Having seen Angels With Dirty Faces, and been more impressed than I thought I would be by James Cagney, I found a DVD box-set of four of his films - this amongst them... And it's a curious one to summarise my feelings about really...

...Right away, having seen White Heat just before this, I now see the pattern, dare I say : Schtick that Cagney was about - repeated themes of the troubled archetypal gangster type, what with minor twists and variations on that theme, and also, as an actor, repeated patterns of some of the most over the top, hammy and cartoonish acting ever, among other moments of genuine excellence (subtlety etc.).

This whole movie seems to be the same: Moments, indeed whole sections and ideas that are truly inspired and brilliant, among some otherwise generally awful acting, directing, and storytelling.

I partly put the "ouch" factor down to the fact that this is in talkies a relatively early attempt at such subject matter, and so a lot of the road maps and practices that would develop later just weren't around at this time, so the movie makers were at once "winging it" in being daring and innovative, but still within the constraints of more traditional, conservative, and even clunky methods.

Half the cast here either can't act a bean, or simply were not actors at all... just thought they'd "have a stab at it" - The guy who plays Cagney's brother is mind-bendingly bad, mumbling his way through lines in some stifled monotone, which would suffer by contrast to any other actor, let alone one of the most unique actors ever...

(There's a great monologue in this where a woman says to Cagney's: Tom, how strange and unique he is... how different form other guys, and it says better than anyone else can all that needs be said about Cagney himself - in fact, you get the distinct feeling, while watching it, that she is actually talking to him, not his character)

...And James Cagney is certainly that, you may love him or hate him as an actor, or sometimes, as I am both at the same time! - but he most certainly is perhaps the most distinctive, and singular actors ever- presence, and some powerfully compelling quality to him, despite all the cartoonish-ness.

The fact that this brother is almost a ringer for Al Pacino in The Godfather can't be entirely an accident though...

(He is even a brother of a gangster who joins the marines, and is even called Michael!)

...And this was my prevailing feeling throughout this movie, that I could see so many later movies of this type echoing right through it, that this has clearly been an enormously influential movie, and doubtless is where Coppola (and whoever wrote the Godfather book) Scorcese and countless others have taken huge chunks of inspiration.

So because of those later movies, you've probably seen all this before, and better, but this seems to be one to watch to grasp it's cultural impact alone, in terms of sourcing the origins of so much more that came after.

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This is a monster of a documentary!

(And effectively a movie in it's own right)

Running over three and a half hours or so, it is brilliant at tracking the genesis, development and production of the best movie of all time, as well as it's legacy.

I'd never actually seen this, as I am actually one of those rare people who doesn't generally like having the illusion of the finished product spoiled, or my own consideration of it tainted by even the creator's realities...

(I don't like all the extra "stuff" that comes either on dvds or reissue records - demos, outtakes and the like - just give the final magic trick straight, and don't show me how it was done, and ruin the magic of the experience!)

...However, this is a feature disc that comes with the "Final Cut" version of the dvd, which is why I bought it, out of curiosity, as I'd always been resistant to this latest "cut" - being both sentimentally attached to the original theatrical cut with voice over (which I grew up with), and completely devoted to the later Director's Cut -

...And yup, the "Final Cut" ain't for me.

("I want more life.... F£%*er!" ... Not: "I want more life... Father!" - a minor quibble, but has more impact, and is symptomatic of a litany of things I don't like about this "Last" version)

((Using a lot of quotation mark here, aren't I!?! :))

Anyway, back to our scheduled programming... The great point of interest about this for me, is as it shows the development stage, how there were so many things original intended to be in the story that were opted against, but actually found their way into Blade Runner 2049 - So Villeneuve basically said: "Well, if you ain't gonna use 'em... I will!"

Requires a lot of stamina to get through this doc / movie, as if you are a Blade Runner geek, you can't pull yourself away from it, but my ass was numb from watch this, I've got to say, and was peeing like a racehorse after it was over.

Great stuff though.

(Just got to get my sticky little hands on that dvd box set now, so I can get that original theatrical voice-over cut again - must see it again!)

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Saw this in the cinema at time of release, and really liked it...

...Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world didn't very much, and so, it seems mostly forgotten.

It is probably the best "superhero" movie of it's time - way ahead in terms of production values and budget, and I don't think you would see it's like for almost another twenty years when the MCU started up it's epic journey. In fact, watching this again makes me realise that this is undoubtedly the movie that got Johnston the job of directing the Captain America: The first avenger movie - as it plays the old "retro" superhero movie to a tee.

As with CapAm, it has a powerful whiff of an Indiana Jones movie in the retro style - perfectly capturing that time period in look and feel, with a slight nod to Metropolis, with all that post Art-deco styling of the helmet and such.

...But this is not surprising either, as Johnston also worked on those Indiana Jones movies as art director, as well as later designing the Iron Giant in the animated feature.

It has a prototype rocket pack designed by Howard Hughes, which is being hunted by Nazis, gangsters, a Zeppelin, and Timothy Dalton as a quintessential British baddy, all fighting against the accidental Rocketeer hero, a local pilot who by chance, happens across said rocket pack, and decides to use it.

Great rip roaring adventure fun of the old matinee variety, which they just don't make anymore... well, except for the Indiana Jones movies... And that first Captain America movie... and it still looks great, and works well, both in the production, and the special effects, which still work for me.

(Incidentally, the DVD I got of this was a German release, which is merely called: "Rocketeer" (dropping the: "the") - not sure of my German , so stand to be corrected, but is this because the German rendering would be: Die Rocketeer (mildly amusing in English, but not exactly what the filmmakers want it to be known as).

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Exceeded all my expectations.

I am in the mode of picking up dvds of all those movies that have made a dent in the general consciousness over time, but at time of release, I said to myself... meh... not for me.

In this case, the whole ballet business left me rather cold.

...But, it turns out, that's only the circumstance, and it doesn't matter if you're into ballet, or like me.... not. As this is more a tale of artistic obsession, and the darker places of both mind and soul this takes someone to. It's actually almost identical, plot wise, to Whiplash, but with the marked difference that here, Portman's character is rather meek, oppressed, self conscious, and a but of a put upon lamb, who's "dedication" to her craft and the opportunity this presents to her, brings something more out her, by degrees... just can't keep it in people, if it wants, and needs to get out!

But, thankfully, you don't need to have an ounce of consideration or care for ballet, or that world to thoroughly enjoy the performance Portman gives, or the story told here... Just watch t for the drama, the character study, the tragedy and the psycho-melodrama, and it's really quite brilliant.

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This is one of those quirky oddment curios that seems to have become lost to recent memory.

...It blends a serious dramatic subject and tone with an almost sublime, surreal fairy-tale quality (very lightly).

Blanchett plays a school teacher who seeks to get revenge on a drug dealer who's been pushing to kids at her school, by planting a bomb in his office... Unfortunately, the explosion kills a child, and she is naturally inconsolable at what she has done...

...Upon arrest, and under interrogation, one of the officers (Ribisi) begins to fall in love with her, and so devises a way to help her escape - but does she want to?

It's one that I caught by accident on tv late night once, that I found myself transfixed by, and curious about as it went along. Ultimately, it's become something of a favourite of mine due to those disparate qualities, which seems to make sense when watching it; The gentle pacing, calm, almost glacial feel makes it oddly mesmerising.

Great.

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Finally got round to seeing this, and not disappointed at all!

While the first instalment moved along in a more considered, and deliberate fashion, being more of an "establishing" piece for this world - it was more intrigue and politics, this has a more open, and free feel to it... more organic feeling, and briskly paced.

It's best to consider the two parts as like different phases of a chess game... The first part is the opening moves, positioning the pawns, and setting up the play, and having done that, this is where the real game begins, with the bigger pieces coming into play, with big bold moves, to make all that early work pay off.

...And while it is of course, a continuation of that the first part, this seems to have a tone, and feel of it's own, being, as said, more organic, and open feeling; A movie with more... air in it, more about a general atmosphere and movie environment in which the story takes place.

I said in my review of the first part (perhaps imperfectly) that a lot of the heavy lifting, as far as carrying the movie was done by seasoned established actors, in their roles, which allowed Chalamet to play the "scrawny kid" with weight of expectation on him...

