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Becoming Led Zeppelin: i watched this in the old house months ago just forgot to put it on my list so here we go adding it in now it was kind of interesting
For Your Eyes Only: honestly this is my favorite Roger Moore Bond film.. to me this is his From russia with love… a strong gritty bond film do i dislike the whole i wont sleep with the cute blonde bit yeah kinda but meh overall its Moore at his finest
1. Jaws
2. Casino Royale
3. The living daylights
4. Black bag
5. Running Scared
6. For your eyes only
7. F/X
8. Jaws 3-D
9. I like me
10. A complete unknown
11. When harry met sally
12. Bill and ted’s excellent adventure
13. The Secret of my Success
14. Billy joel and so it goes
15. Mystic pizza
16. Becoming Led Zeppelin
17. Get shorty
18. Beverly hills cop axel f
19. superman 2025
20. Casino Royale 1954
21. Summer Rental
22. F/X 2
23. Taking woodstock
24. A haunting in venice
25. Superstar
Glad to read you liked it. I love that film, it's one of my absolute favourites. Also one of my absolute favourite scores too. Éric Serra really makes you feel like you're part of that aquatic world. A long sit, this film, but definitely worth it. An exceptional experience, especially when you have a thing for the sea and the aquatic.
Yes, I loved the score, and honestly all of Éric Serra's music that I've heard; never understood why his GE score is so hated. I'll admit I found the pacing a little rough at times, but for the most part my interest was still held through the long runtime. I've always been fascinated by the sea / undersea life, although I do have a fear of the deep, dark parts way down below. Interestingly enough, though, the movie didn't really trigger that fear. In any case, I can see why this film is a favorite for you and many others; it's very one of a kind, and I definitely wouldn't mind adding it to my collection someday.
Couldn't agree more, he's actually one of my three or four favourite film composers in general. Regularly listen to his scores for the Besson films and really hope GE will get an extended release soon.
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro
Definitely an original approach to the famous tale of Baron Frankenstein and his tormented creation.
While certainly impressive, personally I prefer the Frankenstein tale to be told on a less larger-scale, or maybe I find such a tale better suited for a more old-style kind of film. Having recently revisited the Universal version and its sequel, and being rather fond of the Hammer series inspired by the Baron, I must admit that I prefer these films vastly over this iteration.
(Going on a small tagent about a geographical nitpick here. While I always appreciate microstates being mentioned, Vaduz -capital of Alpine microstate Liechtenstein- is not situated by a lake but by the Rhine, which is a river.)
Not bad by any means, I'd even recommend it. Just maybe not quite for me though.
Directed by Chris Columbus
Often cited as the worst HP film, which I disagree with entirely. This one finds the right balance between continuous amazement over this magical world while also already adding some sinister elements as well. It's also a rather faithful adaption too.
The mystery surrounding the Chamber gets me in the perfect mood, I love that flying car, the stuff with the spiders is nightmare material and the concept of Voldemort more as an idea of evil instead of a deformed physical presence delivers a sense of dread different from the other ones.
The cast is great as always but I wish to single out three members in particular: Kenneth Branagh is hilarious as Lockhart, Jason Isaacs is chewing the scenery to much of my enjoyment and it's regretfully also John Cleese's final appearance as Nearly Headless Nick.
A mention should also go to the superb production design by the recently passed away Stuart Craig. The Chamber of Secrets is perhaps my favourite set of the franchise. Fantastic work by a fantastic production designer.
I'd cite this one, contrary to the general concensus, as one of my top 3 HP films.
Indeed, the set design is second to none on the Chamber set. Also the Basilisk is brilliantly rendered.
I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan, but this is one of the best films IMO.
1. Jaws
2. Casino Royale
3. The living daylights
4. Black bag
5. Running Scared
6. For your eyes only
7. F/X
8. Jaws 3-D
9. Uncle Buck
10. I like me
11. A complete unknown
12. When harry met sally
13. Bill and ted’s excellent adventure
14. The Secret of my Success
15. Billy joel and so it goes
16. Mystic pizza
17. Becoming Led Zeppelin
18. Get shorty
19. Beverly hills cop axel f
20. superman 2025
21. Casino Royale 1954
22. Summer Rental
23. F/X 2
24. Taking woodstock
25. A haunting in venice
26. Superstar
Directed by Karl Freund
Not as revered as the other Universal Monsters from the early 30's, yet I'd argue it deserves its place next to the others nonetheless.
What it may lack in action and a convincing romance, this 1932 entry makes more than up for with its superb ambiance, its unique setting and mythology. Furthermore, Boris Karloff and Zita Johann are excellent as the protagonists.
A special place in my heart for this one. Not only because Ancient Egypt intruiges me, but also because it reminds me of my late grandmother. I was watching it several several years ago and she came by, I told her I was watching a film from her birth year, to which she replied, rather amused: "Oh my, that's a really old film then, my child." For that memory alone, this film means a lot to me.
