Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Magic Marmalade

Cinema - Comments / Reviews by Magic Marmalade

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 15th Mar 2023		Cinema Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) (2011)	Rated 8/10 Love Actually... for adults. This is another of those that had only bubbled away in the back of my consciousness since it's release... (I think the market and such made me simply categorize it as just another movie release at the time - nothing to write home about) ...But having stumbled across the DVD, I thought the time was right to give it a go - And I'm very glad I did! As I alluded to, this is along very similar lines (ish) to the walking abomination that is Love Actually in it's evident multi-stranded (and intertwining) tales of love. Except here, it's all kind of within one family and their world, proceeding from Juliane Moore's character Emily, announcing to Steve Carell's Cal that she's had an affair with someone at work, and wants a divorce... While dining out... it's news to him, a shock in fact, as well as to the other diners! This leads to a separation, and reveals other family love related bother such as the babysitter is in love with Cal, and their son, whom she babysits, is in turn in love with her. Where this really gets good is when Cal goes to a bar, in despair, and begins to bother the customers with his depression, including Ryan Gosling's local stud / pick up artist, who takes pity on Cal, and resolves to help him rediscover his mojo, by teaching him how to get with the ladies and become a stud himself. This odd couple bro-mance really is the beating heart of this movie, as it is actually (chuckle) very quite a warm relationship, as well as being laugh out loud funny and very witty. Gosling is brilliant in playing to the character he's given, and basically, everyone in this is great. More sharply written, presented, funnier, and effective, by orders of magnitude than the aforementioned schlock-fest, I think this could, and should be regarded in years to come, an early contender minor classic from the still recent-ish 2010s. Top level rom-com, having both elements of this genre combo in spades. (Especially the laughs!) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 14th Mar 2023		Cinema Before Sunset (2004) (2004)	Rated 9/10 Meeting again sometime after their first encounter, which Ethan Hawke's character has recounted in a book he is promoting in Paris, they set off on another philosophical chat while they walk around the city... ... And having talk about a great deal of things, in the polite and awkward manner of friends who haven't seen each other in a while, and clearly want to say more than they are saying in words, they finally arrive at the more personal issues between them. ...Which is when this begins to become a proper movie in it's own right, rather than simply a sequel, or re-hash of the original... after all the first captured perfect, naïve, romantic magic which, like anything one may do in life, can only be done for the first time once :) - And if they simply tried to redo the original in this way, it would, because of this, have suffered by comparison. Instead, this one captures the later years, of having been deeply impacted by their first meeting, and finding that their lives since have been hooked around that time, and so the longing and nostalgia for a time long gone is the key note here, a little sadder, a little wiser, but just the thing to do to set against the original film. One point of particular note, that really sets this up a bar, is how it ends... You may have had that experience in movies where you find yourself thinking: "If they would just end it right here, that would be just great" ...But they seldom, if ever do. Except here, in this case, they do! Just at the perfect moment, and in the perfect way, it ends. Perfect. So my fears about seeing a sequel to what was essentially a perfect little movie have been greatly allayed, and now can't wait to find the final film in this trilogy: Before Midnight (This has got to be a rarity, if not unique in this genre: A romantic trilogy? - Often Romance is defined by tragedy, which tends to preclude sequels: Romeo And Juliet, Titanic, The Terminator etc.) Superb. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 9th Mar 2023		Cinema Donnie Darko (2001) (2001)	Rated 9/10 Quintessential Modern Gothic. Here's a movie that has since become regarded as a cult classic... but even that seems to have faded somewhat over recent years. The reason is, it's one of those profoundly weird, strange, and unsettling movies that people either come to dearly love, or just "don't get it". To characterise it, or convey a sense of it, I'd invite you to imagine David Lynch's Blue Velvet, done as an 80's / 90s teen high-school melodrama, about time travel (and the philosophy thereof)... ...The superficially idealised American suburban setting with a deep sense of something "off" about the world, in which, Donnie Darko, a high school student with profound mental health problems (history, and current issue of schizophrenia / arson / psychosis) feels very strongly the off-ness of the world around him, but of course, who would believe him anyway, he's crazy?!!! But he is visited by a very unsettling presence in the shape of a giant rabbit, who informs him of the imminent end of the world, and sets a clock ticking in a countdown to doomsday. Donnie must get to grips with not only his issues, but his family, friends, and school kids, their parents, teachers (one or two sympathetic, others not so), as well as the nature and philosophy of time travel in order to prevent this end of the world scenario. The bunny is a very malign and disturbing element in this movie, giving it the sheen of a horror movie, and the sense of time running out weighs like lead on these proceedings. And that's really what struck me when I first saw it all those years ago, as it was perfectly in tune with the times, at the turn of the millennium, and captures the sense of impending doom, and an undefinable sense of all pervading dread... heightened and exacerbated by the evident obliviousness of others to this coming unidentifiable calamity, as they chunter about their lives in blissfull ignorance while those like Donnie, are all too sensible to the peril. I'd simply say that, if you are of the cast of mind, like mine, of being what I like to think of as "A Natural Melancholic"... (As distinct from depressive - the one being the nature of the person, the other, an affliction contrary to the natural, or desired state) ...You'll find a strong ring of truth, and will sympathise entirely with the mood created here, but of not, I don't thin this movie is perhaps for you. To conclude, while it's been a while since I saw the original theatrical release (my DVD is scratched to buggery, and won't play, so need a replacement), I have recently picked up a DVD of the "Director's Cut" which adds a couple of features briefly it seems, like chapter headings, and changes a couple of already well chosen eighties songs in the soundtrack, but overall, nothing really leapt out at me in being dramatically different, so far as it might alter the tone, point or purpose of the movie - it's still the same basic movie as far as I can see - so I don't think it makes too much difference tot he experience which version you might choose to see. A great, strange movie that captures the mood of the cusp of a change of eras. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 6th Mar 2023		Cinema Crimson Peak (2015) (2015)	Rated 5/10 A sumptuous boredom festival. This ghost story movie is astonishing to look at, but mind numbingly tedious and dull. The excessive CGI makes the ghosty things decidedly unscary, plastic looking crap... And the look is too good for the kind of film they were trying to make - by my estimation, a kind of Hitchcock suspense, haunted house ghost story. The cinematography is so sumptuous and colourful that it distracts from any drama or suspense this might have otherwise have had. This tale of an intelligent, yet innocent aspiring writer getting hooked up with Tom Hiddleston's baronet (landed gentry type - Hiddleston doing yet another wonderful rendition of a non-variation of the typical Hiddleston character - as Hiddleston - getting boring now ) and his whacky sister could have been good if they'd gone more for atmosphere, rather than look - grimed it up a bit - gone dark, kind of thing (Might even have been better in black and white!)