Yeah…i always felt there was material missing from that section of the film as well.
The daughter’s relationship with Larroquette’s son seemed hazy and the possible risk of something going on between him and Candy’s wife (she and the kids spending a lot of time with him while Candy was not there and the mention he’s a divorcee) and the general way he vanished pretty much after his initial introduction, all seemed skimmed over.
I know extra scenes occurred ealy on during the first third of the film in the TV print, but I’ve not heard of anything else.
Rather abrupt ending as well.
Superbly crafted, wonderfully acted, historically important British crime/social drama about a Homosexual lawyer’s attempts to uncover a blackmail racket targeting Gay men in 1960’s Britain (where Homosexual acts were still illegal) that has already resulted in one victim’s suicide.
Dirk Bogarde is absolutely superb as the lawyer who risks literally everything to find justice in this seering indictment of that horrendous law and the society that allows such laws to come in to force.
But director Basil Dearden knows that a chest-beating speech of a film will have little popular impact, so around this critical message he crafts an engaging and genuinely intriguing crime drama with some nice twists.
A great support cast tops this classic movie off to perfection.
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 - Everything I had hoped for in #701 I found here. A mysogynistic torrent of abuse and polarized ideals. It’s what #701 echoed but not with such resonating force as Jailhouse 41, which seems to be galvanized more in the Manga charm school. Throughout the course of the film Matsu becomes a deeper portrait of simmering rage while interestingly enough, being physically bandied about and never really gelling with the all-girl escape team. It’s pretty fascinating since as a touchstone of Japanese cinema, people have often considered her a feminist icon when to me she seems more of an egoistic rebel who’s unable to assimilate herself into any faction at all. Being such and finding that the struggle for dominance is eventually split not only between Matsu and Goda but also between Oda as well creates an even more dynamic ride for the viewer. Some ride it is too…the epic and elemental spur of force that chokes towns in soot and ash, has waterfalls run red with blood and fills hearts with white hot hatred. but as raw as it is there’s not an over-abundance of skin or the red stuff to behold, instead it’s the barren almost mythical landscapes and hallucinegenic visual exponents that make the film so abrasive. The black pools in Maiko Kaji’s eyes coupled with her dead silence fills up her charisma quota with ease and tops of what I’m now convinced is the best film in the series. Good eatin’.
The film didn’t register a blip at the box office when it was released, and even Im Sang-soo’s most fervent advocates accused the director of betraying the novel (by Hwang Suk-young) upon which the movie was based, which will unfortunately deter many people from checking out one of the best Korean dramas I’ve ever watched—The Old Garden. The acting is superb, the excellent script is infused with melancholic humor, and the subdued scoring is used judiciously throughout the running time of the film. The presentation of the DVD is what we’ve come to expect from Korean releases.
Probably Woody Allen’s broadest (and nudest) film is a real mess for the first 20 minutes or so as it hangs a few pretty funny moments on…well…nothing really other than porn mags and comedy gadget testing.
But when the main South American banana republic plot kicks some top moments of comical goodness are offered up for our delight, as broad comedy and political satire slam against each other.
This is perhaps the closest Allen got to the comedy of the absurd (see the likes of “Airplane” and some Mel Brooks) as utterly fantastical comic set-ups are delivered in a real world setting.
The courtroom trial sequence is a joy (Allen’s hysterical cross-examination of himself is a highlight) and the live broadcast wedding night nuptials delivered like a boxing match (complete with audience and real life sports anchors) is one of the funniest broad comedy moments Allen has ever done.
As a full-on comedy film it may not be as damn funny as “Take the Money and Run” or “Broadway Danny Rose”, and as a more mature relationship comedy it may not scale the majestic heights of “Annie Hall”...but “Bananas” is perhaps the best mix of both of these different aspects of Allen’s wonderful film comedy legacy.
It’s far more successful than “Sleeper” or even “Love and Death” at delivering this mix anyway.
