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Member	Movie		Comment / Review
Magic Marmalade 10th Jan 2025		Convoy (1978)	Rated 7/10 An old favourite that still keeps on rollin'! Not seen this since I was about 12, when pretty much every year before that it seemed to be on tv, and I used to watch it every time... I thought it was great back then, but in the intervening years, if you'd asked me what the point of the whole movie was - the plot - I'd struggle to say anything more than a bunch of truckers decide to make a, well, convoy, and the cops don't like it. (And that, upon rewatch, is still basically the plot :) ...However, since then, I now know who Sam Peckinpah is, and what he is known for as a director, including the overly highlighted violent scenes (occasional ultra slow-motion shots of a punch, or a shot, or other dramatic moment), and I get the whole metaphorical subtext etc. But it still is fun, and very enjoyable, and sits alongside those kind of movies of the time like Any Which Way But Loose and Cannonball Run, being a kind of working class rebel outlaw movie in the style of a western set in a modern world. It's sits tonally between Smokey And The Bandit, though not as goofy, and consistently light-hearted... And Vanishing Point, though not as serious and straight faced. Not bad for a movie based on a song! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 5th Jan 2025		The Mist (2007)	Rated 8/10 One of the best Stephen King adaptations, and again, it probably has something to do with the director: Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). A pretty creepy and haunting analogy for human behaviour as a result of despair in the face of unknowable terror... Although the story was written some years back, the movie was doubtlessly produced to be timely in the wake of 911. ...Still, perhaps even more applicable than ever. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Z Records 4th Jan 2025		Whoops, I'm An Indian! (1896)	From 1896?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Jan 2025		Inside Out 2 (2024)	Rated 7/10 Aaaarrghhh...Puberty!!!!! Not anywhere near as good as the first, but that's because, I think, that one will have a broader appeal age wise, in evoking a lot of "stuff" for older audiences about their youngest years... In a more poetic, and heart-breaking way, whereas this will probably mean more to an audience specifically contemporary to the age of the lead character Riley. This moves a lot quicker, and is more busy. Very good though. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Jan 2025		Late Night With The Devil (2023)	Rated 8/10 This is really rather brilliant. It's a short movie, running at only an hour and a half... (A full two minutes of which, are occupied at the start by the seemingly endless production company idents... seriously, I think there's at least eight!) ...And it's a pastiche / homage to both the kind of late night seventies talk shows that felt a bit ropey, and a bit dodgy and dangerous, as well as the several attempts at live TV broadcasting of "spooky" goings on at Halloween over the years, where they pretend that it's all actually happening, but much to the consternation of those making the show, it actually is. So it's a desperate gambit of a show gone wrong, framed as a kind of "found footage" horror, where we are supposedly witnessing the original master-tape of the original live broadcast... ...Except I think this has actually exceeded the now traditional, and perhaps worn trope of the found footage thing, and is perhaps better thought of as a kind of stage play. In fact, my abiding thoughts at the end were exactly that: "This would make truly brilliant stage show!" - Broadway or West End adaptation anyone?!? So fading talk show host invites a supposedly intermittently possessed girl on as a guest, with her rescuer / carer, in order to try and coax the devil out for the benefit of live TV (and therefore, good ratings), along with a now professional sceptic / debunker, and a psychic medium, all infront of a live television audience... what could go wrong? :) It feels very stagey throughout the first half, but I think, done with a wry smile, albeit, played brilliantly deadpan... and I do think it might have been more effective without the "special" effects, later on, which feel a bit too "Ghostbusters" CGI, and does kill the immersion a little, but the finale really redeems it, with the "In The Mouth Of Madness" surreal, horrific mind bending sequence, which takes it up to another level of weird. All cast are excellent, primarily David Dastmalchian, of course, who, finally given a chance at a lead role, knocks t clean out of the park, as we always knew he could, and it's nice to see Ian Bliss (Bane in: Matrix Reloaded) again - need to see more of this dude! - as the debunker, and especially praise goes to Ingrid Torelli as a truly creepy kid! A great, short, late night horror watch, and as I said, an absolute potential gold mine for a possible stage play adaptation! (Has anyone ever done a genuine horror movie on the stage before) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Jan 2025		Pineapple Express (2008)	Rated 7/10 Fun, un-pc modern Cheech and Chong-esque stoner comedy that eventually turns into a kind of slapstick Die Hard / videogame shooter style bonkers shoot-em up. Really quite good actually. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 1st Jan 2025		Miracle On 34th Street (1947)	Pure magic
Magic Marmalade 31st Dec 2024		An Affair To Remember (1957)	Rated 7/10 "Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories..." Yup, it's that one... heavily, not only influencing, but in many ways informing, if not actively helping create Sleepless In Seattle - The whole: Empire State Building scenario and so forth. But it's a pretty odd movie, as much as it is a classic romance movie, in that the first half is pretty tedious, and dull, not only due to the limited expressive capabilities of Cary Grant (better at the comic stuff than the dramatic I feel), but also the rather empty "banter" and back and forth between him and Deborah Kerr, who has quite a stiff, school-matronly thing going on here, which mostly feels flat, and not quite as crackling as they were perhaps aiming for... Not good in a dialogue driven, two person focused movie; Especially when the lack of musical score for much of this makes it seem like you're on set, without all the production added, so it seems odd. In addition, many of these individual shots go on way too long, making it feel all the more awkward, like they should have cut to something else several seconds previous. (There'a one scene in a small chapel where they are both praying silently to themselves, where I'm not entirely sure if she's reciting a prayer to herself, or the whole bloody bible!). All of this is not a good mix, and as well as highlighting the dull clunky feel of it all, is apt to make you nod off. And from this alone, I would have scored this a 5 out of 10 (5 being my baseline score of: "meh" - less than this represents a negative score in my book) ...Oh, and their respective "others", whom they are in relationships with, seem to be taking they news that they each love another