... and had a less boring screen play. I was only half hour in and was playing with my phone, and feeling defeated that there was still an hour and some many minutes left. Feels a lot like that 90's Liam Neeson version of The Haunting, where a lot was made of the visual gimmick, and how it looks, while being equally stultifyingly dull. Avoid. (Del Toro is vastly over-rated in my book - a poor man's Peter Jackson) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Mar 2023		Cinema Rope (1948) (1948)	Rated 8/10 This is actually my favourite Alfred Hitchcock movie; Very short, very talky drama all played out in one room. Of course, it draws attention in Hitchcock's filmography mainly due to the experimental elements: The apparently "real-time" action taking place against a backdrop of a city skyline set, where, through the magic of lighting and set design, day gradually becomes night as the drama takes place in one apparently continuous shot (Actually there's one visible break - zooming into someone's back, before coming back out again, and also one switched camera angle) but still impressive none the less, not least because the actors had to keep this going perfectly individually, and as an ensemble for extended stretches. This, being centred around a murder, which we see committed at the start, as an " artistic experiment" conducted by a perfectly depicted cold, charming, and detached psychopath and his old school chum... (Who is actually the more interesting character in a way, as he is able to do this thing, but is very jittery and troubled - not evidently, because what he has done is wrong, but through fear of consequence to himself if discovered - would this make him more a sociopath?) ...Who then invite people over for a party while the body remains in a chest / box in the middle of the room, and from which they eventually eat supper from. - their knowing, in the face of other people's ignorance of the crime, and the presence of the body, right under their noses, providing the twisted thrill our chief psycho is looking for, to round out his "art". The crucial error, being having invited James Stewart's old schoolmaster - their old teacher, who inspired this notion in them through his, only apparently, extreme, barmy, and tenuous philosophical views about superior persons who should be allowed to commit such crimes against the inferior persons in society - who then very quickly clues in to the fact that something is up, and begins to sleuth them out, all the while the party goes on around them. It's very much a statement about the kind of thinking that led to Nazi atrocities in the second world war. But the truly impressive thing about this, for me at least, is the - how should I call it? - *screenplay choreography* taking place here, to allow this extended take scenario to work; The shifting of focus of the camera to different groups of people allows some actors to go out of shot for a spell and others have a moment, before returning fluidly to the central characters, and the main story. It doesn't feel artificial, or forced - that is: "We need to give this actor a break now, so quick, shift to some characters", but rather just floats seamlessly around the characters at the party, without disturbing the flow, or rhythm of the movie. It's the one film of Hitchcock's that although he has some incredible movies in his filmography, has stolen through the pack to become my favourite over time, mostly through the mesmeric quality of this stage like production, which give a more intimate and fascinating tale of suspense than usual. (I think this is also why I like Rear Window as much, over say Vertigo, Psycho et al.) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 21st Feb 2023		Cinema Predator (1987) (1987)	Rated 8/10 Another movie with a lot more to it than is given credit for... >Perhaps a spoiler in here< (A theme of both eighties music and movies, often thought to be shallow and superficial, but actually concealing a lot of stuff you didn't know was there) ...In this case, most will simply accept this as an exercise in Bravado, and Overly overt masculinity, and (as often observed by those who watch this for the first time) a pungent aroma of testosterone... As if actually celebrating it, and glorying in these elements. But actually, nothing could be further from the truth... Indeed, quite the contrary! This is, in reality, a statement about masculinity, and machismo and how these elements most often find their natural expression in big dudes with big guns, shooting the crap out of everything. Granted, there's plenty of that here, but you cannot fail to notice how exaggerated it all is - dry shaving with hunting knives through stony faced glares into the middle distance, massive, stupid and impractical weaponry all underpinning the evident sense of over-confidence this gives the soldiers here... ...Misplaced confidence. And here we come to the actual statement about these things, and what this film is really saying: You may think you are tough, and believe you're own BS, but what if something else, bigger, scarier, and both more singular in it's purpose, advanced in it's weaponry, were to appear on the scene that would render all your displays of apparent strength pitiful by comparison? And this the essence of the movie, it, through the means of this alien lizard-oid creepy-crawly, by degrees, and systematically breaks down this bravura, shatters their illusions of superiority and strength, even their sense of relative sophistication and expertise so they become no more than scared little children running around in the jungle. But it goes further than this, as it also, in the end, reduces Arnie back to a primitive, cave man like state - stripped of all civilization as a man, to a barbarous savage fighting for his life. (I wonder, if the contemplative stare in the outro is a reflection on this, and what has happened to him there in the jungle - was hem and his cohorts, nothing but a cave man, and a savage all along... just took an alien to strip away this false conceit?) It might, on reflection, have been right there in our faces all along, that this was what the movie was about, as the poster is an image of Arnie, as seen through the eyes of the alien's Infra-Red heat vision., under the massive title word: Predator. (Who exactly is the real predator here... the alien, or Man / Arnie? Arnie has, actually, the most normal character among the team, and has a more realistic attitude to what he's doing - playing it straight for once, as opposed to the usual comic violence with one-liners we were used to from him at this time as he casually dispatched multitudes... (Well, there's the odd one, but nothing that renders him cartoonish, as elsewhere) ...And it's that man John McTiernan again at the helm (Die Hard etc.), who, certainly at the time, knew what he was doing, and saying with these films, and better than anyone else back then! There is one crucial flaw in this film though for me: The opening shot, of an alien spacecraft depositing a pod with the alien in, on earth, to set the film up - this would have been so much better, going in blind, if that had been removed, so that all you knew, was that you were in the jungle with these men, on a mission, then strange things begin to happen, of unknown origin... Which would have left you as non-plussed, and anxious as the characters. But alas, you've seen the opening shot, so know about the alien... Shame. As with all these great original concepts: The Terminator, Alien, Predator etc., it seems those who then go on to make sequels, and franchises out of them, they only tune into the superficial elements of what the movie, at it's heart, is, and cannot understand what it is that actually made these films so powerful in the first instance, and these are the very elements that seem to get left behind, for though they didn't know it, they were what made them work, and why the newer ones do not. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 15th Feb 2023		Cinema Isle Of Dogs (2018) (2018)	Rated 8/10 Wes Anderson's stop-motion super-symmetry masterclass. One of those movies which has a blend of apparently disparate elements, that it would never have occurred to you that they would go well together, until you sit and think about it for a moment, and go... "yeah, actually, that makes perfect sense!" The elements here being first: It's a Wes Anderson movie... His ultra precise, perfectly symmetrically framed cinematic style, with those quirky, perfectly parallel sliding tracking shot movements, in an almost, moving diorama look. The perfect compliment to the second... The precision and style required by stop-motion animation; Here a style built from different animation techniques, of models in stop-motion, over two dimensional animated set elements, which give it an almost anime / manga quality. All of which, is rounded off by the final perfect piece: Being set in a kind of dystopian nearly future Japan. Not being overly familiar with Japan myself, I couldn't really say if this is an accurate representation of that country, and it's cultural elements, except impressions I have. like anyone else, of a very subdued, precise (that word again!), conservative culture, very deliberate, and exacting in it's essence... ...All of which, make for a Swiss watch of a movie, but one not lacking in heart, and warmth, with some genuine moments, as well as elements of genius in it's execution. A tale of a near future, where dogs have been overwhelmed by a plethora of diseases, agues, and maladies, which prompt the human population of the fictional city of Megasaki. led by the stern mayor and his advisers, to decree that all dogs be exiled to a small island: The Isle Of Dogs, to live, and forage among the waste and refuse of the island as strays. Atari, the