A classic 1950s Roman/Biblical epic, and famous for being the first film shot in CinemaScope. I have a soft-spot for the biblical epics of this era, and while this is no Ben-Hur, it did have its good moments, some good looking sets and cinematography, lots of matte paintings (which I do enjoy) and a good starring performance by Richard Burton. Also, a decent score by Alfred Newman.
Good Luck To You Leo Grande aka Emma Thompson gets her kit off
I enjoyed this, it's about a lonely widow in her 50s who arranges to meet a male prostitute in a hotel room to find out what sex is like after a long unfulfilled marriage. Writing to praise this is harder than simply enjoying it. It's mainly two people chatting in a hotel room so it could be a stage play - if so, you'd feel short-changed. That said, if you saw it on TV you might switch over because to the immediate temptation of other channels. The thing about cinema is it forces you to sit and absorb what is going on.
The performances are very good, it seemed to be Rebecca Front would have been good in the Thompson role but she isn't a movie star. The main intrigue admittedly is seeing just how a person would get on arranging to meet a stranger for sex, all the social awkwardness and so on. To compound the drama, the cinema - which only had three people in or thereabouts - was devoid of sound so I had to hunt someone down to fix it and then the sound came on too loudly so I went out again, 'We're aware of the problem' said the usherette pointedly, it was all straying into @ChrisNo1 territory (annoying situations at the cinema, not meeting prostitutes for sex in hotel rooms).
The film hit a few false notes and a couple more came to me when I got home but this was enjoyable stuff. Whether it's worth £12 on a matinee compared to say Top Gun, well you don't quite get your money's worth in terms of spectacle, the hotel room is not sexy or interesting but the writer and director Katy Brand (wasn't she a dodgy comedian at one point?) makes it cinematic enough without getting all pretentious about it. The film does have strong comedic scenes but is not wholly realistic in that the characters always have something to say. You can get into the idea that the situation is highly idealised but it's a bit like saying, wow, in an action film you can't be thrown through a plate glass window and not be scratched, you just go with it. Not sure a middle-aged man would be given the same sympathy going with a prostitute, I suppose am forgetting films like Risky Business and Pretty Woman. Then again, in Hollywood tradition, these guys aren't exactly losers, as Cruise's teenager has his life ahead of him and rich parents, Gere's businessman drives a flash car and is also a millionaire.
Emma Thompson gets her kit off for the final scene a bit like Mark Warlberg in Boogie Nights minus the false penis.
Not quite King Solomon's Mines, not quite Gothic horror, this remake of a thirties flop looks quite expensive for a Hammer product - there's even location shooting in Israel and, thanks to funding from MGM, decent sets constructed at Elstree instead of Bray.
She was poorly received by critics. As in the RKO original, a group of explorers search for a fabled lost city and discover its Queen holds the secret of eternal life. This familiar premise doesn't contain enough worthwhile actions to hold our interests. The production facets are distinctly average. The 'horror' elements feel tacked on. The passable script attempts to be profound but ends up short-changing its actors and its audience. The comic interludes involving Bernard Cribbens' valet are cringe-worthy. The love stories are non-existent due to the lack of chemistry between 'hero' John Richardson and both Ursula Andress [from Dr No] and Rosenda Monteros [from The Magnificent Seven]. The latter endures a whole film's worth of flimsy see-through costuming. The former is yet again dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee share one great scene of characterful insight. Everything and everyone else is a bit shambolic.
Director Robert Day made his name in Britain, but was in the middle of a run of internationally produced Tarzan movies. That franchise had made efforts to become more robust and modern-thinking. She feels old-fashioned even for Hammer's Victorian based horror / adventure films. Still, remarkably popular in its day, critics or not.
On Saturday night I watched Future World (1976). I had seen West Word a couple of years ago and although I am not interested in science fiction really, I did enjoy that film.
The Future World was absolute rubbish, in fact I think it is the worst film I have seen. I managed to watch it for about an hour until there was a scene where a woman was dreaming about dancing with the robot gun fighter from West World. I then turned off.
It seemed to be very cheaply made, and everything about it, from the story to the acting was extremely poor.
Yes, I agree with the above- it's not a patch on the original Westworld. Yul Brynner has only a cameo.
ELVIS (Baz Luhrmann, 2022)
A long but very enjoyable look at the life of Elvis, seen through the eyes of his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Tom Hanks is excellent (of course) as Parker, but young Austin Butler steals the show as Elvis. After a while, you stop thinking of him as an actor and begin to feel you are watching Elvis- and by the end, you are. It's roughly chronological with some wonderful touches.
William Holden, Shirley Knight and Franco Nero star in this compelling (made-for-television) film dramatisation of the terrorist incident at the 1972 Munich (Summer) Olympics when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound and took Israeli athletes hostage.
