45worlds - Magic Marmalade

Magic Marmalade

Send MessageFollowActivity

VIEW PAGE ON » 45cat45spaces

3770 Points / Moderator / Joined 30 Jun 2014 /

England / Kent

Gift this member a subscription: Gift a Subscription

Collection 4470

Wishlist 157

Half record collector... half druid... complete unit.

More human than human.

Doubt is the crack in the pavement of sanity, through which the weeds of madness grow.

Comments (Cinema) View All 755 »

Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade 13th Feb 2025		Cinema Saturday Night Fever (1977)	Rated 10/10 Cool dancing and a seminal soundtrack covers a multitude of sins it seems. Strange now, to think that I've being watching this over and over since a wee wee-er, mostly on the strength of it being a "Disco" movie and cultural phenomenon, when the substance of the plot and script have become ever more "yikes" the conscious I have become of it as I grew older, and began to realise what a hard hitting, hard bitten, uncompromising movie it really is. The dancing and music is only there to serve as plot device really, to tell the tale of Tony Manero, a young guy stuck in crumby part of town with cruelly indifferent parents, and among scuzzy friends in menial dead end job, with no possibility of a real future of any kind, and his role of king of the dance-floor is the only thing he has to make himself feel something other than ordinary, like the rest, which his incredible talent in this regard allows. But while everyone is trying to live up to their own individual delusions, and conceits of themselves, each created as a mechanism for themselves in order to blind themselves to their actual realities, Tony alone begins to feel the hollowness of it all and starts to question both himself, and the character he has created of, and for himself. There's gang violence, domestic abuse, racism, homophobia, misogyny, tragedy, trauma rape... and gang rape. So not really for kids, you'd have to say. Many though, will come to this due to the reputation of the music, and the dancing and cultural significance, only to discover a movie that Scorsese himself would say: "Damn, that's a bit strong!" But strip away the these last, window dressing elements, and you still have a masterpiece. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 13th Feb 2025		Cinema Apocalypto (2006)	Rated 8/10 There and back again... the hard way. First things first... what a stupid title for a movie! ...In fact, that's the main reason why I haven't seen this until now, having dismissed it out of hand at time of release. because it seemed to speak of the kind of moronic doomsday sensaitonalism that is the usual preserve of the like of Roland Emmerich, Michael Bay, and most other directors since. But it's not. This is actually a very powerful piece of film-making, brilliantly shot, with incredible imagery, excellent performances, and all set to a wonderfully evocative score. And it's a horror movie... a proper horror movie. It's not an "action adventure" type deal the marketing would have you believe... It is unremittingly bleak, unrelentingly grim, tense, and anxiety inducing. It is an "historical" movie from Mad Mel Gibson, who seems to enjoy self-flagellating in public, by means of his movies, in order to satisfy whatever masochistic urges and impulses move the man. (Probably some kind of original sin based guilt, but it's best not to speculate) ...But you know, loopy he may well be, but damn, the guy is a superior film-maker- and no mistake! And he gets away with the "historical" license here by virtue of the fact that the Central and South American civilizations in question, such as the Maya, Inca, Olmec and Aztec related cultures are shrouded in mystery to this day, and there being no real History relative to other civilizations means his interpretation is as good as any can suggest. In this case, a brutal, ritual sacrificing Wicker Man-esque-with-meaner-faces-and-poorer-manners culture invades a small village of peaceful tribes-people, gathers them up, and journeys back to their evil pyramids of doom in order to sacrifice them to the Sun (pretence for keeping the big-wigs in power, and the desperate, maniacal plebs in order in desperate times). But among them is one guy who just ain't having it... During the homestead invasion, he deposits pregnant wife and son in a well-like chasm to hide them, but, alas, are stuck there and effectively condemned unless he can break free and get back to rescue them. The first hour and some, is this grim, horrific trudge to the threatened land, and the nightmarish fate that awaits him and his people, where heads most definitely do roll! (Crikey!), and the last twenty minutes or so is more of a genuine breathless action thriller as matters are brought to a head... or hopefully not. Did I say this was bleak?... or grim, even?... well it ain't pleasant for the most part, but it is, despite being shot through with Christian allegory (suggested barely enough to be forgivable, and not get in the way of the story being told), visceral, and heart-pounding. Like Apocalypse now crossed with 1917 and The Mission. An actually brilliant movie... with a dumb title. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 11th Feb 2025		Cinema Drive	Absolutely love this track from the movie, which had a limited vinyl single release: [YouTube Video]
Magic Marmalade 11th Feb 2025		Cinema The Quick And The Dead (1995)	Rated 8/10 Classic comic book western. I saw this at the time of release, and remember being unimpressed by it, as it seemed a little hokey and cartoony for my taste... like Tombstone, it was a little too bombastic and "Hollywood" in all most negative, stereotypical senses...mainly, it felt like a confluence of two prime elements: One, as vehicle to exploit the rising star of Sharon Stone (Just drop her in there, and it'll sell tickets!), and two, to do so in such a manner as to cash in on the western revival / reappraisal that the magnificent: Unforgiven occasioned... (Tombstone, in particular, felt like a ham-fisted cash in, although it is not without it's redeeming qualities, such as Val Kilmer's performance as Doc Holiday) ...But I just didn't feel this was anything other than lightweight, throwaway rubbish. That is, until I just re-watched it, having found the DVD in a charity shop, and thought: "I'll give it another go, I suppose". The thing is, thanks to the intervening years, I can now re-evaluate it based on what it is, not what I that it wasn't, which I just didn't get at the time... ...For this is, in stylistic terms, pure Comic Book / Graphic Novel stuff, of the kind that you might associate with the likes of Robert Rodriguez: Very stylised, with bold, wildly exaggerated cartoon-like characters, and a pure comic book rendering. And it works. The tale of a gun-fighting contest held in an oppressed town, dominated by archetype of evil overlord, played to perfection, as usual, by Gene Hackman, in an amplified, exaggerated version of his "Liitle Bill" character from Unforgiven itself (no coincidence this casting, for this reason I think), and featuring a lot of playing to both established types, and types to come by past and future stars of the time: Russell Crowe as a once outlaw turn repentant priest, and therefore reluctant gunfighter (at least elements of his Gladiator character to come), Lance Henriksen as a slimy, weaselly snake man, evil gunfighter, Keith David (just being awesome as usual), and a young and becoming Leonardo DiCaprio as an obnoxious, overly confident gunslinger. And all wrapped up in one key fact, that explains a lot of what this is, and what it presaged: Directed by Sam Raimi. In fact, his quirky, darkly humorous style from the likes of Evil Dead, and Darkman, expressed on a big ol' budget here is probably what got him the Spiderman job, as it perfectly illustrates, and predicts, his handling of the Comic Book style, and sets the stamp of how to do that kind of movie for years and decades to come. And lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention Sharon Stone, who gives a much more rounded performance than I remembered, adn carries the whole affair pretty strongly, even among such heavyweight company. So this kinetic, Crash! Bang! Pow! comic book western, laced with notes of nuance, is all in all, a pretty great piece of Saturday night movie popcorn fare. (With all this bombast and melodrama, this would be a pretty awesome one to see back in the cinema!) ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade 8th Feb 2025		Cinema The Year Of Living Dangerously (1982)	Dying to watch this one again... Used to see it all the time way back when, but not seen in years, and it's a real pig to find a DVD of!