Cinema - Latest Comments

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Member	Movie		Comment / Review
zamla_71 27th Jul 2023		Sogni Erotici Di Cleopatra (1985)	Due to refusal of adding "Erotic" as a genre this ends up in "Romance" LOL
zabadak ● 27th Jul 2023		東京物語 (Tôkyô Monogatari) (1953)	Trailer :happy: [YouTube Video]
alexlincs 26th Jul 2023		Hardcore Henry (2015)	@Magic Marmalade I always thought it was an attempt at turning an FPS action videogame into a movie. I've not seen Doom, but I've heard this is better. Really fun popcorn movie.
Magic Marmalade 25th Jul 2023		Hardcore Henry (2015)	Rated 9/10 Like John Wick... on crack! In fact, there's plenty of other movies and other stuff that could be mentioned in attempting to convey a sense of, and characterise this absolutely batshit crazy movie... so here goes: It's like a live action, first person shooter sci-fi video game (the gimmick), which moves frenetically with the adrenalin charge of *Crank, with a dash of Robocop* (has a very strong whiff of Verhoven style humour), emitting a Saw like grim / gross graphic disturbing horror aesthetic, along with a Grand Theft Auto style irreverent humour, and all mixed up in a live action *manga* blender, to produce a nutty, almost relentless John Wick style smoothie. Phew! ...And believe me... "Phew!" is is how you feel after watching this absolute banger of a movie. It's taken me almost two years to get around to watching this, on account of I didn't have a blu-ray player, buy found the blu-ray disc at a bootfair last year (I am both cheap... and poor, and if I wasn't poor, I'd still be cheap! :) - finally found a player in the charity shop few weeks back for £2, and set it up, and watched last night - yay! ...During this time, I'd read many a disparaging review that seemed merely to dismiss this as a novelty item, based on the one gimmick, it ostensibly has: The first person shooter, video game idea, which many surely had thought to try sooner or later, but maybe abandoned it themselves due to it being a pretty thin idea on it's own (A fact that critics seemed to hone in on), which you would soon get tired of. And they are right. Except, this has a whole lot more going for it, which seems to have been overlooked, or ignored... ...Principally, it's the humour that sells the idea, and keeps the show on the road, as it has a razor-wire sharp sense of humour, manifest in the gags, both spoken and visual, which even some of the camera movements are funny, in the context of what's being shown on screen, which is mostly horrific, but even that somehow is hilarious - perhaps because it is so over the top, as to be the blackest slap-stick violence you've ever seen. (Basically, every one of the most awful things a person could do to another is done in this movie, and rather than baulk at it - you find yourself erupting with laughter - it ain't right, and I ain't proud of m'self for it, but damn it's funny!) The Sharlto Copley show Then there's the real feature of the movie, given that you never see Henry, from the outside, or hear him speak, even... (Bit like that old Judge Dredd thing of never showing him without the helmet) ...It's up to the other actors, and their characters to convey a sense of Henry by virtue of their relationship to him, which they do with aplomb... none more so than Sharlto Copley, who plays many variations of a character named Jimmy (It becomes clear later why), and is clearly having the time of his life. The guy is known for his somewhat outrageous portrayals in things like District 9, and even the A-Team movie, but here you get Copley-max, hamming it up in his many cartoonish cockney character versions which, if you struggle to key into at first, you will find hilarious pretty soon in. He basically steals the show here, and is performance, coupled with those other comic aspects, makes this a brilliant watch. I can, on reflection, see why initial critic reactions may have been negative for another reason too: As I have found myself, that the old "Cam-corder", "Found-footage" style of movie, as if from first person point of view, when presented on the big screen of the cinema, can be more effective at immersing you in the world than any amount of CGI, chilling, in the case of Blair Witch Project, I felt, but Nauseating, and even mildly Traumatising in the case of Cloverfield, but this uses an almost fish eye style camera (only slightly curved at the edges, so not over done), which when coupled with the frenetic pace of the action, and the wild camera movements, even so well considered, and used as here, may be somewhat vomit inducing at the cinema. But on a home cinema, or the TV in your living room, it's just about