has a sensational speed boat chase on the canals of Amsterdam which again was released in 1971 a full two years before the speed boat chase in LALD, which takes it to another level.
-{
It's a favourite of mine too. I have it on DVD, and still watch it every so often. It has a great
cast ( I especially love Robert Morley as basically M ) and I believe the voice of Jack Hawkins
was done by Charles Gray, as Poor Jack Hawkins lost his voice due to cancer and Charles Gray
did his "Voice" for the last three or four films.
In fact, You've got me I'm watching it now )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
I love the Robert Morley character in W8BT especially when he says to his secretary "Haven't you got any proper biscuits - some with cream in them?" ) Must watch it again and who would have thought that Hopkins would have gone on to a long career as a "serious" actor?
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Generically titled action thriller with our man Brozzer playing a Day of the Jackal-style hitman, up against Milla Jokavich who spends the movie fleeing.
It was okay, what I saw, but a B movie, that is a graveyard for ageing actors who can't make the A-grade, so we have Angela Bassett too, also oddly Frances de la Tour off Rising Damp fame doing a role that anyone could really, not sure why she agreed to it.
I came to it late, so maybe the plot hole of having a Bourne-style heroine not realise her pass card is tagged allowing her to be tracked wherever she goes is not so glaring, but I dunno. That said, the Tube chase is more credible looking and exciting than that in Skyfall, imo.
In time-honoured fashion, Brozzer's crack shot conspires to miss its target more often than not.
Kong Skull Island, in which Tom Hiddleston despite being ostensibly the star is effortlessly out-charisma'd by Samuel L. Jackson, outclassed by John Goodman, and (perhaps unavoidably) overshadowed by a CGI ape. Honestly, I'm glad he's out of the running for Bond.
I agree as well, I totally understand the appeal for him when he plays Loki in the Marvel films but I'm not convinced he's a good leading man.
it was pretty much an ensemble piece where they were all (tiny little) supporting actors to the Ape and various other Monsters. Also the geography of the island was more of a character than any of the actors (I liked that aspect of it). The various actors were really playing philosophical viewpoints rather than characters: intelligence, observation, exploitation, and conquest. The fellow who'd been on the island since WWII was the only one close to being a character with any believable depth.
As for Hiddleston-as-Bond, we see him doing a few action type moves, and I think his character was meant to be ex-British Intelligence turned hunter/tracker or something ... but since those action moves may have just as easily been stunt doubles or CGI, that's not much to judge by
in The Night Manager we get a much better look at him being charming and posh and doing real spy work, all relevant ... but he doesn't really have to do much actionwise, aside from a couple quick brutal beatings. Its a different type of spy story than contemporary Bonds, which are never ending high concept action setpieces.
Anyway Barbara finally decided he was too smug and offered Craig whatever he was holding out for, so its all academic now.
Just back from Kingsman: The Golden Circle. ......... and absolutely Loved it {[]
The critics must all of had a humour bypass, Lots of crazy action ? fight sequences
some great jokes and plenty of "Easter Eggs" to Bond, even a few very well acted scenes
giving just a hit of Male emotion.
It's not Bond or Bourne, Kingsman walks its own path, Think a Family friendly Tarantino )
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
This is a movie from New Zealand starring Sam Neil. It's about his character and a foster home kid on the run from the authorities in the wilderness of NZ. The movie is charming, fun and touching. Sam Neill 's acting is really nice. The main "villan" is a lady from Child Services, but the character is so exagerated and cartoonish it looks like she belongs to another movie. Thankfull she doesn't quite destroy this fine movie.
Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Originality isn't required for truly great films.
This is filmed proof.
Absolutely loved it. Even Halle was good.
I enjoyed it more than the first one, Julian feels like a much more believable villain than Samuel (no offence).
All I could think throughout the last part was Roger saying "...a sort of junkie's welfare system?" and as far as Bond references go, seek no further than the first few minutes of the film.
Reflective golden sign---->OHMSS
Hanging by the door---->San Francisco night chase from AVTAK
Hanging by the roof of a speeding car---->OP flight
Missiles going up then down---->Tiger escape from GoldenEye
Wish they'd worn some safari suits for the final part of the film. It might've been the push it needed to bring those back into full swing high fashion.