(His role here, mirroring the character he's playing)

,,,But now it's time for the character to grow, and become what he is meant to be, meaning Chalamet had to pull more presence and a sense of strength, power of person, if you will from himself, in order to foreground the character effectively, and carry this movie himself...

Which he does brilliantly.

As those previously mentioned actors and their respective characters recede a little into the background of the story.

But alongside him. is of course Zendaya, and Austin Butler...

...Zendaya being little more than a general icon of the times to me (everybody seems to think she's the bee's knees for some reason, though I could never figure out why), although here she at last shows she's a genuinely excellent actor, in her role as foil to, and counterpart of Chalamet's Paul. Basically the heart of the story.

.....And then, there's Butler, who I thought was just going to be employed here to look menacing and give us a stock psycho villain... but has a more meatier role than expected. Granted, he is a nutter and a chilling menace, but is more prominent in the story than I'd thought, and he does portray his character excellently, giving a general sense of threat throughout.

These three are clearly the stars of the show, and I get the feeling, they are going to be the go-to movie stars for a generation to come - they are going to be in everything from now on, I feel, and that isn't a bad thing at all on this showing!

As far as plot goes, the first part had a much greater feel of intrigue and politics, and political machinations - more: Godfather than Star Wars, but this shifts the emphasis more to the religious / faith, and philosophy of what these things are, and what they mean, as well as their implications, and the nature of those things in and of themselves - and the tone, therefore, is more mystical as well as philosophical - More: The Last Temptation Of Christ than.. er....Star Wars.

You can, of course, go all gooey over the imagery like all the 4k Imax crowd certainly have, it seems, and certainly, that's all here, but the story is strong enough (and the telling of that story by Villeneuve) even before you get to that.

A movie to swim in, immerse yourself in, and be swept along by, by virtue of it's expansive look, feel, pace and tone... and truly Epic in every sense.

We now await the next part! :)

(Oh, and Florence Pugh deserves a solid mention for a solid, stoic performance as the Emperor's daughter, as well, an din particular, Javier Bardem, who gives a multi-scene stealing performance as a true believer, with a dry comic edge.)

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This has aged badly.

Haven't seen it since I saw it in cinema as a young'un - I thought there was more to it, and more of it than there was - I though Charles Dance had more to do here than is the reality.

...So one of those where time makes me mis-remember how good a movie is, or was.

Very thin, clunky dialogue, wooden acting - even Eddie struggles with the comedic timing here (probably knew the script was painful even as he was doing it)

Not to mention playing fast and loose with what I take to be Buddhism and using artistic licence to add some other hocus pocus to it is not something you'd get away with now - people just know too much about such things to know the person writing it doesn't.

A little bit wee, a little bit poo.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Not what you'd expect...

...At least, not what I expected.

Given the name, and the cover images of a masked female assassin looking type, I had been led to believe this was something along the lines of a Samurai swords twirling, blood splattering, heads rolling Kill Bill type of movie.

Instead, it's a more slow-burn revenge tale, with more sedate cinematography, intricate plotting, and story-telling that takes it's time, all set to a classical score and some wonderful photography.

The basic plot is a (then) girl is forced to accept blame for killing a young boy she kidnapped for ransom, by means of having her own child abducted by the man who coerced her into confessing, over time, she builds a plot to take revenge as she works her way closer to the man, who it seems is not unused to child abduction.

The subject matter is naturally a little tough, and there is a lot of violence (torture etc.) and some sex scenes, but an "action" thriller it isn't, and in fact, it's all the better for it.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Cheesy, Creepy (now), but fun still.

(I can even forgive the Starship mega-hit soundtrack song...almost)

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A kind of French attempt at a Natural Born Killers style movie...

...And a fairly decent stab at one too!

Of course, NBK is, in the true sense of the word: inimitable, but this has the energy, and frenetic pace and wild visual and storytelling sensibility of that, about a semi-legendary bank robber / outlaw and his squeeze, and their merry band of nutty men, going up against a police unit, headed by a sadistic, psychotic copper, who is the real villain of the piece.