right, I'd say, and you can better appreciate the action. The story (yup, there's actually a story here, which is slightly overwhelmed by the action) is actually a good one too, with a few nice twisty turns in there, and even sci-fi concepts of it's own that are interesting ideas in themselves. This, overall, is a great, switch the mind off, Saturday night rollercoaster that you go in one end of, get mercilessly chewed up in, and spat out the other end of with a big fat smile on your face, and no sense of the time having passed at all since you started watching. Brilliant :) 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak ● 24th Jul 2023		Where The Crawdads Sing (2022)	Review WhyNow review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
zabadak ● 23rd Jul 2023		Oppenheimer (2023)	Review Evening Standard review :read: ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jul 2023		La Cité Des Enfants Perdus (1995)	(Just noticed this trailer mis-spells Ron Perlman's name...ouch! :)
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jul 2023		La Cité Des Enfants Perdus (1995)	Rated 9/10 The grimmest modern fairy-tale. From the infamous, and brilliant film-making duo: Jeunet And Caro, who brought us the strange and brutally wonderful: Delicatessen, and later the almost perfect fantastical French rom-com: Amelie, and indeed the wildly under-rated, and nutty: Micmacs... (Although I'm not sure if both of them were involved in this last one) ...Comes this wildly imaginative, beautifully shot (as usual) brothers Grimm style fairy-tale of man who cannot dream, and so recruits his less ciriminally mastermind-ish cloned brothers to venture forth, from their adapted oil-rig-ish home, to the mainland, in order to steal lost and abandoned children (orphans, and street urchins and such), to be taken back to their lair, in order to be hooked up to him while he sleeps, so that their dreams may be his for the experiencing. One such kidnap-ee, is young girl Miette's even younger brother: "Little brother", whom she sets out to find, and recover, with the help of simple ex-circus strong-man: "One", from the clutches of this evil enterprise. This has quite astonishing set pieces, especially the one on the pier, with the boat, where a cain of extraordinary events escalates to an incredible climax, having been initiated by the intervention of a trained assassin flea! There's a mysterious man in a submarine, biding his time apart from, and beneath the city, in it's river ways, a pair of evil conjoined twins, and indeed, a large talking brain in a tank. ...Everything your average movie-lover craves! :) The look and style will obviously be familiar those who appreciated these aspects of Amelie, but there's also an incredible blend of evocative yesteryear circus stylings and characteristics, science fiction, and antique, turn of last century Paris... and all wrapped up, of course, in this very strong Fairy-tale story and vibe. The opening dream sequence alone is one of the most visually incredible renditions of a dream (that rapidly sours into a nightmare) you will ever have seen on screen... so much so, you begin to feel a little woozy and uncertain yourself, just watching it! It was quite a big deal on release, as I recall, although I didn't see it until, I think 97, at Glastonbury festival on the cinema there, and it seems to have been largely forgotten, which is an incredible shame, as this is an absolute masterpiece of imaginative story-telling, as well as being one of the most sumptuous, brilliantly shot movies of the nineties, and a truly unique experience. Cannot recommend enough. [YouTube Video] 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jul 2023		La Vie Rêvée Des Anges (1998)	After much hunting, just discovered this beautiful song over the end credits is this: [YouTube Video]
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jul 2023		Arkansas (2020)	The more I think about it, the more I think this movie could benefit from a re-cut, and restructure... ...If you did away with the chapter headings, re-dispersed some of the earlier and later scenes elsewhere, so as to create a mystery / reveal element into it, in such a way as you were not really sure what was going on until something revealed earlier in it's present form was shown later, I think this would sharpen up the story-telling, bring focus to it, centre the movie around Vince Vaughn big performance, and also make the other two primary characters more impactful. As it is, I think director Clark Duke has been a little too slavish to the Tarantino style, at the expense of something great entirely of his own.
henry29 20th Jul 2023		The Flash (2023)	Added titles from the Movie. H.