Steven Spielberg’s phenomenally successful expansion of a Philip K. Dick short story involves Tom Cruise’s law enforcement officer coming under suspicion of committing a ‘pre-crime’ and fleeing from his own agents in an attempt to unravel the truth behind the god-like ‘pre-cogs’ who predict the future.
Exceptionally well-presented and benefitting from a non-starry cast [Cruise aside] the film is tense and exciting as well as reflective, providing another take on Orwell’s ‘thought crime.’ The adventure owes more to The Fugitive and even climaxes with a scene of public humiliation, itself as old as Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Its view of the future isn’t very expansive, a statutory dystopian bleakness pervades. An epidemic of murder has encompassed America and the District of Colombia’s Pre-crime system seems to provide a solution, stopping felonies before they take place. The flaw, of course, is that the system never accounts for self-determination and is therefore a prejudicial form of justice. And somewhere unknown, someone unseen is tampering with the system.
Many plot holes abound if you want to look for them. I recommend you don’t. Just enjoy the taut action sequences and the glitzy look-in to a supposed future, which isn’t much different to our present. The same issues surrounding truth, law and justice still exist, society is still on the verge of breakdown. There is poverty, wealth and a powerful elite who abuse their positions.
Max von Sydow is impressive as the wily businessman Lamar Burgess, and Colin Farrell strikes a solid note as an abrasive Senate Investigator. Cruise dominates proceedings with his usual charming, one-dimensional action man skit, which is about all that’s really required. If, like me, you suffer from arachnophobia, the scene involving the robotic miniature spiders is terrifying. Other sequences seems at odds with the general seriousness: Lois Smith surrounded by dancing plants is particularly bizarre. The production values are generous.
Regularly re-evaluated, Minority Report is one of the better sci-fi epics of the early 2000s. The movie benefits from being less sentimental than Spielberg’s usual fare.
Richard Attenborough is a family man, his wife is pregnant with their third child, he refuses to take part in an unofficial strike at the factory where he works because he would not be paid. An outside activist, and the shop steward (played by our own Bernard Lee) , organise reprisals against those who refuse to strike. The acting is excellent and it’s good to see Bernard Lee get his teeth into an unfamiliar role. Further Bond alumni turn up in the shape of Geoffrey Keen, Laurence Naismith and Bernard Horsfall. There is a small role for Oliver Reed and television presenter legend Alan Whicker, appears as himself as a reporter. The battle of the unions against business is laid bare here, most of the union demands are portrayed as trivial, the influence of the outside activist is an important part of the film. I can imagine that the film didn’t go down very well in many parts of the country. Carry On At Your Convenience, which mocked the unions, failed miserably in its usual strongholds. Whatever your views on unions is, this is an excellent piece of cinema which reflects the times when Britain actually had a manufacturing industry.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I agree. I think it's underrated. But I like his War of the Worlds, so I might not be the best person to comment.
On seeing Tom Cruise (everywhere) recently, I always think how good he still looks and doesn't really age, but when you see him in Minority Report, he looks a LOT younger. Fair enough though, it was 20 years ago. Guess it's just an eye opener as well, how quickly time flies. I remember watching Minority Report at the cinema thinking this is an older version of the Tom Cruise we saw in Top Gun, Rain Man, Cocktail etc.
aka "Sherlock Holmes and The Masks Of Death". Peter Cushing as an elderly Sherlock Holmes in his last go as the character, with John Mills as Dr Watson and a starry if equally elderly supporting cast (Ray Milland, Anne Baxter). Set just before WW1, a passable mystery let down by TV movie production. Cushing is as note perfect as ever- Holmes always brought the best out of him, even if the productions weren't always as good as they could have been (eg the BBC TV series he was in).
By this time, Peter Cushing had pretty much retired except for perhaps a guest appearance or cameo. This was his last top-billed leading role and I like to think he was tempted back out of retirement (much as Sherlock Holmes was in the story) by the chance to play Holmes one last time.
(alt. title: "Under over Kitty". Org. title: "Minoues".)
This is a Dutch live-action family movie. Tibbe is a failed newspaper journalist, mainly because of his ficsation with cats. One day he meets a woman in a tree in the park, scared by a dog. It's Minoes (Carice van Houten). It turns out Minoes is a chat who somehow just turner into a cat. van Houten's performance is impressive, especially if you've only seen her as Mellisandre in Game of Thrones. She has adopter many cat mannerisms: how she eats fish, the fear of dogs, the fasination with shiny objects etc. I've been admiring van Houten's p*ssy all night! 😎
Minoes can still understand and talk to cats. The cats are (mainly) CGI and far more impressive than those in the recent Cats movie. Minoes poses as Tibbe's secretary, and together with the other cats she works as Tibbe's inteligence service and restarts Tibbe'career. There's even a gunbarrel gag!
