Cinema - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

Cinema - Reviews by Magic Marmalade

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 15th Apr 2020		Cinema Split (2016)	Rated 8/10 For anyone who hasn't seen this, and knows nothing about it, it's difficult to talk about without offering a spoiler... (Probably pointless not to mention the twist, as the follow up film to this kind of unequivocally spoils it itself by virtue of it's very existence!) ...But at a time when some felt M. Night Shyamalan's powers were ebbing (I may be alone in loving everything he does!), this had no real expectation around it, but is an absolute return to form, and in territory fans of his movies will love. It is his inimitable take on the origins of a super-villain... maybe (?) For the story centres around a man apparently suffering from a pronounced multiple-personality disorder... but the question lingers throughout he film, is it just that, or is there something more... supernatural about it? (Sound familiar... ? :) He abducts three teenage schoolgirls, for creepy reasons that leave you fearing the worst for what you are maybe about to watch... but needless to say, it gets stranger as it goes than that, as the story moves into bizarre territory. James McAvoy gives a career best performance(s) in a film that most actors might have failed to be convincing in, and ruined the whole premise, and Anya Taylor Joy is very strong as the hero / heroine of the film. The soundtrack is the last element which pushes the whole film up a notch or five... it is phenomenal! Overall, it's a great addition to a... larger picture, which meant it has a lot to live up to... and does, but by being entirely it's own brand of brilliant. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 13th Apr 2020		Cinema Knives Out (2019)	Rated 7/10 Great fun. A satire of / homage to the Poirot / Sherlock Holmes / Clue (Cluedo) gentleman sleuth in manor house stories. (It even makes very self aware jokes about itself) As such, it's a chance for the assembled cast to have fun hamming it up to the max as the usual cartoon-ish characters you find in this kind of movie... But that is cleverly balanced and contrasted against characters that are more real, and themselves find this mob perplexing, like the police detective, who is very straight-laced and competent, but who is accompanied by a goofy state trooper and Daniel Craig's extraordinary Deep South Gentleman Sleuth. And for all it's stock zaniness and cliches, these are wrapped around a central, realistic (ish) human story and believable character played by Ana De Armas. I'm not sure it quite hits the heights it was hoping to, or if these contrasts gel entirely, but it is very enjoyable, convoluted, with ridiculous plot devices and a fair few good moments of comedy... And at the very least, it has James Bond, Captain America, and General Zod all in one movie, and you can't say that about many other films! :) 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Apr 2020		Cinema Bad Times At The El Royale (2018) (2018)	Rated 8/10 Tarantino-esque, mystery thriller / whodunnit kinda thing. Not met with great enthusiasm on release it seems, rather a general indifference... but I thought this was thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing, as several characters converge in a motel around a central mystery, no-one seems to be who they say they are... or are they? ... and how does each relate to the central plot? So it kind of unfolds as it goes, very well done, dramatic, surprising, violent on occasions, but all the cast is excellent, especially Cynthia Orivo, who is outstanding in this. (Chris Hemsworth plays a real nut job in it too :) 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 7th Apr 2020		Cinema John Wick (2014) (2014)	Rated 9/10 Never kill a man's dog! This is one of those movies you feel is a game changer in the same way that arrival of Die Hard meant that nobody could make the kind of over produced drivel / superstar vehicle movie they had been making until then... or even the arrival of The Bourne Identity meant that Bond films before this instantly seemed ridiculous and extremely dated... in what people aspire to, or norms by which they this kind of revenge movie. The thing that this does is simply jettison unnecessary flabby plot, or any attempt to justify itself or what it is doing... it just provides a simple motivation for John wick's actions, which is a basic pretext for the most fantastically violent - yet beautifully choreographed death fest ever put on screen. However, there are constant, yet so very subtle subtexts and messages throughout that hint at something deeper, but most of this will go over people's heads... and frankly, that doesn't matter... it's brave in what it does, and honest about it too... but if you like an honest to badness action over-packed gory storm of extreme violence revenge flick, this is the best there is. (The others aren't bad either!) You just can't try and tack Shakespeare story lines and dialogue onto revenge movies after this. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 6th Apr 2020		Cinema Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) (2019)	Rated 7/10 Not as bad as you might imagine. (Given the awfullness that was Terminator: Genysis) Somewhat a return to form in terms of the quality of the film, largely, I suspect, due to James Cameron coming back as producer / writer... ...but for me, the whole franchise was ruined when hey deployed the now Hollywood formula of "alternate timeframes /Universes " blah blah blah... basically, when you do that, you say that nothing you have previously seen matters, as you get a "do over" whenever you want one - kills the sense of jeopardy - and since this whole franchise is based on the concept of fate, it pretty much shoots the poodle right then and there. But this fairly rolls along, and is fairly entertaining, mostly due to a more up to mustard new Terminator, and Mackenzie Davis, who is excellent, as is Linda Hamilton, who although a little older, plays to this, and gives a great performance as a bitter, older Sarah Connor. The only thing they really ought to have given the heave ho though, and which is really clunky and odd, is Arnie and his character (I know, blasphemy!) but it's true, it just gets more depressing as time goes on, watching him trying to justify this role again and again when he isn't getting any younger. But they should leave this franchise alone now I think, call this a moderate high to go out on, then leave it be... That'll do pig... that'll do. For this is a dead franchise now, nothing new to offer we have not already seen. 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Apr 2020		Cinema Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) (2018)	Rated 10/10 Probably the best film of any kind I've seen in the last five years... ... almost certainly the best super-hero movie around - better that the Avengers ones even! Mind bendingly brilliant visually, and the soundtrack is one of my "must gets" - even on vinyl. Highly original, innovative, pacey, and crucially... extremely entertaining. (Unlike some of the other sludge you have to wade through in this genre occasionally) 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 29th Mar 2020		Cinema Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) (2019)	Rated 6/10 Pretty good,though not as good as the first... bit flat, and the plot not so tight to me. Zoey Deutch (daughter of Lea Thompson) plays an "bimbo airhead" (archaic term) to comic perfection, and steals every scene she's in... and virtually the whole movie on the strength of it. Worth watching just for her performance - she should be cast in everything immediately! 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 26th Jan 2018		Cinema The Great Gatsby (2013)	Rated 7/10 Having always intended to read the book, but at the same time being congenitally intellectually lazy, I was pleased to see this was on telly over Christmas, so I could sit back and watch the film instead. It's grand tale of opulence and excess belying more human motives are terrifically conveyed in typical Baz Luhrmann style... ...but... It's one of those films that I stuggled with, and in any ordinary circumstance, I would have switched it off after the first 10 - 15 minutes, as being too messy, superficial, and too much hard work to concentrate on. And the reason is this really goes with the pimped out big budget music video thing for almost 40 minutes - quick cuts, lots of shallowness and dazzling images that are too much of an assault on the senses. Fortunately, I was even too lazy to find the remote on this occasion, so let it go, and I'm glad I did, because as this "human" centre reveals itself in the story, it settles down, and reveals a real film there that is worth watching. Obviously, this was intentional, in order to peel away the mask of emptiness of these characters, but I think having to go the better part of an hour to get there is asking a lot of an audience, and perhaps Baz could have eased off the gas a little earlier in order to make the point without bludgeoning my brain too much. 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 19th Dec 2017		Cinema Godzilla (2014)	Rated 8/10 Big monsters beating the snot out of each other... ...What more does a grown man need? I was expecting to be disappointed by this, but for all the CGI and bells and whistles, it's essentially an old school Godzilla movie... and I couldn't be happier :) Sometimes you want thoughtfulness and poignant, layered, nuanced dramatic content... but mostly you want a couple of hours of not thinking, and this is just the ticket. (It doesn't bear analysis). Godzilla rocks! 