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Zenebal 3/10. Lucretia Love,John Ireland and Lionel Stander. Pretty bad, really. It had the potential to be much better - period romp some decent cast members and a bit of t & a. To be fair it did seem to be a bit butchered with the scissors. Maybe it was raunchier?
Mallory must not die 6/10 Robert Woods. Not bad , not great either but watchable. The music by Roberto Pregadio over used the main theme a bit to much.
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HBO's The Watchmen
6/10
I may need its own thread later to discuss this one. On the heels of my viewing of season 1 of American Gods, I find myself giving a lower score to this one than I thought it otherwise deserved. I enjoyed it, yet several things rubbed me the wrong way, and some of those are bigger things than story particulars.
Loved Jeremy Irons as Veight, of course.
From what I heard its Watchmen in name only.
Its a funny one. In some ways it is close to the original story, if that's of import compared to the film. In some ways it kind of insults (?) the film... like I say, tough to properly analyze. Worth seeing, but...  .
The series is a sequel to the source material, i.e., the Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons graphic novel. It ignores the supplemental material DC published without Alan Moore's involvement, and is separate from the movie adaptation. For example, the HBO series retains the original Earth shattering event that is supposed to change the world that was from the graphic novel, instead of the event used in the movie. I haven't seen the series yet, but a friend of mine who has seen it, and who is familiar with the graphic novel, was quite happy with the HBO series. Hopefully I will get the chance to watch the show some day, but considering I don't have a subscription to HBO, it won't be any time soon.
Personally, I am happy that they are not attempting to adapt the graphic novel, but rather build on the world the graphic novel created. The original series was built from the ground up to take advantage of all the strengths offered by the comic book medium, and reading through it, it shows. Movies have their own strengths, but very little of what made the graphic novel great translates well to a movie. I am not particularly fond of the movie adaptation, nor am I that fond of Zack Snyder, but I don't know that anyone else could have honestly done much better adapting the story to film.
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Posted: |
Aug 4, 2020 - 10:37 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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LIVING OUT LOUD (1998) - 8/10
I hadn't seen this film since it first came out. I liked it then, and I like it now. Holly Hunter has been nominated for four Oscars, and won one of them, but her work in this film is as good as any of those other performances. She plays a woman whose husband has left her for a younger colleague. Fortyish, and alone for the first time in 20 years, she's trying to figure out what the next phase of her life will be. She haunts a local club (where Queen Latifah is the featured singer), perhaps waiting to be swept off her feet by some handsome man. With nothing happening on that front, she strikes up a conversation with the elevator operator in her building (Danny DeVito), another lonely soul. They begin to enjoy each other's company. But can it ever be more than that? The two have different ideas on that possibility.
Richard LaGravenese, who wrote the screenplays for THE FISHER KING and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, made his directorial debut with this film, writing the original screenplay as well. The film is not a conventional romantic comedy-drama, and it does not follow the well-trod pathways of that genre. It's full of unique character touches, as well as containing a number of fantasy sequences. But most of all, it's not afraid of lingering on conversations--on two people talking about their lives, fears, hopes, and anxieties. It's amazing how something that simple, when done well, can hold your interest so strongly.
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Posted: |
Aug 5, 2020 - 2:30 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Funeral in Berlin (1966) ... 6+/10
Multiple viewings since the mid-70s, I think I enjoyed it more this time than ever, helped partly by good HD PQ and sound. I used to own the DVD but this broadcast (Film4 from last Nov) put that to shame, despite the adverts.
Not as good as the first, The Ipcress File (1965), or the The Quiller Memorandum released shortly before this, but one of the better entries in this popular 1960's genre.
Michael Caine is superb and many of his co-stars provide wonderful support - though I think Eva Renzi did not have the gravitas her character required. The Berlin settings are wonderful - were some of those locations in rundown industrial areas or actually filmed in East Berlin? - and give the film an aura of realism.
