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Post by Jasoomian on Jul 20, 2014 14:11:04 GMT -5
Gallipoli (1981)
(Presented on Turner Classic Movies in the proper aspect ratio.)
Mel Gibson stars as a young man and champion sprinter in WW1 Australia. Locals struggle over the foreign word, "Gallipoli" as they read news from the front. Mel isn't big on going off to war like most of his mates who want to fight for the British Empire, prove their masclunity, or just fall for the asinine anti-German propaganda. As Mel runs out of options by the end of the first hour, he enlists in the Light Horse Brigade, which at least seems a little classier than regular infantry. Mel and his newer friend, another running champ, are both enlisted as messengers, no questions asked about their age.
Then we move to the front as the soldiers train in Egypt, visit whorehouses, and Mel & friend carve their name on one of the great pyramids. Then up to Gallipoli for some horrifying and pointless trench warfare. Mel is put on runner/messenger duty when the phone lines go down after two waves of trench warfare leave everyone dead. The Colonel sends Mel back to the trenches with the order to proceed with the third wave. Mel's CO then sends him to the General in hopes that he will call it off. The General does call it off, but the Colonel's phone line is fixed and orders the attack to proceed. Mel arrives back in the trenches just as his CO blows the whistle and the third wave goes up and over, and we end with a freezeframe on mel's sprinter friend being cut down by gunfire.
Peter Weir has conceived and directed a powerful, chilling film here.
Two thumbs up.
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MODERN FILMS: Burton's unneccessary Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and Clooney stars as The American (2010), a contemplative spaghetti noir. One thumb up each.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 20, 2014 21:09:12 GMT -5
Lone Wolf And Cub:Baby Cart To Hades (1972)
Tomisaburo Wakayama,Akhiro Tomikawa
D-Kenji Misumi
In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
Let me say, I'm not a manga reader or anime viewer but I'm really getting into this series.Beautiful cinematography and color pallettes. The film deals with honor and the way of the warrior but not at the expense of action.Ogami makes short work of some rapist samarai. He then defends a prostitute who has bitten off the tongue of her pimp and killed him. To absolve her of her crimes he must submit to the tortures she would have had to endure and then carry out a mission of assassination for the Yakuza. The finale is the biggest battle yet of the series.Ogami alone against 100 warriors on horseback with guns,arrows and traditional cutlery. Ogami does have his baby cart to help him
This movie was also titled Shogun Assassin 2:Lightning Sword Of Death. Shogun Assassin 1 cobbles together a couple of Lone Wolf and Cub Movies. 9 of 10 stars. More More More
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Jul 20, 2014 21:19:36 GMT -5
Lone Wolf And Cub:Baby Cart To Hades (1972)
Tomisaburo Wakayama,Akhiro Tomikawa
D-Kenji Misumi
In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain. Let me say, I'm not a manga reader or anime viewer but I'm really getting into this series.Beautiful cinematography and color pallettes. The film deals with honor and the way of the warrior but not at the expense of action.Ogami makes short work of some rapist samarai. He then defends a prostitute who has bitten off the tongue of her pimp and killed him. To absolve her of her crimes he must submit to the tortures she would have had to endure and then carry out a mission of assassination for the Yakuza. The finale is the biggest battle yet of the series.Ogami alone against 100 warriors on horseback with guns,arrows and traditional cutlery. Ogami does have his baby cart to help him This movie was also titled Shogun Assassin 2:Lightning Sword Of Death. Shogun Assassin 1 cobbles together a couple of Lone Wolf and Cub Movies. 9 of 10 stars. More More More I really need to see these. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 20, 2014 21:32:07 GMT -5
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Voices of Jodi Benson,Rene Auberjonois,Buddy Hackett,Pat Carroll
D-Ron Clements,John Musker
Loosely based upon the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Ariel, youngest daughter of King Triton, is dissatisfied with life in the sea. She longs to be with the humans above the surface, and is often caught in arguments with her father over those "barbaric fish-eaters". She goes to meet Ursula, the Sea Witch, to strike a deal, but Ursula has bigger plans for this mermaid and her father.
The 70s and 80s were not kind to Disney animation features.There was a long and slow decline both at the box office and of critical acclaim. Disney film were special events issued once every few years and would certainly be amongst the highest grossing films for that year. By the time the 80s rolled around it was certainly not the case.Until this movie.And I'm seeing it for the first time and I can understand why
The movie has heart.Even if you're not a young girl you can sympathize with Ariel.Its got some great songs.Its got funny bits.Its got a great villian.Even the animation seems to have gotten better. Its at least as good as any of Disney's output from the 60s.