After only a brief, obligatory introduction to characters and situation, it pretty much jumps straight in, and bangs along until the end in a nutty, extreme cartoon violence way.

Not sure it all works, but it sure ain't boring!

very good indeed.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

When you're in a hole... Stop digging.

This particular hole though, is ostensibly the the opposite: finding a huge bag of cash in a downed plane in the woods ought to be a good thing, surely?

... And the hole the three men in this movie begin to dig from this moment on is everything you'd expect; after all, who hasn't imagined this scenario, and further more, thought through the implications and possible bother that comes with it.

And that's the basic plot, and the inevitable story that proceeds from it.

Very simple, very elegant, and brilliantly executed.

Although this premise is perhaps not new, what this movie does excellently is not make it a gangster flick, it action movie, or reservoir dogs style affair... The money is just circumstantial, the real story is centred almost exclusively on the three characters, and how their dynamics shift in relation to each other over time.

And this is why it took me so long to finally see it, as I was under the impression it was more of a cheapo, straight to DVD heist movie, when in fact it's more of a three man stage play character study...

(In fact, there's a very strong influence from: Of mice and men, i detected)

...A very Fargo-ish vibe, albeit played more straight (minus Coens' signature humour), and I know there are many who already appreciate this movie, but I feel this has the potential to undergo the Shawshank effect, and will only become more generally appreciated over time, principally through word of mouth.

Truly brilliant.

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Feels like a made for TV version of an L.A. Confidential style movie...

(Being that this was before that movie, it s prbably better to be considered a prototype of that)

...Yet it's strangely unsatisfying.

The reason, I think, is that it is, as said, more in the look, style, and feel of a TV drama, in terms of production - like Columbo does brutal police violence intrigue mystery. As such, it doesn't really fit anywhere - too volent for TV audience this would be otherwise aimed at, yet decidedly uncinematic.

I think a look at the cast list for this, at the time it was made probably tells you a story on it's own - as now it seems, as the DVD cover blurb says: "stellar cast", was at that time, a group of actors who either two to ten years earlier or later might have been considered "stellar" but at the time were somewhat in need of work... any work.

It really goes off the rails at the end, as the finale is frankly absurd, and ridiculous.

Viewed as (if you can square your brain to it) a brutal TV drama, I suppose it is mildy interesting and enageing, slow paced and draggy though it is, but if you expect "cinema" it will suffer greatly under this definition, in your perception of it.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Nearly but not quite.

Not sure if the idea of the morally ambiguous other half movie was new at the time, but certainly it's been done plenty of times since... and better.

As with Monolith's comment, the ending is a bit contrived and hokey, but the real problem is Cary Grant.. I don't blame him or his acting, it's just the character he was asked to play, and evidently, how he was asked to play it (obviously, in order to make the whole premise of the story work at all) - Charming yet obnoxious... And I don't buy the forced way he does the obnoxious bit, as it feels unrealistic for someone to behave this way, especially towards the maid - very over-deliberate, and on the nose. Feels clunky and untrue.

But really, he is only the support, and his character the essential plot device to enable the titular "Suspicion" to be played out excellently by Joan Fontaine.

I saw that Tarantino loves the end shot, for it's ambiguity, and I agree, but get the feeling that's more likely what Hitchcock's initial inspiration was for this whole film - what he initially saw in his mind, then built the rest of the movie around, and towards that.

Doesn't quite get there for me.

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This movie has gotten a lot of unfair flack since the time of release...

...But my opinion is that it's actually a quite entertaining, well thought out and executed slice of teleporting combat action.

The only decent movie Hayden Christensen has ever been in too. :)

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One of those: "You must see this before you die, explode, or otherwise spontaneously humanly combust" movies...

...Often listed among the greatest ever made etc. blah blah, and so on and so forth.

Having finally gotten around to seeing it, I can see it was good, dare I say, even revolutionary for it's time - a silent movie which is more an historical dramatic diagram of particular events than a a movie proper, or drama in the modern sense, but it was just more interesting than engaging for me.

