Movies and sometimes books, games, TV and comics
11-15-2013
, 02:15 AM
Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly 64/100
One of the oddest movies I’ve seen that keeps a traditional narrative.
It feels like a parent of the BBC comedy League of Gentlemen. An odd family group consisting of a mother, a nanny, a boy and a girl live in an odd old house (I think the one used in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), and the boy and girl go out and entice men back to play ‘games’. The family is in a state of arrested development, with the oldish (17? maybe) children acting like children, and mumsy and nanny treating them as such, but the games descend into violence at the drop of a hat. This movie involves them picking up a “new friend” who decides to play them at their own game.
Shades of The Prisoner, The Beguiled, Sunset Boulevard, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, with a pinch of The Addams Family and even Mary Poppins. It has to be seen to be believed, really
One of the oddest movies I’ve seen that keeps a traditional narrative.
It feels like a parent of the BBC comedy League of Gentlemen. An odd family group consisting of a mother, a nanny, a boy and a girl live in an odd old house (I think the one used in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), and the boy and girl go out and entice men back to play ‘games’. The family is in a state of arrested development, with the oldish (17? maybe) children acting like children, and mumsy and nanny treating them as such, but the games descend into violence at the drop of a hat. This movie involves them picking up a “new friend” who decides to play them at their own game.
Shades of The Prisoner, The Beguiled, Sunset Boulevard, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, with a pinch of The Addams Family and even Mary Poppins. It has to be seen to be believed, really
11-16-2013
, 08:00 AM
Who Can Kill a Child? aka Death is Child's Play aka Island of the Damned 82/100
I threw this on, expecting a straightforward exploitation movie, and got a BIG surprise. Firstly, it starts off with a prologue explaining, as a documentary, the atrocities and hardships that have affected children, starting with the holocaust (with footage), and leading to Vietnam war footage, and starving children in Africa. It's was a shock and quite upsetting, mostly because I just wasn't prepared for that.
Then we launch into the movie, which is partly in Spanish, but mostly in English, involving a married Egnlish couple (wife pregnant, and they have two other children back in England) holidaying in Spain, and the man telling his wife of a lovely quiet little island with a village he stayed at as a child.
There's a festival on at the town they are in, and the noise makes them decide to go stay on the island. But when they get there, it seems deserted, except for playing children.
This is a creepy, but very engaging thriller/horror movie. Children can be utterly creepy in the right context, and this movie uses this to the full. The acting of the two leads is a little off - you can tell they're good actors, but they seem to be overprojecting a little, almost like it's a stage play. I think it may be something to do with being directed by a Spanish director maybe, and a different sensibility? Not sure, and I got used to it just fine, as the rest of the movie worked so damn well. The slow build, the quickly escalating (and profoundly shocking) violence, the music, the scene-setting, and the resolution, all worked excellently.
If I had to give a high-concept pitch: Imagine The Children of the Corn made with the same quality and sensibility as the original Wicker Man
thoroughly recommended.
I threw this on, expecting a straightforward exploitation movie, and got a BIG surprise. Firstly, it starts off with a prologue explaining, as a documentary, the atrocities and hardships that have affected children, starting with the holocaust (with footage), and leading to Vietnam war footage, and starving children in Africa. It's was a shock and quite upsetting, mostly because I just wasn't prepared for that.
Then we launch into the movie, which is partly in Spanish, but mostly in English, involving a married Egnlish couple (wife pregnant, and they have two other children back in England) holidaying in Spain, and the man telling his wife of a lovely quiet little island with a village he stayed at as a child.
There's a festival on at the town they are in, and the noise makes them decide to go stay on the island. But when they get there, it seems deserted, except for playing children.
This is a creepy, but very engaging thriller/horror movie. Children can be utterly creepy in the right context, and this movie uses this to the full. The acting of the two leads is a little off - you can tell they're good actors, but they seem to be overprojecting a little, almost like it's a stage play. I think it may be something to do with being directed by a Spanish director maybe, and a different sensibility? Not sure, and I got used to it just fine, as the rest of the movie worked so damn well. The slow build, the quickly escalating (and profoundly shocking) violence, the music, the scene-setting, and the resolution, all worked excellently.
If I had to give a high-concept pitch: Imagine The Children of the Corn made with the same quality and sensibility as the original Wicker Man
thoroughly recommended.
01-02-2014
, 05:50 PM
jesus christ, a movie a day pace is pretty sick
ive been having trouble just getting through 12 movies the last few weeks
i did watch Batman: The Dark Knight Returns animated movie on your recommendation, i think in the lounge thread, really enjoyed it and have watched most of the animated batmans since.
ive been having trouble just getting through 12 movies the last few weeks
i did watch Batman: The Dark Knight Returns animated movie on your recommendation, i think in the lounge thread, really enjoyed it and have watched most of the animated batmans since.