THE WOLF MAN (1941)
Directed by George Waggner
Familiar names Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains and Lon Chaney Jr. pop up in a film that I was surprised to discover that it was supposed to be set in England because everyone (safe for Rains and the Romani characters) has an American accent. I must say that did take me out of the experience a little bit.
Top-notch though on the other hand is set design and location work (I suppose that giant mansion and beautiful cathedral were real places?). A suitably foggy forest, a cozy village and a few grandiose buildings give for an excellent atmosphere.
I quite enjoyed the small part for Bela, as well as the performances of Rains, Evelyn Ankers and Maria Ouspenskaya. Chaney Jr. is all right, though he's neither Karloff, Rains or Lugosi, if I can be so frank. His monster make-up is also, while still adequate, not as phenomenal as the other ones.
A small step down in my book from my previous revisits, but a worthy addition nonetheless.
The Graduate
Bonnie and Clyde
Le Samouraï
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
In the Heat of the Night
Cool Hand Luke
Branded to Kill
The Jungle Book
I’ll even throw in YOLT; not one of my personal favorite Bonds, but a highly influential and still pretty fun one. Just a lot of legendary, iconic, rewatchable movies.
Decent fun, it holds your attention, but there's some (unintentionally) funny action hero tropes right from the first scene or two where our squinting, chiselled hero is such a great guy that he tries to help his co-workers at his own expense, and although it gets a bit more knowing with some Verhoven-lite examples of sadistic TV, it never feels like it knows quite what it wants to be.
Then it moves into its final act and does something I find most Edgar Wright films seem to: all kind of falls apart and gets very narratively messy, and kind of lost my attention somewhat. The ending in particular feel unearned and comes from a different movie. James Brolin is good but never gets the chance to be the full-on bastard he should be: Killian in the Arnie movie is much more hissable. There's some fairly shockingly front and centre product placement of a current day car too.
It's a lot of fun spotting all of the very recognisable parts of London they've shot in too, one of the more blatant films on that level!
It's fine, it's not bad, you can watch it and enjoy. But it feels muddled and slightly rudderless, I'm not sure I could say with much certainty that it actually improves on the Arnie version, certainly that one is more fun.
True! I always tend to point at 1963 as my favourite year in film:
Personal favourites
8 ½
From Russia with Love
Il gattopardo (The Leopard)
Le mépris (Contempt)
The Pink Panther
Jason and the Argonauts
... but also
The Birds
The Great Escape
The Haunting
Tystnaden (The Silence)
Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
Le feu follet (The Fire Within)
Le joli mai (The Lovely Month of May)
I watched it last night and thought that it was fine. It could've been directed by anyone though, I didnt think Wright's trademark style was on display here at all.
I think I actually prefer the Arnie version - I disliked in this one how the contestants were split up, unlike the 1987 one, and the chaser villains were nowhere near as memorable.
Overall I enjoyed this 3rd iteration of these band of heroes. Liked this version of Galactus overall, no idea why they changed the sex of the Silver Surfer?
Interested to see how this plays into Avengers Doomsday? As we saw the ship in the end credits of Thunderbolts i believe?
So bring on Doomsday!!!!! :-bd
Yeah not really, and to be honest I don't think that's a bad thing: all the jump cuts and whip pans get a bit annoying for me. There is a big fight towards the end which I thought was one of the better action scenes I've seen him handle, although I did also realise that I tuned out slightly whilst it was happening.
I'm a bit puzzled by Wright's status as some kind of auteur: I think on the whole he tends to make three star films, but with some trick camera moves. Shaun is great, Hot Fuzz is good, the rest all peter out towards the end and outstay their welcome, just like this one.
Yeah it's true. Where the old one is certainly dumber, I'm not sure the point of the story is any more effectively made by this new one; the old one manages to be silly fun and still to make the points about a dodgy authoritarian government and deepfakes and the rest of it, but with added Arnie one-liners. (I found the reference in this one to Arnie himself rather grating) And Glaser's film knows what it is the whole way through too: is this one a comedy or serious or a satire or what? Michael Cera's character I found rather strange as I wasn't sure if he was in the same movie as everyone else.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Hailed as one of the better, if not the best entry of the HP series. It's easy to see why, there's an inventiveness to its direction that I don't think any of the others have. For instance, the camera pans through a big clock at a point time itself has become vital to the plot. The film's also pretty funny at times.
Despite all that, I feel the story is perhaps a bit less engaging. Maybe because the plot by design requires Harry and Hermione to go back on their own tracks and that part, which is the big climax, felt slightly repetitive to me. Which is probably hard to avoid, even for the strongest of filmmakers. Such a concept just works better on the page than on the screen I think.
A very good outing, certainly, though not my absolute favourite, I must admit.