Excuse the Bond comparisons. I know that these two are totally different animals but when in Rome...
Guy Ritchie has tried fantasy and cudos to him for trying to reinvent the genere.The result is original, kinetic and fun. Unfortunately it's also too reliant on CGI and has some modern elements that look wrong such as graffiti and an Asian martial artist with a dojo. Charlie Hunnan is a credible action hero, but his voice isn't the manliest. Is he Barbara Broccoli's new favourite after Craig?
Re-watched Wolf of Wall Street.
Made me realize I've never seen the original Wall Street, just the remake.
Will probably get on that soon.
Also re-watched Kingsman: The Secret Service after I came back from the cinema with my dad.
Also, I'm going to rewatch Blade Runner to have it fresh for when it opens up at my local cinema.
Very psyched to see the new one.
Last night I finally saw Split. I'd really soured on M. Night Shyamalan--especially after his "killer wind" movie--but this is a return to form: tight, suspenseful, and free from the Shyamalanesque "twist ending". . .except for a brief cameo that puts the movie into a particular context. Oh, and James McAvoy is nothing short of superb. See it!
Bond alumni Sean Connery, Robert Shaw and John Barry reunite for this mellow, melancholic drama. Connery has aged a lot of course since FRWL, but then Shaw was age a heck of a lot in the next few years to play Quint in Jaws.
I've seen this a few times over the years, but tend to miss the early part where Robin is at the fag end of the Crusades and has a falling out with Richard the Lionheart, played in a cameo by Richard Harris.
This is almost a great film. As a kid, I didn't really pick up on the melancholy of it, and wanted more action, but it never really got going. There's a scene where Robin and his mate are trying to scale a wall, but it is heavy going, very slow as they are old and unfit, and Barry's music is trying to make it seem exciting, still it looks a bit pathetic and low budget. Now, of course, I realise that that's the point! It's all about the autumn of one's years.
There are odd scenes that don't work when you are young, such as when the sheriff and his gang on horseback confronts Robin who simply refuses to let him take Marion away - the sheriff just sort of accepts it and vows to fight another day. In a conventional thriller there would be a showdown or an escape of sorts.
Audery Hepburn is good but I'm not sure her perm really fits a medieval setting. Also, the whole love affair thing doesn't quite work because Connery is a narcissistic presence, which works as Bond but not in a love drama. In fact, while he had great sexual chemistry with his female leads, I'm not sure he had much romantic chemistry with any actress. To be fair, I now see the film does somewhat address this, as it appears Robin just acted on his own accord, heading off to the Crusades to do his own thing, leaving Marion to her own devices.
One problem for me is the supporting cast isn't given much to do. Robin's Merry Men don't have much to say or get much useful interaction with the hero. That would have made the whole thing hang together a bit more, but this is a good film to watch and now I think it's aged very well, it's sort of come into its own.
Tonight I saw "Bladerunner-the final cut". A film club is starting up (again) at the local cinema. I'll lobby for a screening of OHMSS.
Bladerunner is a modern classic, one of the very best sci-fi movies and one of my personal favourites. Fantastic!
Tonight I saw "Bladerunner-the final cut". A film club is starting up (again) at the local cinema. I'll lobby for a screening of OHMSS.
Bladerunner is a modern classic, one of the very best sci-fi movies and one of my personal favourites. Fantastic!
I'll absolutely watch Bladerunner 2049. I think I would have made a point of seeing the sequel to one of my all time favorites anyway, but I look even more forward to it when Villeneuve is directing it.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
we all know about the 1930s film serial influence
but there's a precredits sequence unrelated to the plot except that it introduces one of the villains
and...
a secret submarine base at the end
so its no surprise Sean Connery turns out to be Indy's father in the third film
but of all the influences in the blender, the one I like best is how much it takes from Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck adventures http://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-133/
as for influences going the other way, the vast warehouse where the government stores the Lost Ark at the end, looks a lot like those labyrinthine basements full of evidence lockers Mulder and Scully would always be exploring
...and A Clockwork Orange
I had forgotten that all the ultraviolence takes place in the first third of the film
Alex gets himself caught by the authorities pretty quickly into the story, and the rest is a philosophical exploration of rehabilitation techniques and free-will
Wikipedia tells me McDowell improvised his Singin' in the Rain rendition after Kubrick decided the first take of that particular scene was playing out a bit dull
I'm surprised a filmmaker as all-controlling as Kubrick would let an actor add to the script while the cameras are rolling ... then again he did do two films with Peter Sellers didn't he?