01-02-2014
, 07:06 PM
As a little extra thing here, and the fact I don't usually write more than a paragraph for a movie, here's a repost of a review I wrote of Skyfall last year (and didn't post in this thread!), which is about the most thought and time I put into a review in 2013. I hope it gives you a feeling of how I feel when I really, really dig a movie, and really try and get to the heart of why I like that movie. Enjoy.
Skyfall
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Well, having watched all the Bond movies in a long run (and not the first time I've seen them), and expecting mostly that what I thought before would remain true by the end, I was surprised by the end result...Skyfall is now my favourite Bond. None of the others, save perhaps OHMSS and Casino Royale, approach the emotional impact of this, and none of them except maybe From Russia With Love and Goldfinger approach the level of cinematography and imagery of Skyfall.
It is flawed, of course, with logic, plot holes and with character dissonances, but these are minor. It's a grand work, with a great villain, and some great scenes (the fight in silhouette is masterful), and has subtle echoes of other stories and themes (some of Bond's own in fact). The main themes, it seems to me, are death and resurrection, themes of parenthood gone awry but shaping the child into something he would not have been if he'd stayed under a parent's protective wing, of battling against very tough odds to win (and this is the first time I can really recall in a Bond film a clear sense Bond is in survival rather than winning mode), and also light and shadow. There's elements of old British myths here, like Arthurian legend, a touch of St George fighting the Dragon (the villain is a man burned through on the inside), and Jesus. It starts, after a brilliant action sequence in Istanbul, with Bond dead to the world (echoes of the end of the book You Only Live Twice), amplified by a terrific title sequence overlaid by Adele's plaintive song.
But he does come back when he needs to, and we see him trying to get back some of his former skills and fitness. We have new versions of old Bond elements and characters that work well. But mostly there's this theme of resurrection and old sins coming back to haunt you.
Twice we see Bond fall into water and sink, only to emerge somewhere else. We even see him get to walk on water (well, ice...), and face dragons (of the Komodo kind). We see him unshaven and looking tired and raddled, but when he needs to, a shave and a decent tuxedo brings the Bond we know back.
Sam Mendes, the director, is a man versed in classic British literature and stories, and he invokes these subtly throughout. There's a theme here of Britain in decline, paralleled by Bond's decline, and both struggling...it reminds me of the Saxon belief that a king is tied to his land, and a king in decline means the land is in decline, and vice versa. Mendes is perhaps invoking that old idea here. And while we see Bond struggling to get back to his old levels of strength, we also see the chaos and doubters around M, until finally Bond takes M away, so he can try to protect her from the relentless and resourceful villain, even while he's not quite back to strength himself.
But about Bond and maybe about Britain, M says as she quotes Tennyson...'Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
The words mirror the end.
And what a great ending. A great middle and start too, with Bardem proving a terrific villain, who is clearly the good guy in his own story, but the bad guy in ours. He's bitter, complex, funny, and haunted by betrayal he cannot forgive. He shows he loves M by the end, but cannot live without finishing her and himself. But that end...The final goodbye to the old M, and Bond back to his former self, going into M's office with that gloriously plush leather-padded door (like the one in the old days), to see the new M, and when asked if he's ready to get back to work...as Bond puts it, "With pleasure, M. With pleasure."
Glorious.
90/100
Skyfall
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Well, having watched all the Bond movies in a long run (and not the first time I've seen them), and expecting mostly that what I thought before would remain true by the end, I was surprised by the end result...Skyfall is now my favourite Bond. None of the others, save perhaps OHMSS and Casino Royale, approach the emotional impact of this, and none of them except maybe From Russia With Love and Goldfinger approach the level of cinematography and imagery of Skyfall.
It is flawed, of course, with logic, plot holes and with character dissonances, but these are minor. It's a grand work, with a great villain, and some great scenes (the fight in silhouette is masterful), and has subtle echoes of other stories and themes (some of Bond's own in fact). The main themes, it seems to me, are death and resurrection, themes of parenthood gone awry but shaping the child into something he would not have been if he'd stayed under a parent's protective wing, of battling against very tough odds to win (and this is the first time I can really recall in a Bond film a clear sense Bond is in survival rather than winning mode), and also light and shadow. There's elements of old British myths here, like Arthurian legend, a touch of St George fighting the Dragon (the villain is a man burned through on the inside), and Jesus. It starts, after a brilliant action sequence in Istanbul, with Bond dead to the world (echoes of the end of the book You Only Live Twice), amplified by a terrific title sequence overlaid by Adele's plaintive song.
But he does come back when he needs to, and we see him trying to get back some of his former skills and fitness. We have new versions of old Bond elements and characters that work well. But mostly there's this theme of resurrection and old sins coming back to haunt you.
Twice we see Bond fall into water and sink, only to emerge somewhere else. We even see him get to walk on water (well, ice...), and face dragons (of the Komodo kind). We see him unshaven and looking tired and raddled, but when he needs to, a shave and a decent tuxedo brings the Bond we know back.