No spy / action film stands up to scrutiny and this one, with its complicated (I view it as 3-way) plot is just too complicated for its own good. Somewhat better than its source novel (which is too rambling, e.g. our hero spends pages delving into Vulkan's background and we're treated to a slice of his back-story) it doesn't make much sense (e.g. just how do Hallam and Vulkan get to collaborate, etc.) and the ending is very weak ... albeit a lot better than the written one.
An interesting, enjoyable, score by Konrad Elfers which is a little too prominent with its stings but has an infectious main theme and wonderful soundscape for West Berlin night-life.
I don't expect to re-read the novel (I've just finished re-reading Berlin Game) but I shouldn't say I won't bother watching the film again. I know it provides a good 100 minutes plus entertainment.
Mitch
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Oscar Homolka: a good little character. I like him in this.
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Oscar Homolka: a good little character. I like him in this.
Agreed. He's even better, playing virtually the same role, in The Tamarind Seed (1974). I don't know much of his career but for these two films (and, to a lesser extent, Billion Dollar Brain (1967)) he adds to the film's enjoyment.
It's people like him that I feel are sadly missing from current films. Good character actors. I don't think there any worth their salt, now.
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Posted: |
Aug 5, 2020 - 2:08 PM
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By: |
Rameau
(Member)
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The Kid Stays In The Picture (2002) recorded from Sky Documentaries. A doc about legendary producer & head of production at Paramount, Robert Evans (Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Godfather 1 & 2). The rise, & of course the fall, narrated by Evens himself, it's all very artsy, & I'm thinking tells only a tiny bit of the story (he only talks about one marriage, to Ali MacGraw, when in fact he was married seven times). I just checked & I see he died only late last year, a hell of a character.
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The hlHeroes of Fort Worth (Assault on Fort Texan) 4/10 with Edmund Purdom and Eduardo Fajardo.(hiss boo). Decidedly average. In the cast is someone listed as Precious Steele. On IMDb it says this is Evelyn Stewart(Ida Valli). Well she looks no more like Evelyn than I do!
Followed by The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism ( though here it was called something else) 6/10 with Lex Barker (another of mum's hunks) Chris Lee and Karin For. Enjoyable slice of cheese and this version was better quality than the piece.of crap I have, so it was worth it for that. However some of the music sounded like it was from Terry and June courtesy of Peter Thomas.
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Posted: |
Aug 7, 2020 - 12:17 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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SHAKES THE CLOWN (1992) - 5/10
What a train wreck this film is. Numerous studios turned down the film before comedian-turned-filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait took his script to independent production company I.R.S. Media. Goldthwait approached I.R.S. at the suggestion of his friend, comedian Kathy Griffin, who went on to appear in the film as “Lucy.” After first expressing interest, I.R.S. took three months to decide before agreeing to finance and produce the film They should have thought longer. After spending $1.8 million to produce the film and another $400,000 on a radio and print advertising campaign, it grossed only $115,000 at the box office.
"Shakes" (Goldthwait) is a lackluster party clown, and uses all of his free time getting seriously drunk. "Binky" (Tom Kenny), another clown, wins the coveted spot on a local kiddie show, which depresses Shakes even more, and his boss, "Owen Cheese" (Paul Dooley), threatens to fire him if he can't get his act together. When someone murders Cheese and frames Shakes, he goes undercover, posing as a hated mime, and tries to clear his name.
There's no wit in Goldthwait's script and few laughs in the slapstick that he creates. The film's only saving grace is that it runs just 84 minutes. The 11 March 1992 Los Angeles premiere of the film was a charity event for Comic Relief, a charity for the homeless. Reportedly, people walked out of the screening.
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The four Hunger Games ?/10 I watched them in a row. They are all ok ( some more than others ) but I won't be rushing to watch them again. Like most modern block busters they seem to lack depth. They are all top sheen . The cast were all right,they look alright. They just didn't pull me in. I enjoyed JNH, though. I have been playing the CDs, again, first time in ages.
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