I really liked this movie because of the strong and inventive plot and van Houten's pu ..... cat. The kids I watched it with also enjoyed Miss Minoes.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this is what would be called a docudrama today. In a case of mistaken identity a family man is accused of having robbed an insurance office. The film is based on fact and some unfortunate coincidences point to the guilt of Henry Fonda who plays musician Manny Balestrero. Manny’s wife has a nervous breakdown during the events. It’s a compelling drama and Hitchcock ramps up the tension as Manny struggles to prove his innocence.
A lesser known Hitchcock movie, but one of his finest.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Price plays a horribly disfigured organist (wearing a very Price-like mask during most of the movie) seeking revenge on the medical crew responsible (in his eyes) for his wife’s death. The revenge takes the form of biblically inspired deaths (eg locusts, frogs) while Scotland Yard try to track him down. It’s not to be taken very seriously, and Price knows this and plays appropriately.
Two Bond ladies are here: Virginia North plays Price’s assistant and she played Olympe, Draco’s girlfriend, in OHMSS. There she was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl (of course) and here she’s completely silent, so I still have no idea what her own voice was like. Anybody know of a movie where she speaks? The other is the beautiful Caroline Munro (Naomi in TSWLM) who plays Price’s dead wife, partly in photos- so of course she’s silent as well.
DR PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
The law of Hollywood: if your film’s a success, do a sequel. Nowhere near as good as the first one, and Price’s assistant is played by a different actress. Munro’s still there, sort of (photos and lying still, being dead). Being a Peter Cushing fan, I was disappointed that his “Guest Star” part was perhaps two minutes long.
THE FLY (1958)
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be very afraid. This isn’t the gruesome 80s remake with Jeff Goldblum but the much tamer original starring our own David Hedison (billed here as Al Hedison, don’t know why) as the unfortunate man who splices with a fly, and Vincent Price as his brother.
It’s structured more as a mystery than a horror movie, and most of the heavy lifting is done by Patricia Owens as Hedison’s wife, and done well too. The SFX are a bit creaky by today’s standards, or even those of the 80s, but it’s enjoyable enough if you can ignore those.
RETURN OF THE FLY (1959)
And once again the law of Hollywood. Price returns in the same part, but the main protagonist could be called “Son Of The Fly” which might have been a better title. It’s done on the cheap (b&w while the original was in colour; as many of the same sets used as possible) and repeats many plot elements. Only if you really liked the first one, or are a sucker for bad movies.
Saw this on Netflix today. It's an entertaining if totally cliched actioner, reading like an extended audition for lead Ryan Gosling as the next James Bond. There's one explicit, quite hip, reference to 007 in the dialogue (worked in against some diegetic use of a retro Shirley Bassey track); the world of the film is presumably one in which characters go to see Bond movies. Beyond that single namecheck there is, in fact, a lot of allusive leaning into the Craig era of 007, alongside Jason Bourne, John Wick and one or two bits of earlier Bond stuff as well.
In general terms, the backdrop is a world of amoral CIA covert ops - think Bourne, or Beam in QOS - out of which corrupt villainy arises. There's a lightness to the film, despite that baggage; It's great to see Chris Evans - Captain America himself, no less - having lots of fun playing the operational bad guy.
Compared with typical Bond fare there's more extensive use of obvious CGI here, sometimes rather cheap looking; but the numerous fights, shoot-outs and explosive chases are all compelling enough.
Gosling is good in this. Some of his previous leading roles have been artsily outre, as if to match his slightly off-centre version of handsome, but here he's delivering pleasingly conventional action heroism of the impassive-yet-ultimately-empathetic variety, minus any womanising.
The Sierra Six/ Claire dynamic may bring to mind the Bond/ Mathilde connection in NTTD, but it's different: Six is acting only in loco parentis, and Claire (Julia Butters) is an older girl, given to verbal wit and banter with her jaded protector.
Ana De Armas is welcome casting as Gosling's friendly CIA back-up, as if responding to the chorus of wishes from Bond fans that there'd been more of her in NTTD. There's no exact matching of Paloma's cutesy attitude, or killer evening dress, though; nor of the enigmatic Joi's haunting connection with Gosling in 'Blade Runner 2049'.
'The Gray Man' is a worthwhile popcorn movie, the edgier darkness of which is blunted by cliche (not in a bad way). I recommend it to Bond fans. It's prompted at least one interview with Gosling - for Sky News - about whether he considers himself in the running for the part of Bond. His diplomatic reply is that he doesn't think they'd ask a Canadian; I'm sure he's just being coy.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
I think he's a potential Bond even though I haven't seen him in anything other than interviews and trailers yet. He has the looks and charm, but I need to see him convince in a well-acted drama (and ideally demonstrate a talent for action too) before I support him fully. Nice to hear he did well in The Grey Man.
