45worlds - Magic Marmalade

Magic Marmalade●

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3772 Points / Moderator / Joined 30 Jun 2014 /

England / Kent

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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.

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
Magic Marmalade ● 24th Feb 2025		Cinema The Limey (1999)	Rated 7/10 A somewhat experimental take on a kind of Get Carter style London gangster movie, but set in L.A. Stamp's: Wilson character, a recently released ex-con arrives in L.A. and sets about trying to find out what happened to cause the death of his daughter there, and starts working his way through some shady characters to get to Peter Fonda's closely guarded music producer, who he suspects of having had something to do with it. The addition of a couple of characters sympathetic to his cause, as well as a couple of underling scumbags with their own agenda give this an extra ingredient in the manner of an Elmore Leonard type of story, but a little more minimalist, sparse, and slow burn than say, Tarantino would do with it. I can't say I was overly struck on Stamp's slightly too broad version a "cockney" gangster - he does over-egg it a bit, but mostly it's OK... ...But the real star of the show here is the editing, which has the novel approach of telegraphing scenes from later on by showing snippets before they happen, as well as dialogue from before and after overlaid on current still shots of the characters... very interesting, and innovative, in creating expectation and anticipation, and used to particularly great effect when they show something about to happen, that then doesn't! It also makes for a unique and distinctive look and feel for the movie. So if you'd like a more lo-fi, slow burn, and understated gangster movie than a usual Tarantino film, this is the biscuit for you. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade ● 22nd Feb 2025		TV Parks And Recreation (2009 - 2015)	Rated 3/10 I found four seasons of this on DVD in the charity shop, so decided to see what all the fuss was about... ...Singularly unimpressed. I sat stony-faced, and unmoved throughout the first episode of this "The Office"-humour knock-off, and was bored stiff. I called it quits after that one, and don't need to see any more. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
Magic Marmalade ● 22nd Feb 2025		Cinema The Wrong Guys (1988)	Rated 5/10 Cheap and cheerful. Feels like an extremely cheap exercise in keeping some otherwise well known actors and comedians in work, to tide them over until a real job comes along. A comedy about a group of reuniting cub-scouts who head out into the wilderness for a camping do, and get mixed up with an escaped convict and his crew, who mistake them for the FBI, who are hunting them, all while a couple of kids they knew who used to give them grief back in the day, and haven't grown up at all, decide to mess with them again. farce, broad humour, easy shots and pretty basic jokes. Humour wise, a bit like a sub-par Police Academy or Caddyshack, and maybe a dash of The great Outdoors, only not as funny, or well executed (which is saying something!), but if you like those kinds of movies, there may be something here you'd like... It did raise a genuine chuckle here and there from me. ✔︎ Helpful Review?
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?