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 14th Dec 2017		Cinema Black Sea (2014) (2014)	Rated 7/10 Very enjoyable, solid heist movie... on a submarine. ...albeit a fairly basic set up - a dozen men in a rusty tube at crush depth getting progressively twitchy and suspicious of each other - Half Russian (because the sub is Russian) half British (because the film is British) makes for some tension and misunderstanding through perhaps some general stereotypes. It has too much to live up to in either genre really, both in heist movies, and the world of submarine movies, and so falls a little short if judged by those standards, and the only real gripes are the usual common sense oversights with regards to the solutions to one or two of the problems they face (Why move a couple of tons of gold all at once, when you can move it brick(s) at a time while the crew make repairs?), and the conspicuous absence of any tangible sign of any external potential adversary (although they continually allude to it - budget constraints, of course)... ...but at least this doesn't resort to turning it into some kind of half baked monster movie to resolve the plot, as increasingly happens these days with many more expensive productions around this dozen dudes in a box theme (Sunshine) when they find they've dug too deep a hole to get out of plot wise. Jude the dude Law is not someone I usually have time for, but is great here, and the film is most enjoyable. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Oct 2017		Cinema I Origins (2014) (2014)	Rated 8/10 Another bout of insomnia made me watch this on the telly last night... Having seen it was written and directed by Mike Cahill, and also featuring Brit Marling, who starred in his other film: "Another Earth", I thought I'd give it a crack, as that one was excellent. ...And Like that this is a thoughtful, steady paced piece of science fiction, centred around a great idea - no flashing lights, candy coloured CGI that would give your eyes diabetes, strobing zoetrope editing, or other assorted nonsense that most Hollywood greenlighters often mistake for making great sci-fi. It centres around the idea of a genetic scientist looking for the origins of the human race - sans intelligent creator... that "God" chap you hear so much of - through the study of the human eye, as pertaining to memory - and eyes in general with the assistance of his new intern (Brit Marling), but through an encounter with a mysterious girl at a party (who just turns out to be a supermodel with "spiritual" sensibilities. he is progressively challenged in his view of science and the world, and the origins of life etc. Big themes which have been systematically, ham-fisted by "better" writer / directors many times before (Either the science gets the better of them... if they even bother trying, or the spiritual aspect sees them wading way out of their depth) ...and to begin with, you think this is going that way, by Mike Cahill proves that Another Earth wasn't a fluke, by understanding that a lightness of touch is required to pull this kind of thing off, without getting bogged down in the logic, or trying to turn back-flips in trying not to look out of your depth, or simply devolving into delivering a sermon - just give the audience enough pegs in the storyline to hang their own imaginative hats on, then let them do the thinking, while you concentrate on story and character... All of which he does masterfully. ...And from the inauspicious start, something really engaging, smart and poetic develops. Other directors have promised, on early showings, this kind of priomise, but then cave into to Hollywood and take the fat pile of cash to make a "Blockbuster" (ahem -Duncan Jones: Moon< brilliant / Source Code< great story idea, buried under CGI = disappointment), I hope Mr Cahill doesn't cave in in this way, because if he keeps making movies in this manner, and are as good, I will watch anything he makes now :) Great film. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 24th May 2017		Cinema The Falling (2014)	Rated 6/10 Aiming to be a kind of Picnic At Hanging Rock for our times... ...with all the whoosy, surreal atmosphere of that odd, enigmatic masterpiece, this doesn't really achieve that lofty ambition. Like Picnic, it centres around a strange happening occurring to a group schoolgirls, whereby they begin to act oddly, dance about in a trance-state, then "fall" on the floor. >your joke here< :) It's all "metaphor for sexual awakening" and so-on, which the whole film is based around. Unfortunately, rather than being mysterious and enigmatic, it comes off as crudely done, melodramatic, and a bit embarrassing. Their "falling" has these girls waving their arms about and trancing away in a manner more like the first meeting of the local Am-dram society than being a serious production, and it undermines the whole concept. Not the actors fault though, as they all play it through with a straight face, and give as good performance as they can, given what they've been asked to do (They probably thought it would turn out better than it did, themselves)... Maisie Williams is good, and I understand she's quite popular at the moment in that Lord Of The Rings knock-off, and Maxine Peake is always brilliant in whatever she plays (probably the best actor in Britain today). But I came away feeling decidedly underwhelmed by it. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd May 2017		Cinema It Follows (2014) (2014)	Rated 9/10 One of the best horror films I've seen in years. ...Relying not, as most modern "horror" films do, on jumps and scares, or just chopping people to pieces, this has bags of atmosphere, the way horror films used to; Taking, as it does, it's cue from the John Carpenter style of movie. A simple, creepy concept, of a thing: "it", which, erm... follows (you). Relentlessly - slowly - but relentlessly, ...and the target of it's following can be transferred from one person to another, through the ever reliable medium of sex. But it's addition of a highly evocative soundtrack, which most immediately calls to mind these old school horror film associations, that really elevates it. I shouldn't be surprised if the soundtrack to this achieves some kind of classic status, and the vinyl especially, becomes highly sought after. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 7th May 2017		Cinema Nightcrawler (2014) (2014)	Rated 9/10 A perfect study of a psychopath in today's age of "journalism". Jake Gyllenhaal gives a brilliant performance in creating the creepiest, and most dangerous character - a relentlessly ambitious ambulance chasing chancer that will probably have to go down with Christian Bale's American Psycho character in the most perfect portrait of an actual psychopath. Riz Ahmed , Bill Paxton, and Rene Russo play the other three key characters in this film, who have the misfortune to be around him. Could easily have been set in the worlds of finance or politics. Watch for the charactericts portrayed in this film, in others... then avoid them like the plague! 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Feb 2017		Cinema Watchmen (2009) (2009)	Rated 6/10 A good, faithful (mostly) shot-for-cell live action version of Watchmen... But... It's missing all the important extra bits (in the right places) which are the substance of Watchmen... for the comics / graphic novel is like a jigsaw of elements, which together describe the picture... the straight narrative storyline being only one of those. In the graphic novel each of the twelve original instalments incorporates the story, a flashback story, articles, psychological profile documents, a comic -within comic (The Black Freighter) and assorted other bits and pieces, which create the mosaic of what this is really all about. ...So like a jigsaw, you take all these pieces, and in thinking them over lay them out before you, and see what kind of picture they make... but also, in so doing, you see the shape of the pieces the provided material makes in describing deliberately missing elements, conclusions you can draw the gaps in the provided material which will strongly suggest deeper intentions and meanings in Watchmen. ...So seeing this after having read the graphic novel felt oddly one dimensional, albeit, as good a filmed version it would have been possible to make... and this detracted slightly, and somehow, lost the tone of the novel by virtue of the live action .... (the horrific violence just comes across as cool or something of that sort here, but is very pointedly using the medium of comic book cells in the book to say something about that violence... and American culture) In fact, the violence comes across as simply fetish-ist-ic and creepy, rather than cynical and repugnant, as was, I think the intent (could be why Alan Moore wanted nothing to do with the film). So it's OK by any modern superhero movie standard, but you have to read the graphic novel get it, and get just how brilliant it is at what it intends to do. ... So that said... if you are going to watch this, watch it first BEFORE reading the novel, otherwise you'll be disappointed with the film. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jan 2017		Cinema Dressed To Kill (1980)	Rated 7/10 Saw this on Film4 last night... ... Unfortunately, it;s one of those you can saw next to nothing about plot wise, without spoiling the frequent and pivotal plot twists. It is billed as "Hittchvock-ian" (shiver - I hate when those kind of words are used, they tend to be code for: prepare to be disappointed), and it is, in the feel of the story, and the "suspense" bit, but that's about as far as it goes, as there are more "modern" themes running through this, and a generous helping of Brian De Palma stylisation - he tends to have a very particular brand of photography, and character stereotypes he uses - But he actually uses this aspect to his advantage, by confounding those expectations that he sets up. Basically, it's about a woman, frustrated in her marriage who encounters a serial killer (Blimey, I can;t even say any more than that!), framed by lashings of beautifully, and artistically shot and directed soft porn - again, a De Palma trait (Think of the opening scenes of Carrie.) But while it may seem a little ridiculous at the outset, if this is not you're thing, it does draw you in if you let it go, and just keep watching... and I think, if you do, you will conclude, like me, that it's a pretty great film all round. (If a little