Femme Fatale - 2007 was a year awash with disappointments in South Korea: for every Secret Sunshine there was a Boys of Tomorrow, a Highway Star and a Solace. So it’s nice to chalk up another win for not only a less obvious pick, but a comedy that doesn’t amp up the melodramatics at the halfway mark or in fact ever shoot for anything resembling a serious endeavour. A reworking of James Huth’s Serial Lover, Femme Fatale is set to the backdrop of Christmas Night with movie starlet Ye Ji-won finally returning home after scooping the best newcomer award at Cannes. A quiet Christmas in front of the telly with her run-ragged Manager Im Won-hee comes to a grinding hault when four eager suitors turn up to offer their congrats as well as a batch of engagement rings. No sooner has she thought seriously about the proposals when she finds herself with an accidental death on her hands. Make that two…three…four! The Korean-American nice guy, the pretentious College Professor, the ill-tempered Gangster and the pill-popping movie Director all bite it in madcap and hilarious fashion. Disposing of the bodies would prove to be a simple affair if it wasn’t for a pair of Detectives on the hunt for a thief posing as Santa (who’s trapped in Ji-won’s apartment) and an impromptu Christmas bash taking place in the living room.
From script to screen Femme Fatale is very assured screwball affair that plays to all of its strengths and rarely gives an inch on it’s pending weaknesses. The cast rip through the dialogue with gusto and attack each scenario with a broad sense of simple but effective comedic appeal. The warm comradery between Ye Ji-won and Im Won-hee, birthed by the couples frustrations at the list of bodies piling up highlights all the obvious fun they’ve had on set and encourages you to run with one ridiculous gag after another. At the same time this is heavily situational comedy in a house which seems to have been designed and set-up by some kind of accidental Jigsaw who’s Home Alone. Fish that are dangerously pointy at the end, giant magnetic globes and deadly hairdryer n’ toilet bowl cocktails round off the means to disaster nicely. But it’s the Weekend at Bernie’s mentality of how many ways can we fuck up stashing these stiffs that brings the majority of laughs, of which there are a good few to be had. On top of that we’re treated to a very sleek set design and some truly beautiful cinematography which is heads above what it should be for such a snappy paced film. Then there’s a few very fun and notable cameos from Yoon Joo-sang, Jo Eun-ji and action man Jong Doo-hong. Even a poke at ‘DJ Kim Ki-duk’ and why Koreans won’t watch his films! But as it goes with the territory there’s no real need to invest yourself in the characters’ plight and that’s the main weakness. Of course this only detracts from your enjoyment if you think about it..Femme Fatale pretty much requires you to leave your serious head at the door and laugh it up from the word go. Do that and I have a sneaking suspicion you’ll enjoy it a great deal.
A barely related sequel to a little liked film, I had no desire to see, was not perhaps the best start for this (wrongly sent straight to DVD) movie, but some good word of mouth made me take a risk.
I was glad I did as well as, although there is nothing new here, the film delivers some well crafted, glossy, shocks that lead to a very satisfying and (amazingly today) coherent finale.
It’s pretty much a repeat match as far as most of the killings go (‘Boogeyman’ gets one alone, does gruesome and nasty things, body then found by someone else) but at least the demises are suitably gory and nasty and carry a heavy “Saw” feel in the way some of them play out.
Much blood and gore later we are left with a solid, does the job well, glossy and modern Slasher flick (with possible supernatural tinges) that will come as no big revelation to anyone who has seen more than 4 horror films but is ultimately well worth a look for those in need for simple, well made, gory fun.
Its one to sit on the shelf ready to be pulled out at Halloween or on Friday the 13th’s when you invite a few mates round for a bit of popcorn horror entertainment.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Pretty much forgotten gothic tinged horror flick starring Robert Walker Jr as Poe, who places the stricken Lenore into the less than safe hands of Cesar Romero’s asylum owner.
A rather sedate and mannered, sometimes rather bland little item but one that thankfully manages to bounce into life during the last third and that pulls off a few effectively atmospheric moments of the macabre throughout.