The villian Ursula was based on Devine.I can't picture Uncle Walt approving that.Its the last Disney film to use hand-painted cels.The earliest videotape covers and promotional posters had one of the background castles look like a penis.These are now collector's items.The Disney company owned the rights to The Little Mermaid since 1941.It won 2 Oscars for Best Song and Score
9 out of 10 stars for Disney and I'm glad they're back
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 20, 2014 21:56:15 GMT -5
Tightrope (1984)
Clint Eastwood,Dan Hedaya,Genevieve Bujold,Alison Eastwood
D-Richard Tuggle
Quickie Quiz:Tightrope was one of three Eastwood movies during his Dirty Harry phase were he played a different police detective.Name the other 2 movies.Answer below
Wes Block (Eastwood) is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women, that he rapes and murders. The killings are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.
Eastwood takes a walk down the kinky side of the street in this police detective drama set in New Orleans.The victims are women who work in the sex trade and old Clint doesn't mind having intensive "interviews" with some of the victims co-workers. Genevieve Bujold plays a self-defense teacher for women that Eastwood's character inextricably is attracted to. I think Bujold as she got older developed a bulldog face,but thats me.
This is the film that Warner Bros insisted Sandra Locke would not be included.I side wth the WB.Maybe to throw a bone to Clint they approved his daughter Alison play that role in the movie too.She was 12 years old at the time and did a decent job
The movie itself is decent,pretty routine,no surprises that I can think of. It's Clint,a bunch of boobs and a masked killer. 6 of 10 stars
City Heat and The Gauntlet
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 20, 2014 22:21:00 GMT -5
Sisters (1973)
Margot Kidder,Jennifer Salt,Charles Durning,William Finley,Barnard Hughes,Dolph Sweet
D-Brian De Palma
The Staten Island apartment of lovely model Danielle (Kidder) becomes the scene of a grisly murder that is witnessed by her neighbor, Grace (Salt), a reporter. But the police don't believe her story, so it's up to Grace to solve the murder mystery on her own.
De Palma's first Hitchcock thriller/horror. It's an American International B-movie but a cut above their usual output.Like Psycho,De Palma takes his time before the first murder. And then a dash of Rear Window and a pinch of Rope with the dead body. Danielle was recently separated from her siamese twin sister Dominique who supposedly died on the operating table.Or is she really alive and killing Danielle's boyfriends?
Durning plays the detective the reporter hires and I wish he had more screen time alas.The last 15 minutes get pretty weird as to who's the killer,who's insane,what's the truth? It might not work for all viewers and it was 50-50 for me.
A decent and interesting early 70s flick.It even uses a split screen for awhile in the beginning.And a rare film to be shot in the borough of Staten Island in NYC. 7 of 10 stars
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 20, 2014 22:37:14 GMT -5
Breaking Point (1950)
John Garfield,Patricia Neal,Phyllis Thaxter,Victor Sen Yung
D-Michael Curtiz
Fishing boat captain Harry Morgan (Garfield) charters his boat. Due to strained finances, he is none too careful as to whom he does business with. Real trouble erupts when Harry hires out his boat to transport four men who turn out to be criminals on the lam from a racetrack heist.
The ever-dependable Michael Curtiz gives us this adaptation of a Hemingway tale that Ernest preferred over the earlier version with Bogart named To Have And Have Not. Its a good, forgotten film-noir with Captain Morgan stuggling to make ends meet for his family and forced to use his boat for questionable purposes. My old friend,Victor Sen Young from the Charlie Chan films is here, as a man who hires Morgan to smuggle immigrants to the US
Patricia Neal plays a great femme fatale and Thaxter does well as the Captains wife.But John Garfield performs outstandingly as a man torn between doing whats right or doing what needs to be done. The final scene,with a little boy looking for his father,not knowing he's been killed,and no one consoling him can break your heart. 8 of 10 stars
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Post by paulie on Jul 21, 2014 9:19:47 GMT -5
Sisters (1973)
Margot Kidder,Jennifer Salt,Charles Durning,William Finley,Barnard Hughes,Dolph Sweet
D-Brian De Palma
The Staten Island apartment of lovely model Danielle (Kidder) becomes the scene of a grisly murder that is witnessed by her neighbor, Grace (Salt), a reporter. But the police don't believe her story, so it's up to Grace to solve the murder mystery on her own. De Palma's first Hitchcock thriller/horror. It's an American International B-movie but a cut above their usual output.Like Psycho,De Palma takes his time before the first murder. And then a dash of Rear Window and a pinch of Rope with the dead body. Danielle was recently separated from her siamese twin sister Dominique who supposedly died on the operating table.Or is she really alive and killing Danielle's boyfriends? Durning plays the detective the reporter hires and I wish he had more screen time alas.The last 15 minutes get pretty weird as to who's the killer,who's insane,what's the truth? It might not work for all viewers and it was 50-50 for me. A decent and interesting early 70s flick.It even uses a split screen for awhile in the beginning.And a rare film to be shot in the borough of Staten Island in NYC. 7 of 10 stars This sort of sounds like Robert Altman's 3 Women which was terrific. After reading your review a second time I think I might skip this one. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 21, 2014 11:44:59 GMT -5
Smithereens (1984)
Susan Berman,Brad Rijn,Richard Hell
D-Susan Seidelman
An restless and abrasive young woman Wren (Berman) eschews the affections of a sensitive young portrait artist ,Paul (Rijn), preferring to chase punk singers in a misguided desire for fame and fortune in New York's Greenwich Village.