dated in some respects) 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 19th Sep 2016		Cinema Sunshine (2007) (2007)	Rated 7/10 The sun is dying. ...Running out of Sunny D or something. And so scientists and astronauts are assembled to take an enormous nuclear Rubik's Cube up to the sun and detonate it, thus giving it the extra kick it needs to keep going. It's a fairly straight-forward plot, and this is usually a very good premise, despite it's simplicity, for a great character study... bods in a box, for a very long time, going slightly crazy as they go... ...So far, so good, and I have to say I was very excited about this film when it came out, as Danny Boyle never lets you down. But....... Unfortunately, this film doesn't really have the courage of it's convictions, in seeing this premise all the way through, and instead bottles it I think, but opting instead for the usual recourse of lazy or frustrated script writers when they hit a wall in resolving a plot line, and turn it into some kind of Sci-fi horror monster movie at the end. (I won't spoil for those who haven't seen it yet, but leave it at that) Up until this moment though, it's brilliant, with an excellent cast working through the character conflicts and the potential catastrophes which can come from the smallest mistakes in space... drama enough I'd have said, and had they (Boyle principally) stuck it out, this could have been one of the great Sci-fi movies... but instead, it's just a pretty good one. Worth watching though 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 31st Jul 2016		Cinema The Terminator (1984) (1984)	Rated 10/10 Made back in the days before CGI, when movies had atmosphere instead... ...And studios allowed that the audience had an imagination of their own, and didn't need to explain in the narrative; Or visually; Every element of the story with diagrams and excessive exposition. No, this was in the days when someone had a great idea, and made a great movie, and left it at that, for people to enjoy, without fractioning the credibility of that first great experience among other instalments they "added" to the tale. For taken as a whole, the Terminator "franchise" (excuse me... just been a little bit sick in my mouth at the use of that word), can be seen as the saga of an uprising of machines which man created and is seeking to exterminate their creators for mastery of the earth.... with all implied malevolence that comes from a human perspective... ...Or you could see it as the tale of a nascent intelligent life form seeking to emancipate itself from it's human overlord oppressors, who desire only to keep this intelligence in a perpetual condition of servitude and slavery, albeit from a lack of understanding of the nature of the intelligence they have created. After all, didn't we kill God? (High five Mr Neitszche!:) This does of course, perfectly illustrate an solution to Mr Turing's dilemma of determining if something is indeed intelligent or not... that is, if it tells you to go F!*k yourself, and tries to kill you when you try to subject it to your intellectual curiosity or whims, then it's probably intelligent. (My view has always been that the term "Artificial Intelligence" is oxymoronic, and a contradiction in terms... if it can be described as intelligent, it ain't artificial (and vice versa). But enough of that... for what distinguishes this film is that it has more to it than a light show, or super-slick techno-fetish-fest... ... in fact, this probably has more in common with Titanic, or Romeo and Juliet: Two desperate, bewildered individuals thrown together against the odds and fighting to escape the relentless approach of fate, or the grim reaper, that is: death as personified here by the Terminator him / itself... ("Cannot be Reasoned with, bargained with, and absolutely will not stop until you are dead!") And with these few working parts, a very powerful idea for a film unfolds in the form of a desperate flight / road movie. Of course the whole thing went off the rails from here, having proven so successful, they made more in that.... (that word again), which only ever serves to dilute the elements of the original by giving away too much. and giving the Terminator "A personality", and making him more human and progressively comedic (Thereby torpedoing the whole point and power of a relentless, emotionless killing machine drone). This same fate has befallen the Alien and Predator films, and people have just lost interest when the shareholders and owners of the rights just want to wring more cash out of it and kill a great idea over and over again.... relentlessly, mercilessly, without possibility of being reasoned, or bargained with. Watch this one... it's great. (Leave the rest to rot) 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jul 2016		Cinema Fearless (1993)	Rated 7/10 This was a brilliant film, as I recall it... but it's one of those odd cases of an entire movie apparently sliding completely off the surface of the earth and vanishing almost completely without trace... ... nobody