Difficult to imagine now, a story about a Russian battleship crew, who, neglected and oppressed by their superiors are pushed into mutiny, and turning against their military overlords, and who's tale inspires the local population of Odessa to rise in support of them, in a Dunkirk style , small boats salvation...

...Before the hierarchy turn on the lot of them, in order to put down the uprising, in a Peterloo style historical civil / war crime.

I read somewhere once, that Russians used to be like this... not putting up with this kind of oppressive nonsense from their betters...

... Or maybe that was some other country?

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Quite a cult bad-ish movie, now pretty hard to find a DVD of.

Found the DVD of this a couple of days ago, and I haven't seen it since release, but had fond memories if it, so was pleased to watch it again.

It's not aged entirely well, humour wise, but neither has it aged tremendously badly...

...It's hokey, goofy, dumb fun, taking the Mickey out of the kind of metal heads of the time as they stage a kind of Spinal tap-lite do a Dog Day Afternoon style ambush / hostage scenario on a local radio station just so they can get their music heard by the masses.

It's a perfect companion piece in tone and style to Empire Records and the like, so if that's too dumb for you, you won't probably like this, but if you do, you'll like this as well, I'd say.

The inexplicably over-rated "talents" of both Adam Sandler and Chris Farley are in this, but mercifully (by their own standards) are quite conservative performances, so don't grate too much... And what the hell is Steve Buscemi doing in this role?... who knows, but he is quite good.

Bevis and Butthead also make a brief cameo.

Charmingly awful and crap, but I still enjoy it :)

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"That room is f&$king evil"

...And you know, Samuel L. Jackson's hotel manager's assertion about that room in his hotel to John Cusack's paranormal investigator / debunker is pretty much on the money, as all of Cusack's personal trauma and hidden hurts become manifest when he spends the night in there in order to debunk it.

Terrific realisation of the idea of making the room itself a character in the movie, a malevolent force of nature that persecutes it's occupants to death if they dare try to stay in it.

A nice yet perhaps predictable twist at the end, which is that the twist isn't the twist... er sort of, but very moody, tense, and creepy.

Will give many the chills.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Quite a fun odd couple slapstick adventure.

Jean Reno is a generally uncommunicative kind of John Wick style mob enforcer who has been involved with the mob boss's missus, and who gets bumped off by said mob-boss, angering Reno, who decides to get revenge on him, initially by stealing millions of his cash, and not revealing what he has done with it, but only as a pretext to creating the circumstances to get back at the boss.

Depardieu is a hapless "bank-robber", thief, and simpleton, who never shuts up, and has an insufferably sunny attitude to everything... His incessant chattering being in stark contrast to Reno's silent deadly type.

They both find themselves in prison, and sharing a cell, where Reno makes a break for it, only to find Depardieu has taken a very strong shine to him, as he interprets Reno's silence as listening to him, and now he can't shake off Depardieu while they escape, who is constantly clinging to him with dreams of a partnership his new "best buddy" in a prospective café / restaurant venture: "The Two Friends".

It is fun, and a simple, but basic time honoured premise that is made the most of, except, oddly, I felt this wasn't quite as zany and cartoonish as the premise demanded... the performances are good, it's just I felt they didn't go "all in" as much as the story demanded in the presentation and tone.

But good, nonetheless.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Er... It's complicated.

In that this is a very convoluted plot about the relationships between a group of people who are essentially slightly obsessed to the point of what would now be considered stalking each other.

...But that's not to say this is a tone deaf movie, rather it uses this idea to show what a tangled web we weave, and the "no good will come of it" scenario.

Quite in spite of the DVD tag line about this being smart, sophisticated, sexy etc. Giving the impression that it's a pose fest and a gratuitously cool and sophisticated sex rom-com type deal, this is actually more in tone and intent, a direct homage to a kind of Hitchcock movie:

Romantic intrigue, mystery, investigation, obsession and drama... in fact it reeks of Hitchcock, from the sweeping drama of the musical score, to the characterisations and plot, right down to the cinematography at times, and so is best regarded as the kind of movie to watch if those movies by the master film-maker himself are your cup of tea.