An obscure horror movie from the dawn of sound. This was an international production (German/French/Danish) which I watched in German. The dialogue was limited, so my German was able to cope.
I don’t know if this qualifies as expressionism or just off-beat, even for the times. A young man visits a small town where strange events happen, and how. The film deals more in images than plot
and is distinctly non-linear in progression. Not a patch on almost contemporary productions such as “The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari” but haunting in the extreme.
The lead is played by one “Julian West”, a pseudonym for its aristocratic backer. As far as I know, this was his only film.
Over the last week I’ve been recovering from my first bout of covid so I’ve been watching quite a few movies. Phil Collins stars as Ronald ‘Buster’ Edwards, one of the Great Train Robbers from the infamous true 1963 heist which resulted in the theft of £2.6 million (£60m in today’s value). It’s really a romantic comedy-drama as it explores the Edward’s relationship before and after the robbery and their escape to Acapulco, finishing with their eventual return to England where Buster girls himself up to serve his sentence. Collins does very well in his role and a good British supporting cast make this an enjoyable romp. There’s some good songs from Collins and The Four Tops with songs from the day as background.
There is an excellent 2-part drama from the BBC about the robbery which goes into much more detail, but for a diverting piece of hokum this is well worth a watch.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Good overall movie when compared to generic action thrillers nowadays.
However, I’m more intrigued by the jacket Ryan Gosling wears at the end. No spoilers, I mean it’s just a jacket, but I’ve been wanting a white one like it.
Anyone know what brand it could be? I was thinking Carhartt and I DM them but still no response.
Two naive youngsters leave their rural village for the bright lights of London and are drawn into drugs, pornography and prostitution. A pre-Confessions Robin Askwith stars with Janet Lynn as the teenagers seduced by various predators in this low budget exploitation movie directed by Pete Walker, who would go on to make his name in British horror movies. Shot on location it captures London of the period nicely and is fascinating to see.
Nothing special but as a time capsule, it’s well worth seeing.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
E. Nesbit’s dated but ultimately warm-hearted children’s story is set in 1906 and has three enterprising London kids adapting to life in rural Yorkshire, at Oakworth, close to the village railway. Clever playing from Jenny Agutter as the eldest, Roberta, disguises the methodical camerawork and spartan script. The trio save a train from disaster, foster a lost Russian dissident, and generally make good-natured nuisances’ of themselves. Good for what it is and despite my general cynicism, the final scene on the station platform is cinema at it’s heart-pulling best and dares you not to shed a tear. There’s a sequel doing the rounds and I might just pop out and give it a glance. Nice looking trains.
OCEAN’S ELEVEN (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s slicker than oil heist caper has George Clooney’s smooth bank robber accumulating a gang of eleven crooks, all experts in their fields, to rip off an immense Las Vegas casino vault. Clooney has form for this kind of performance: his ex-con in Out of Sight is virtually an identikit role: Danny Ocean has the same swagger, smooth patter and smile and neat cut in clothing as Jack Foley. He also has a smashing leading actress to impress, this time in the form of Julia Roberts. Soderbergh directed both films with an ear on character dialogue and an eye on impressive, but hollow images. Here, Las Vegas could hardly look any more glitzy. Whole scenes pass by leaving us astounded at the magical trickery of movie making and bank robbing, but without revealing anything of the story’s soul.
There isn’t one. This is surface gloss of the highest order. Sit down with a large Haig over ice, wallow in the fantasy of the phenomenal crime, snigger at the jokes and make yourself feel good. A starry cast barely has to breathe to make this watchable. Delightful rubbish, which like the equally silly Sinatra-Rat Pack 1960 original, leaves you with a sufficiently pleasant after taste.
Comments
THE ROBE (1953)
A classic 1950s Roman/Biblical epic, and famous for being the first film shot in CinemaScope. I have a soft-spot for the biblical epics of this era, and while this is no Ben-Hur, it did have its good moments, some good looking sets and cinematography, lots of matte paintings (which I do enjoy) and a good starring performance by Richard Burton. Also, a decent score by Alfred Newman.
Good Luck To You Leo Grande aka Emma Thompson gets her kit off
I enjoyed this, it's about a lonely widow in her 50s who arranges to meet a male prostitute in a hotel room to find out what sex is like after a long unfulfilled marriage. Writing to praise this is harder than simply enjoying it. It's mainly two people chatting in a hotel room so it could be a stage play - if so, you'd feel short-changed. That said, if you saw it on TV you might switch over because to the immediate temptation of other channels. The thing about cinema is it forces you to sit and absorb what is going on.