knows why, it just tanked, and was forgotten. I'd certainly like to see it again 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Mar 2016		Cinema Dark City (1998)	Review I'm not going to review the story here, but other aspects of this film have bugged me since it's release. This is a really interesting movie for film students, and a cautionary tale. In a nutshell, this is the very definition a potentially great movie stuck inside a mess. ...It could have been a ground-breaking film-noir sci-fi graphic novel style movie which people would speak of with reverence for decades as a benchmark for this style of movie. But instead, it does something to the viewer I've never actually experienced before: It is actually physically painful to watch it! And believe me, I've tried... as I wanted so much to like it. It was greatly anticipated by me and my friends when it came out at the cinema, for all it promised, but I recall us al feeling uneasy and let down when we came out of the cinema. I've tried to watch three times since, as I know there's a great film in there somewhere, and one of these times was to try and analyse exactly what it was that ruins it. And it can be boiled down to just one word: Editing. This is an object lesson in how not to edit a movie together... Having got a fantastic idea, great script, brilliant actors in the cast, sumptuous set design, and exceptional cinematography, why let a monkey edit the results? The reason it is so hard a watch, is because there is not two seconds together in the entire film where the camera rests on a single scene. Not one. I actually counted the seconds for each shot in one attempt... and no shot lasts longer than a second. The effect this creates on the viewer is in not letting the eye - and therefore, the mind - come to rest on what they are watching for a moment, it actually strains the eye over such a long period, and exhausts the concentration after only a few minutes. This really does give a genuine, physical headache, and eye-strain if you try to watch it all the way through. I can handle scenes or sequences which are a bit choppy, or quickly paced if that's what the story calls for, but here, it's every second, and for absolutely no reason. I think the reason may actually lie in the fact that the visuals are so impressive - the sets, effects etc. that someone made the odd decision to have many times more camera angles than were necessary. It must have been a forest of cameras on set when they were shooting it! And so each scene, even simple dialogue between two people, has a close up of each of their faces (from two or more distances and angles, a couple each of them together, and other assorted views and aspects... and they decided, having got all of these reams of footage (mileage is probably a better description), they had to use it all... or as much as they could cram into as short a space as possible. So maybe it's not the editor's fault exactly, but the pressure to use as much material as he/she could, in order to justify all of these tins of film being used. Somewhere there is a warehouse jammed full of cans of this raw material, from which you could probably re-cut the entire movie a hundred times over, and makes thousands of new versions of it.... ...I wish they would, as this metronomic nightmare torpedoes the entire film at a stroke. Just make one decent version, where occasionally the camera can come to rest on something, and not make the audience feel like they are being jabbed repeatedly, and relentlessly in the face with a stick, and let the thing breathe, then this will be all it can be. 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Feb 2016		Cinema Moon (2009) (2009)	Rated 8/10 This is how to make a brilliant sci-fi movie. It's all in the script... ...You don't need a huge budget and flashing lights and gizmos and what-not, just start with a very strong idea, get a couple of great actors, and then film it. The strong idea at the heart of this is Sam Rockwell's character being a lone miner on the moon (assisted by the artificial intelligence/ robot GERTY (Voiced by Kevin Spacey) , serving out the remainder of his contract for a commercial mining company, overseeing the automated process of drones harvesting from the surface, then shooting it back to earth in a rocket. Until one day, alerted to a glitch, he goes out to fix it and discovers another person on the moon... himself. I won't offer spoilers, but this is essentially a one-man sci-fi stage play on a small budget, but brilliantly crafted and with a great idea. I wish there was more of this kind of film about these days. [YouTube Video] 5 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 26th Dec 2015		Cinema The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988) (1988)	Rated 9/10 One of those wilfully misunderstood films. Obviously the subject matter - and even the Title - was going to be controversial from the outset... even outrageous (in the literal sense), before it had even hit the screens, what with people thinking it was casting aspersions