To loosely sum up the plot:

Cassel's central character is a youngish go-getter playboy type, who encounters Bellucci's: Lisa, becomes obsessed with her, starts following her about, even though she has a suspicious jealous other half, who is also keeping tabs on her, he meets and gets with her, before she disappears from his life... years later, while seeing a different woman he picks up her trail again, and tries to track her down, leading him to an apartment where she once lived, only to discover another woman claiming to be her, living instead, he ends up getting involved with her, and she starts stalking him, all the while seeing another man, who unbeknownst to either, happens to be Cassel's best mate.

Nobody is aware of the entre situation except the audience, and only as the film progresses, and little revelations are dropped in lightly, and judiciously, and the whole story unfolds.

Quite masterfully done I thought... especially, as this is the kind of plot that Hollywood would make a complete mess of, by virtue of making it too busy, and frenetic in tone, and trying to hit the nail too hard on the head, if you see what I mean - In short, if done by Hollywood, you'd very quickly lose the thread of what's happening, but this keeps it's focus, goes along at a great easy pace, to allow you to keep up with it, and thereby retain your interest and sense of intrigue.

It is one of the best Hitchcock homage style movies I've seen.

Only one minor gripe is the use of contemporary music tracks at the beginning, which for me, jarred against the tone of the rest of the movie, and the score there... it really didn't need these.

I rated it 8, but could easily have gone higher, and over time, I think I will rate it a 9 or 9.5.

1 person found this review helpful.   ✔︎ Helpful Review?

Independent review :read:

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Independent review :read:

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Independent review :read:

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Independent review :read:

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One of the worst in the franchise. It has many references to popular films at the time: The A-ha Take On Me music video, The Omen, The Exorcist, body horror like Tetsuo Iron Man & Society, Judge Dredd and Dark Horse comics.

Robert Englund is always fun to watch, but for the most part his one liners are forgettable. It is clear to viewers he has become a parody of himself. Due to the popularity of the franchise this film and Dream Master also feel more "child friendly" with less gore and more fantastical effects. It's worth mentioning this film was cut by the MPAA and the cut version was carried over to Blu-ray and streaming media. Even without the cuts the kills while inventive especially a comic book fight with Freddy lack the menace of earlier films, making Freddy look like a loveable Uncle.

The film was a box office success making almost triple its 8 million dollar budget. However, it is often panned by both genre critics and fans as being the worst in the series after Freddy's Revenge. It's difficult to argue, but there's still a good deal of invention and style to this bookmark of 80s slashers.

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Honestly they don't get that much better. A 65 year old writer throws parties and goes soul searching in Rome. I think what makes it stand out is just how cack-handed most films are in the treatment of existentialism.

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I found a home made rip / burn copy of this in the charity shop the other day, with what looks like a cut down VHS cover fitted in a CD jewel case...

...Knowing what it was, and certainly with no clear memory of ever having seen it, even back in the day, I grabbed it, to see what all the controversy was.

The copy I have seems to be at least DVD quality, possibly moving toward Blu-Ray quality, in terms of sharpness and clarity, so I don't think it came from a VHS rip.

(I believe it was released on Blu-Ray in Spain, at least, so half suspect this is from that source, ripped from that disc, then burned to DVD)

Now of course, I'm not really going to go into all the sociological issues with this, being neither capable or qualified to do so, and this not perhaps being the appropriate forum for that debate - after all you start a discussion along those lines and very soon we have to get our heavy modding wellies on! - Except only to say, that the principal sin committed here is that it makes the time, place and circumstance a litlle more... rosy than it should be.

...That said, there are certain hard-wired circumstantial elements that no amount of varnishing can clear away - the big house plantation is owned of course, by a white family, and the the servants, are, of course, black, and everyone knows their place without having to mention it (and don't), and everone seems of course, Disney-chipper about it... So yes, anyone can see how this would be "problematic".

I cannot say, however, that, given all the furore, there was anything over and above this that was in danger of prompting an outrage based aneurism, nor did my jaw hit the floor in incredulity... As there is nothing here really that doesn't exist, and indeed, persist in other movies and content elsewhere - eyebrow raising, certainly.