Sam Mendes, the director, is a man versed in classic British literature and stories, and he invokes these subtly throughout. There's a theme here of Britain in decline, paralleled by Bond's decline, and both struggling...it reminds me of the Saxon belief that a king is tied to his land, and a king in decline means the land is in decline, and vice versa. Mendes is perhaps invoking that old idea here. And while we see Bond struggling to get back to his old levels of strength, we also see the chaos and doubters around M, until finally Bond takes M away, so he can try to protect her from the relentless and resourceful villain, even while he's not quite back to strength himself.
But about Bond and maybe about Britain, M says as she quotes Tennyson...'Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
The words mirror the end.
And what a great ending. A great middle and start too, with Bardem proving a terrific villain, who is clearly the good guy in his own story, but the bad guy in ours. He's bitter, complex, funny, and haunted by betrayal he cannot forgive. He shows he loves M by the end, but cannot live without finishing her and himself. But that end...The final goodbye to the old M, and Bond back to his former self, going into M's office with that gloriously plush leather-padded door (like the one in the old days), to see the new M, and when asked if he's ready to get back to work...as Bond puts it, "With pleasure, M. With pleasure."
Glorious.
90/100
01-03-2014
, 04:25 AM
003. Logan's Run 6/10
There was a slew of interesting, thought-provoking scifi made in the lull between 2001:A Space Odyssey and the juggernaut of movie scifi that was Star Wars, that for many years made movie sci-fi==movie sci-fantasy. Stuff like THX 1138, Omega Man, Soylent Green, The Last Warrior, Silent Running, Dark Star. Logan's Run comes near the bottom of the pile. It's got a wonky script and the actors are not directed well, but even coming near the bottom, it's still worth a watch. The beautiful Jennifer Agutter disrobes a lot (and is easy on the eye when clothed too), and Peter Ustinov's turn as a cranky old guy spouting T.S.Eliot is fun, as is a mad robot obsessed with freezing people.
The world-building is also quite interesting (if a little star trekky), and I think this one would be a good candidate for a remake.
There was a slew of interesting, thought-provoking scifi made in the lull between 2001:A Space Odyssey and the juggernaut of movie scifi that was Star Wars, that for many years made movie sci-fi==movie sci-fantasy. Stuff like THX 1138, Omega Man, Soylent Green, The Last Warrior, Silent Running, Dark Star. Logan's Run comes near the bottom of the pile. It's got a wonky script and the actors are not directed well, but even coming near the bottom, it's still worth a watch. The beautiful Jennifer Agutter disrobes a lot (and is easy on the eye when clothed too), and Peter Ustinov's turn as a cranky old guy spouting T.S.Eliot is fun, as is a mad robot obsessed with freezing people.
The world-building is also quite interesting (if a little star trekky), and I think this one would be a good candidate for a remake.
01-03-2014
, 03:07 PM
004. Saturday Night Fever 7/10
Travolta is absolutely terrific in this, giving the reasonably complex script his all by an excellent portrayal of a conflicted, trapped, working class young guy. He's helped by the pounding soundtrack, especially the BeeGees tracks, which add several points of cool to his already deep-freeze cool presence. There's some great scenes with him, and he's like liquid gold on the dance floor.
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn't live up to it, except the scenes of his home-life. His friends are shallow and one-dimensional, with the only interesting one being a girl that is smitten with him, but who he doesn't feel much of anything for. The main female lead, Stephanie, is poorly acted with a grating, unsympathetic manner, and you get a kind of overload of self-inflicted tragedy very near to the end, saved somewhat by the subtle, downbeat ending.
Tony Manero is a great screen character, with great moves and presence, but unfortunately he dwarves almost everything except his home life and the soundtrack.
I definitely recommend this to see once at least, as it has useful and resonant things to say about working-class aspirations and escapes, and about growing out of your surroundings, but be prepared for a slog in the second half.
Travolta is absolutely terrific in this, giving the reasonably complex script his all by an excellent portrayal of a conflicted, trapped, working class young guy. He's helped by the pounding soundtrack, especially the BeeGees tracks, which add several points of cool to his already deep-freeze cool presence. There's some great scenes with him, and he's like liquid gold on the dance floor.
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn't live up to it, except the scenes of his home-life. His friends are shallow and one-dimensional, with the only interesting one being a girl that is smitten with him, but who he doesn't feel much of anything for. The main female lead, Stephanie, is poorly acted with a grating, unsympathetic manner, and you get a kind of overload of self-inflicted tragedy very near to the end, saved somewhat by the subtle, downbeat ending.
Tony Manero is a great screen character, with great moves and presence, but unfortunately he dwarves almost everything except his home life and the soundtrack.
I definitely recommend this to see once at least, as it has useful and resonant things to say about working-class aspirations and escapes, and about growing out of your surroundings, but be prepared for a slog in the second half.
Last edited by diebitter; 01-03-2014 at 03:16 PM.
01-03-2014
, 08:18 PM
01-03-2014
, 08:21 PM
Patton - I think it is my father's favourite movie.Good old blood and guts..