Cinema - Comments by Magic Marmalade

Cinema - Comments by Magic Marmalade

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 12th Jan 2024		Cinema Killing Zoe (1993) (1993)	Agreed, not a fun-fest, mainly, I think due to two reasons... Anglade's character being a nasty, damaged Psycho (which would be ok, if not for the other reason), and Stoltz, say times looks disinterested in the whole thing, like he thought: "Tarantino + arty European bank job movie... Great!", then got on set, saw what it was, and felt like a fish out of water..."well, I'm committed now, and this is still a payday". (In fairness, that could just be the character he was playing, as much as anything, but it doesn't offset, or contrast well with Anglade). Still, for all it's faults, and still in great need of a recut and restructure though it is, it has fared a little better in by mind since watching it, so I might keep this one for a little while, and watch it again sometime, this time, going in with no preconceptions... See what that does for it :)
Magic Marmalade 2nd Jan 2024		Cinema L.A. Confidential (1997) (1997)	Sorry to stir the pot.... but to me, this is also a Christmas movie :)
Magic Marmalade 20th Dec 2023		Cinema True Romance (1993) (1993)	:) Indeed, will have to make a list sometime of my favourite 90s movies! Meantime, enjoy: [YouTube Video]
Magic Marmalade 9th Dec 2023		Cinema Kattorna (The Cats ) (1965) (1965)	font used for title looks suspiciously like the later logo for the the band: The Cure.
Magic Marmalade 18th Nov 2023		Cinema Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes (1984) (1984)	Maybe not the most brilliant movie ever made, but I like it. (Still the best Tarzan movie made though, albeit that's not saying much, given the repeated failed attempts to properly nail this character on the big screen)
Magic Marmalade 18th Nov 2023		Cinema A Serious Man (2009) (2009)	- And let's not linger too long on: Burn After Reading...(yikes!) I think the problem with this one is they've struck gold in capturing that quirky, odd tone in Fargo, and tried to replicate it here without success. Difficult to do, as the quality that makes Fargo so brilliant is created through the sum of it's parts, with no individual element - script, performances, aesthetic etc. being the sole essence of it.... It's movie making alchemy, magic that you feel perhaps they wouldn't know if they'd achieved it until they saw what came out the other end, and while you're doing it it, there's no way to know if you have it or not. Very fine line between brilliance and boredom.
Magic Marmalade 31st Oct 2023		Cinema Me, Myself & Irene (2000) (2000)	The scene with the cow still has me rolling about with laughter :)
Magic Marmalade 27th Oct 2023		Cinema Slipstream (1989)	Yup, still fun, and quite a good premise, if a little dated effects wise, and occasional shonky acting. But ye Gods! ...Look at that cast!!! (I got, what I assume to be the first issue of this on DVD from Amazon second hand, and it is not the greatest print, and while the aspect ratio is given as 4:3 on the packaging, it was still a little squashed in the preview page when I ripped it in Handbrake... went to 5:4 or thereabouts to rectify it.)
Magic Marmalade 22nd Oct 2023		Cinema Dude, Where's My Car? (2000) (2000)	I remember almost nothing of this except two things: First, how punishingly dumb it was, that it made my head hurt, and I couldn't wait for the ordeal to end... ...And second, only the bubble wrap suit being genuinely funny, and sparing my rating this as an absolute zero.
Magic Marmalade 18th Oct 2023		Cinema The Cell (2000) (2000)	Yeah, maybe one that is more "art installation" than substance, but boy those visuals worked on me!
Magic Marmalade 18th Oct 2023		Cinema Running Scared (1986) (1986)	Ah, that's sad to hear. Maybe one of those that hasn't aged well. I like to find these titles on DVD when I can, in the charity shop... (Although I have caved in a little recently and got a couple of titles used and cheap from Amazon, which I haven't seen in donkey's ear, and which I will be writing something about when I have set aside some time to watch: Slipstream, and Split Second (Rutger one). All I remember is the quite sparky, energetic vibe around Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines, but with a dramatic climax, and good atmosphere to it. (might check that Freevee thing though :)
Magic Marmalade 27th Sep 2023		Cinema The Cell (2000) (2000)	Not seen this almost totally forgotten gem in ages (probably since the time of release), but would like to, as my memory of it is as one of the most materially and visually stunning and at the same time, disturbing movies I've seen. (I still have the bit with the horse in dreamworld burned into my brain!) Probably time for this to get some love and appreciation again?