Susan (Desperately Seeking Susan) Seidelman's first foray into directing incorporating film students and other East Village friends.Richard Hell,singer and bass-guitarist with Television and his own band The Voidoids lends an authentic punk vibe to the movie. All shot on location on the lower east side.Wren uses people to try to break into the music biz.She gets evicted from her apartment and sleeps in Paul's van when she has no other options.She tries to latch onto Richard Hell since he actually recorded an album, but she gets a taste of what it feels like to be used. Yes,this film certainly captures NYC in the early 80s down at the CBGB area when you lived on peanut butter sandwiches but made sure you dressed in style. I knew self absorbed people like Wren back then.You wonder if they survived. 7 of 10 stars
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jul 21, 2014 20:27:22 GMT -5
Lone Wolf And Cub:Baby Cart In Peril (1972)
Tomisaburo Wakayama,Akihiro Tomikawa
D-Takeichi Saito
In the 4th (of 6)Lone Wolf and Cub films, Ogami Itto has been hired to track down and kill Oyuki,a female tattooed assassin.She's been killing every man sent to battle her by dropping her robe,revealing her hypnotizing tattoos, and then skewering the poor sap.Ogami also faces his old chief rival who technically beat him in battle once before for the position of official executioner.
A new director but it still maintains its marvelous camera work and cinematography. Emotions run a bit higher in this entry with little Daigoro missing from his father for a few days,Ogami sympathetic for the female assassin he must kill and at his angriest I've seen since his wife died.Still a huge pile of severed limbs,blood spurting like a shaken champagne bottle (sounds like it fizzes too) and another climatic battle against a squadron of killers.This time,the Lone Wolf does not escape unscathed
8 of 10 stars
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Post by DubipR on Jul 21, 2014 20:49:58 GMT -5
Watched Rumble Fish last night. Not the strongest of Coppola's films but a decent adaptation of SE Hinton's novel. Gorgeously shot in black and white and a great Steward Copeland soundtrack. Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Ladd, Dennis Hopper star...
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Post by berkley on Jul 21, 2014 21:15:40 GMT -5
I thought Rumble Fish was quite good, for what it was. Obviously not Godfather or Apocalypse Now -level good, but still a well-made, smaller-scale film.
John Garfield was one of the best of the Hollywood actors. I'm a big fan and there are still quite a few of his films I have yet to see, including this one. I read somewhere that his smallish supporting role in the excellent Four Daughters was one of the very first anti-hero characters in movies.
Watched the Lone Wolf & Cub films back in the 90s on VHS tape. Great stuff. I should get back to the manga, which looks very good.
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Post by Pharozonk on Jul 22, 2014 0:12:27 GMT -5
I had heard good things about Braindead(Dead Alive) from people online and after watching it, it lived up to the hype. It's very much inspired by the Evil Dead franchise and that's what makes it enjoyable. Lionel has some of the best one liners this side of Ash Williams and its crazy to think this is the same director who would later helm the Lord of the Rings franchise.  |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 22, 2014 1:26:26 GMT -5
Braindead is an epic splatter-film. Hard to believe now that it was directed by Peter Jackson.
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Post by Jasoomian on Jul 22, 2014 2:20:47 GMT -5
Peter Jackson's indy stuff is great. see also: MEET THE FEEBLES and BAD TASTE
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