The performances are very good, it seemed to be Rebecca Front would have been good in the Thompson role but she isn't a movie star. The main intrigue admittedly is seeing just how a person would get on arranging to meet a stranger for sex, all the social awkwardness and so on. To compound the drama, the cinema - which only had three people in or thereabouts - was devoid of sound so I had to hunt someone down to fix it and then the sound came on too loudly so I went out again, 'We're aware of the problem' said the usherette pointedly, it was all straying into @ChrisNo1 territory (annoying situations at the cinema, not meeting prostitutes for sex in hotel rooms).
The film hit a few false notes and a couple more came to me when I got home but this was enjoyable stuff. Whether it's worth £12 on a matinee compared to say Top Gun, well you don't quite get your money's worth in terms of spectacle, the hotel room is not sexy or interesting but the writer and director Katy Brand (wasn't she a dodgy comedian at one point?) makes it cinematic enough without getting all pretentious about it. The film does have strong comedic scenes but is not wholly realistic in that the characters always have something to say. You can get into the idea that the situation is highly idealised but it's a bit like saying, wow, in an action film you can't be thrown through a plate glass window and not be scratched, you just go with it. Not sure a middle-aged man would be given the same sympathy going with a prostitute, I suppose am forgetting films like Risky Business and Pretty Woman. Then again, in Hollywood tradition, these guys aren't exactly losers, as Cruise's teenager has his life ahead of him and rich parents, Gere's businessman drives a flash car and is also a millionaire.
Emma Thompson gets her kit off for the final scene a bit like Mark Warlberg in Boogie Nights minus the false penis.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Robocop (1987)
Pretty good sci-fi/action flick from Paul Verhoeven, even if some of the violence goes over-the-top.
3.5/5
Some of you guys discussed this before:
SHE (1965)
Not quite King Solomon's Mines, not quite Gothic horror, this remake of a thirties flop looks quite expensive for a Hammer product - there's even location shooting in Israel and, thanks to funding from MGM, decent sets constructed at Elstree instead of Bray.
She was poorly received by critics. As in the RKO original, a group of explorers search for a fabled lost city and discover its Queen holds the secret of eternal life. This familiar premise doesn't contain enough worthwhile actions to hold our interests. The production facets are distinctly average. The 'horror' elements feel tacked on. The passable script attempts to be profound but ends up short-changing its actors and its audience. The comic interludes involving Bernard Cribbens' valet are cringe-worthy. The love stories are non-existent due to the lack of chemistry between 'hero' John Richardson and both Ursula Andress [from Dr No] and Rosenda Monteros [from The Magnificent Seven]. The latter endures a whole film's worth of flimsy see-through costuming. The former is yet again dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee share one great scene of characterful insight. Everything and everyone else is a bit shambolic.
Director Robert Day made his name in Britain, but was in the middle of a run of internationally produced Tarzan movies. That franchise had made efforts to become more robust and modern-thinking. She feels old-fashioned even for Hammer's Victorian based horror / adventure films. Still, remarkably popular in its day, critics or not.
I remember the ending of She, when she goes back into the flame, seriously scaring me as a kid 😃
I haven't seen this one, but I liked the 1930's one and found the sets impressive.
On Saturday night I watched Future World (1976). I had seen West Word a couple of years ago and although I am not interested in science fiction really, I did enjoy that film.
The Future World was absolute rubbish, in fact I think it is the worst film I have seen. I managed to watch it for about an hour until there was a scene where a woman was dreaming about dancing with the robot gun fighter from West World. I then turned off.
It seemed to be very cheaply made, and everything about it, from the story to the acting was extremely poor.
Wow. I didn't even know Yul Brynner was even in it.
Yes, I agree with the above- it's not a patch on the original Westworld. Yul Brynner has only a cameo.
ELVIS (Baz Luhrmann, 2022)
A long but very enjoyable look at the life of Elvis, seen through the eyes of his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Tom Hanks is excellent (of course) as Parker, but young Austin Butler steals the show as Elvis. After a while, you stop thinking of him as an actor and begin to feel you are watching Elvis- and by the end, you are. It's roughly chronological with some wonderful touches.
This is the scene. The film was on Talking Pictures TV and I suppose it will be repeated soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4LidfkbW68
I have seen advertisements for this film.
21 Hours at Munich (1976)
William Holden, Shirley Knight and Franco Nero star in this compelling (made-for-television) film dramatisation of the terrorist incident at the 1972 Munich (Summer) Olympics when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound and took Israeli athletes hostage.
A good film with some suspenseful moments.