in an altogether nonchalant, bordering on indifferent manner, which does lessen the dramatic stakes considerably . But... ...Then, something remarkable happens, as the last half hour picks it up a couple of points for me, and makes the whole thing more worthy of it's "Classic" status... And better than this, the final five minutes (literally the last five minutes) are truly exceptional, even brilliant. That final scene is probably one of the most inspired, and brilliant pieces of screenwriting in any romance movie, using the genius device of having him apologise to her for something she (apparently) has done to him, until she gets the point and the subtext is apparent to all of us in the audience. Masterfully done. So this last scene is probably a 9 out of 10 (pushing towards a 10) and redeems the whole thing somewhat, and is worth watching for that alone. One odd little thing that stuck in my head after the movie was over, was that it occurred to me that they meet on a boat when kerr's character finds his lost cigarette case....I'm pretty sure he doesn't smoke a single cigarette in the whole movie! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 29th Dec 2024		Megalopolis (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 29th Dec 2024		The Substance (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 29th Dec 2024		His Three Daughters (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 28th Dec 2024		Emily (2022)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 28th Dec 2024		Kimitachi Wa Dô Ikiru Ka (2023)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 28th Dec 2024		Ferrari (2023)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 28th Dec 2024		Blitz (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 28th Dec 2024		Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 27th Dec 2024		Moana 2 (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 26th Dec 2024		Anora (2024)	Review Guardian review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 26th Dec 2024		Theater Camp (2023)	Review Guardian review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 26th Dec 2024		Theater Camp (2023)	Trailer :happy: [YouTube Video]
zabadak 26th Dec 2024		Cocaine Bear (2023)	Review Guardian review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 26th Dec 2024		The Lion King (2019)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 26th Dec 2024		Primal Fear (1996)	Rated 8/10 Great lawyer turns sleuth in defence of his client movie, culminating in a courtroom drama, set against a noir-ish intrigue / corruption background setting, with a dash of Silence Of The Lambs about it. ...It's great, until the credits roll, and you start thinking about the plausibility of it, and what comes after (and even before), and it breaks down a little under too much scrutiny. So my advice is: Don't nit-pick, or try to consider the whys and wherefores, just sit back and go along for the ride, and then it's a great movie. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 23rd Dec 2024		Mufasa: The Lion King (2024)	Review Independent review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 22nd Dec 2024		Contraband (2012)	Rated 8/10 Entertaining twaddle with plot holes you can drive a ship through. Violent and sweary. Right up my street! 8/10 ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 21st Dec 2024		Shichinin No Samurai (1954)	4K trailer (2024) :happy: [YouTube Video]
Magic Marmalade 17th Dec 2024		Garden State (2004)	Rated 9/10 The man who almost wasn't there. This is what I am looking to find when I buy a stack of DVDs... a little lost gem, a real treasure of a movie, which this absolutely is! This is one of those from the noughties which has that quirky, slightly off kilter humour redolent of an indie flick. It is in tone, and feel, a lot like Lost In Translation: total understatement, and under-playing, for maximum effect, which, though the name of this movie has come in and out of my consciousness on and off throughout the years, it was the involvement of Zach Braff that always put me off, due to his character in (of course) Scrubs... I didn't think he was capable of such a brilliantly subdued, even supressed performance as he gives here, let alone, that he could both write and direct such a minor masterpiece as this, which he has. He takes the lead as a minor struggling actor returning home for the funeral of his mother, amidst unresolved issues between them as well as his father, which is what set him to going away in the first place, and he has, over the intervening years, become so overly medicated in order to deal with the presumed psychological impact them, that he is numb to the point of blankness. While at his Mother's funeral, for which he can feel little, to no emotion, much less express any, he meets up with some old school friends who now have jobs digging the graves, they invite him out to a party, and being barely a participant in his own life, just goes along with it. He also comes across the rather oddball, delightfully naïve, yet open and friendly Natalie Portman, and so his journey back to the land of the living, and to being a fully functioning human begins. While the relationship with Portman's character does for the main part, class this as a rom-com, it's actually more of a tragi-comedy focused more on Braff's character, and his route back to being someone. The comedy is light, witty and perfectly judged, the tragic elements equally light and well judged, and this is overall a wonderfully warm film, that gets warmer as it goes, and even becomes, at times sublime, and even beautiful. So if you like the "vibe" of Lost In Translation, and wished there was at least another movie, near identical in tone and humour, that make you feel that same way, then here it is. On the strength of this, give Zach Braff all the money he can carry, and let him go make more of the same! Brilliant. (I'm keeping this DVD!) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak 16th Dec 2024		To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)	The Oldie article :read:
zabadak 16th Dec 2024		Dune: Part Two (2024)	Dolby Creator Talks :shocked:
Magic Marmalade 15th Dec 2024		While You Were Sleeping (1995)	Rated 9/10 The first of my Christmas movies. ...For I have now promoted this to it's proper place as a Christmas movie, not just a rom-com, and in fact, it foes that same thing that Moonstruck does for the summer: It's not just a two person rom-com, it's as much, if not more a family rom-com, in the sense that it is a family romance, about a lonely train ticket booth worker who falls in love with the man she saves from the tracks one day, but, being in a coma, he is unable to clarify things for his family, who visit him in hospital, about the fact that she is a total stranger to him, and so they mistake her for his fiancé, and the rest of the movie is about her being welcomed into their family, and she falling in love with the family vibes. Very warm, cosy Christmas themed farcical gem that gets better every year, and so it is the first one I watch in the season. (And it has Sandra Bullock.... :) ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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