Comments
Trafalgar Square is impressive.
Spot on TP. The original movie and series are classic.
Always thought it a shame they didn't make The Professionals movie, either at the time or since.
I enjoyed this film and I agree about hiddleston... The unfortunately. I think the night manager so far is his only really decent performance.
I thought Tom was very good in Skull Island. It must have
Been a bugger to get in to that Gorilla suit every day.
Plenty of Bondesque moments, I love the underwater sequences in the film, and maybe EON got the idea for the fight between Bond and the diver in the JIM suit in FYEO, with the fight between Calvert and the diver in Standard Diving gear in W8BT. The climax show down in W8BT reminds me of the dockside Warehouse shoot out also found in FYEO A typical Sunday afternoon film for me. I've enjoyed most of the films made from the Maclean novels, with Where Eagles Dare, Fear is the key and Puppet on A Chain which has a sensational speed boat chase on the canals of Amsterdam which again was released in 1971 a full two years before the speed boat chase in LALD, which takes it to another level.
"Do you expect me to talk? "No Mister Bond I expect you to die"
It's a favourite of mine too. I have it on DVD, and still watch it every so often. It has a great
cast ( I especially love Robert Morley as basically M ) and I believe the voice of Jack Hawkins
was done by Charles Gray, as Poor Jack Hawkins lost his voice due to cancer and Charles Gray
did his "Voice" for the last three or four films.
In fact, You've got me I'm watching it now
Generically titled action thriller with our man Brozzer playing a Day of the Jackal-style hitman, up against Milla Jokavich who spends the movie fleeing.
It was okay, what I saw, but a B movie, that is a graveyard for ageing actors who can't make the A-grade, so we have Angela Bassett too, also oddly Frances de la Tour off Rising Damp fame doing a role that anyone could really, not sure why she agreed to it.
I came to it late, so maybe the plot hole of having a Bourne-style heroine not realise her pass card is tagged allowing her to be tracked wherever she goes is not so glaring, but I dunno. That said, the Tube chase is more credible looking and exciting than that in Skyfall, imo.
In time-honoured fashion, Brozzer's crack shot conspires to miss its target more often than not.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
As for Hiddleston-as-Bond, we see him doing a few action type moves, and I think his character was meant to be ex-British Intelligence turned hunter/tracker or something ... but since those action moves may have just as easily been stunt doubles or CGI, that's not much to judge by
in The Night Manager we get a much better look at him being charming and posh and doing real spy work, all relevant ... but he doesn't really have to do much actionwise, aside from a couple quick brutal beatings. Its a different type of spy story than contemporary Bonds, which are never ending high concept action setpieces.
Anyway Barbara finally decided he was too smug and offered Craig whatever he was holding out for, so its all academic now.
The critics must all of had a humour bypass, Lots of crazy action ? fight sequences
some great jokes and plenty of "Easter Eggs" to Bond, even a few very well acted scenes
giving just a hit of Male emotion.
It's not Bond or Bourne, Kingsman walks its own path, Think a Family friendly Tarantino
This is a movie from New Zealand starring Sam Neil. It's about his character and a foster home kid on the run from the authorities in the wilderness of NZ. The movie is charming, fun and touching. Sam Neill 's acting is really nice. The main "villan" is a lady from Child Services, but the character is so exagerated and cartoonish it looks like she belongs to another movie. Thankfull she doesn't quite destroy this fine movie.
Originality isn't required for truly great films.
This is filmed proof.
Absolutely loved it. Even Halle was good.
I enjoyed it more than the first one, Julian feels like a much more believable villain than Samuel (no offence).
All I could think throughout the last part was Roger saying "...a sort of junkie's welfare system?" and as far as Bond references go, seek no further than the first few minutes of the film.
