Marshall- 7/10
Strong acting, fairly simple and obvious plotline, fails at some of it's moral epiphanies and tear jerker moments.
City of God- 10/10
Fails at nothing IMHO, beautiful camera work, gripping story line, strong characters, brilliant acting. I definitely understand why it's constantly referred to as one of those best of all time movies.
Incredible that many of the actors in the movie had no formal training or even wanted to act.
Detroit- 7/10
Interesting omissions in the movie especially for something so well researched; a candid hindsight view of a brutal attack. Great acting and captures the fear and pain well.
Fantastic to look at, with sumptuous colour, light and shadow bringing to life the interiors of the Villa Graps, with its neon-lit spider webs and fog-wreathed catacombs. The aeriel shots of the central spiral staircase are just gorgeous, half in green and blue gel light, half in deep shadow. It's weaker in the story department; starts off intriguingly, with a doctor arriving in a shunned village to perform an autopsy on a local girl who died in mysterious circumstances. As the nature of the curse that caused her death is revealed though, it becomes a recycling of well-worn horror tropes; a haunted house, a ghostly girl and a creepy bouncing ball.
Everything about this is very Hammer, from the set design to the stock of characters and the plot featuring fearful villagers and a house of horrors on the hill. It's not very original, but is done with enough exuberance and visual flare that it doesn't really matter; you can just soak up the great Gothic atmosphere. Style over substance? Definitely. But what style.
I've got mixed feelings when it comes to Larry Cohen. On the one hand, I really enjoyed The Stuff but didn't get God Told Me To at all. This one falls the wrong side of the fence for me. From the title and the imagery of the poster, I was expecting an outrageous shlock horror but got something all together more serious, and pretty dull - I was zoning out several times and had to fight the urge to just slip out of consciousness. It's a film that doesn't really seem clear about what it's shooting for. Mutant baby rampage has B movie written all over it, but it seems to be trying to make some kind of social commentary, with the baby being a metaphor for the product of our polluting ways (there's a conversation at one point about lead-based consumer goods and increasing toxification). The title references Frankenstein, and a conversation about that leads to one of the film's few (unintentionally) comedic moments, when a stuffy doctor type dismisses Frank's ruminations on the novel with the stiffly delivered line "one shouldn't believe what one reads in fantasist fiction", or words to that effect.
Aside from pacing and tonal issues, it's actually the technical aspects of the film I had the biggest problem with - the framing and lighting are just poor, resulting in a murky, unappealing visual experience. The sound mix too is sub-par, meaning I was straining to catch some of the mumbled dialogue. The killer baby, when finally revealed, is actually some pretty good creature design - possibly aided by poor lighting - kinda freaky. It picks up the pace in the last 15 minutes or so, with a frantic chase through the sewers where Frank, who was always in favour of terminating his blasted creation, has a change of heart but is powerless to stop the police from gunning it down. It's really too little too late though, and the final line, "another one's been born in Seattle" is a real eyeball roller.
Another film about a cursed birth that rises above its hokey premise (some astrological guff about being born under a bad sign) and delivers an unexpectedly decent slasher about three killer kids, 10 years on from their inauspicious entry into the world. There are some inventive kills, the kids are great - especially Billy Jayne as a miniature Diry Harry - and it moves along at a nice pace. It clearly owes a fair bit to Halloween; the suburban setting recalls Haddonfield and Joyce Russel is a character in the Laurie mould, right down to perilous babysitting duties that include dodging arrows fired by a little girl with a long bow through a hole in the back of the closet.
Seeing this restored in 1080p is mind blowing. Detail I always thought was there, was there. It was like seeing it on film I guess? Probably the most exciting restoration I cared about in 10 years?
10/10
All the plot, filming, pace and lighting was there again. The acting of course but most of all the dance school building became so much of another character once again. This time it was fun to notice Argento’s conservative use of zoom, and such natural lens perspective. So much of the Art Deco style obviously came into focus. But at this level of detail, also you could actually tell it was a manufactured set and not a real estate. The paint looked fresh and you could actually feel it was not a real place in real life adding to the strange dream like quality.