When I think of the notoriety of this when released. Sharon Stone, sans underwear, in the interview scene! Quite funny now! Its trash in only the way Paul Verhoeven can do! The murderer was always quite obvious in this so called cop thriller! Nice score by Jerry Goldsmith, and Jan DeBont was lensing still, before he went on to direct himself! The scandalous sex scenes are quite tame, Sharon is quite good though , but at the end of the day I prefer Mad magazines spoof of it .......'Basically it Stinks' 😂
It's been a long time since I've watched this one. Remember liking it though, lots of giallo influences if I remember correctly. Should watch it again.
Ha, i saw this again recently after many years, and it really is incredibly stupid!
Hard to believe it caused such a fuss on it's release.
But you're right, a really classy score from Goldsmith (I still have soundtrack CD!) and the cast are all very good.
I love Verhoeven, but i think a director like Brian De Palma would have exploited the absurdity of it to his advantage.
Directed by Mike Newell
Storywise I quite enjoy this one, as it expands this magical world beyond the borders of Britain with some international guests, as well as adding a bit of a grander scale to proceedings. I love the concept of the tournament as well. The atmosphere is on point again and an underwater sequence is always appreciated. The Deatheater outfits here I think are also much scarier than in the next outings.
The cast is great as always, with Brendan Gleeson and Clémence Poésy also being superb additions to an already impressive lineup.
Now on to another geographical nitpick. If Durmstrang is situated in 'the frozen North', why are the only named characters from that school, Karkarov and Krum, Bulgarians? Bulgaria is in the South of Europe and one might find the temperatures there quite agreable compared to 'the frozen North'.
That nitpick aside I think this is a superb entry in the canon, really enjoyed this revisit.
Quantum Of Solace: Every time I come to this film I am left in the unenviable task of deciding whether I judge it as is or do I let the answers to the questions in the film from Spectre ruin this movie... And I am honestly going to judge the film based on what it presents and ignore the lame answers in Spectre.. So the film is still brilliant to me. I love Arnold's Score and Craig is in top form.. Jack White's theme is good... I am sad that now with the Amazon buy in unless they just flat out remake films with those original titles this is likely the last Fleming title (ok Spectre was a fleming title but I am talking short stories and novels)... the action is brilliant the story feels ripped from the pages of Fleming...
The Great Outdoors: like Summer rental this feels like a film grasping for a plot.. its not a fish out of water story its barely even a "annoying rich guy has to realize his brother in law is better than him" story. The movie is bland and forgettable Candy and Ackroyd do what they can with the material given but when people say Hughes went bad after Home alone 2 I point to this film and say are ya sure about that.
1. Jaws
2. Casino Royale
3. Quantum Of Solace
4. The living daylights
5. Black bag
6. Running Scared
7. For your eyes only
8. F/X
9. Jaws 3-D
10. Uncle Buck
11. I like me
12. A complete unknown
13. When harry met sally
14. Bill and ted’s excellent adventure
15. The Secret of my Success
16. Billy joel and so it goes
17. Mystic pizza
18. Becoming Led Zeppelin
19. Get shorty
20. Beverly hills cop axel f
21. superman 2025
22. Casino Royale 1954
23. Summer Rental
24. F/X 2
25. The Great Outdoors
26. Taking woodstock
27. A haunting in venice
28. Superstar
[/quote]
Why would the retconned plot of Spectre ruin QoS..? I don't even think about Spectre when i'm watching the first 3 Craig films.
The retconning was so laughably lame and shoehorned, it barely registers at all with regards to the previous films plots.
Directed by Jack Arnold
Gill-Man is definitely one of the more original monsters from the Universal catalogue, designwise as well. In fact I think he's a marvel in creature design.
In the underwater scenes the titular monster is portrayed by Ricou Browning, who also worked on TB and NSNA (if I recall correctly he directed the underwater scenes in both). I did not see his name in the actual credits though, which I think does not give him the credit (quite literally) that he deserves.
The story is a bit basic of course. The romance is thin (even though I can certainly understand anyone falling for the gracious Julie Adams), the science vs profit story was done before and has been done since on several occasions.
Having said that, just like with The Mummy this one has a different atmosphere than the usual gothic one from the other ones. I like all of these different ambients, variety is the spice of life and all that.
The underwater scenes though are the real treats here, superbly shot and quite frankly absolutely marvellous to behold. Even more so considering the time in which the film was made. The hideout cave is spectacular as well.
The cast, with the exceptions of the aforementioned Adams and the likeable capitão Lucas by Nestor Paiva, is adequate but not much more. A few standouts isn't not too bad though, considering the genre and budget they were working with.
All in all, maybe not the absolute cream of the crop, but definitely a worthy addition to the Universal monster catalogue by virtue of its iconic protagonist and the superb underwater sequences.
BC The first thanksgiving....cavemen sight gags 4/6