Cinema - Reviews by albert

Cinema - Reviews by albert

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
albert 6th May 2021		Cinema Blue Ruin (2013) (2013)	Review Dwight, a homeless and mentally scarred vagrant, is informed that the man who killed both his parents is about to be released from prison. Springing into action he sets off on a quest for revenge without fully appreciating the consequences of his actions. This is a very enjoyable thriller quite unlike other vengeance films in that the protagonist really doesn’t have a plan other than to kill the man he believes killed his parents. Guaranteed that things will turn out horribly wrong, Dwight then he has to deal with the wrath of the vicious clan who in turn decide not to involve the police in this family matter. As a morality tale it works fine being that you can believe this kind of situation could occur, and thankfully the story doesn’t fall into the usual preachy territory of vengeance films and instead sustains an edgy and tense atmosphere right through to the end. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 11th Apr 2021		Cinema Moulin Rouge (1952)	Review Although the film is notionally a biography of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and associates, it is derived from a work of fiction by novelist Pierre La Mure, which means the true facts, dates, and events are mostly dispensed with in order make way for an entertaining but somewhat different story. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 11th Apr 2021		Cinema Zombeavers (2014) (2014)	Review Was recommended this film, but my advice is don't bother. It's stupid, not very funny, rotten script written by half-wits, and the beavers are not convincing. Naturally I did not explore the special features on the Blu-ray, which include things about the beavers - as if that's something they feel proud of. Scratch it off your CV guys. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 18th Feb 2020		Cinema Forbidden Planet (1956) (1956)	Review An outstanding 1950s sci-fi adventure which borrows from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and serves up a cautionary tale on scientific experimentation. A scientist uses psycho-kinetic machines developed by the super-advanced ex-inhabitants of the planet to increase his mental capacity, but subconsciously unleashes an actualisation of his very jealous id. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 29th Apr 2019		Cinema Red-Headed Woman (1932) (1932)	Review Jean Harlow plays Lil, the social climbing, marriage wrecking, man-limpet who never takes no for an answer and bullies her men to get what she wants, and she does want everything money can buy. Una Merkel plays Sally, her no-nonsense friend who always has something up her sleeve to deflate Lil's ego. The film zips along with comical cringeworthy situations, witty asides and knowing pointers which you might need a sharp eye to catch. The men are like putty in Lil's hands and when you think she finally gets her comeuppance she still manages to trump them all. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 18th Apr 2019		Cinema Theatre Of Blood (1973) (1973)	Review Hammy and deluded stage actor Edward Lionheart loses out on the top award he was so convinced he deserved, and so exacts a Shakespearean bloody revenge on the critics that denied him. Lionheart is quickly identified as the murderer but his acting skills and ingeniously-staged ploys enable him to both dupe his victims and evade capture, (despite having the plot laid out for all to see). Grand Guignol of the finest order. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 17th Apr 2019		Cinema Nightmares In A Damaged Brain (1981) (1981)	Review This clunky, Halloween-inspired story concerns a released mental health patient who goes around killing people, or maybe he just imagines it, he also visits sordid peep shows and suffers fits, and then he wants to go to the nice suburb where he grew up and bother the family living in his old home. Well something like that. Regrettably the plot is a bit of a mess, there are jarring changes in pace and the tension gets built up then lost several times. Still there are sequences that will stay in the memory long after seeing the film. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 10th Apr 2019		Cinema The Invisible Boy (1957) (1957)	Review This film is on the extras of the Forbidden Planet DVD, I wouldn't recommend it, just a few minutes and you'll be hitting the fast forward, like me. Yes the boy gets to be invisible thanks to his pal Robbie and gets up to all sorts of high jinks, including an encounter with the army if I remember correctly. However his parents don't seem to be that amazed or concerned, it makes you wonder whether it is Robbie or the parents that are the real robots. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 3rd Apr 2019		Cinema La Femme De Mon Pote (My Best Friend's Girl ) (1983) (1983)	Review What to say, c'est le Francais [shrugs shoulders], not particularly a comedy, and not much of a romance. At the ski-resort they call home, Pascal (the babe-magnet) shows off his latest conquest, Viviane, to his best friend Micky (the dumpy one). Micky is irritated and grumpy and unfriendly towards Viviane, however when Pascal goes to work Micky stays to keep Viviane company and the icy façade thaws. Things then get a bit romantically complicated, or predictable, or rather it skids along as the screenwriters can't seem to make their minds up on where to take the slushy story. This viewer was left decidedly cold and unperturbed, rather like the participants. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 27th Mar 2019		Cinema Inspecteur La Bavure (Inspector Blunder) (1980) (1980)	Review After only just scraping through the Police Academy, and being assigned to the worst precinct in Paris, the blundering son of a heroic inspector tries to make his own mark, with disastrous and hilarious results. Additional problems arrive via a muck-racking journalist daughter of a millionaire, who, when also insulting a crime lord gets kidnapped as a consequence. Can the inspector save the day and uphold the reputation of the dismal police force? 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 27th Mar 2019		Cinema Symphonie Pour Un Massacre (Symphony For A Massacre) (1963) (1963)	Review The story is of 5 criminals who are in on a drug deal, plans go awry immediately when the supplier reveals the shipment has arrived in one large haul and wants a quick full payment instead of the previously agreed smaller instalments. The gang meet and do agree to go ahead with the deal but unbeknown to the others there are two untrustworthy members, one hasn't the ready money for his stake so instead supplies counterfeit notes, and another gang member is tempted by the large bag of money instead. What starts off as a simple con amongst cons soon escalates into betrayal and murder, the slip-ups and curve-balls are like classic film-noir and everything is neatly paced despite the film's 105m duration. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 22nd Apr 2018		Cinema Phantom Lady (1944) (1944)	Review This film is often pigeon-holed as a film noir due to it's moody atmospheric lighting and sets, but it is actually more of a reasonable murder mystery. The film gets off to a good start with an inspired flip to the well-trodden amnesia plot; here we see the murder suspect accompanied by a mysterious lady out on the town on the actual night, and the next day he can recall his steps in exact detail to the police, but all of his many witnesses deny seeing him and his companion, leaving him no alibi but for the mysterious lady who has since vanished without a trace. After his court case he ends up waiting on death row leaving his secretary to do the detective work aided by the police inspector at the end of the phone. The ending is also good with a suspenseful 20 minutes worthy of Hitchcock, but alas the enjoyment is somewhat tempered by a huge plot hole - which is the second murder (think about it) - Now if this was a Hitchcock film I am sure the master would have changed things around to keep the secretary oblivious to the fact and hence in constant danger while the police race to close the net on the real killer. So a reasonable murder mystery let down by a sloppy mistake in the plot. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 21st Oct 2017		Cinema Toto Le Héros (Toto The Hero) (1991) (1991)	Review Brilliant and inventive storytelling from Jaco Van Dormael, his debut full length feature. It is the life story of Thomas as told by the protagonist from traumatic childhood to embittered old man fretting over the life he could have had, had he been born Alfred - his neighbour and enemy. The three ages of Thomas' life are told in fragments but so expertly woven together that the 90 minutes fly by. The film has some strange moments of fantasy to divert you and drops clues that you will need to think about carefully to fully appreciate what is going on. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 15th Aug 2017		Cinema Sole Survivor (1970) (1970)	Review A WWII bomber is discovered in the desert decades after it was lost in flight. The sole survivor travels out there intending to return home with the remains of the ex-crew members to give them a proper burial but has trouble in locating the bodies. Meanwhile the ghosts of the crew look on, play baseball and ponder the situation. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 6th Oct 2016		Cinema Revenge Of Billy The Kid (1992) (1992)	Review Living on an island are farmer Gyles MacDonald, his wife, Grampa (who passes away early on), and 3 offspring Ronald, Ronald and Ronald (though she prefers Ronnie), oh and the 4th kid, Billy, who is a bit of an animal. Billy grows fast, scavenging food, however he pushes his luck when he goes for Gyles' moonshine and is chased from the farmhouse. Out in the wilds Billy fends for himself but develops a taste for human flesh …soon he will return to the farm looking for more food! 