All Jessica Harper had to do was look around with those giant eyes and not a word of script was ever needed.
There is such a maturity of pace. It’s again the slow unfolding which really starts right at the beginning. Still the delicate style of this film can become intoxicating, where even a different color of light in a window becomes startling. It has the texture of a symphony and the detail only created by genius.
Korean film chronicling the implementation of Martial law in Korea after the 79 assassination of the president. Typical Korean humour permeates this one but it cannot stop the force of a riveting story of the German journalist who went to great lengths to film and smuggle out the news that the government was attempting to suppress. Bewildering and frustrating at the same time, this film should have gone a lot farther with western audiences than it did.
Marshall- 7/10
Strong acting, fairly simple and obvious plotline, fails at some of it's moral epiphanies and tear jerker moments.
City of God- 10/10
Fails at nothing IMHO, beautiful camera work, gripping story line, strong characters, brilliant acting. I definitely understand why it's constantly referred to as one of those best of all time movies.
Incredible that many of the actors in the movie had no formal training or even wanted to act.
Detroit- 7/10
Interesting omissions in the movie especially for something so well researched; a candid hindsight view of a brutal attack. Great acting and captures the fear and pain well.
City of God was such a well made movie. I'd definitely rank it very high. Movie's acting, direction, story are superb. It's a work of art. Just so real. It's a must watch.
Korean film chronicling the implementation of Martial law in Korea after the 79 assassination of the president. Typical Korean humour permeates this one but it cannot stop the force of a riveting story of the German journalist who went to great lengths to film and smuggle out the news that the government was attempting to suppress. Bewildering and frustrating at the same time, this film should have gone a lot farther with western audiences than it did.
Saw this a while back. It's a ok film(didn't live up to the hype for me), and based on true events, but I think instead of going for the real, they went with idealized image with the characterizations, etc. There's some cheese in the "happy" scenes. You know with the dinner scene(which can be heartwarming), and the last part with the group of taxi's showing up(of course), went a bit toward Hollywood. They put out a bit of cutened image of the ordeal. I think some Korean films can push a bit far on cliche idealized characterizations.
Saw this a while back. It's a ok film(didn't live up to the hype for me), and based on true events, but I think instead of going for the real, they went with idealized image with the characterizations, etc. There's some cheese in the "happy" scenes. You know with the dinner scene(which can be heartwarming), and the last part with the group of taxi's showing up(of course), went a bit toward Hollywood. They put out a bit of cutened image of the ordeal. I think some Korean films can push a bit far on cliche idealized characterizations.
That is in fact just what I meant with typical Korean humour. I suspect it was necessary to do that just to get the film made.While it does detract from the overall story, the essence of the coverage is what got me to rate it highly.
City of God still stands as one of the best films ever made. The best stuff out there now is certainly not coming from hollywood and definitely does not require budgets the size of the GDP of a small country. Gomorrah was a fairly good watch along the same vein.
I really miss all these good old movies from the 80s.
PG movies these days that are not meant for children are just too rare.
I wonder when the last one was made?
Black Panther - 8/10
Thought the first 45 minutes were the best parts, but then it went downhill right after the scene in the holding cell.
Towards the end I was just kind of getting bored and wanted it to end.
If I was a fan of comic book movies I might have liked this a lot more.
I can't think of many superhero movies I'd rate as a 10/10. Even "The Dark Knight" kind of bores me and is not much fun.
This seems to be a movie where it gets worse in your head after you see it.
I probably will forget about it in a few months.
Andy Serkis should have been given a bigger role. He did pretty well in this one.
As you know, he was "Gollum" from Lord of the Rings and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes movies.
BTW One reason I saw this is that I'm sort of a fan of Danai Gurira's Michonne in "The Walking Dead".
I didn't like her character that much until I watched the series several times.
I also would have seen this earlier too if I had known Andy Serkis was in it.
PS Michael B. Jordan's acting could have been a tad better. Oh well.