mayor's adopted son though, has other ideas, and sets off, in defiance of his Father, to find his dog, Spots, previously assigned to be his companion, and protector after an accident. Crash landing on the island in his plane, this "Small Pilot" immediately takes up with a group of dogs, and they set out together to help find Spots. Basically, it's about a boy and his dog, as told through the eyes of the dogs of the island. The subtle genius moments here, are that Wes uses a brilliant device, of having a kind of United Nations / news report translator (Frances McDormand) to translate the Japanese, but sometimes, with a mixture of Japanese and English subtitles displayed as an almost artistic feature of the film, there often is only Japanese... The dogs speak English, and so cannot understand, or be understood by the humans, who speak Japanese, so using this apparent disadvantage to great effect in showing the difficulty in dogs and humans understanding each other - very clever! There's also, the occasional Ferrris Beuller style, look to camera, by one of the stop-motion dogs, which adds to the wickedly funny moments and jokes / gags in this sharply written piece, with Anderson's signature humour. The final touch that often had me laughing out loud was when the dogs get into a scrap (especially with the robot dog!), and a kind of looney tunes cartoon style cloud of dust appears, and the various odd limbs are seen poking out from this frenetic maelstrom - a fist, a tail a leg etc.) I loved this whole thing, and I hope Wes Anderson makes more of these animated movies, because, like Tim Burton's: A Nightmare Before Christmas, an ordinary stop-motion movie is elevated by a distinctive film maker's sensibility, and style. Marvellous! 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 10th Feb 2023		Cinema The Lighthouse (2019) (2019)	Rated 8/10 This is a black business indeed! There's something strangely compelling about watching a couple of men alone together going stark staring crackers by degrees. The set up is very basic, therefore, as these two lighthouse keepers, strangers to each other, arrive on an isolated lighthouse island to... er... keep it, I guess... ...Willem Defoe's apparently grizzled old sea dog type, along with Patterson's young drifter / young buck newbie doing the initial slightly tense circling of each other in the "getting to know you" phase, within the power dynamic of mentor / master and student / dogsbody, before gradually breaking down, not only this tension, but then themselves and each other, personally and psychologically in a battle of wills that ends in madness. *Here be mad dragons me lad!* It really has a feeling of a Ben Wheatley movie (A Field In England / Hit List etc.), or one of those small, surreal nuggets like Berberian Studio, or the like, and certainly is a psychological horror movie, as it moves from tense, and generally strange through unsettling and odd, before landing neatly on hallucinatory and crazy. Relying, as it does, on the two leads here, both have to pull this off between them, and they do expertly, with Patterson moving from quiet, self contained and uncertain, to undone and venting very convincingly in this power dynamic... but it's Defoe who really nails it... The very broad, grizzled old wart character could be hammy very easily (and perhaps it is to an extent), but it works especially with a script that you can tell made his eyes light up when he read it, as this part is one for an actor to really get his teeth stuck into, with lengthy, poetic monologues he delivers with a mesmerising, captivating performance. It's another form that apparently ever brilliant A24 lot, who seem to be the only crew in town who still know how to make a proper movie outside the comic book formulas all too prevalent today. ...And there's a nice, evocative sea shanty to end with, all of which makes for a very haunting experience in all the finest traditions of this kind of movie. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 8th Feb 2023		Cinema The Hustler (1961) (1961)	Rated 9/10 Nothing may be what it seems. I don't know why this never appears on one of those lists of all time great movies, alongside the likes of Citizen Kane, Gone With The Wind etc. As it certainly deserves to be there in my book. One of those that seem to be one kind of movie, about a particular subject, but by the end, has become something else... ..And as this is a pure character study, the reason is that the characters change, or rather, reveal more of what they truly are, and what the real circumstances that compel them to be this way change too. Ostensibly, it's a fairly straightforward story of a cocky, overly-confident young Hustler, on the make, and coming to town to take on the old king of the pool-room hustle, and so take his crown, so to speak, in the er... grass-roots, underworld of small-town pool hall hustlers, but having learned a thing or two in the process, and meeting a lonely woman in a diner, who he strikes up a relationship with, this Maverick drifter with nothing apparently to lose, discovers, all too late, that maybe he, like everyone else in this movie, is only really hustling himself, and the effects, both on him, and those around him, cause him to lose more that he can gain. His tragedy, being that he is so conditioned to hustle, he can't really stop himself even in the face of tragic consequences. It occurs to me that this will have a great deal of relevance to a modern audience, being a great analogy of social media experiences where people are so compelled to present an image of themselves to the outside world, they may lose themselves to this image, and forget who they really are entirely. Which is to say, in repetition: Hustlers only ever really hustle themselves. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 8th Feb 2023		Cinema Tenet (2020) (2020)	Rated 6/10 Just had a rewatch, having found a DVD copy in the charity shop, and I've got to say it actually seems worse second time around. The overly convoluted plot twists (it's one long plot twist!) remain confusing to watch, even if you know what's coming... in fact knowing what's coming only serves to highlight how messy it is. (This really kills the dramatic aspect of it being a movie, if most of the time you are gazing into space with a look on your face like: "Did I leave the stove on?" and not absorbing the drama on screen) While the end gets stronger and better, the elephant in the room remains the incomprehensible, and questionable physics, which are only lightly explained with the cod-physics expositions / dialogue... a logical knot that Nolan tied himself up in due to the great flash of inspiration of the original idea. But the real surprise on the second watch was becoming aware of actually, just how tedious this film is... it is a boring movie! I realise now, that if you take away the surprise elements of a first time watch, and see / hear past the soundtrack that heightens suspense, and the dazzling backward cinematography, Even the action set-pieces are slow, and go on far too long. Shame, as the idea of a sci-fi James Bond / Bourne intrigue thing was a thrilling concept. Probably now, Nolan's worst movie...not a classic by any stretch. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 8th Jan 2023		Cinema Rumble Fish (1983) (1983)	Rated 7/10 Hyper stylised, stark, black and white fever dream. One I have gone through life thinking I'd seen but turns out, I hadn't! This is a very odd film. Not massively long, or epic really, which is surprising, given that this is essentially an art-house movie by Francis Ford Coppola, rather a more intimate tale centred around Matt Dillon's "Rusty James" character, a gang leader wannabe, living mainly off the reputation of his strange, soft spoken and sensitive (flaky) older brother's reputation as some kind of local legend: "The Motorcycle Boy" (Rourke), but who has long since dropped out of this gang world, and gone awol, as has Rusty James' dad (Hopper) - a ten-bob barfly, and local drunkard "philosopher" type. Rusty's trying to live up to the hype, of a life his brother left behind, and both his brother and father seem to have a perspective on life he can't understand. What's weird about this movie is that it has a note of the woozy unsettling tone that is induced in the viewer by Apocalypse Now, through the stark contrasting black and white giving the visuals (accompanied by the shot set up) a hyper natural emphasis... and punctuated by the odd moment of colour in the fish... (You have to see this to understand it, but it amounts to a device to say there's a world we an see, but those characters cannot, even if it's right before their eyes - Rourke's character even says: "I wish I could see the Colours" while they're right before the audience's eyes.) In addition to this. the assembled cast of brilliant accomplished actors, give almost caricature performances, - over emphasised, and almost hammy, like Coppola asked them deliberately to act badly, or slightly worse than we all know they can... and bizarrely, the most subdued performances comes from Nicholas Cage, and a cameo from Tom Waits!. So to begin with, I just wasn't buying into it, as it felt like a monochrome, music-less West-Side Story affair, done by a local am-dram society, but as these are great actors, it feels almost like they're taking the piss out of the audience... But by degrees, I found the story more engaging, and was drawing me in, so by the end, it turns out to be not such a bad film after all... even a good one. For this reason my rating began from a low point of about a 3, or 4,and gradually crept up as the film went on, landing finally on a 7. Had, perhaps, I'd known what this was going in, I might have stared a bit higher to begin with, or maybe if this was a bit better made, it might have a higher overall score. So in terms of ratings, this film feels like a 6 or 7 out of 10 movie, with an 8, 9, or even a 10 out of 10 movie trapped inside it, trying to get out. I t might possibly be one of those that grows on you over time, but first viewing leaves you only barely whelmed. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 21st Dec 2022		Cinema Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) (1990)	Rated 10/10 To love, to lose, and love again... To me, this is a near perfect love story movie, in being more than just about love, it's a grief story too. We join Nina (Stevenson) at the beginning of the movie, having already lost Jamie (Rickman), and finding it impossible to get over the loss... she goes about her daily routine as usual, barring the massive gap his absence has created in her life, a chasm which she is constantly, acutely aware of, and she is not doing well, in spite of her friends and family's efforts to keep moving her along. But then, one day... ...He's back. Without going into the metaphysical, or Hollywood style shmalz of afterlifery... (Ghost did come out at almost the same time as this, and effectively stole the show, as you'd expect - not that that's a bad movie, just too Hollywood compared to this, more simply told, everyday, direct examination of ghost-ness) ...No reason why, no real explanation, he's just there again! So Nina, the only one who can see or touch him, has a second chance of a life with Jamie in their house / apartment, while all around are bemused at the sudden upturn in her demeanour. But really, this is a study of life, death, grief, and ultimately about letting go, and how these things affect our memories of the person we lost. It is (was?) a stage play style that would at least, be perfect for a theatrical production, and I've got to say, it gets me every time. And as if you couldn't love Alan Rickman any more than you already did, this break out role for him is still among his best, with, not only the personal relationship between his character's and Stevenson's at the centre of the movie, of course, but the lightly handled surreal and absurd comedic element of when he brings some other ghosts back to the house to watch movies all night. It's better than Ghost, and more personally devastating , but in a way that leaves you feeling, not depressed, but warm, and even elevated by the end. I rank it as a must see, small slice of perfection. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 17th Dec 2022		Cinema Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof / Grindhouse Presents: Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof) (2007) (2007)	>The more I think about it, the more I think this is about Harvey Weinstein!!!< (Veiled analogy for his various misdeeds, that those who, at the time, would know what they were seeing... making the end of this movie eerily prescient, or prophetic)
Magic Marmalade 16th Dec 2022		Cinema Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof / Grindhouse Presents: Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof) (2007) (2007)	Rated 5/10 Well, what do you know about that... a dud from Tarantino! I vaguely remember this being released alongside Planet Terror as part of that Grindhouse double bill, and it struck me at the time as being a "side-project" for Tarantino... (I remember distinctly feeling this was a self indulgence for both him and Rodriguez given as a reward by the studios for having done so well for them with previous works, and that these chums decided to relax a little, and make the crappy films of their respective adolescent fantasy dreams) ...And so it is, as I only finally got around to watching it the other day, having found the DVD cheap, and so thought I could cross that final Tarantino movie off my "to watch" list. Basically, it's a homage (more like a creepy love letter from an overly obsessive fan!) to those bizarre, cheap horror / thrillers of the seventies, and perhaps eighties... the Hitcher, and that Stephen King "monster-lorry" affair (the one with the green goblin face on the front of the truck)... ..With Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike driving around in his creepy death machine - a suped up stunt car modified to become supposedly "Death proof", as you can survive any impact or crash in it and walk away... a fact he tests for inexplicable motiveless reasons against a couple of groups of fantastically annoying young women as a death wish / death defying weapon. The problem is, firstly, Kurt Russell is just too charming, charismatic, and likeable to play such a character type, so well defined by other movies, their anonymity of person as well as backstory, making them so effective (like a Terminator type), then the girls / women are not sympathetic characters, and you don't really care about them... (Obviously, designed around the old horror trope of the stupid, virginal victim fodder that gets you screaming in frustration at them) ...But they are horrible people, nasty, and vindictive, so I assume that the idea was to make you root for Russell instead, which doesn't come off, as the idea that Kurt Russell is "Such nice man" doesn't chime with what he is doing, or what he is... a nutcase killer. ...And also, it gives you, the audience member, the very uncomfortable feeling this is coming from a place of misogyny... almost a blueprint for some kind of incel manifesto. (This effect is even more troubling as it's a Weinstein production, featuring Rose McGowan... yikes!) But anyway, moving swiftly on.... ... The film is divided basically into two parts, each focusing on one of two groups of women he is targeting, with the vast majority of each piece of time devoted to each following these girls in their social environment, meaning that around two thirds of the film is devoted to the chit-chat / dialogue of these characters, and this is the major failing of the film, as uncharacteristically, Tarantino's dialogue is boring, tedious, pointless, and bland... and so lacking in the fundamental reasons his other films work, in being able to sell otherwise unpalatable ideas, scenes, characters, and action (at least they are funny, interesting, intriguing, or arresting)... ...No, this leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth, unusually for a movie of his, to the extent that you might well believe these first two thirds of the film were written by Weinstein himself, with only Tarantino coming in the last third for what is, admittedly, an enjoyable car chase finale... But an hour of shit to get to half hour of fun is a long way to go, in my book... too long. Additionally, Tarantino has over-indulged in the "make it look like a crappy cheap movie" aesthetic by covering the screen with snow and other cheap film stock effects, bad jerky editing with a lack of continuity in the camera changes and all the rest of it... except this joke doesn't sell for the simple reason that Tarantino is too good a movie maker to be so bad (And those movies he loves, which are so "bad they are good" are so, unconsciously and unintentionally - bad movie makers who thought they were better than they were, and trying to be brilliant... and failing - whereas he is a master movie maker knowingly, and intentionally trying to be less than he is, and it wears thin very quick, to the point that he even gives up the joke part way in, in favour of more competent practices. (Oh, and the actors are all too good at acting, which jars against this aesthetic and idea, and so fails to sell it). Well, at least he got this one out of his system, and moved on to bigger and better things! (Except Hateful Eight, which also largely sucks...ahem). ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Dec 2022		Cinema You Were Never Really Here (2018) (2018)	Rated 9/10 Film *very* noir. Too close to the release of Joker to say that this is probably the film that won Joaquin Phoenix the part, but this is every bit the towering performance the equal of that one. A grim, dark, grimy movie set in a grim, dark, and grimy world of the darkest extra-curricular activities of grim, dark, grimy politicians... child sexual exploitation to be exact. Until one senator's own daughter goes missing, Phoenix's despondent, broken, and menacing hit-man type is called in, off the books, to find her. Quote: "I hear you're brutal?" ..."I can be". Very much like a "scandi-noir" but extremely violent, grim, and graphic in places, it's a slow burner, and as much a character study of a guy who is never really all* there*, as it is a modern film-noir private investigator type of movie. Tone wise, both in story, feel, and look, probably sits alongside the likes of Se7ven, but without the reliance on twists and big set pieces... more a mood piece version of something like that... ...A grim mood piece, a dark mood piece, and indeed, a grimy mood piece. Seems to be becoming a forgotten minor masterpiece too, as it doesn't seem to pop up much in film chatter anymore, even though it's only been a couple of years since release, but well worth seeking out. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 10th Dec 2022		Cinema Alien (1979) (1979)	The simple reason why subsequent instalments in this franchise fail to matchthe original concept is actually right there in the title: ALIEN That is to say: Unknown, strange, not within your experience or understanding. From this, the horror, and terror is born, and is it's essence... how the film acts on your imagination. Tapping to that same primitive psychology that anyone who has walked through the woods on a pitch black moonless night has experienced, where the darkness is so thick it presses close in on your very eyeballs... devoid of information, the human mind begins to cast shapes into this unknown, to account for what may be there, as part of our basic survival kit... ...imagining the worst, gives a better chance of surviving. Using that in film, can therefore evoke the terror in the audience. ...That is, unless you make more movies, each one, explaining a little more of, and showing a little more of the Alien and that which is alien about it (backstory and so on). Doesn't it stand to reason then, that the more you familiarise the audience with it, the less *alien* it becomes, horrible though the creature may still be? To mind mind, the creature only serves to illustrate the meaning of that word and explore the concept it concerns.
Magic Marmalade 9th Dec 2022		Cinema The Suicide Squad (2021) (2021)	Rated 6/10 Quite disappointed with this... ... I mean, it's good, but after all the hype following the (In my opinion, unmerited) derision of the first attempt at Suicide squad-ery, where this was hyped to be the saviour of this sub-franchise; Helmed by that Gunn dude, as it is, and therefore correcting one of history's great DC movie mistakes with some miraculous redemption in the shape of this movie... ...But actually I found this rather tedious, even boring, in spite of it's over the top level of ridiculousness (A giant sodding starfish for God's sake!?!!). It tries the Deadpool formula, of being very graphically violent, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, knowing self deprecation and self cynicism, in a very renegade film making style, but frankly, the humour is predictable and juvenile, as is the plot, and a couple of the gags it relies on fell a bit flat for me (A long a way to go for a cheap laugh). The production design is spectacular though, very colourful and well shot, but this doesn't cover the fat that the action feels dull, and pedestrian, and is little more than an excuse to dress Margot Robbie in some colourful outfits once again for the indulgence of a bunch of Harley Quinn / Robbie fanboy fetishists, and at the risk of some kind of movie fan blasphemy, I've never been convinced by Idris Elba as a leading man actor, or seen the appeal of him beyond some kind of eye candy for the ladies. But, I suppose it's just another walk through of an original concept first, and best laid out in The Dirty Dozen, but for comic book fans. (I'd save myself some time, and just watch that instead if I were you). You've got to feel sorry for Margot Robbie though, this is, what, her third attempt to make this character work, mostly at the behest of, or to appease horny male DC fans, but probably just best to call it quits, and admit defeat. Blasphemy number two comes from the fact actually, the first / earlier Suicide Squad is a better made film, in my opinion, as well as a better watch... But then not being a mega DC nerd, I have no expectations of what film for this franchise should be, or look like. Given the state of DC movies, and their intergalactic prezel mess clusterf%*k of a brand industry, the idea that Mr Gunn is at the helm to save the day (And probably the Warner / DC studio enterprise on the strength of it's success or failure) doesn't inspire me with confidence, on the strength of this movie. So basically, an overhyped, and over done movie here which people probably wish to believe succeeded more than it actually did. Too violent and graphic for kids, too moronic in it's "wit" and humour for anyone over the age of twenty, who has seen better elsewhere, and so perhaps, best suited to the sweet spot of gangs of horny male teenagers with low expectations and are easily pleased. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 3rd Dec 2022		Cinema Love Actually (2003) (2003)	I've just discovered that it helps to watch this film if you drunk... Very drunk. (I recommend a couple of real ales and half a bottle of Malbec red :)
Magic Marmalade 29th Nov 2022		Cinema Pleasantville (1998) (1998)	Rated 10/10 Be careful what you wish for... Perhaps among the most visually impressive movies ever made... ...What with the gradual transition from black and white to colour... element by element, and especially considering it was created in an age before CGI; There is nothing, even by today's technological standards, that looks like it, feels like it, or will make your jaw drop and make you go: "Wow! ... how the hell did they do that?!!!" But this visual extravaganza is not simply there to dazzle, it is a vital story telling device, which makes a point in a way like no other movie does... ...For it tells the story of David (Maguire), an awkward high school teen geek, who's a little on the outside of things, and in escaping the world of his contemporary 90s teen zeitgeist, for which he feels no affinity, spends his free time watching an old black and white TV series from wholesome 50s America: Pleasantville, where he finds the model nuclear family he so sorely feels the absence of in his real life; A fact further compounded by his polar opposite super "popular" sister Jennifer constantly antagonising him in the classic sibling rivalry dynamic. That is, until one day, while having a bust up over who gets to use the TV for the evening, they break it and a mysterious TV repairman shows up (oddly), and gives them a rather unusual remote control... ...Both of them being promptly zapped into Pleasantville, and black and white, where their modern nineties attitudes may not be entirely compatible with fifties American life (or this, idealised version of it, at least). By degrees, their presence (Jennifer's in particular) upsets the quiet and tranquil life of this small, and pleasant land, and much to the horror and amazement of the locals (characters) a little colour starts to get introduced into their existence, and things threaten to never be the same again. But does the influence of the world they have invaded begin to affect them, as much as they have influenced it? What would seem a simple, perhaps superficial movie hanging on one great idea for a visual plot device, is actually rather profound, well considered, socially razor sharp in it's observations, and I stand by my previous comment, of it being up there with 12 Angry Men, as being a movie everybody should watch. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 13th Nov 2022		Cinema I, Daniel Blake (2016) (2016)	Rated 9/10 *This may be either the best of times, or the worst of times* to watch this masterpiece...** ...As it's subject has never been more relevant to the times in which we live, nor more difficult to watch, because of it. It hits hard. I had it marked down in my brain as one I'd like to watch when it came out, mostly thinking it was a social satire / commentary, but it is more than this... it's a deeply tragic, yet rousing story of a widowed man who gets tangled in the Kafkaesque limbo land of the benefits system, after suffering heart attack, and cannot work. Caught between two stools of having been signed off from work based on medical advice on the one hand, for which he applies for disability benefit (and for which he awaits the outcome of the dreaded assessment of undefined (bogus) "Health service professionals" and their sterling "professional" opinion and judgement) on the one hand, but also applies for job seekers allowance / universal credit... the apathetic and indifferent system of course, sees a contradiction for which he is to blame, or is responsible for resolving. Having a limited understanding of the modern bullshit system after a lifetime of working, he of course, struggles and strives against the machine...additionally burdened (and indeed disabled, in this context) by his rather antiquated expectations of common sense, common decency, and morality in this vacuous meat grinder, all the while, he still needs money to live. There are some good souls about though, an enterprising neighbour, a kind and sympathetic job centre worker, among a couple of others... but mostly it is the friendship he strikes up with a young mother and her two children, equally caught within the quagmire of the unforgiving slough of despond, that defines the rest of the story... After an incident in the job centre, causes him to step forward and attempt to intervene on their behalf... getting them ejected from the building as a result. There is perhaps, too much here that will be too true, and so too raw for many, and even I find myself churned up inside and tearing up at a social commentary movie... (Usually I'm hard as nails, and reserve my tears only for soppy rom-coms, beacuse I'm tough like that! :) ...Overall, a sublime and brilliant portrait of an unsung, everyday hero as he battles Bureaucratic Dragons. 