Reflective golden sign---->OHMSS
Hanging by the door---->San Francisco night chase from AVTAK
Hanging by the roof of a speeding car---->OP flight
Missiles going up then down---->Tiger escape from GoldenEye
Wish they'd worn some safari suits for the final part of the film. It might've been the push it needed to bring those back into full swing high fashion.
Excuse the Bond comparisons. I know that these two are totally different animals but when in Rome...
Guy Ritchie has tried fantasy and cudos to him for trying to reinvent the genere.The result is original, kinetic and fun. Unfortunately it's also too reliant on CGI and has some modern elements that look wrong such as graffiti and an Asian martial artist with a dojo. Charlie Hunnan is a credible action hero, but his voice isn't the manliest. Is he Barbara Broccoli's new favourite after Craig?
Made me realize I've never seen the original Wall Street, just the remake.
Will probably get on that soon.
Also re-watched Kingsman: The Secret Service after I came back from the cinema with my dad.
Also, I'm going to rewatch Blade Runner to have it fresh for when it opens up at my local cinema.
Very psyched to see the new one.
I just saw it myself and I thought it was a very good film. The lower back golden circle tattoo killed me.
Great cast, Elton John was also well placed.
Best,
Stefan
"lower back golden circle", "Elton John", "well placed" :v
Reminded me of Drax's hounds.
Alister Mclean adventures.
Bond alumni Sean Connery, Robert Shaw and John Barry reunite for this mellow, melancholic drama. Connery has aged a lot of course since FRWL, but then Shaw was age a heck of a lot in the next few years to play Quint in Jaws.
I've seen this a few times over the years, but tend to miss the early part where Robin is at the fag end of the Crusades and has a falling out with Richard the Lionheart, played in a cameo by Richard Harris.
This is almost a great film. As a kid, I didn't really pick up on the melancholy of it, and wanted more action, but it never really got going. There's a scene where Robin and his mate are trying to scale a wall, but it is heavy going, very slow as they are old and unfit, and Barry's music is trying to make it seem exciting, still it looks a bit pathetic and low budget. Now, of course, I realise that that's the point! It's all about the autumn of one's years.
There are odd scenes that don't work when you are young, such as when the sheriff and his gang on horseback confronts Robin who simply refuses to let him take Marion away - the sheriff just sort of accepts it and vows to fight another day. In a conventional thriller there would be a showdown or an escape of sorts.
Audery Hepburn is good but I'm not sure her perm really fits a medieval setting. Also, the whole love affair thing doesn't quite work because Connery is a narcissistic presence, which works as Bond but not in a love drama. In fact, while he had great sexual chemistry with his female leads, I'm not sure he had much romantic chemistry with any actress. To be fair, I now see the film does somewhat address this, as it appears Robin just acted on his own accord, heading off to the Crusades to do his own thing, leaving Marion to her own devices.
One problem for me is the supporting cast isn't given much to do. Robin's Merry Men don't have much to say or get much useful interaction with the hero. That would have made the whole thing hang together a bit more, but this is a good film to watch and now I think it's aged very well, it's sort of come into its own.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Bladerunner is a modern classic, one of the very best sci-fi movies and one of my personal favourites. Fantastic!
we all know about the 1930s film serial influence
but there's a precredits sequence unrelated to the plot except that it introduces one of the villains
and...
a secret submarine base at the end
so its no surprise Sean Connery turns out to be Indy's father in the third film
but of all the influences in the blender, the one I like best is how much it takes from Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck adventures
http://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-133/
as for influences going the other way, the vast warehouse where the government stores the Lost Ark at the end, looks a lot like those labyrinthine basements full of evidence lockers Mulder and Scully would always be exploring
...and
A Clockwork Orange
I had forgotten that all the ultraviolence takes place in the first third of the film
Alex gets himself caught by the authorities pretty quickly into the story, and the rest is a philosophical exploration of rehabilitation techniques and free-will
Wikipedia tells me McDowell improvised his Singin' in the Rain rendition after Kubrick decided the first take of that particular scene was playing out a bit dull
I'm surprised a filmmaker as all-controlling as Kubrick would let an actor add to the script while the cameras are rolling ... then again he did do two films with Peter Sellers didn't he?