Magic Marmalade 19th Jul 2023		La Vie Rêvée Des Anges (1998)	Rated 8/10 An expectation of life. Having not seen this, more or less, since the year of it's release, my memory was more than a little hazy of it, I just remember being engrossed in it... (And if I'm honest, more than a little taken with the elfin pixie girl Elodie Bouchez, which may have caused my still young brain to block out most of the other substance of the movie :) ((Got tired of waiting for this to turn up in a charity shop or boot fair, so bought a used DVD copy from amazon for a couple of quid - the extravagance! :)) ...It's a fairly straight up character study of two girls, on perhaps the lowest rungs of the social / economic ladder who meet, become friends, and then move in together, in an apartment owned by A mother and daughter who are both in a coma, after a car crash... So they are basically house-sitting / squatting, here, while aimlessly drifting through life, from job to job... and so forth. However, although it seems, from the outset, that Marie is the more "put-together" of the two, with Isa being a little bit more flaky, and "loose leaf", as the story goes, it becomes apparent that Isa is more able to accept the circumstances in which they find themselves, and is the more adaptable, as Marie, it seems, has more aspirational ideas of what her life should be, when she hooks up with a young, rich asshole of a guy, in whom she sees the opportunity, for that "dream-life" of hers to become a reality (more so, than any particular fancy for him, as a person). ...Needless to say, she becomes a tad obsessive about him, as all her hopes are invested in him, to the extent that she is willing to overlook almost every horrible thing about him, and how he treats her, and this, in turn, causes great friction in the once fun relationship she has with Isa... This, you feel, may end in tears. Meanwhile, Isa seems to be getting along fairly nicely, circumstances notwithstanding, and having paid a visit to the hospital, to see the young girl in the coma, to sit with her, she discovers her diary, and it can almost be said she begins to develop some kind of bond or relationship with the girl she has never met in the waking world. So it seems, on re-watching, and reflection to be about the expectations we have of life, what it should be, and what you are prepared to accept in it's stead - how adaptable you are in your mindset. But my residual impressions still hold true... (Now unblinkered by the absence of youthful hormones smashing through my tiny younger head!) ...A thoroughly engrossing, sad but intimate tale of two young girls, who each dream of other things in life, just not necessarily the same things, or in the same way. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 17th Jul 2023		Jacob's Ladder (1990)	Rated 9/10 Beauty in the darkness. While this is perhaps, not the most gross, or horrific movie to look at, compared to others, it has a uniquely disturbing nightmare quality, which most closely approximates the experience of a sweat inducing, nocturnal hallucination that we all know... more than any other film I can think of. It does it by virtue of a mood, a tone, the grimy, dingy looking cinematography, and some disturbing, horrific concepts shown through the images, rather than what the images themselves show... And what really underscores that nightmare, is the concept that, while most of us get to wake up, and shake it off, poor Jacob lives it in his waking world... all the time. For Jacob, an ex Vietnam vet, mourning the loss of his son, finds things around him in his world, by degrees, turning very peculiar, and terrifying. But it's not a simple horror movie, there is a purpose to the horror, as this is one man's journey through a kind of purgatory instead of hell. For this reason, once the film is done, is feels like it has a redemptive quality; Even, a *grace* to it, which prompts you to reconsider, in this context, all that you have just seen in the foregoing events. Although not a movie I'd put on for giggles, or fun, by any stretch of the imagination, I always found it strangely compelling, and needful, back in the day, to re-watch my old VHS copy, as a kind of catharsis / therapy for myself. In fact, I wonder what an actual therapist / psychiatrist / psychologist might make of this, not least, in how closely it might resemble a genuine psychosis, or schizophrenic state... ...Not entirely sure if it would, in such a scenario, be considered advisable or not for anyone suffering from such a condition to watch it... could be, according to the new-speak: *triggering.* But still, as a movie, masterfully done, and a perfectly executed, finely balanced redemptive nightmare movie. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 14th Jul 2023		Arkansas (2020)	Rated 6/10 There's a real movie here!... ...Somewhere... I think. Largely, an attempt at a kind of Tarantino movie (Chapter headings, among other indicators) - crossed with a languid, quirky indie flick aesthetic... Which proves to be too grand in it's production for the latter, but too light for the former. It feels flat, for the most part, and the first section, around Hemsworth and Clark Duke's characters feels tacked on to the Vince Vaughn character section, although they both, eventually converge at the end. Which is the first real issues with it... there's a "break in play" section later in the movie, where the story telling goes back in time to tell a tale about a couple of other characters, And I found this confusing, as I wasn't aware of an earlier section of the movie being set later than the last (if you get my drift) until this happened. The Chronology of a bit of back story is not well integrated, or explained. So structural story issues, and tonal issues (trying to be two types of movie at the same time, and drifting a little into neither and nothing-ness in this regard). Two hapless nowhere bods becoming embroiled in a down-south drug ring, headed by Vince Vaughn's: "Frog", get stuck in some low level drug ring limbo, while things go wrong around them, jeopardising both their position in this organisation, as well as their lives. The movie sprawls a bit, goes nowhere fast really, and is a bit disjointed. However, there are elements of this that make it very worth watching: Each of the characters, and each of the actors playing them, work very well: Hemsworth is much better than I thought he could be, Duke does his character very convincingly, as does Eden Brolin (yup, a Brolin family member) who seems to me to be a great actress in the making - she's got bags of charisma, very watchable presence - got real potential!... But I don't buy the pairing of these actors, or the characters they play, in that I can't imagine any of these three really having anything to do with each other in reality. (I have done myself a favour by neglecting to remember John Malkovich is in this movie, because his role / performance = Jeepers! :( But there's one real ace up this movie's sleeve: Vince Vaughn. Holy Mackerel, what a great performance! Neither a fan, nor... "not a fan", I have to say, he is absolutely mesmerising here, playing a rather callous, cold, low level drug kingpin, of the "legend in his own backyard - population: 5" variety, but it's a very subtle, very understated performance giving just an occasional glimpse, or sense of a broken, and breaking, vulnerable man within. If you could jettison the other story threads, enlarge his role, and make it about him, this would really be a great movie, as Vaughn can carry it, and hold the room. So much so, that you could probably drop his performance here into a Godfather / Goodfellas scale of story, and it would be equally at home... not out of place at all. This is Vince Vaughn's movie, and he steals the whole show. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 9th Jul 2023		Local Hero (1983)	Rated 9/10 I'ts only taken me decades to do, but finally got around to watching this... (I'd always pushed it back thinking it was going to be a cheap piece of shonk) ...And as reviews like the one below tell, I was wrong, and they are absolutely spot on! Magnificent movie. Very odd, though, it doesn't, aside from the basic premise of a guy sent to buy up piece of coastline for an oil company, seem to have a plot. ...It doesn't seem to have anything by way of traditional shifts in the story that would recognisably be considered "drama" - no struggles, no antagonist, or villain, no "all is lost" moment, no real act or acts of overt "heroism"... It just... is. And what it is, is gentle, warm, lightly funny, quirky, stunningly beautiful to look at, and is a veritable warm hearth of a movie, which will henceforth, serve as a great comfort food of a movie. Why did it take me so long?!!! All it is, based on the premise mentioned above, is a big city business type (not objectionable in any way, or cartoonish, or a caricature) dropped in this stunning little world of this village on the coast, and it, and the people there, just go to work on him; Eroding him until he, by degrees falls in love with the place and people. As will you, if you haven't seen it yet, and intend to watch it. Sublime. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 5th Jul 2023		Deathtrap (1982)	Rated 9/10 Another stage-play adaptation (of sorts) in the Murder / Mystery category, with just three central characters (and a couple of other instrumental characters). This time, Michael Caine takes on the role of the once successful / now hitting the skids play-write mentoring a young, prodigiously talented play-write in the shape of Christopher Reeve, at his "modest" yet cosy Windmill conversion house, with Caine's incredibly highly strung wife at his side, hosting the young prodigy. This is a wildly hammy, mega-schlock kitsch-to-the-eyeballs, overacted , stagey melodramatic affair, but I love it :) ...Even in spite of Dyan Cannon's mega annoying character, as well as the equally infuriating and unbelievable psychic (I kid you not) nosey next door neighbour, each with the acting to match (although allowances must be made, as this was clearly on purpose). But the real stand out here is Christopher Reeve, who, being a big guy, and an imposing enough Prescence to land him the role of Superman, put it's to great use here, not as the ultimate good guy super-hero, but rather, a truly terrifying character - You might not believe this man can fly, but you certainly will believe you'd not turn your back on him if you ever met him! But great fun, and I've always enjoyed watching it late night in the winter months. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 5th Jul 2023		Sleuth (1972)	Rated 10/10 Still the best of it's kind for me! This was probably my earliest introduction murder mystery / stageplay movies, and it remains entrancing to me all these years later. Just two dudes in a room (a very BIG room.. in a very BIG manor house in the country) trying to out-wit, and out-do each other in the ultimate, deadly game of cat and mouse. - OK, so the "twist" probably won't fool many, if any, but it's the drama, and the acting, as well as the portrayal of very specific character tropes of the time: Olivier's arrogant, upper-crust English Aristocrat gentleman sleuth novelist of leisure, set against Caine's lower class cockney / immigrant / new blood / new money, comparatively youthful type that makes this endlessly captivating. ...So much so, that you find yourself perfectly prepared to consciously suspend any disbelief you will undoubtedly have, and go along for the ride. (As opposed to having to be convinced by the movie makers to do so, by any contrivance of theirs) Still the gold standard of tightly focused murder mystery movies for me. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
SvendHenrik00 5th Jul 2023		Tro, Håb Og Trolddom (1960)	Added Danish Movie Program Booklet
Magic Marmalade 4th Jul 2023		Zui Quan (1978)	Rated 8/10 Story idea: pretty good. Script and dialogue: ouch! Acting: Yikes! Fight choreography: Mind bendingly brilliant. It's this last that makes this fun and compelling to watch right through to the end, and makes the other less than acceptable points I alluded to tolerable. Going on the acting and script, this would be a 3 or 4 /10 - the choreography alone adds the extra points in my rating. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Jul 2023		Reservoir Dogs (1992)	I don't think it is possible for me to overstate the impact and importance of this movie on me personally, or indeed others, who like me, were lucky enough to have seen it at the cinema at time of release... ...I remember, having reached the pitch of "Hollywood superstar vehicle movies" fare prior to this, me and some friends, went because we thought it might "be cool"... (Teenagers eh?!? - ha ha :) ...And sitting transfixed in the cinema, and it being like: "What the hell is this? - is this what a movie can be?.... in the cinema?!!!" - not our usual diet of big budget action schlock. We all walked out the cinema in frowny, thoughtful silence. ...Something has, or was about to change, dramatically in cinema, I felt, and indeed, I think this certainly allowed things like Pulp Fiction to be accepted by a wider audience. The only other moment in culture I can remember in my lifetime, that represented as dramatic a shift, or push into some other space than the usual was the release of the Nirvana album: Nevermind. ...almost literally, overnight, everything that had gone before was redundant, and quite simply "over", and now... this. (In the case of Nevermind, there were ever increasing levels of unrelatable absurdity in hair metal, consuming all the cultural oxygen in rock, least... then: BANG! Teen Spirit! - you hair metallers are done - find new occupations please. Of course, now I have a nostalgic appreciation for those old permy rockers - "How I learned to stop wirrying and love hair metal" :) But this is still my fave of the Quinisters - because it was (consciously) the first.