“ICHI 1”
The prequal to Takashi Miike’s Ichi The Killer Based on the comic by Hideo Yamamoto. Not as much blood and action as Takashi’s but yet still enjoyable.
Simplistically filmed with a very easy on the eye approach. It doesn’t try to shove to much into your face at once and rolls along at a cool pace. Reminds me of when i was at school to be honest, apart from throwing people out of windows and trying to break every bone in peoples bodies.
Seems to drift away from the world in which Takashi’s is set but it doesn’t let you down and packs in a punch (well….....Slap!!!) at the end. Some laugh out loud moments and good acting all round. Nao Omori is back in the Ichi role as he is in Takashi’s (if it had of been anyone else i dont think it would of worked so well).
The dvd itself is on Unearthed films (Region 1) and has the cheek to call itself a special edition. A special edition with a one on one interview with Takashi Miike and the director of this feature Masato Tanno, (not so much an interview but two directors goofing around having a laugh, but they do bring up some good points),.
And thats your lot for the extra’s…........oh and some trailers for other films, i presume on the Unearthed Films label.
Not much of a “Special Edition” but a worthy entry into the world of Ichi The Killer.
Dolph Lundgren joins the ‘mini-comeback for old action guys craze’ with a wider publicised and distributed DTV flick than normal.
He directs and co-writes this ‘modern day western’ take on “Pale Rider”/“Shane”/“High Plains Drifter” and “High Noon”.
Dolph is a Bible toting, face punching, shotgun blasting stranger who breezes into a Native American reservation town to tell the children how good The Bible is and to ram sharp objects into eyeballs.
It’s overly slow to get to the meat of the matter (but never really dull) and as such the final showdown with the late arriving top bag guys is rather rushed (10 minutes taken from the first 2/3 and put into the last third would have done wonders) but the various punch-ups with the dopey henchman are fun enough (and amusingly revel in the old cliches, we’d actually miss if they were not there) and the deadly serious finale showdown is nicely violent with a delightfully brutal, utterly cold-blooded, crowd pleasing pay-off.
The main problem here is that Dolph seems to have decided he wanted to do a Black and White film but compromised by de-saturating the colour SO MUCH that the entire film (even with the LCD TV colour up to ‘max’ and the DVD player chroma level up full) is almost sepia tone!
Muddy browns,purples pinks and greens are the order of the day with some darker scenes (or scene only back-lit) being almost gray and with little shadow detail.
Light surfaces also come alive with frantically dancing digital static.
The presentation adds an otherworldly grit to the film, but it’s so extreme for so long that it does become rather wearing and any average-strength colour that does manage to make an appearance becomes like an ice cold glass of water to the parched viewer as they stagger through this digitally washed out desert.
The Holy angle of the character is only slightly played with, and is never really explained, but there are moments when it becomes cloying (not least of which is when, in a short and utterly superflorous scene, Dolph sits down some young Indian kids and tells them how the Bible is a guide to leading a good life…Yuk!) and the fact it’s involving Native Americans smacks rather too much of real missionary work on behalf of Dolph.
It does provide moments of intentional and (surely) unintentional humour though.
Dolph preaching the error of their ways to bad guys just before pounding their heads in is fun and you have to laugh at this ‘Bible is your guide through life’ attitude when Dolph’s character commits various acts of violence even when not directly threatened himself, goes murderously brutal during the finale and shags a busty Indian woman with not a marriage vow in sight!
Did I miss all this stuff being deemed as Godly?
The slight pacing, weird presentation and occasional crass preaching moment aside though “Missionary Man” is actually a lot of fun that constantly entertains with something going on, plays the action/western cliches well, and has a real kick in the balls and satisfying finale.
after hearing some good things about this movie i decided to give it a go and for me it definitely didn’t live up to what i read. It was not funny and took itself too serious with the life lessons through ping pong. It was mildly amusing at best. I kept picturing what this movie would be like if they redid it in america (switching the humor for american audiences and switching the sport like street dancing) and all i could think of was a bad teen comedy mixed with You Got Served…. not that it was THAT bad. It had it’s moments, but overall didn’t get the warm fuzzy feelings it was intended to give.