Magic Marmalade 31st Aug 2023		Cinema Badlands (1973) (1973)	Terrence Malick has to be the most over-rated director of all time... All of his movies are tedious and dull.
Magic Marmalade 31st Aug 2023		Cinema The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (2003)	Still can't adequately explain just how pissed off I was at the end of this in the cinema, seeing the words: "To be concluded" on the screen! What!!! (thinks I): "...is this a F*&£ing tv show!?!" I just paid full price for a cinema ticket, and you can't even bring this "movie" to anything like a self contained conclusion, even if you have another instalment in mind? Bad film-making! So now I'm having to "tune in next week" after this cliff-hanger for yet another full price cinema ticket top find out what happens... a disturbing trend to set, I thought. Also explains why this, and the cartoonish over indulgent next one largely suck... and further pale in comparison to the first / original movie, which is brilliant. This would have been better on TV, not the cinema screen.
Magic Marmalade 10th Aug 2023		Cinema Barbie (2023) (2023)	You've lost yer willie?
Magic Marmalade 5th Aug 2023		Cinema The Town (2010)	Strangely, almost forgotten movie, but very much in the "Heat" style of crime thriller like what Michael Mann does. And really rather good. (Could also be considered as one to watch if you liked Scorcese's: The Departed)
Magic Marmalade 28th Jul 2023		Cinema Hardcore Henry (2015) (2015)	I think I may have attempted to start watching Doom, but got bored, as it was a "Hollywood" idea of what a game conversion should be / star vehicle. (to be honest, I haven't played a video game though, since PS1 days... it all started to get too: "real" looking, whereas I preferred the charm of low-bit graphics games, that looked like games, and didn't try to look real-world-y. - Original GTA was hillarious and cartoonish... later ones self indulgent and disturbing incel fodder to me... do not understand modern gaming culture at all, and have no desire to do so either! :)
Magic Marmalade 23rd Jul 2023		Cinema La Cité Des Enfants Perdus (The City Of Lost Children) (1995) (1995)	(Just noticed this trailer mis-spells Ron Perlman's name...ouch! :)
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jul 2023		Cinema La Vie Rêvée Des Anges (The Dreamlife Of Angels) (1998) (1998)	After much hunting, just discovered this beautiful song over the end credits is this: [YouTube Video]
Magic Marmalade 22nd Jul 2023		Cinema Arkansas (2020)	The more I think about it, the more I think this movie could benefit from a re-cut, and restructure... ...If you did away with the chapter headings, re-dispersed some of the earlier and later scenes elsewhere, so as to create a mystery / reveal element into it, in such a way as you were not really sure what was going on until something revealed earlier in it's present form was shown later, I think this would sharpen up the story-telling, bring focus to it, centre the movie around Vince Vaughn big performance, and also make the other two primary characters more impactful. As it is, I think director Clark Duke has been a little too slavish to the Tarantino style, at the expense of something great entirely of his own.
Magic Marmalade 4th Jul 2023		Cinema Reservoir Dogs (1992) (1992)	I don't think it is possible for me to overstate the impact and importance of this movie on me personally, or indeed others, who like me, were lucky enough to have seen it at the cinema at time of release... ...I remember, having reached the pitch of "Hollywood superstar vehicle movies" fare prior to this, me and some friends, went because we thought it might "be cool"... (Teenagers eh?!? - ha ha :) ...And sitting transfixed in the cinema, and it being like: "What the hell is this? - is this what a movie can be?.... in the cinema?!!!" - not our usual diet of big budget action schlock. We all walked out the cinema in frowny, thoughtful silence. ...Something has, or was about to change, dramatically in cinema, I felt, and indeed, I think this certainly allowed things like Pulp Fiction to be accepted by a wider audience. The only other moment in culture I can remember in my lifetime, that represented as dramatic a shift, or push into some other space than the usual was the release of the Nirvana album: Nevermind. ...almost literally, overnight, everything that had gone before was redundant, and quite simply "over", and now... this. (In the case of Nevermind, there were ever increasing levels of unrelatable absurdity in hair metal, consuming all the cultural oxygen in rock, least... then: BANG! Teen Spirit! - you hair metallers are done - find new occupations please. Of course, now I have a nostalgic appreciation for those old permy rockers - "How I learned to stop wirrying and love hair metal" :) But this is still my fave of the Quinisters - because it was (consciously) the first.
