 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Requiem for a Gringo 6/10 with Lang Jeffries and Fernando 'big hat' Sanchez.Not bad,a bit slower than the usual shoot 'em up but not boring. Hero returns home and goes after villains but not before consulting a horoscope etc. Final showdown is during an eclipse. Lavagnino's music is a bit low key but I love the sandstorm cue.
Followed by Stranger in Town 7/10 with Tony Anthony and Frank Wolff (hiss boo). A bit more lively than the previous. Anthony's westerns have a little bit of slant to most others. A bit quirky,sort of. Such as baddie running out of saloon and being shot by hero lying on the floor and shooting up (not a drugs metaphor). Made me.smile. Giglia's music is ok, a bit repetitive but with a couple of good pieces.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Aug 8, 2020 - 10:57 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
RETURN OF THE LASH (1947) - 6/10
Based on the title, you'd be justified in thinking this was the second of the PRC Lash La Rue films, following the initial LAW OF THE LASH. But, no, it's actually the fifth of eight PRC films in which Lash La Rue had the lead role. Regardless, this is a decent outing in which Lash tries to stop lawless freight man "Jim Kirby" (George Chesbro) from driving out or killing the homesteaders in the valley where he controls the water rights. What he wants with their land is never made clear.
The big hook in this one is that Lash, as "The Cheyenne Kid" gets the idea that if he captures all of Kirby's hired killers and turns them in for the reward money, he'll have enough for the homesteaders to pay off their mortgages. This works well until his pal Fuzzy (Al St. John), riding back to town with $33,000 of reward money, is held up. Fuzzy is creased in the head by a bullet, and when the robbers check his saddlebags, all they find is rocks. But now Fuzzy has lost has memory and doesn't know where the money is.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My first thought was something entirely different.
|
|
|
|
|
|
MILK MONEY (1994) - 7/10
The critics hated this film, but I didn't think it was that bad. It has an unseemly premise, but it's handled in a [PG-13] manner. Three middle school boys decide that it's time they got their first look at a nude woman. Since issues of Cosmopolitan aren't providing what they need, they decide to pool their milk money in order to hire a prostitute to deliver the goods. Figuring that their idyllic suburb is not likely to have a prostitute, with cash in hand they ride their bicycles into "the big city." There, they start asking random women on the street if they will bare their breasts for $100. One or two face-slappings later, they happen across "Vee" (Melanie Griffith), an honest-to-gold prostitute. She takes them to her room in a cheap hotel and gives them a flash, although at the moment of truth, the youngest of the trio, 12-year-old "Frank" (Michael Patrick Carter), averts his eyes.
Attempting to go home, the boys find that their bikes have been stolen, so Vee gives them a lift home in her car. After dropping off Frank, she finds that her car will not start. Frank suggests she wait for his widower father "Tom" (Ed Harris) to come home so he can fix it. When Dad arrives, Frank intercepts him and explains that Vee is the math tutor of one of his friends, and that her car broke down after driving him home. Frank also decides that the beautiful and friendly Vee would be a good match for his lonely Dad, so he engineers a way to keep her around. Meanwhile, the mob bosses who run the prostitutes, particularly head man Malcolm McDowell, are frantically searching for Vee, since they believe she has absconded with some drug money.
As you might expect, a romance develops between Tom and Vee, all the more so because Vee has been told by Tom that son Frank "told me what you do" (i.e., math tutor). Vee can't believe how understanding Tom is about her profession, especially when Tom asks her to "help Frank out" in that area. OK, you get the drift as to where this is going. But the getting there is quite engaging, particularly because of the fine playing of Griffith and young Carter. Ed Harris, however, looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but in this film. Still, as directed by Richard Benjamin, this riff on PRETTY WOMAN is fun most of the time and not really in bad taste once you get over the initial shock of the premise. As for being realistic, well, it's as real as PRETTY WOMAN.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I remember really enjoying Milk Money too (despite its distasteful premise).
It's helped immeasurably by a lovely orchestral score by Michael Convertino, shamefully unreleased on commercial CD (although around 20 minutes was released on a composer promo...Thanks Doug) 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Stranger Returns 7/10 with Tony Anthony and Dan Vadis. A bit of an improvement on the previous one. Filmed ok, decent attempt at a story. Cipriani's music is good , though I think it was a bit too in your face.
Followed by Winnetou and the half-breed 6/10 with Lex and Pierre. Compared to the above and the like it's pure Saturday afternoon stuff for kids. Still watchable with some lovely scenery and photography. Again mum was happy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Aug 10, 2020 - 11:53 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
CLEMENCY (2019) - 7/10
A number of films have explored how a death sentence affects the person facing it. While CLEMENCY does that, it goes well beyond, in focusing how the pending execution affects those around the condemned, particularly, in this case the warden (Alfre Woodard) of the prison where the execution is to take place. This is the 12th execution for warden "Bernadine Williams," and the strain is beginning to wear on her, especially after No. 11 went badly, with the man being executed screaming in pain as the lethal drugs were injected into him
Coming up fast is the execution date for "Anthony Woods" (Aldis Hodge), who, of course, proclaims his innocence of the crime that put him on death row. Williams has to deal with Woods' persistent and increasingly frustrated lawyer (Richard Schiff) who has vowed to quit his job after this case, Woods' estranged wife (Danielle Brooks) who has refused to allow his child to have contact with him, a group of anti-death penalty protesters, and the chief death house guard (LaMonica Garrett) who is also buckling under the pressure. All of this has led Williams to seek lonely solace in the local bar after work each night, and caused marital problems with her husband (Wendell Pierce).
Alfre Woodard is convincing in her quiet desperation as the warden. She knows the pressure of the job is harming her emotionally, spiritually, and even physically, yet she feels she is unable to do anything other than carry out her duties. Woods' proclamation of innocence is really beside the point, since the film does not deal in guilt or innocence of the condemned. Instead, it is designed to show the psychic damage inflicted on everyone involved in the death penalty process and to ask if it is all really worth it.
CLEMENCY was seen by almost no one, with its Christmas 2019 release generating only $365,000 at the box office. It deserves wider recognition.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hitman redemption
Ron Perlman n the adorable Famke Janssen. Not bad, 7.4 out of 10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( original) Taking of Pelham 123 9/10 .A belter of a film,tight and to the point. Like my review ( for once, who said that?).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