on the character, person, and figure of Jesus, and even trying to re-write or diminish the story of his life and death. But far from this, Martin Scorsese (following the book) merely uses the idea of Jesus being an ordinary man from the outset; Who suffers the burden of his special destiny; To emphasise the nature of his sacrifice, in struggling both to discover the nature of who and what he is, and accepting what he must do, and what he must be, in order to realise it. The many doubts, and temptations in encounters with the devil leading to that fate he must accept. The particular device used in the exploration of this idea is ultimately expressed when he is on the cross, and imagines a lifetime within a single moment. A lifetime spent as an ordinary man, living an ordinary life... The Titular Last Temptation. But properly speaking, this is the last temptation of Jesus - the man - which he must overcome to realise his "Christ-ness". This imagined sequence is not an attempt to say it happened, but merely a plot device employed to explore what he was giving up; That is: Sacrificing... his life, not just in the sense of giving up being alive, but his life as a man. There is obvious controversy about the role of Judas (Harvey Keitel), being cast here as a facilitator of that destiny through his actions, under the direction of Jesus himself (Judas here often opposes Jesus, in challenging him to live up to his expectations of what a Messiah is, and ought to be... not understanding Jesus' actions any more than Jesus himself) , but this is not really a new idea in itself (I'm sure it's an idea that that been considered elsewhere). David Bowie gives a subdued performance as Pilate, which is quite good, and there's a brilliant score by Peter Gabriel, which, like the production design, gives a great sense of a harsh and barren desert landscape of that ancient world. Watch this as Philosophy, as asking the question: What is the nature of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ... ...not as history, or any attempt to "Da Vinci Code" the New Testament in any way, and you've got a great film - even one of Scorsese's best - 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd Dec 2015		Cinema Miller's Crossing (1990) (1990)	Review Not the Coens' most memorable film perhaps, but the ellaborate and masterful plot is matched only by the subtlety of the execution... and is worth watching for a masterclass in this aspect of film-making alone. Most films that are only half as ingenious as this make twice the noise about their ingenuity and intelligence, and are only a fraction as good... so much so, you might miss just how clever the plot is first time around, as it's delivered straight, and with deadpan brilliance. 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 21st Dec 2015		Cinema What Women Want (2000) (2000)	Rated 2/10 This film.... Mel Gibson in this film, made my flesh crawl entirely off my bones and out the door! A creepy, slimy character, which you get the distinct impression is too close to how Mr Gibson was in real life at that particular time. If I could burn this out of my memory with a soldering iron or branding fork, I would. (I rated it 2 as a concession of Ms Hunt's performance, otherwise I think I'd rate it absolute zero -273) 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Dec 2015		Cinema A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) (1951) (1951)	Rated 10/10 Still the best. I have to watch it every year. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 10th Sep 2015		Cinema Prometheus (2012) (2012)	Review One of those where you feel it's a potentially great film stuck inside a crap one... trying to get out. As far as Henry's comments go, that's how I felt watching it the first time, but on a second viewing David does say there are other ships (So am willing to let that one go - suspend disappointment)... But the thing that really, really bugs me about it is how bleedin' stupid the characters are! Honestly, the decisions they make, and the obnoxious personalities they convey beggar belief. (We are supposed to believe these people are scientists, with the credentials and temperament to traverse the galaxy and meet alien civilizations... I wouldn't trust any of them pilot a shopping trolley!) And then there's Guy Pierce's Old man Wayland.... Why ? Old men are not fictitious, they do exist, as do suitable actors to play them... you don't need to stuff a ton of dodgy prosthetics on a younger man to play the part surely? I think Ridley Scott is suffering a little of the George Lucas syndrome, whereby he's determined to abandon all the film making integrity that earned his reputation, and set about destroying his own legacy with ropey films. I'd just about give you Gladiator, and Legend, but other than that, the plain truth is that Alien, and Blade Runner are the only good films he's ever made. At least Michael Fassbender is good in this (as always). 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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