Quite simply the worst piece of celluloid excrement disguised as a war film ever released. The list of criticisms of this one would easily be over tenfold the length of the actual script.
Avoid at all costs unless you are scheduled for a lobotomy in the near future.
Being a time capsule of high school in the late 1970s, it’s interesting as one of the better movies to show the era. Other than that it was a total let down.
Don’t know why this received good reviews. 2-10
That is in fact just what I meant with typical Korean humour. I suspect it was necessary to do that just to get the film made.While it does detract from the overall story, the essence of the coverage is what got me to rate it highly.
City of God still stands as one of the best films ever made. The best stuff out there now is certainly not coming from hollywood and definitely does not require budgets the size of the GDP of a small country. Gomorrah was a fairly good watch along the same vein.
Yeah, movie makers usually add some fictional elements to spice up the movies based on true event to get the audience interested. I guess without those elements stories based on true events would be boring(this depends on how the film makers storyboards and carries it out).
Some can be done well and appropriately, like City of God for example.
Quite simply the worst piece of celluloid excrement disguised as a war film ever released. The list of criticisms of this one would easily be over tenfold the length of the actual script.
Avoid at all costs unless you are scheduled for a lobotomy in the near future.
@Redcarmoose Shame to hear about My Friend Dahmer - had some interest in seeing that one. @ everyone, down with the love for City of God - 10/10 film all day long in my book.
Man, I haven't laughed that hard in some time. Preposterous anti-drug film from the early 70s that's quite possibly the shoddiest thing I've ever seen. Mexican Elvis turns into a turkey-headed man after eating an experimental turkey while already 'addicted' to dope after a couple of tokes on a spliff. In a hallucinogenic fugue state, he runs around killing people and draining their blood. Proceedings are occasionally interrupted by a squinting man with an improbable moustache in a wood-panelled room (the director apparently), chain smoking and providing a running commentary on the crazy crap you've just witnessed. There's a great bit near the end where he has a coughing fit and you think it might be about to make a point about the dangers of smoking, but nah - he actually just has a coughing fit and couldn't be bothered to re-take it. This is why the 70s were king.
Another bizzarro 70s flick, about an LSD variant called Blue Sunshine, which has a delayed side effect (about 10 years delayed) of causing peoples' hair to fall out and making them go totally mental. Lots of fun to be had here from the gloriously OTT performances, especially Sean Penn lookalike Zalman King in the lead role - he's supposed to be the sane one, but is almost more unhinged than the Blue Sunshine victims he's trying to track down, running around wild-eyed most of the time and doing things like banging his head against a door, chucking people out of apartment blocks or unexpectedly running up a hillside and vaulting over a wall. It's a great game of what crazy crap is he gonna do next. Also features some wicked disco carnage.
I think David Arquette might be a Democrat. If it wasn't for the Ronald Reagan gimmick (and that mask looks nothing like Reagan; more like Nixon if anything), this would be a pretty standard woods-based slasher and a messy one at that. There's not much of a plot and it feels like there's simultaneously too much and not enough going on; just skitting around from one set piece to another like a pinball, with lots of stoned conversations in between. It does have Jason Mewes basically playing himself though, which is a always a bonus.
I can't believe it took me so long to get round to this one. On paper, it should be right up my alley - tripped out, Cronenberg-channeling body horror - and sure enough, it is! I'm not sure I totally followed everything, but who cares when you have multi-eyed goats, distorted lava women, and visceral, pulsating practical effects. Some of the video sequences from the flotation tank trip outs look a bit dated, obviously, but like 2001's Beyond the Infinite sequence, that just makes it exponentially cooler in a kind of retro psychedelic way.
William Hurt delivers a hell of a performance here, foreshadowing Goldblum's maverick genius Seth Brundle in The Fly. He combines irresistible charm with a passion for his work that crosses over into mania, threatening to destroy his mind and body and tear his marriage apart. This was actually made prior to a lot of Cronenberg's best work, but it mines the same vein of beautiful wrongness.
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