(Django Unchained, it ain't... Nor 12 Years a slave)

Looking for a moment (if possible) beyond these issues, just at the basic plot, in terms of the movie as a story, it is a pretty good one:

Undefined tension between Mummy and Daddy causes them to escort their young child to Grandma's house, where Mummy intends to live with him, while Daddy moves back home without them... child is bereft, and doesn't understand, feeling lost, and so intends to run away back home to be with dad... here he meets Uncle Remus, raconteur and teller of fabulous tales about Br'er Rabbit and his run ins with the fox and bear, who want to do horrible things to him - These tales being, of course, analogies containing little tricks and life lessons for the kid to learn from, and learn to cope, in the best traditions of the fable.

I can't help thinking the solution to this problematic movie might be something that Disney is doing already with their back catalogue whether asked for or not:

Remake it.

...And indeed, refurbish it, re-position it or do whatever to make it less troublesome.

(In fact, while watching it, I frequently thought of the Coen brothers for some reason... just a thought!)

As is though, as my find demonstrates, both in the finding, and the fact that I was aware of this movie because of all the bother about it, if you ban something, you are likely to create a mystique about it, even if it is not any more deserved than others of it's kind.

Had I not known about this, I would have simply left it on the shelf, rather than be prompted by curiosity.

After all, as I said at the start of this ramble, the principle sin is that it seeks to ignore or rewrite historical realities in favour of making things a little more rosy...

...But then, isn't banning a movie outright because if this, doing exactly the same thing?

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Guardian review :read:

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One of those films that's so bad that it's....AMAZING!

Yup, this one really lives up to it's cult status. The film opens with a Zombie member of the SS growling and butchering motorists but this is no straight ahead Slasher or Zombie movie. Instead it throws up a ghost pirate ship, a Mummy, a mysterious Black Cat which miaows A LOT and it repeatedly cuts to scenes of an old French fella in camouflage failing to shooting a Black horse from close range. He's either the worst shot in France or the horse has magick powers but you will never know as like everything else in the film there's NO EXPLANATION whatsoever.

Very little dialogue, very little narrative and yet this film certainly has....something!

It's also pretty damn gory and it's a mercy the low budget means the gore is more comic book than horrific otherwise the Mummy squeezing the guts out of one poor victim could really haunt you.

The repetition and the feeling that absolutely anything could happen at any point makes it a truly surreal watch.

Get some nice cheese and wine in for a French themed movie night and enjoy your Psychedelic Nightmares!!!!

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Never understood the hate for this one...

...Granted, it had a lot to live up to, in the wake of the masterpiece of claustrophobic space horror of the original movie, and then the more actiony sci-fi franchisement of sequel: Aliens, which I think did a lot to skew expectations of this, which, of course, a return to a more claustrophobic space horror origins would fail to meet: "Hey, where's the zap and pow, and action etc!?!" ...and so forth.

...But I thought it was a very strong character study, and found it thoroughly engrossing in the cinema on release, and no repeated viewings over the years have dissuaded me from that.

Yes, the set-up is a little contrived, where Ripley's pod crash lands on an all but deserted planet which happens to be a prison planet, full of bad dudes, and absolutely, the ending (will say no more) is a mite toe curling and overblown in concept, but everything in between is solid stuff in my book.

Also, I did try something the other day which seemed to bring even more out of this, and gave the movie an extra dimension, which you may wish to try: I messed about with my colour settings in order to make this completely Black and White, removing all colour, and making the blacks and whites in high contrast to each other, and it was great!

So it seems there's a great black and white horror creature feature trapped inside this already grim palleted movie.

Anyway, food for thought.

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In a small English seaside town beset by xenophobic prejudice, Irish woman Rose arrives with her fatherless daughter and black boyfriend, but her outgoing friendly personality soon endears her to her neighbours, until some start receiving insulting and obscene letters. The offences are referred to the police, who are at the heart of all the prejudices, including against one of their own staff who is not only of Indian origin but worse, a woman.

Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss becomes the 'Harry Bates' of the story, contesting the injustice of the accusation. Will justice prevail? Tension to the very end, concluding with a glorious outburst of very wicked words.

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