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 18th Sep 2016		Cinema Mondo Cane (A Dog's Life) (1962) (1962)	Review "Tired of being on the heights I deliberately went to the depths in the search for new sensations" so wrote Oscar Wilde. In 1962 Mondo Cane served up an exquisite piece of trash for the jaded cinema goer and spawned a whole new genre in the process, (though non match the punch of the original). You want to see an ugly world, a primitive world, the destruction that man is capable of, the odd, the bizarre, the wretched, or to see what the rich get up to behind closed doors, its all here, with a cynical carnival-barker type narrator, glorious cinematography and a lush score (including a worldwide hit). The film now looks a little dated but remains a must-see, some scenes are unsettling and guaranteed to leave you ruffled. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 17th Sep 2016		Cinema Death May Be Your Santa Claus (1969) (1969)	Review A radicalised black man is ejected from college and fantasizes after a mixed racial relationship. Meanwhile in London somewhere, machine gun toting revolutionaries force a bishop to beg with a suckling baby, a man endures a cannibalistic castration, a hippy chick prances and much racist babble is shouted at Hyde Park corner. Light relief comes from a freaky band who practice in a derelict house in a soot-encrusted street, and who also soundtrack much of the film. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 17th Sep 2016		Cinema The Holy Mountain (1973) (1973)	Review Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream. Jodorowsky's visual stream of consciousness is splurged before our eyes in an avalanche of dazzling, bewildering and grotesque images that make for a uniquely enjoyable cinematic experience. I am sure there are mystic and allegorical references aplenty for the enlightened ones to spot but when Jodorowsky finally leads his bald-headed followers out of the freak show and up the Holy Mountain things become crushingly mundane until eventually reality calls a halt to the proceedings. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 13th Sep 2016		Cinema Weekend At Bernie's (1989) (1989)	Review Two lowly computer dudes in a financial institution discover irregularities that prove a money laundering fraud and excitedly report their findings to Bernie, the big cheese. However Bernie is well aware of the fraud as it involves his gangster cohorts, and schemes to have the boys eliminated while they party at his swanky beach-house for the weekend. Unfortunately for Bernie, the gangsters see him as too much of a liability and it is he who ends up as cold meat. The boys arrive but cannot resist the temptation to party on, since nobody but them seems to notice that Bernie is dead, and this ultimately leads to complications with the hitman who is eager to finish the job. Tasteless yes, but the slapstick comedy and indignities that pile onto the unfortunate Bernie make this irresistibly funny. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 13th Sep 2016		Cinema Johnny Suede (1991) (1991)	Review Johnny Suede is a jerk, a star-struck no-talent loser who daydreams he is as gifted as his heroes. He lives a dead-end existence in a scummy flat and spends more time on his look than practicing on his guitar. One day a pair of suede shoes literally crashes into his life, could they help bring the success he dreams of, or will his new girlfriend manage to make him see the reality. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 11th Sep 2016		Cinema Living In Oblivion (1995) (1995)	Review A first-time film director with an inept crew, egotistical star and practically no budget attempts to hold things together long enough to finish the shoot. Sharp observations (from first hand experience), brilliant characterisations and spot on set design make us painfully aware of the somewhat naïve director's plight even if he doesn't know half of what is going on behind the scenes. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 11th Sep 2016		Cinema Meet The Feebles (1989) (1989)	Review The Feebles are not your average ordinary people - no kidding! these are bitchy puppets and they get up to all sorts of criminal and abhorrent behaviour and all done in the worst possible taste. Actually when you think about it they are quite like your average ordinary celeb really. The story concerns a variety show troupe with 12 hours to get rehearsed and ready before a live TV broadcast, but everything that can go wrong will go wrong. One hilarious jaw-dropping experience, its hard to believe that such a film could possibly exist, well recommended. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 4th Sep 2016		Cinema Naughty Nurse (1969) (1969)	Review In this early short film by Paul Bartel a nurse on her lunch break abandons the hospital for a more pressing engagement at a cheap hotel. Bartel’s subversive and humorous touch is fully evident in this 9 minute wonder. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 4th Sep 2016		Cinema The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) (1962)	Review Mad scientist and plastic surgeon Dr Cortner saves the head of his girlfriend, who's body has been destroyed in a car crash, by keeping it alive in a dish of chemicals. He then sets off on a mission to find the perfect body for her, but unbeknown to him she develops a telepathic link to a monster lurking in the laboratory who will give her the revenge that she craves. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 4th Sep 2016		Cinema Aventure Malgache (1944) (1944)	Review Based on the true story of Clarus, the resistance leader in Madagascar, who is captured and faces extradition to Vichy, but is then freed by British forces and sets up Radio Free Madagascar offshore to broadcast propaganda. Its a story of duplicity told in clever flashbacks and played by the man himself, who was an actor at the time, but the finished film was never seen by it's intended audience. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 4th Sep 2016		Cinema Bon Voyage (1944) (1944)	Review A young Scotsman has escaped the Nazis and is escorted across France to make the final leg of his journey, however during debriefing back in England he finds out things did not go as smoothly as he had envisaged. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 27th Aug 2016		Cinema Curse Of The Demon (Night Of The Demon) (1957) (1957)	Review Ace director Jacques Tourneur yet again proves his masterly atmospheric touch with this tense and chilling psychological horror based on M.R.James' short story Casting The Runes. American psychologist John Holden travels to Britain on the invitation of Professor Harrington, who is currently engaged in a public spat with occultist Dr Karswell. However Holden arrives to find that Harrington has been killed in a freak car accident during a storm, with Karswell gloating on his demise. Holden is keen to expose wealthy Karswell as a fraud who preys on vulnerable people, but Karswell proves to be a difficult case being both charming and hospitable one minute and then disarming and sinister the next. Karswell slips Holden a mystical parchment and then strange things happen that even Holden cannot easily explain away. Desperation takes hold as Holden is forced to believe the hex is real, but how can he break the spell? 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 25th Aug 2016		Cinema Django (1966) (1966)	Review A spaghetti western on steroids with a ridiculously high body count, copyist and yet distinctive enough to set it apart from the pack, Franco Nero looks amazing and the western set so lovingly created that you can almost smell it, just check out the streets of mud. Surprisingly there is a decent enough plot lurking behind the frequent and copious splashings of the tomato sauce, and thankfully nobody is wearing sunglasses. Django comes to town dragging his coffin behind, and when Django opens his coffin his enemies are swatted away like pesky flies. But when he gets involved with Mexican revolutionaries and they liberate a chest full of gold coins, Django finds that he cannot always come out on top. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 23rd Aug 2016		Cinema Themroc (1973) (1973)	Review Experimental films rarely get as blackly comic as this one. Michel Piccoli's blue collar worker decides that he has had enough and regresses to his inner caveman self, taking a handful of neighbours along for the ride. Modern living literally goes out of the window as he trashes his flat and makes the ultimate man-cave, chowing on spit-roasted traffic cop and mating with his sister and the neighbour's wife. The film has no real language, the snippets of French make little sense and most of the dialogue becomes grunts and screams anyway. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
albert 22nd Aug 2016		Cinema Ciao! Manhattan (1972) (1972)	Review A mess but a glorious mess. The film takes some amazing 1960's B&W footage of Edie when she was Andy Warhol's Superstar and mixes it with 1970's acted footage of Edie playing Susan Superstar, casualty of an excessive wild life, disturbed, drugged, frequently drunk, slurring her words, looking a mess. You can read about Edie's tragic life and watching this film it is hard to separate the screenwriter's cruel fiction from the exploitative fact, especially when it reaches the final scene. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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