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Oct 2022		Cinema Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) (1958)	Rated 9/10 Still hot after all these years! Every now and then I come back to watching movies like this again, if I haven't seen them in a while, and they never disappoint... ...In fact, they seem to get better with time when set in context of the movie industry progressively getting, well, if not worse, certainly more formulaic. And I do have a penchant for the movie adaptations of stage plays: A handful of actors in a room or few rooms, hashing out the issues between them (this is why, I suspect whodunnits, submarine movies, spaceship - based horrors and the like works so well... now with added humans! :) Perhaps the quintessential Tennessee Williams set up, of big old country house in the South, every body hot, bothered, sweaty, and therefore more likely to pop a fuse or two around hitherto unspoken issues bubbling away inside them... result: It all erupts, dialogue, argument, fights, drama! Centring around Paul Newman's: Brick, and wife: Maggie "The Cat", returning back to be with his Brother and "family" at the family pile to welcome home "Big Daddy" after investigation into his "Spastic Colon" at the hospital... A surface of big house family unity disintegrates slowly under the tension between a temporarily disabled, and steadily more alcoholic Brick (after he hurts his leg trying to relive glory years late at night on the track, while drunk), his wife Maggie, who is trying to keep him on beam for appearances sake, if nothing else, and the tension between them, and his brother's family, and both brothers and their families simultaneously trying to disguise issues in their families, keeping it all from the master of the house, whilst also trying to undermine each other. The vultures are circling Big Daddy and most specifically, his vast estate. ...But he may have ideas all his own as a consequence of his recent illness. It is actually, more of a Father / Son "Daddy issues" movie at it's heart, with other attendant family dramas in the periphery, but it all plays out superbly with a bang on cast, making for an all time classic. If you've not seen it before, It's a max recommendation... If you have, might be worth watching again. Along with The Hustler, my favourite Paul Newman film. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 22nd Aug 2022		Cinema Regarding Henry (1991) (1991)	Rated 9/10 One of my perennial favourites. Henry is a high flying lawyer, living the life with a beautiful wife and their young daughter in the swanky part of town, until a chance encounter in a convenience store which is being held up, sees him get shot in the head. In an instant his, and especially his family's life is turned upside down, as Henry is returned to an almost child like state, as his former self is all but destroyed... no longer able to perform for his firm, and pay the bills in the process, what with his family being placed now in the position of carers for him, and to assist in rehabilitation, in so far as they can. As the story unfolds, truths about the relationships within the family are revealed, and it turns out the family's life, beneath the surface, was not quite the bed of roses they presented to the world, and that Henry himself, was not exactly a nice guy. Basically, Henry has to learn to be the new person he has now become, at the expense of the person he once was, and his wife and daughter learn to adjust, what with the impact this has on them. It's a fantastic character study, which allows Harrison Ford to get some of his best acting done alongside the ever solid Annette Bening. Although a very sensitive portrayal of the frustrations that people in such situations as his, perhaps due to stroke, or returning injured from war and the like must surely recognise and sympathise with, it is not without the occasional comedic moments that arise from such situations, as well as being a very warm and poignant family film... (Movie about family, as opposed to one to sit down with the kids and watch, if you get my drift) ...And a long with Witness, one of Harrison Ford's best films outside franchise movies. 3 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 12th Aug 2022		Cinema Benny & Joon (1993) (1993)	Rated 10/10 Joon: "You're out of your tree" ...Sam: "It's not my tree" (One of my favourite lines in any movie :) One of those movies that over the course of time, has unintentionally become one of my all time favourites... ...By virtue of the fact that I just keep watching it, when I want something light, fun, enjoyable, and warm to look at. It's bit of a silly, absurdist comedy overlaying a more personal, poignant story of a brother (Benny- Aidan Quinn) who has raised, essentially, and is looking after his little sister Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) in the wake of losing their parents to tragedy. Benny wants a life outside of being a mechanic, and looking after Joon as best he can, but is resigned to his responsibilities , but Joon has grown and is now a young woman, who's PTSD based (+ unspecified schizophrenic condition) mental health issues make her increasingly hard to cope with. Benny has the world in the condition he wants it, and can just about handle, when Joon accidentally wins the simple, uneducated Sam (Johnny Depp) in a poker game. Sam is a bit zany, and has a thing for Buster Keaton, and Joon, being a young woman, despite her issues, is more than a little taken with him, naturally. ...So Benny now has to take him home, and the change in this household dynamic begins to shake his fragile family world apart. There are some quite big issues here around mental illness, such as taking care of someone who has them, especially if you are struggling a bit yourself, and whether it is the right thing, or better for them to be "in care", but these are background, or contextual themes in the movie, lightly, and deftly handled, so as not to get in the way of the funnier aspects of mental illness, and the comedic moments that come of it, and it doesn't overdo it, or sermonise on the issues... it assumes an intelligence in the audience, and allows a lot to be a given, or understood. That said, Mary Stuart Masterson gives one of the most sensitive and underrated performances ever here, as someone has is suffering with such things and she deserves much more credit for the performance than she gets. Mostly, this is because of Depp's Keaton style physical comedy performance largely overshadowed it... (And is probably why people often misunderstand the titular characters of this to be her and Depp.) There's another early performance by Julianne Moore as Benny's possible burgeoning love interest, waitress and former minor movie "Scream Queen", and is where The Proclaimers 500 Miles song really got brought to the wider world. And a special feature is a novel way to make toast :) [YouTube Video] ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 4th Aug 2022		Cinema Black Widow (2021)	Rated 6/10 Mostly enjoyable fun thrill ride Spy caper in the style, and with a feel of a Mission Impossible or modern Bond movie, but with the odd Marvel elements thrown in. Falls a little flat towards the end, I feel, and doesn't quite hit the mark. ...Mainly, I think, because I was expecting a Marvel movie... more Superhero elements (which are in here, but not to the extent you'd anticipate) rather than spy movie... but also because even as a spy movie, it borrows too much from those kind of films, and you've seen it all before, and better from the likes of Bourne, and those other two franchises I mentioned... except watered down a bit for this audience, and a little diluted, and the impact lost by the addition of those occasional fantastical super-hero elements. Cast is great though, Florence Pugh steals the show a bit, and probably the weakest is Winstone... not that he is bad, it's just his character is a paint by numbers villain that doesn't impress much (still, nice easy pay day for our Ray!). The only other gripe, is a seemingly small thing, but an odd choice, nonetheless: Johansson's widow wears mainly White! (?) They've spent all these years building an identity for this character based around that slinky black business, then when she gets her own movie.... white. ....eh? White Widow? 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 29th Jul 2022		Cinema The Gray Man (2022)	...So, this is The Bourne Identity....again?