Magic Marmalade 1st Jul 2023		Cinema Amadeus (1984) (1984)	I think this the textbook example of that line from Liberty Valance: "When the legend becomes fact... print the legend" (More or less) ...In that the impact of this screenplay and movie has probably become the truth of the life and death of Mozart, and cast another historical figure: Composer: Salieri, in a very dim light indeed, to the extent the poor guy has been all but damned to hell, reputationally speaking. One thing has crossed my mind just recently, is how similar the parallels are between the recent movie: Whiplash, and this. (I wonder if this was an influence on it?)
Magic Marmalade 1st Jul 2023		Cinema Nil By Mouth (1997) (1997)	Very tough watch. But a great portrayal of an abusive relationship, and examination of what may be behind it.
Magic Marmalade 8th Jun 2023		Cinema Drive (2011)	Just upgraded my rating of this to a flat out 10 out of 10... ...After watching (yet!) again, I have concluded this film is... Perfect. Perfect runtime, pacing, acting, story, atmosphere (which it has in spades, so as to have the feel of something like: John Caprenter does Vanishing Point. Low-fi Electronica score: perfect, signature lead song, which really lends this some heart: perfect... The two most central characters (including the excellent Carey Mulligan) who talk the least, but say the most: perfect. This, is one I feel I'm going to naturally gravitate back to on a "more than is healthy for me" basis... ...very regularly, possibly bordering on the obsessive :) (Haven't felt a movie captivate me this much, in this way since Blade Runner!) Now my favourite film of the last twenty years.
Magic Marmalade 5th Jun 2023		Cinema Running Scared (1986) (1986)	What the hell happened to this movie? It used to be on TV all the time, and was one of the staples of Billy Crystal’s filmography... now, all but vanished from existence! …Even a cursory look on Amazon and eBay shows the DVD seems to be quite rare, and with a somewhat marked up price as a result. I haven’t seen it for a fair while, but remember it being quite a fun movie…did it not age well, such as modern sensibilities might not approve of…or are there background rights issues or something?
Magic Marmalade 5th Jun 2023		Cinema Blue Steel (1989)	Time seems to have almost forgotten this excellent movie. Jamie Lee Curtis really carries this well, as a very tough, strong character, in a very dramatic, chilling thriller.
Magic Marmalade 5th Jun 2023		Cinema Deliverance (1972) (1972)	I always felt this was over-rated... more of a cult movie due to a basic concept, and reputed for one notorious scene, rather than being an especially good film.
Magic Marmalade 29th May 2023		Cinema Outland (1981) (1981)	Yes, every major actor ought to have a couple of lo-fi, slow burner, cult type films in their resume like this. This was one of those that I grew up seeing every now and then parked on one of the lesser stations, late at night, and which totally beguiled me, and really informed, and formed by taste in movies... ... Very much moviedrome fodder! (For those in the UK, who may remember that :) Can't believe some of the stuff my parents let me watch at that age. (It's a wonder I'm not completely screwed up! (Twitch, twitch.... Shudder.... Twitch... "Arse!"... Twitch :) I think it's movies like this that make me really appreciate others of more modern vintage like Drive, You were never really here, and the works of Michael Mann... ... All about the atmosphere and mood. (Also why I prefer to watch movies on my phone now, as opposed to all that home cinema lark... More intimate, personal, and immersive, like when all I used to have was a small 14" colour TV by my bed, which would illuminate my room as the only source of light, and draw me in, in a way all that modern CGI 3D pizzazz never could)
Magic Marmalade 24th May 2023		Cinema Donnie Darko (2001) (2001)	I watched this again last night on my phone... (Was in the garden - lovely evening - one too many ales and dry roasted peanuts :) ...Noticed something I think I'd always been aware of, but had not joined the dots before for some reason: A big fat easter egg / unequivocal clue as to what is going on in this movie, and what it's all about is presented when Donnie goes to the cinema, and one of the movies playing there is: The Last Temptation Of Christ. (Bit of a heavy and obscure reference, but if you've seen that, it'll help getting your head around this somewhat - although I actually came away from last night's viewing with even more questions regarding the time frames presented here.... hmmmm.) Also, it has to be stated here that there is perhaps one of the best lines of dialogue in movie history: *"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!"* (Cracks me up every time I see it :)
Magic Marmalade 15th Apr 2023		Cinema 君の名は。 (Your Name) (2016) (2016)	zab, could you put these reviews and links in comments instead please? Reviews are really intended for members own words and opinions, however brief or extensive they may be.

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