A film worthy of its classic status.
The now classic opening (sometimes test screenings can be a good thing) leads to a fascinating study of dashed young hopes, fading stardom and deluded dreams.
And above all it’s a study in blind ambition and a ruthless drive for success.
No one here is pure, everyone (even the wholesome Betty Schaefer) is willing to bend ideals and morals to get that big break and is willing to use duplicity and lies even for what they consider moral causes (like Erich von Stroheim’s ‘Butler).
Famously it’s also an attack on old Hollywood and the way it turns its back on those that help make it.
And it’s pretty biting about that.
And the ultimate example of that is Norma Desmond herself, so brilliantly essayed by the then also faded (but not mad) star Gloria Swanson, ironically getting the comeback her character never gets.
Her performance is slyly comic (there is, as it’s Billy Wilder, some lovely comedy in the first half of the film), tragic, touching and downright scary.
As the opportunist, ultimately doomed, gigilo the young (but also starting to fade before this revival) William Holden is the lynch pin that holds the film together and he gives a gorgeous performance. Not only in looks but also in the way he perfectly mixes comedy and tragedy in his character.
A character, like them all, who’s a genius creation by Wilder and Brackett.
The utterly crazy real-life connections between the actors is the icing on top for movie buffs;
Swanson was a big star who made films with DeMille (who has a cameo playing himself as her character’s old director) and who had also faded into the background.
One of Swanson’s most troubled films was “Queen Kelly” in which she was being directed by Erich von Stroheim, a film packed away and unreleased after Swanson complained about this “madman” making it. Erich von Stroheim and Swanson basically never talked again.
“Queen Kelly” is used as the film to show her character’s old film career!
But Erich von Stroheim himself plays her character’s ‘Butler’ who was also one of her characters early directors before she moved on and left him.
How these mighty egos with such a tangled past managed to work together is testament to how professional and respectful of each other’s legacy they were.
A wonderful, classic, movie experience that works as a movie in its own right but is also essential viewing for any movie buffs and lovers of film.
Just watched Jeff Leiberman’s Blue Sunshine and Just Before Dawn and some weird 1990 Mexican film called Hell Trap, which looks like its from the 80’s and reminds me of Turkey Shoot.
after hearing some good things about this movie i decided to give it a go and for me it definitely didn’t live up to what i read. It was not funny and took itself too serious with the life lessons through ping pong. It was mildly amusing at best. I kept picturing what this movie would be like if they redid it in america (switching the humor for american audiences and switching the sport like street dancing) and all i could think of was a bad teen comedy mixed with You Got Served…. not that it was THAT bad. It had it’s moments, but overall didn’t get the warm fuzzy feelings it was intended to give.
I’m a little surprised to see a comment like this for this film - I’m assuming you viewed the recently released R1 DVD - (as I was also surprised by the lukewarm review at DVDTalk). I picked up the Japanese R2 back in 03 or 04 a year or two after initially reading a rave review of it at kfccinema and loved it.
Of course, when I put it in perspective, I suppose some of these reviews (like the negative ones I’ve seen for Tears of the Black Tiger) - are a little like my initial reaction to viewing “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” in 2000-2001 (can’t remember when exactly), but well after I viewed “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, “Snatch”, and “Fight Club” - or to be honest, my initial reactions to watching something like “Akira” in college.
I guess some films, as good as they may (or may not) be, are really creatures of their time (and culture). Even a couple years after something’s come out, the genre can already be beaten to death in some cases. And unfortunately, we in the US often get the tail end of popular culture overseas before someone sees fit to release the one film (or films) that started it all. That’s probably my biggest reason for importing. Partly the “I saw it first factor” - which isn’t as big of a deal since I’m no longer hanging around with my college computer store buddies and talking about badass movies every day, but really now just looking for the next interesting thing.
wow, I got heavy on the parentheticals there. I need to practice casual writing more ;p