Magic Marmalade 26th Jul 2022		Cinema Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) (2022)	Rated 10/10 Absolutely Batsht crazy brilliance! The title is apt, in that it seems to be a collage of a movie, made mostly from bits and pieces of scripts and ideas, all stitched together to make something new and highly original... ... Like, all those things which might have been rejected or culled from other movies, have all been chucked in the pot, given a stir and this gloriously weird movie came out the other end. In general, I've gotten off the "Multi-Verse" bus already, as it just seems like the latest lazy device used by Marvel and the like as a convenient way of rebooting, or prolonging a franchise and some bankable characters. Just as they used to use (and continue to use) time travel: ("Oh no, we've used up our one idea fort this character arc... quick... do-over! / reboot / time travel this franchise, so we can wring more cash out of it for another decade!") The "multi-verse" / "many worlds" idea, just the latest one movie makers have latched on to from desperate, aptly named theoretical* physicists who invent this crap as a way of plugging holes in their knowledge; Not actual science, or in any way, scientific.. But here, it's put to good use, and is very self aware of the ludicrousness of this concept, and doesn't try to sell it by taking itself too seriously. It's an idea only, used to tell a story, and make it's point, about the real story. And that real story is this probably the only time I can think of that has addressed what's going on in the real world around us right now: The growing gulf, and schism that exists, between generations, with those of previous generations (up to, and including my own) feeling like the younger generations (millennials, gen-z-ers etc.) are increasingly alien, and incomprehensible, while they themselves, increasingly feel themselves dis-inherited culturally, and socially, and falling into a nihilistic despair... the chasm, this creates leading to an inter-generational warfare of sorts... here, actually realized. As Michelle Yeoh, a mother in a family consisting of a very sweet, and optimistic husband (Short-round, from Indiana Jones!), staunch traditionalist Chinese father, and a young angst ridden gay daughter, struggles to balance these opposing forces and tensions within her family all the while, trying to keep the laundry business afloat, and deal with the taxes. So there's a strong thread here that any struggling mother will recognise too. But it's at the tax office, where it all goes completely sideways, and absolutely nuts... as, in the face of a gruff tax official (Jamie Lee Curtis, being brilliant :), her family members' consciousnesses are commandeered by other versions of themselves from other universes, in order to recruit her to help save the multi-verse from a malevolent omni-versal being, who is intent on destroying everything. It's a martial arts movie, a sci-fi, a family drama, a social and cultural commentary, and a deeply personal story of a mother and her daughter with hot-dog hands (you must see to believe!), stick on googly eyes ("Google-eyes"), weird unsettling, even disturbing events (not for kids) that ends in the middle, and then keeps going until it's finished! This is the kind of thing Philip K. Dick was great at writing... a wild apparently incomprehensible mess, from which the strongest and most powerful impression and idea is lodged in your mind, in a way more conventional writing fails to do, and for the life of you, you can't figure out how they did it. I might mention Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and the kind of movies they make, to give you an idea of what you are in for, but nothing will prepare you for this... (Russo brothers produced this - Avengers Infinity War / Endgame directors) ...But once you start watching, you will be sat riveted on the edge of your seat, open mouthed, until the end. But that's not to say it's all swirling dazzle, there's real substance, and warmth, heart, and bags of that pathos stuff. I feel have seen something refreshing, and entirely new here, in a way I haven't since Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse, which knocked me cleanout of my shoes! Although still early, it's easily the best film of the decade so far. (They'll have to go some way to bettering this in the coming years) 2 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 15th Jul 2022		Cinema Hard Eight (1996) (1996)	Added other, "original title" : Sydney. Found the DVD at a boot fair for 20p (seems quite a rare DVD), very solid early work by PTA, at the centre of which is an incredible performance by Philip Baker Hall... worth seeking out on any media / platform just for that!