MINORITY REPORT (2002)
Steven Spielberg’s phenomenally successful expansion of a Philip K. Dick short story involves Tom Cruise’s law enforcement officer coming under suspicion of committing a ‘pre-crime’ and fleeing from his own agents in an attempt to unravel the truth behind the god-like ‘pre-cogs’ who predict the future.
Exceptionally well-presented and benefitting from a non-starry cast [Cruise aside] the film is tense and exciting as well as reflective, providing another take on Orwell’s ‘thought crime.’ The adventure owes more to The Fugitive and even climaxes with a scene of public humiliation, itself as old as Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Its view of the future isn’t very expansive, a statutory dystopian bleakness pervades. An epidemic of murder has encompassed America and the District of Colombia’s Pre-crime system seems to provide a solution, stopping felonies before they take place. The flaw, of course, is that the system never accounts for self-determination and is therefore a prejudicial form of justice. And somewhere unknown, someone unseen is tampering with the system.
Many plot holes abound if you want to look for them. I recommend you don’t. Just enjoy the taut action sequences and the glitzy look-in to a supposed future, which isn’t much different to our present. The same issues surrounding truth, law and justice still exist, society is still on the verge of breakdown. There is poverty, wealth and a powerful elite who abuse their positions.
Max von Sydow is impressive as the wily businessman Lamar Burgess, and Colin Farrell strikes a solid note as an abrasive Senate Investigator. Cruise dominates proceedings with his usual charming, one-dimensional action man skit, which is about all that’s really required. If, like me, you suffer from arachnophobia, the scene involving the robotic miniature spiders is terrifying. Other sequences seems at odds with the general seriousness: Lois Smith surrounded by dancing plants is particularly bizarre. The production values are generous.
Regularly re-evaluated, Minority Report is one of the better sci-fi epics of the early 2000s. The movie benefits from being less sentimental than Spielberg’s usual fare.
Very good indeed
THE ANGRY SILENCE (1960)
Richard Attenborough is a family man, his wife is pregnant with their third child, he refuses to take part in an unofficial strike at the factory where he works because he would not be paid. An outside activist, and the shop steward (played by our own Bernard Lee) , organise reprisals against those who refuse to strike. The acting is excellent and it’s good to see Bernard Lee get his teeth into an unfamiliar role. Further Bond alumni turn up in the shape of Geoffrey Keen, Laurence Naismith and Bernard Horsfall. There is a small role for Oliver Reed and television presenter legend Alan Whicker, appears as himself as a reporter. The battle of the unions against business is laid bare here, most of the union demands are portrayed as trivial, the influence of the outside activist is an important part of the film. I can imagine that the film didn’t go down very well in many parts of the country. Carry On At Your Convenience, which mocked the unions, failed miserably in its usual strongholds. Whatever your views on unions is, this is an excellent piece of cinema which reflects the times when Britain actually had a manufacturing industry.
Seven Days To Noon.
A great film about a scientist who steals a small nuclear bomb and threatens to detonate it if the UK does not disarm.
It is a very good film which I recommend to everyone. It was on Talking Pictures TV so is sure to be shown again.
Here is a clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp5IhXCPHEw
I agree. I think it's underrated. But I like his War of the Worlds, so I might not be the best person to comment.
On seeing Tom Cruise (everywhere) recently, I always think how good he still looks and doesn't really age, but when you see him in Minority Report, he looks a LOT younger. Fair enough though, it was 20 years ago. Guess it's just an eye opener as well, how quickly time flies. I remember watching Minority Report at the cinema thinking this is an older version of the Tom Cruise we saw in Top Gun, Rain Man, Cocktail etc.
The Masks Of Death (1984)
aka "Sherlock Holmes and The Masks Of Death". Peter Cushing as an elderly Sherlock Holmes in his last go as the character, with John Mills as Dr Watson and a starry if equally elderly supporting cast (Ray Milland, Anne Baxter). Set just before WW1, a passable mystery let down by TV movie production. Cushing is as note perfect as ever- Holmes always brought the best out of him, even if the productions weren't always as good as they could have been (eg the BBC TV series he was in).
By this time, Peter Cushing had pretty much retired except for perhaps a guest appearance or cameo. This was his last top-billed leading role and I like to think he was tempted back out of retirement (much as Sherlock Holmes was in the story) by the chance to play Holmes one last time.
Miss Minoes (2001)
(alt. title: "Under over Kitty". Org. title: "Minoues".)
This is a Dutch live-action family movie. Tibbe is a failed newspaper journalist, mainly because of his ficsation with cats. One day he meets a woman in a tree in the park, scared by a dog. It's Minoes (Carice van Houten). It turns out Minoes is a chat who somehow just turner into a cat. van Houten's performance is impressive, especially if you've only seen her as Mellisandre in Game of Thrones. She has adopter many cat mannerisms: how she eats fish, the fear of dogs, the fasination with shiny objects etc. I've been admiring van Houten's p*ssy all night! 😎
Minoes can still understand and talk to cats. The cats are (mainly) CGI and far more impressive than those in the recent Cats movie. Minoes poses as Tibbe's secretary, and together with the other cats she works as Tibbe's inteligence service and restarts Tibbe'career. There's even a gunbarrel gag!