MR B PAGE 3rd Jul 2023		Marley & Me (2008)	R.I.P. Alan Arkin who plays Arnie Klein in the 2008 movie.
Magic Marmalade 2nd Jul 2023		National Treasure (2004)	Rated 8/10 >Attention, Disillusioned Indiana Jones Fans! - look here< Having not been inspired at all, from the moment of announcement (even before the inevitable hoo-ha) of a new Indiana Jones movie, and knowing that some / many will be disappointed with the new offering... ...I would instead, direct the attention of crypto-archaeology adventure fans to this, and it's sequel. After Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, this is what a 21st century Indiana Jones movie ought to look and feel like! Indeed, after much thought, I have concluded that the reason Raiders, and Last Crusade worked, and endured, where Temple, and these two newer ones don't is because those former two take a pre-existing, and enduring sources of general fascination: The Ark Of The Covenant, And The Holy Grail, whose enduring myths always draw the audience's attention, regardless of whether it is set in an action adventure movie or not, but then place an iconic Sherlock Holmes / James Bond type character capable, and dynamic enough to explore those myths, and fathom them out, in an exciting, and intriguing manner we ourselves are not able to. So the problem, from the get- go, with Temple Of Doom (for a western audience at least) was the subject of his adventure there - stones (whaa?), Crystal Skulls (more recent modern hocum from the proto- conspiracy theorist shack), and most recently, some kind of metaphysical bullshit clock, invented by lazy writers, I imagine, who have no grounding in history, and the stuff that elicits the intrigue of an audience. *Who cares!?!* No, Indiana Jones is merely our guide to those subjects, which already hold our imaginations. And that's where this comes in... ...Same basic set-up, with Nick Cage's geeky, reluctant Historian adventurer getting drawn into a web of historical intrigue, around just the kind of historical curiosities (albeit of more modern vintage) that were so interesting when adventuring through Ark OTC, or The Holy G territory. And what's more, it's a cracking good ride! (Just like Indy used to be) Great family fun, that doesn't treat you like an imbecile. So don't watch that worn out old pair of shoes, watch this... and get from it what you wanted from that Dial business in the first place! ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 1st Jul 2023		Amadeus (1984)	I think this the textbook example of that line from Liberty Valance: "When the legend becomes fact... print the legend" (More or less) ...In that the impact of this screenplay and movie has probably become the truth of the life and death of Mozart, and cast another historical figure: Composer: Salieri, in a very dim light indeed, to the extent the poor guy has been all but damned to hell, reputationally speaking. One thing has crossed my mind just recently, is how similar the parallels are between the recent movie: Whiplash, and this. (I wonder if this was an influence on it?)
Magic Marmalade 1st Jul 2023		Nil By Mouth (1997)	Very tough watch. But a great portrayal of an abusive relationship, and examination of what may be behind it.
mikerhyl SUBS 27th Jun 2023		The Gay Dog (1954)	“Gay “ is the family name ,and the film is about dog racing !
mikerhyl SUBS 27th Jun 2023		London Town (1946)	Also stars 13 year old Petula Clark
zabadak ● 24th Jun 2023		No Hard Feelings (2023)	Independent review :read:
zabadak ● 23rd Jun 2023		Asteroid City (2023)	Trailer :happy: [YouTube Video]
mikewn 22nd Jun 2023		The World Of Charlie Company (1970)	Also documented here: Paley Center Listing
zabadak ● 21st Jun 2023		An American Tail (1986)	Trailer (nod to jamieeduardo) :happy: [YouTube Video]

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