Cinema - Reviews by alexlincs

Cinema - Reviews by alexlincs

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
alexlincs 22nd Dec 2021		Cinema My Dad's Christmas Date (2020) (2020)	Rated 7/10 I recently saw this on Amazon Prime. I'm not sure what attracted me to it, but it is much better than I expected. Underrated actor, Jeremy Piven (David) plays a fairly stereotypical, joke cracking American Dad living in York, England. For the unitiated York is a Roman City with stunning architecture in the North of England. He has a teenage daughter, Jules (played by Olivia-Mai Barrett) who is a bratty 16-year-old teenager into typical things like boys, backchatting and choir singing! David is a widow trying to come to terms with his wife's death and Jules' grades are suffering as a result. Jules has the bright idea of setting him up on a series of dates after making an honest online profile on dating websites. What surprised me most is this film wasn't light-hearted Christmas bants and fairytale romance. It is quite tragic and emotional in places. Also, for anyone expecting something family friendly there is some swearing (no F words) and some sexual references which aren't suitable for younger children. The film is carried by believable performances from Piven and Olivia-Mai Barrett. Well known British face, Joely Richardson is also good as David's best friend, Sarah. It starts off a bit slow and annoying, but stick with it. All in all this is an enjoyable, but not exceptional film which is more likely to make you cry than wet your pants with laughter. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 22nd Dec 2021		Cinema The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) (1992)	Rated 7/10 I can't believe this film wasn't on here. It's arguably the most famous "modern" A Christmas Carol adaptation. It was hugely successful at the box office and on home video; largely due to having the clout of Disney behind it. Back in the day when I had Disney VHS tapes there was often a trailer for this "coming soon to Home Video". Michael Caine for some reason was seen as a weird choice for Scrooge, maybe because he was best known for playing comedic nice guys in the 80s. His playboy roles (Alfie, The Italian Job) and the tough guy (Get Carter, The Eagle Has Landed) were also a recent memory for viewers in 1992. He turned out to be an inspired choice for the role turning in an incredibly charismatic, but also in places scarily mean character. The songs in this film are good and memorable. There's some genuine laughs for people of all ages: "light the lamp, not the rat". The sets and costumes are also first rate. The ghosts in this are also surprisingly frightening for a kid's film. This film is now regarded as a classic with a cult following. Its legacy long lasting and it gets a cinema re-release every few years. After having praised this film it has to be said sitting in a sweaty theater with 30 and 40-somethings singing along to the songs at high volume, possibly even dressed-up as muppets is my personal vision of hell on earth. Muppets indeed. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 11th Dec 2021		Cinema Affliction (1997) (1997)	Rated 8/10 Here's a film which is rarely talked about, often ignored in favour of other snow covered Neo Noir's: Fargo (undoubtedly a better film) and A Simple Plan (arguably a better film). A small town cop uncovers a web of corruption after a man mysteriously dies in a hunting accident. What he finds absolutely breaks him. I'm a big fan of films that are "the American dream gone wrong"; Sunset Blvd being the epitome. Nick Nolte gives a phenomenal performance as the seemingly nice guy cop (Wade Whitehouse) who depending on which way you look at it either becomes corrupt or just broken by a system he can't control. For me the stand-out performance is James Coburn as Wade's alcoholic, bullying father, for which he won an academy award for best supporting actor. A role turned down by James Garner and Paul Newman because they thought the character was too mean. Also credit to William Defoe being cast against type and playing the laidback, academic brother and not his usual sinister bad guy. Affliction came out before incredibly dumbed-down movies became de rigueur for Hollywood. Affliction is highly regarded, but often overlooked. It is dialogue heavy and slow moving with a down beat ending. Audiences have become more intelligent, but Hollywood feels the need to spoonfeed us obvious plots with characters with as much depth as a gnat's urine sample. Affliction is a genuinely deep character study with existential themes typical of Paul Schrader. In a year of great films: Fargo, Secrets & Lies, Lone Star and Sling Blade Affliction still deserved more of a look. Trust me it's better than Shine, Emma and The English Patient. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 11th Dec 2021		Cinema Dangerous Minds (1995) (1995)	Rated 6/10 This film was absolutely massive. Its success was now doubt greatly improved by having the Coolio song "Gangsta's Paradise" on the soundtrack. Gangsta's Paradise is one of the best selling singles of the 90s and a genuinely good song. An idealistic teacher tries to help struggling kids in a deprived innercity school. She comes up against gang violence and teenage pregnancy. A big fuss was made about Michelle Pfeiffer's acting in this. It's Pfeiffer being Pfeiffer. I'm not saying she isn't good, but the role could have been played by Diane Keaton, Kim Bassinger or Sharon Stone. It's a generic, underwritten role with little room for depth. Dangerous Minds feels like TV movie of the week. I've seen it multiple times and it never fail to underwhelm me, rather than standing the test of time, it feels more dated than it is. It's a middle-budgeted, nicely shot and well acted drama, but offers nothing you hadn't seen a million times before even in 1995. Class of 1984 does the idealistic teacher theme with aplomb or there's Good Will Hunting for a better film based around teaching. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 11th Dec 2021		Cinema Class Of 1984 (1982) (1982)	Rated 7/10 Class Of 1984 has a notorious reputation. In the UK it was banned for its cinema release and later heavily cut for VHS, fortunately it was released uncut on DVD. Some theaters in USA refused to show it and it had MPAA cuts for an R rating. Mark L. Lester is undoubtedly a B-Movie director, but he hit paydirt with Commando thanks to Arnie being one of the biggest actors of the late 80s\early 90s and it's a genuinely good film. Class of 1984 is also fondly remembered garnering cult status on VHS. Class of 1984 does a number of thing rights. It is basically a "home invasion" movie set in a school. It adds slasher elements towards the end with some truly nasty death scenes and good special-effects. Mark L. Lester can undoubtedly craft good action sequences. A big deal has been made about Michael J. Fox being in this film. Ignore it, he is very young and unrecognisable. Instead focus on Timothy Van Patten as the intimidating and intelligent bully and gang leader Stegman. Roddy McDowall also puts in a scene stealing performance as the broken science teacher. Perry King is very good as the idealist, turned vigilante music teacher, but he doesn't half chew the scenery. That said he was already a veteran of sleazy B-movies by the time this film came out. Class of 1984 is a violent and scary trip of a film. I think it is love it or hate it, but it delivers on white knuckle thrills and it's a darn site more entertaining than the dull box office smash "Dangerous Minds". 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 30th Nov 2021		Cinema Claire Dolan (1998) (1998)	Rated 7/10 Katrin Cartlidge stars as Claire Dolan a high-class, but jaded Irish call-girl, turning tricks for her pimp, a menacing Colm Meaney (as Roland Cain) after her mother dies Claire wants to become a mother and meets a good-natured if slightly stalker-ish cab driver, Elton Garrett (an emotionally complex Vincent D'Onofrio). I've seen Lodge Kerrigan's earlier film Clean, Shaven. Arguably one of the best obscure films of the 90s. Claire Dolan has a similar style in that it is social-realist and filmed almost like a documentary. It also has a clinical, sterile approach with minimal lighting,set design and even dialogue. In all honesty this is the film's biggest fault; it feels soulless. The scenes were I should feel more for the characters involved, I just didn't. That's not to say the film isn't engaging. There's enough drama to keep it interesting and with a runtime of just over 90 minutes it moves along at a fair pace. It also doesn't scrimp on the sex scenes with some fairly explicit scenes. The film is believable in terms of story. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. That's not a slight on the acting, everyone is excellent; I just didn't feel for them. Colm Meaney is good in everything, but it is rare for him to play malicious characters. His roles are often reduced to Irish gangsters, priests or fatherly guys. It's nice to see him being cast against type. Katrin Cartlidge is an excellent and an underrated actress. I first saw her in Naked (1993) and despite having the chops she never really became an A-lister. She is a bit cold and austere in this role, which I'm sure is intentional, but not really convincing as a call-girl. Compare and contrast with "Secret Diaries Of A Call Girl" while a total fantasy much like the book itself in omitting the more sinister aspects; Billie Piper had the look and glamour of a stereotypical call girl. It's a difficult film to see which is a shame. While not a brilliant film I preferred almost lost British drama, Prostitute (1980), Import/Export (2007) and Call Girl (2012). Claire Dolan does everything right, but it just didn't click with me. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 27th Nov 2021		Cinema Us (2019)	Rated 5/10 Difficult one for me to review because I really wanted to enjoy it, but there's too much about it that annoyed me. I'm not a horror film snob and this year I enjoyed My Bloody Valentine (1981) and Happy Death Day 2U. I think Us fails to live up to the hype. On one hand it wants to be gory home invasion movie on the other some sort of intelligent neo-slasher, to me it is an over long messily plotted borefest. The main source of annoyance was the ham-fisted horror film references. The son is called Jason, I'm guessing Freddy and Issac were also in the running. Then you have a bad patchwork quilt of 90s pop culture. One of the brats says "what's Home Alone?", "what's Micro Machine?" Then there's the soundtrack: NWA, Luniz "I Got 5 On It" - both overused and not really obscure or interesting enough to make anyone over the age of 30 to take notice. You can clearly see when love and care has gone into a soundtrack if it is personal: The Sopranos TV series being the obvious example. It's tries so hard to be clever and funny, but it just fell flat for me. Hearing the Ice Cube on the soundtrack say "bloodbath" to gory scissor stabbings. Please spare me. That said, the name of the Yacht was funny, I will give them that. Maybe it's ennui on my part, but I don't know were Us fits. If you want an intelligent Home Invasion movie: Funny Games (1997) while not quite brilliant is still the business, de-constructed horror post-80s Wes Craven, for a solid gory horror French film, Inside. Two hours of people being stabbed with scissors, obvious pop culture references to the 80s and 90s by people with a PhD in reading Wikipedia and a bunch of bad gurning guys who sound like they have strep throat. Not my idea of fun. I know a film isn't great when I check the runtime and I want it to end and there's nearly an hour left. Even worse I was thinking "what I could be watching instead?" Martin, The Exorcist, American Werewolf. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 26th Nov 2021		Cinema The Lonely Lady (1983) (1983)	Rated 6/10 The Lonely lady is considered something of a flop. It was nominated for 11 Golden Raspberry Awards at a time when the Razzies actually held water. Judging by the poster art the film was marketed almost as an erotic thriller, a genre that died off by the mid-90s with the coup-de-grâce being Showgirls. Doe-eyed Pia Zadora plays a naive novelist who tries to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. To get a leg up, she must get a leg over and ends up having sex with various men in brief, but quite graphic scenes. The film feels a bit like a TV movie in premise and it is a well crafted film, but it manages to feel cheap. The film has had a bit of a resurgence as it is regarded as camp in the same league as the aforementioned Showgirls, but this is nowhere near as much fun. This is an OK watch if you go in with low expectations and it's not as bad as the reviews suggest. Pia Zadora enjoyed a modicum of success both as an actress and singer, but she never quite became a household name, but is instantly recognisable as she looks like nobody else. I think she has been unfairly slated as she is convincing in this film. The Blu-Ray from Shout Factory features a nice print and is about as good as it gets. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 22nd Nov 2021		Cinema Scenes From The Class Struggle In Beverly Hills (1989) (1989)	Rated 7/10 The illegitimate son of John Waters and the father of Todd Solondz. Neil LaBute with the austere edge. These are some comparisons I've invented to describe this film. The plot is straight out of a lavish 80s soap opera. Chicano manservant and a body building chauffeur make a bet to see which one can bed their female boss first. Films about sex are rarely sexy. Scenes manages to be tongue in cheek and surprisingly graphic in its handling of sex, but also funny with it. By going for a campy approach it manages to avoid the usual trappings of being boring. By comparison black comedy, The Opposite Of Sex was more subtle, but h had zero laughs for me. I was also reminded of Clueless another store about middle class suburbia, but without the acrid, briny tang. Class Struggle is hilarious and biting with its satire and managed to be more than just a send-up of bad Soap Operas and Sitcoms. It has actors who are in on the joke and understand the absurdity of the material and a strong script with genuine heartfelt drama as well as a high hit rate for funny one liners. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 19th Nov 2021		Cinema The Offence (1973) (1973)	Rated 8/10 I'm a big fan of Brit Crime and I've seen some crackers this year: The Squeeze and Clash By Night being two barely anyone talks about. The Offence is another one hardly anybody mentions. It's not quite up there with Get Carter, Brighton Rock and The Long Good Friday, but it is excellent in its own way. Sean Connery plays Johnson a police Sergeant investigating a child murder and rape case. When the film started I thought he was playing a typical nasty bastard. What he manages to do is bring humanity and believability to a role which could easily end up being camp. Vivien Merchant is also brilliant as his long suffering wife, a role which could easily end up being one dimensional. Fellow Scot, Ian Bannen also brilliant as the criminal held in custody who manages to be creepy, but also smart. And of course veteran actor, Trevor Howard is intense as Johnson's superior. Sidney Lumet always gets superb performances from his actors and can make two people talking in a room incredibly immersive. Sadly these are now rare skills from directors who are overly reliant on special effects and shock tactics to mask paper-thin plots and weak characterisation. Despite being made in the early 1970s the film is still shocking now. There's been many films dealing with child sexual abuse since. Silly and laughable vigilante films like "Hard Candy", misguided humanising films like "The Woodsman" or sensationalised victim films "No Child Of Mine". What is lacking in modern films like "Blitz" and "Harry Brown" is they are perfectly fine films but don't have any depth. There's a real lack of existential films dealing with Sartrean suffering and pathos.Sean Connery plays a broken man who can't be fixed and conveys more in 20 minutes than it takes some two television series to do. The script is also sharp: "It's funny the more I drink, the more sober I get." Indeed. This film wasn't the success people thought it would be with the star power of Sean Connery, it was too dark and too beguiling, but it's all the better for it. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 15th Nov 2021		Cinema Eighth Grade (2018) (2018)	Rated 7/10 I'm not sure what to make of this one. On one hand it is a very good movie with powerful performances and looks a lot more expensive than its paltry (by Hollywood standards) $2 million budget suggests. On the other I feel a bit disappointed and as though I've seen it all before. A teenage girl, Kayla (Elsie Fisher) posts Self-help and motivation YouTube Videocasts\V-Logs; subjects like "self-esteem" and "making friends". In real life we learn she is socially anxious and a bit of an outcast. Meanwhile her Dad (Josh Hamilton) is a smothering and finds it difficult to bond with her, mainly because she is getting older. I'm not sure how much of this film is based on comedian Bo Burnham's own life. Bo is absolutely massive in USA, but in the UK very few people have heard of him and would probably think he was mainly known as a film director; I don't know the British equivalent: David Baddiel maybe? The acting is believable and it manages to be less annoying than most teen movies. Juno I found irritating due to clunky dialogue. Eighth Grade manages to just avoid "this is how teens talks". I've seen very similar plots in American Beauty with Mena Suvari's subplot, but this is less of a boot in the face in terms of impact. One can't help but be reminded slighted of John Hughes films as they are pretty much the prototype; Eighth Grade is less sugary and more open ended. It's a solid film with solid performances, but for me it just lacks the magic touch. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 10th Nov 2021		Cinema The Mutations (The Freakmaker) (1974) (1974)	Rated 7/10 The Freakmaker is about a crazy scientist (Donald Pleasence) who creates half-human, half-plant hybrids for his circus freakshow. Eventually the "freaks" turn on him. The film is directed by Jack Cardiff who is best known as a cinematographer creating a stunning body of work with films like: The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. His directioral films have not been as critically acclaimed; they came out at a time when the British film industry was heading towards ruin. The Girl On A Motorcycle is a very good existential biker film with some stunning photography. The Freakmaker has some excellent time lapse photography of plants and some great performances from Donald Pleasence who hams it up, but still manages to be creepy and insidious. A young Tom Baker who has good screen presence and is physically imposing as he is over six feet tall. Julie Ege is a cult film actress who is an underrated actress and this film gives her something to do other than take her clothes off. I consider it to be an above average B-Movie horror with some genuinely disturbing moments and it manages to be a bit more than a campy homage to Tod Browning's "Freaks". The Blu-Ray from Diabolik has great colour bringing out the garish palette and features clear Mono sound. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 6th Nov 2021		Cinema Au Pair Girls (1972) (1972)	Rated 3/10 What a bloody awful film. The dirty version of Mind Your Language. A group of Au Pair girls from different countries: Germany, Holland and Sweden (I think) to be fair the accents and characters are interchangeable. They come to England to do housekeeping duties. What we are treated to are a bunch of dirty old men trying it on with younger "crumpet" and a distasteful subplot were an Au Pair is goaded to lose her virginity. The film starts off promising with some impressive airport footage and a good theme song. After that the jokes are women being caught in the shower by a husband and wife and crass stereotypes. I've lost a rib. The women are incredibly attractive, but with such a threadbare plot you would get more enjoyment flipping through a 1970s Pirelli Calendar. Like a lot of these British Sex Comedies they feel like an overlong sitcom episode with no jokes and full frontal female nudity. Not worth your time. Blu-Ray from Jezebel has a pretty good print with soft colours and is an upgrade from DVD, but not massively. Audio is only Mono, but is lossless. Best of all is it is region free. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 6th Nov 2021		Cinema Coto De Caza (Code Of Hunting) (1983) (1983)	Rated 6/10 Spoilers Ahead Fairly obscure and downbeat "home invasion" exploitation film from Spain. A pacifist lawyer who regularly defends down and out criminals has her Mini stolen. After finding some of her documents in her car the bad guys plan to rob the "rich bitch". The home invasion ends with Adela's husband being shot in the head by accident after he struggles to defend himself. A bit of stalking later and things come to a head with an unnecessarily graphic rape and some violent scenes. The violence is graphic with massive blood splatters and bloody bullet wounds showing flesh. Clearly taking influence from splatter slasher movies of the 1970s and 1980s. This is a relatively short film at around 100 minutes with a lot of boring dialogue bits. It lacks the punch of taught violent thrillers like "Rabid Dogs" and "Bloody Friday". It's an OK film and despite being made in the early 80s it has lost none of its ability to shock. The version I saw was the recent Blu-Ray from Mondo Macabro which has a superb 4K print with no archive damage from what I can tell and is about as good as it gets for a film most people will have seen on bootleg VHS. The subtitles were accurate conveying the nastiness of the thug's abuse. Unfortunately audio is only 2.0, but the levels are loud and balanced. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 23rd Oct 2021		Cinema Quentin Blake's Clown (2020) (2020)	Rated 7/10 Here's an old review I wrote: Based on a story by Quentin Blake. Channel 4 marketed this short film as a Christmas event much like: The Tiger Who Came To Tea last year. Clown features the iconic artwork of Quentin Blake. I've been a fan since I read Roald Dahl books as a child. The story is a simple and derivative one about a clown toy who gets discarded as the owner grows too old to have toys. The clown comes alive and goes on an adventure to find a new owner. Similar themes have been used in Toy Story (1994) and Raggedy Ann (1974 onwards). Given its short running time Clown is the lightest in terms of depth. The star of the show is the animation and music. Largely produced by an Italian company, it is frankly beautiful. Helena Bonham Carter does a fine job of narrating the story. Given the hype surrounding this it's easy to be disappointed. I think it is style over substance, but it is infinitely charming. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 9th Oct 2021		Cinema West End Jungle (1961) (1961)	Rated 6/10 West End Jungle is a fake documentary with staged scenes. Set in the West End of London it is a morality story with the intention of showing titillating sex scenes and nudity. Due to the time this film came out there is no real nudity shown just a few underwear shots. The film mainly features men going to clip joints, seeing prostitutes and it ends with a street walker being picked up by the police. All sleazy stuff backed up by a cynical albeit excellently written narration track. The version I saw was the Strike Force Entertainment DVD release from the UK. It is rated 15 and features a superb print and good sound which could do with being a bit louder. This is a 50 minute film and it is a bit expensive at £10+ Director Arnold L Miller went on to make London in The Raw and Primitive London which are more of the same and worth watching. The cinematographer was Stanley Long who made the forgettable British Sex Comedies series The Adventures of... 9 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 8th Oct 2021		Cinema American Wedding (American Pie 3 / American Pie: The Wedding / American Pie 3: The Wedding) (2003) (2003)	Rated 5/10 Pretty poor to be honest, but not unenjoyable. Starts were the last film left off with Jim and Michelle getting married, but the wedding doesn't run smooth. Eugene Levy is always good value and there's a memorable scene of a "dance off" with Seann William Scott as Stifler. Unfortunately, the film suffers from bad tropes of the time including language which could be considered homophobic and some slightly creepy scenes of Stifler hitting on older women. The film seems mild today in terms of sexual and scatological humour especially compared to something like The Inbetweeners, but it's also not as funny. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 25th Jun 2021		Cinema The Hawk (1993)	Rated 6/10 The Hawk appeared on BBC 2 in 1995 as part of their Screen Two strand of TV Movies. It seems to have played in cinema two years earlier in 1993 though. It's a weird one allegedly loosely based on the terrible case of Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper. Unfortunately it just isn't convincing despite the veteran cast. Helen Mirren puts on a weird and not quite convincing cod-Northern accent, not sure if it is Yorkshire, Lancashire or RADA. Her character is as unbelievable as the accent. A housewife who suspects her husband might be the ripper, but without the depth of Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, but it is difficult with a comparatively short runtime of 85 minutes. Then there's the car driving she does which which Steve McQueen would struggle to pull off. In addition to that madness there's some bizarre scripting choices including some racist jokes told in a Curry House and a fair amount of swearing for a TV movie of this time. To be fair there's only one Dennis Potter and one David Mamet. David Hayman does a fine job with the material and as a pro of TV direction and British film (The Bill, Finney, Firm Friends) stretches the low budget far and makes it look more expensive than it cost to make. This film can be difficult to find. An expensive OOP DVD on Cinema Club might be the best way, but it doesn't look massively better than an upscaled VHS; I think largely because I'm suspecting this was shot on tape rather than the film stock. For a comparison between film and tape, TV Series Jack The Ripper (1988) with Michael Caine was shot on film and looks gorgeous. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 9th Jun 2021		Cinema BMX Bandits (1983) (1983)	Rated 6/10 Thanks to jaimeeduardo for adding this. Blu Ray title screen in higher resolution now added. This is a bizarre slice of Ozploitation directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. Low budget exploitation films have always cashed-in on trends whether that be roller skating (Rollerball, Derby), Disco (The Disco Godfather, Saturday Night Fever), Hip Hop and its culture (Rappin', Electric Boogaloo), Punk (Rock N Roll High School, Who Killed Bambi?), 90s (MTV-style) Youth culture (Wayne's World, SFW, Bill & Ted) ... I could go on. So why not BMX bikes? Due to this film being made in 1983 and much like the aforementioned 80s Rappin' and Electric Boogaloo; it looks dated by today's standards. Neon pink trousers! The film is basically a family friendly action comedy. The BMX Bandits accidentally end up foiling some bank robbers. Like a lot of kid-friendly action films the bad guys are reduced to comedy (see also Cop and a Half, Home Alone, The Mask). You don't want truly nasty b*stards in a kid's comedy. Family films in the 90s got a bit darker (Mario Bros, The Mask based on a violent comic, Goosebumps), but this is a very bright colourful film with sill slapstick and not really much violence. Other than bad guys waving shotguns, knives and bats around there's not much to object to. The star is some nice photography of early 80s Sydney, which has since become much more developed, touristy and absolutely chocka with skyscrapers. The film is notable for three reasons: a very early appearance of teenage Nicole Kidman - no wonder Hollywood became interested as every line is delivered with ease, although she doesn't really have screen presence in this. The film was much sought after "cult classic" and was traded on VHS until it got a DVD release. Thirdly the action scenes are by an experienced stunt team and features some incredible driving stunts for the 900K budget. Not a must see, but fun enough. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 7th May 2021		Cinema Terror (1978) (1978)	Rated 6/10 Thanks to Dr Doom for adding this film. I've added some screenshots and the upscaled title screen from the Blu Ray. This is another cheapie from the late, great Norman J Warren. It benefits from a sharp, self-referential script by David McGillivray who wrote the book Doing Rude Things about British sexploitation films, as well as being a prolific screenwriter still working today. The film starts off with a film within a film, possibly based on The Witchfinder General. A witch's curse on a grand house leads to loads of unexplained deaths. The deaths are surprisingly gory in places with bloody stabbings and environmental accidents like falling down the stairs. Not a patch on Suspiria, The Omen or Dawn of the Dead that came out around this time. The film is noticeably low budget, but not embarassingly so. Good sets and cinematography stop it looking as cheap as say Lee Frost films. The knowing script has nods to British Sex Comedies with film within a film: Bathtime With Brenda. The acting is on the camp side, I think this is intentional. Honestly, it's not distractingly bad. Rare for a 1978 British film there is around five f-words. I know it's laughable now with films often containing 100 f words at 15 certificate, but this was rare for the time. The BBC censored films like Goodfellas and Scarface for TV broadcast in the 90s with hilarious overdubbing like melonfarmer and eating pineapple. The Blu Ray from Powerhouse films features a superb print free from archive damage, but sadly only 1.0 sound. On the plus side it features the commentary track from 2004 and a decent amount of extras. It's not as good as Prey (Alien Prey), which was a dreamy and beguiling with a simmering sexual undercurrent. It's a mediocre slasher with some nice touches. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 12th Mar 2021		Cinema Little Rural Riding Hood (1949) (1949)	Rated 7/10 Little Rural Riding Hood has Country Wolf go to the city to meet City Red. His cousin City Wolf, who seems to be a Southern Dandy-type (New Orleans) character shows him how to behave in what is basically a Burlesque club. This is the second appearance of Red after the better known 'Red Hot Riding Hood', the character most likely modelled on pint-size screen siren Mae West as well as Betty Boop. Features typical Tex Avery animation which is playing with perspective and planes, as well as wacky "body animation" similar to Looney Tunes, but taken up a gear. The wolf character was hugely influential and was spoofed in The Mask when Jim Carrey first sees Cameron Diaz in a club. This isn't a masterpiece, but it is good fun. The Blu Ray, Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 2 features a nice print with some scratches, but superb colour, a huge step up from those VHS tapes that did the rounds in the 90s. Sound is crisp and in 2.0 stereo with no pops or nuisance noise. It's also much more affordable than the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 12th Feb 2021		Cinema Tiffany Jones (1973) (1973)	Rated 4/10 Anouska Hempel bought the rights to this film to stop it being released. A lot of actresses change careers, but acknowledge the fans that put them were they are today. Sam Fox doesn't get them out anymore, but she still appreciates stripping off and being a huge personality put her on the map. Luckily a VHS release on the Jezebel (which put-out cult sexploitation films) imprint of Salvation Films was released in the late 90s. The film is based off a British comic strip, about a sort of female spy with St Trinians-esque capers. The film is absolute rubbish. Sure, most of these British sex films weren't funny or sexy, but at least most like Confessions Of A Window Cleaner weren't boring. There is very little nudity or sex in this film despite an overly-zealous BBFC 18 rating and very little action. I've heard the similar film The Big Zapper is better, but I've not seen it. To me it seemed like the budget was too small or Pete Walker had his hands tied in some way, maybe the budget or the source material. I watched this as Pete Walker completest and as a fan of crappy British cult films. The version I saw was a rip of aforementioned VHS tape. I can't recommend this to anyone as a film experience apart from for its scarcity and cult status. 9 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 24th Jan 2021		Cinema Fei Lung Mang Jeung (Dragons Forever) (1988) (1988)	Rated 8/10 Dragon's Forever reunited the Peking Opera Brothers Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung. All incredible performers. This film also has a young Fruit Chan (Made In Hong Kong, Three Extremes) co-directing some scenes. Jackie Chan plays a sort of sleazy playboy type, cast against his usual type of the hapless goofball boy next door, Sammo Hung plays a goofier role than usual almost like Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun where he gets caught up in situations despite having good intentions and Yuen Biao plays a charismatic madman criminal. I think the main appeal of his film is for HK action cinema fans, unlike films like Police Story and The Killer it has less universal appeal. The joy for me is watching each actor trying to outdo each. There's some incredibly hard falls taken as well as stuntmen being thrown through sugar glass windows. The fights with all three leads show how good their timing and athleticism is. Credit also goes to hardkicking Benny Urquidez and excellent stuntman Yuen Wah who uses a cigar as a prop. The Blu-Ray from 88 Films feature an incredible looking print with 5.1 sound and director's commentary. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 24th Jan 2021		Cinema Cannabis (1970) (1970)	Rated 6/10 Not a great film, but a nice soundtrack by the main man. Serge Gainsbourg looks incredibly cool to the point that he could rival Alain Delon. His performance is a bit flat, possibly because he wasn't directing. Jane Birkin also not really given much to do apart from being naked. The DVD has poor picture quality, it's almost like an upscaled VHS tape and only 2.0 sound. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 21st Jan 2021		Cinema Commando Duck (1944) (1944)	Rated 7/10 This Disney propaganda film made towards the end of World War II was designed to raise morale amongst the American troops. A scared Donald Duck accidentally lands in a Japanese jungle and takes on the troops. You don't see much fighting more the aftermath of broken planes. There's loads of silly and amusing slapstick moments. As you would expect from a film from this time, there are some crass Japanese stereotypes. The film appears on out of print and fairly expensive On the Front Lines collection and it's one of the best on there. The picture quality is decent, but not amazing. Unless a HD upgrade is released it's as good as you can expect. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 4th Jan 2021		Cinema Pervirella (1997) (1997)	Rated 5/10 This is a weird one. I first heard about from the TV Series OutTHERE which featured clips from weird, cult films like Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend, Baby Cart at River Styx and The Toxic Avenger. As a connection later episodes were presented by Emily Booth. It's a really obscure high-camp comedy possibly inspired by films like Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill (?) more so than historical films. To be honest the only late 90s\00s film I rate which is a campy homage to 60s\70s films is Pervert! which is a nod to Russ Meyer and great fun, but not a great film. Ken Russel's pastiche of his own Tommy and Rocky Horror, Fall of the Louse of Usher is particularly poor. Emily Booth is always nice to look at and there is a stellar cast of well know film and TV personalities including Jonathan Ross, stand up comedian Mark Lamarr and musician\poet\artist Sexton Ming. Unfortunately these aren't necessarily great actors, but it's a bit like Who Killed Bambi? where the weirdness sort of pulls it through. Also be warned like a lot of British sex comedies; it's not pant wettingly funny and it's about as sexy as shaving a hairy back. TBH the plot is incomprehensible. The good quality sets and costumes hide the low budget. I would recommend this only for curiosity sake. Alex Chandon is a talented director and writer, who is best known for producing music videos for British Neo-Goth Metal band Cradle of Filth. Much like directors such as Richard Stanley it makes you wonder what they could do with 8-figure Hollywood budgets. The DVD from Screen Edge is hen's teeth and expensive (£25+) given the quality of the film and scant extras it's not really worth it, I rented it back in the day. Picture quality is mediocre and sound is a lowly 2.0. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 29th Dec 2020		Cinema Dirty Weekend (1993)	Rated 6/10 Michael Winner's Dirty Weekend is his take on films like Ms. 45 as well as a middle finger to the critics who complained about sexual violence in his earlier box office smash, Death Wish. Dirty Weekend is rarely talked about even among fans of British crime films\Britsploitation. It is cheap, it is nasty and despite Winner's reputation as a bad director (he's not) it's actually well paced and there's some decent performances especially from Lia Williams, the housewife next door turned vigilante. Production wise it has a bit of a TV Movie feel, which is a shame. For some reason it kept me gripped for the running time, maybe because I wondered what I would see next. It does feature graphic violence and sexual assault, nobody seriously believed this is a feminist film; it's exploitation, but that sits great with me. It's nowhere near in the same league as Death Wish which has an explosive scene on a subway train easily one of the most memorable of the tough crime films of the 70s. By comparison the show stopper in Dirty Weekend is a nasty forced oral sex scene (simulated) with vomiting. See what I mean? Ms. 45 by comparison is dark and gritty, but much more even in its tone; Dirty Weekend is a bit uneven; part seaside postcard, part brutal rape revenge film - even the film's title is an innuendo. See it if you like this sort of thing, but it's far from a great film. Version I saw was an uncut bootleg VHS, not sure how the DVD from Universal is. Death Wish had a remake in 2018, I can't see this relative obscurity getting the Hollywood treatment. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 27th Dec 2020		Cinema Titus (1999) (1999)	Rated 7/10 Really difficult to rate this one as I am in two minds; it is dull, but it is gorgeous to look at. A 90s technostyle retelling of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. That is an achievement in itself. Titus is known as a tragedy. A fictional Roman army general Titus undergoes a long bloody war with Tamora, the queen of Goths. The theatre play is sometimes controversial when it is performed due to its violence and the rape of Lavina scene. Anthony Hopkins does a fine job as Titus. Alan Cumming is good as Saturnius, the Roman leader; a thinly veiled attempt to make him look like a fascist dictator; is he Mussolini or Hitler though? We also have the lovely looking Laura Fraser as Lavina. The acting is good across the board and intentionally camp. The over the top acting doesn't match what little action there is. The stabbings have most of the violence off screen. There's surprisingly little blood given the stageplay's reputation and even the rape of Lavina is subtle. Don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting Straw Dogs, but I was hoping for something to justify the 18 certificate. The film has Grade A production values with incredible set design and costumes. A throwback orgy scene to Barbarella, black Italian(?) motorbikes and bad guys who dress like extras from The Warriors albeit with bondage-style leathers. Shakespeare Purists will hate this, but it is its best feature for me. Really good original score as well. What ruins it for for me is it is way too long. At 162 minutes, it is an hour too long. I know it uses the original stage script for dialogue, but please cut it down. The 90s\early 00s saw similar updated versions of Shakespeare with the hugely successful Romeo + Juliet which filters the tragic romance through a club culture lens, Hamlet with Ethan Hawke which I've not seen, BBC series ShakespeaRe-Told which in my opinion and probably nobody else's was largely unfunny and not very clever and worst of all although not based on a specific play: Shakespeare In Love - dreck. This is with worth watching if you have the patience. As much as I like watching Anthony Hopkins in anything or Alan Cumming ham it up you need two cans of Red Bull to get through this one. Twilight Time's Blu-Ray feature a superb print free of damage and clean 5.1 sound as well as commentaries. Shame about the cost due to it being OOP, although I think it is the definitive version at present. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 27th Dec 2020		Cinema The Terror Of Tiny Town (1938) (1938)	Rated 5/10 The world's first (and possibly only) all midget Western. It's as tacky as it sounds. Poor script, acting and badly sung songs make for a dreary experience. I had high hopes after seeing the introduction where a well-dressed man speaks in front of a microphone and introduces the hero and villain. The plot involves some cattle rustling and the good guy must figure out whose behind it. There's a tacked on romantic subplot as well. Little people walking under saloon doors and riding miniature stallions sounds amusing on paper, but this is at best gimmicky and at worst pure exploitation. Cheap production values and bad acting make this fall way short. To add insult to injury the version I saw was out of sync. This film has gone onto achieve cult status, more so for the absurdity of the premise and schlocky filmmaking style than it being a good film. As far as I know the film is public domain. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
alexlincs 18th Dec 2020		Cinema 黑太陽─南京大屠殺: Hei Tai Yang: Nan Jing Da Tu Sha (Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre) (1995) (1995)	Rated 6/10 The fourth entry into the spectacularly nasty Men Behind The Sun series of films, based on war atrocities. In this case the Japanese invasion of Nanjing in 1937. I'm not a history buff and I'm not that familiar with what was dubbed the "Rape of Nanking". What I do know is a good trashy exploitation film when I see it and unfortunately this isn't one. The film was rated Category III (Cat III) in Hong Kong the equivalent of 18+ or NC-17. Other films to be rated with this certificate are the excellent The Naked Killer and a few other rape and revenge films, as well as some Triad films. Black Sun: The Nanking Massacre has gained notoriety in the internet age as one of the film's most memorable scenes: a soldier cutting a bloody foetus out of a pregnant woman and holding it up, was used as an internet GIF. There's also scenes of gory decapitation and a few fights and some scenes of corpses being set on fire. These scenes are fairly rare and the bulk of the film is dialogue heavy and unfortunately it has a rather dry script, presumably for educational purposes. To put it simply Black Sun is no more a serious historical document highlighting the horrors of war than Goodbye Uncle Tom is a serious critique of racism or Antichrist is a feminist study. They are all tacky, sleazy films that are designed to get bums on seats by showing extreme scenes. However, they have their place in the vast pantheon of cinema. Goodbye Uncle Tom has a stunning soundtrack and some incredible fantasy sequences. Antichrist is powerful and bold with convincing acting. Black Sun has an OK soundtrack, cheap-ish production values; bearing in mind this film was made in 1995 and comes across as cheaper than earlier Cat III shocker Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991). The few gore scenes there are are good and that's it raison d'être. There's something about it I like, but it manages to be dull which is worse than being offensive. The DVD from Unearthed Films has a nice print with some slight archive damage and only 2.0 sound. Probably as good as it gets unless a BR or HD broadcast does the rounds. The discontinued UK DVD on Tartan Grindhouse (Tartan DVD\Films spin-off) is hen's teeth. I've never seen a copy in the wild and importing the US is cheaper. 8 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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