I really liked this movie because of the strong and inventive plot and van Houten's pu ..... cat. The kids I watched it with also enjoyed Miss Minoes.
Yes, I agree. The son should have died.
I did enjoy the film, more or less, but will always prefer the 1953 version - not to mention Jeff Wayne's musical one.
THE WRONG MAN (1956)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this is what would be called a docudrama today. In a case of mistaken identity a family man is accused of having robbed an insurance office. The film is based on fact and some unfortunate coincidences point to the guilt of Henry Fonda who plays musician Manny Balestrero. Manny’s wife has a nervous breakdown during the events. It’s a compelling drama and Hitchcock ramps up the tension as Manny struggles to prove his innocence.
A lesser known Hitchcock movie, but one of his finest.
An unplanned Vincent Price marathon.
THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES (1971)
Price plays a horribly disfigured organist (wearing a very Price-like mask during most of the movie) seeking revenge on the medical crew responsible (in his eyes) for his wife’s death. The revenge takes the form of biblically inspired deaths (eg locusts, frogs) while Scotland Yard try to track him down. It’s not to be taken very seriously, and Price knows this and plays appropriately.
Two Bond ladies are here: Virginia North plays Price’s assistant and she played Olympe, Draco’s girlfriend, in OHMSS. There she was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl (of course) and here she’s completely silent, so I still have no idea what her own voice was like. Anybody know of a movie where she speaks? The other is the beautiful Caroline Munro (Naomi in TSWLM) who plays Price’s dead wife, partly in photos- so of course she’s silent as well.
DR PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
The law of Hollywood: if your film’s a success, do a sequel. Nowhere near as good as the first one, and Price’s assistant is played by a different actress. Munro’s still there, sort of (photos and lying still, being dead). Being a Peter Cushing fan, I was disappointed that his “Guest Star” part was perhaps two minutes long.
THE FLY (1958)
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be very afraid. This isn’t the gruesome 80s remake with Jeff Goldblum but the much tamer original starring our own David Hedison (billed here as Al Hedison, don’t know why) as the unfortunate man who splices with a fly, and Vincent Price as his brother.
It’s structured more as a mystery than a horror movie, and most of the heavy lifting is done by Patricia Owens as Hedison’s wife, and done well too. The SFX are a bit creaky by today’s standards, or even those of the 80s, but it’s enjoyable enough if you can ignore those.
RETURN OF THE FLY (1959)
And once again the law of Hollywood. Price returns in the same part, but the main protagonist could be called “Son Of The Fly” which might have been a better title. It’s done on the cheap (b&w while the original was in colour; as many of the same sets used as possible) and repeats many plot elements. Only if you really liked the first one, or are a sucker for bad movies.
The Gray Man (2022)
(No substantial spoilers)
Saw this on Netflix today. It's an entertaining if totally cliched actioner, reading like an extended audition for lead Ryan Gosling as the next James Bond. There's one explicit, quite hip, reference to 007 in the dialogue (worked in against some diegetic use of a retro Shirley Bassey track); the world of the film is presumably one in which characters go to see Bond movies. Beyond that single namecheck there is, in fact, a lot of allusive leaning into the Craig era of 007, alongside Jason Bourne, John Wick and one or two bits of earlier Bond stuff as well.
In general terms, the backdrop is a world of amoral CIA covert ops - think Bourne, or Beam in QOS - out of which corrupt villainy arises. There's a lightness to the film, despite that baggage; It's great to see Chris Evans - Captain America himself, no less - having lots of fun playing the operational bad guy.
Compared with typical Bond fare there's more extensive use of obvious CGI here, sometimes rather cheap looking; but the numerous fights, shoot-outs and explosive chases are all compelling enough.
Gosling is good in this. Some of his previous leading roles have been artsily outre, as if to match his slightly off-centre version of handsome, but here he's delivering pleasingly conventional action heroism of the impassive-yet-ultimately-empathetic variety, minus any womanising.
The Sierra Six/ Claire dynamic may bring to mind the Bond/ Mathilde connection in NTTD, but it's different: Six is acting only in loco parentis, and Claire (Julia Butters) is an older girl, given to verbal wit and banter with her jaded protector.
Ana De Armas is welcome casting as Gosling's friendly CIA back-up, as if responding to the chorus of wishes from Bond fans that there'd been more of her in NTTD. There's no exact matching of Paloma's cutesy attitude, or killer evening dress, though; nor of the enigmatic Joi's haunting connection with Gosling in 'Blade Runner 2049'.