Magic Marmalade 12th Jul 2022		Cinema Сталкер (Stalker) (1979) (1979)	Rated 6/10 What on earth is this!?!! I found the DVD of this, quite by accident, at a boot fair this week, and recognised it as being one of those: "You must see it before you die... or your life will have been in vain!!!" titles, that keeps appearing in various lists of this type... ... And so I watched it. The version I have is on Artificial Eye, and is two discs, with only and hour of part one on the first disc, then you have to switch for the remaining hour and a half for part two, and that's once you've navigated the subtitle menu, sound set up screen and managed at last to play it. First impressions are, that it's a bit of a misnomer to call it science fiction... ...Yes, the pretext is that a meteor crashed somewhere in "The Zone" and then, within this "Zone" is a room, where, if you journey to it, and visit the room, your greatest wishes will come true... but you never see any meteor, or anything "Science-fiction-y" at all, as this is purely a film following two guys on their journey there, led by a third man... a "Stalker", who is like a wiseman / chosen one / guide type of thing, who takes people into, and across the "Zone" to the room. And all this does is follow these guys as they speak of the mythology of the meteor and room, philosophise, and have conversations and arguments as they go. Other than the Stalker's wife and child, oh, and the barkeep in the intro, there are no other people in the film, and this set -up I've described is the entirety of the substance of the film, from beginning to end. So if you are waiting for Something to happen... it doesn't. I can see why opinions become mixed about it, as if you are expecting a landmark in epic sci-fi, based on whatever preconceptions that term brings to mind, you won't find it here, but if you see, as I think I did, that this is, instead, a kind of parable, or allegory, like a fable, or Canterbury Tales type of journey, then you might be better served. But there are couple of things to be said otherwise than the plot, or story, and which are truly remarkable: First... that cinematography!!! Holy shit! ...The first say, twenty minutes / half hour, are most strikingly shot set of masterpiece images I've ever seen, shot in a weird mix of Black and white, around a brown / sepia mid tone, and with a very definite Pink haze or mist for everything in the middle to far distance... and every shot is like some artwork painting... I mean, *every* one! In fact, it gets so it's hard to look at, and coupled with the extremely long glacial silences, and inaction, or total lack of anything happening at all... dialogue, movement anything, it starts to feel odd. ...But al of a sudden: BANG! ......COLOUR! And this really knocks you backwards. These rich, lurid greens of the forest and the grey concrete remains of old buildings is strange to see, and every so often, the light either shifts back to that black/white/ brown / sepia arrangement, or the pink mist of the distance, invades, or impinges on the green foreground of the colour shots. Over all, I'd say this is more of a moving video art installation than it is a movie... very, very arty. But is there anything more to it, substance wise? And secondly, I think there is, but it's not for me consistent with the aims, ideas, or objectives of science fiction, but more - Remembering this is a Soviet era made film- a veiled and deliberately obscure commentary of perhaps, a more political, religious, and artistic nature, in a way, I suspect, that could perhaps, not be pinned down by censors etc. (I think the sci-fi set up was more to do with Mr. Tarkovskiy being able to say: "a political critique of the state of our country and the world?.... Noooo... don't be ridiculous... look, it's clearly a science fiction!") I might, and indeed, will have to watch it again, when I muster the courage to do so, but initial thoughts are, it's the height of bleak pretentious artiness,, way too long, being stuffed with unnecessarily long shots which could have made the same points more concisely and effectively if some of them were significantly cut down, or even cut out all together, and to the extent that this could easily have been a movie short, or half hour episode of weekly TV play kind of thing. (I also got the feeling Tarkovskiy is slavishly trying to capture some kind of Kubrick-ness in how he shoots his movie... and over-cooking it somewhat!) So unless your ready to settle in for long, bleak, almost mesmerising bout of depression, I'd give it a miss, as contrary to those lists, and the opinions of film critics and the like, you won't really be missing out on anything that hasn't already been said... and better. ...You certainly do not need to "see this before you die"... nor in fact, any time soon. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Jul 2022		Cinema Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (1999) (1999)	Rated 8/10 The last of it's kind. (And, in a way... the first) In that this, on the face of it, taps into the kind of movie prevalent in the nineties that looked at the life and lifestyle of the hit-man, from an alternate point of view... whilst doing so in a way that makes for a very cool film... and presents the lead character as a very cool dude. For this reason, you will see a lot of movies like Leon, and Grosse Point Blank in it, and it certainly deserves to be seen if you like those movies. However, it differs from those two, in that it's made by Jim Jarmusch, which may or may not, speak for itself... ...It means this is not going to be a conventional rendition of those kind of movies, and not loaded with relentless, fast paced action, or adrenalin fuelled set pieces, in the way they do. Instead, this is a more contemplative, philosophical, mood driven piece, and philosophy is in general, the subject matter as well. For Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is a lone hit-man, living on a rooftop next to a pigeon shed, with his beloved feathered, and for the most part, only friends, and conducts his profession according to his chosen belief system... The way of the Samurai. On one particular job, which he conducts on behalf of a mobster who once saved his life, a small detail is out of place... the presence of a girl, who witnesses him in the act, and so the "mafia" that this guy works for, decides (ill advisedly, as you might imagine) to have Ghost Dog "whacked", to tie up loose ends. This whole movie has a very dream-like, lo-fi quality to it, that just rolls slowly along, and is peppered with surreal, dream-like moments, and often, very funny ones, too! The frequent Whitaker narrated text quotations from the Samurai text that appear on the screen act like chapter headings, or presage the principles of the segment that follows. after a few watches, you realize this film is actually saying more in it's message though, as the underlying theme seems to be about the changing times, and how old fashioned ways can either help, or hinder life... The rather antiquated, and satirically rendered mafia guys are basically cartoons of the kind of scuzz-bags depicted in movies like Goodfellas and such... being hopelessly lost in a modern and changing world that has no place their kind any more... comically bigotted, racist, diagrams of proto-Godfather Italian American gangster stereotypes... ... And it's that juxtaposition of generations, that gives the giggles, like the mafia boss who likes dancing around his bathroom, whilst singing to Public Enemy :) ...This, undermining, or satirical message is overtly emphasised by the frequent scenes of people watching TV, and in which, every single one is watching an old, zany Loony-Toons style cartoon... so these "serious" men are sat watching Woody Woodpecker, or Betty Boop. It's also, because of this, about a lack of understanding of the world around us, and how this can make some people fearful, and strange, in how they deal with that... In fact, this is said on more than one occasion by the gangsters: "The world around us changing"... ...They can't deal with it, but Ghost Dog, who's only other non-pigeon friend, his "Best friend", is a French speaking ice cream van owner, he plays chess with, can... Ghost Dog doesn't speak French, and the other guy doesn't speak a lick of English... but they accept each other, and get along. So a low burner, with bags of unique atmosphere, strange juxtapositions, who's surreal products makes for a very, very cool film. 1 person found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 9th Jul 2022		Cinema Brightburn (2019) (2019)	Rated 6/10 A bit disappointing this one... ...Basically, it falls into that category of films where someone has simply thought, or had a conversation with someone, along the lines of: "Hey, you know that film where the basic set up is this... well what if some particular detail was the polar opposite... what would that movie be like?" ...And so they make the film. ....And this is that film. What if the spaceship that crashed into the Kent farm, containing extra-terrestrial super-baby did not have a good, pure soul who would later go on to become the saviour of the human race, but a nasty little insect boy, who's race had sent him here instead, to conquer us, and be evil? In essence, the anti-superman origin story. Naturally, with his powers, this is basically a horror movie, with some pretty grim effects on occasion, and has the tone, look, and feel of a modern horror. The problem is, that while this is... OK, it's that same conversation everybody has had about Superman (What if he was evil) before, and all he same conclusions arising from it are all played out as you'd expect... So it's entirely predictable, lacks surprise, and just walks through that scenario in a paint by numbers kind of way. Feels a bit too flat. On the plus side, where the story is of interest, in it's focus on the kid's adoptive parents, and the strains on their relationship as they struggle with the dawning realisation that their little cherub is not a good little boy at all. Could have done with more of that to make the movie worth-while, but didn't, and isn't compensated for with enough action really, to keep you on the edge of your seat. Oh and there's a pretty good track over the end credits, which turns out is by that there Billie Eilish person the kids are all raving about, and who's ubiquity of image and idol worshipry have been invading my consciousness for some time now from (Damn... I really am getting old!). (I can now say I have knowingly heard a song by her, and she's not bad!) 4 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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