'The Gray Man' is a worthwhile popcorn movie, the edgier darkness of which is blunted by cliche (not in a bad way). I recommend it to Bond fans. It's prompted at least one interview with Gosling - for Sky News - about whether he considers himself in the running for the part of Bond. His diplomatic reply is that he doesn't think they'd ask a Canadian; I'm sure he's just being coy.
Did you get an impression of Regel Jean-Page in the movie?
Oh yes, he's good in it, in a key role.
I think he's a potential Bond even though I haven't seen him in anything other than interviews and trailers yet. He has the looks and charm, but I need to see him convince in a well-acted drama (and ideally demonstrate a talent for action too) before I support him fully. Nice to hear he did well in The Grey Man.
Vampyr (1932) Carl Theodor Dreyer
An obscure horror movie from the dawn of sound. This was an international production (German/French/Danish) which I watched in German. The dialogue was limited, so my German was able to cope.
I don’t know if this qualifies as expressionism or just off-beat, even for the times. A young man visits a small town where strange events happen, and how. The film deals more in images than plot
and is distinctly non-linear in progression. Not a patch on almost contemporary productions such as “The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari” but haunting in the extreme.
The lead is played by one “Julian West”, a pseudonym for its aristocratic backer. As far as I know, this was his only film.
BUSTER (1988)
Over the last week I’ve been recovering from my first bout of covid so I’ve been watching quite a few movies. Phil Collins stars as Ronald ‘Buster’ Edwards, one of the Great Train Robbers from the infamous true 1963 heist which resulted in the theft of £2.6 million (£60m in today’s value). It’s really a romantic comedy-drama as it explores the Edward’s relationship before and after the robbery and their escape to Acapulco, finishing with their eventual return to England where Buster girls himself up to serve his sentence. Collins does very well in his role and a good British supporting cast make this an enjoyable romp. There’s some good songs from Collins and The Four Tops with songs from the day as background.
There is an excellent 2-part drama from the BBC about the robbery which goes into much more detail, but for a diverting piece of hokum this is well worth a watch.
So I just finished seeing The Gray Man.
Good overall movie when compared to generic action thrillers nowadays.
However, I’m more intrigued by the jacket Ryan Gosling wears at the end. No spoilers, I mean it’s just a jacket, but I’ve been wanting a white one like it.
Anyone know what brand it could be? I was thinking Carhartt and I DM them but still no response.
COOL IT CAROL! (1970)
Two naive youngsters leave their rural village for the bright lights of London and are drawn into drugs, pornography and prostitution. A pre-Confessions Robin Askwith stars with Janet Lynn as the teenagers seduced by various predators in this low budget exploitation movie directed by Pete Walker, who would go on to make his name in British horror movies. Shot on location it captures London of the period nicely and is fascinating to see.
Nothing special but as a time capsule, it’s well worth seeing.
catching up on my COVID movies:
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN (1970)
E. Nesbit’s dated but ultimately warm-hearted children’s story is set in 1906 and has three enterprising London kids adapting to life in rural Yorkshire, at Oakworth, close to the village railway. Clever playing from Jenny Agutter as the eldest, Roberta, disguises the methodical camerawork and spartan script. The trio save a train from disaster, foster a lost Russian dissident, and generally make good-natured nuisances’ of themselves. Good for what it is and despite my general cynicism, the final scene on the station platform is cinema at it’s heart-pulling best and dares you not to shed a tear. There’s a sequel doing the rounds and I might just pop out and give it a glance. Nice looking trains.
OCEAN’S ELEVEN (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s slicker than oil heist caper has George Clooney’s smooth bank robber accumulating a gang of eleven crooks, all experts in their fields, to rip off an immense Las Vegas casino vault. Clooney has form for this kind of performance: his ex-con in Out of Sight is virtually an identikit role: Danny Ocean has the same swagger, smooth patter and smile and neat cut in clothing as Jack Foley. He also has a smashing leading actress to impress, this time in the form of Julia Roberts. Soderbergh directed both films with an ear on character dialogue and an eye on impressive, but hollow images. Here, Las Vegas could hardly look any more glitzy. Whole scenes pass by leaving us astounded at the magical trickery of movie making and bank robbing, but without revealing anything of the story’s soul.
There isn’t one. This is surface gloss of the highest order. Sit down with a large Haig over ice, wallow in the fantasy of the phenomenal crime, snigger at the jokes and make yourself feel good. A starry cast barely has to breathe to make this watchable. Delightful rubbish, which like the equally silly Sinatra-Rat Pack 1960 original, leaves you with a sufficiently pleasant after taste.
Much like a Haig over ice.