 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Sep 9, 2020 - 2:38 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
|
The Wrong Box (1966)
7.5/10
Rather enjoyable comedy starring Dudley Moore, Peter Cooke and Michael Caine and Ralph Richardson. Very daft humour. With lots off gags. Totally it reminded me of Without A Clue. Directed by Bryan Forbes.
Two elderly surviving brothers of a tontine have nephews scrapping for the cash.
Except that Without a clue is hilarious with a brilliant script snd a nice score and Wrong box is a risible unfunny mess, with a nice score. 
7.5? Id give it a mitch score. 2.2 
Thanks, Bill, for the mention ... but you're wrong (in estimating my ratings of these two Michael Caine films). Whilst i recognise that The Wrong Box doesn't work completely and some of the humour is forced, there is so much going for it that I gave it a rating of 6/10 ... it's been a few years since last watched (my DVDr of a TV broadcast dates from Apr08 but I think I've watched it since then)
Whereas, I've tried Without a Clue (1988) twice ... the first time I missed most of the second half and the second time I purposely watched the last act again the following day as, once again, I'd fallen asleep. I'm somewhat surprised that I rated it 4/10 ... I must have been feeling kind!
Henry Mancini's score is nice ... but as a full length release, at approx. 58', it wears you down. The two tracks on his 1990 album Mancini in Surround cover the material nicely.
Barry's score to the earlier film is delightful and I think i would rate it higher if a good quality release were available. The rough sound quality particularly affects the chase music towards the end.
Mitch
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Guess whats on sony movies now? Yep, Wrong box.
I thought id leave it on n see if i was harsh.
Havent laughed once,
Caine looks bewildered, probably worst film Cook n Moore did, and work mustve been sparse for Mills and Richardson to say yes to this. And Sellers? I laugh at everything he does but even he, as a deaf doctor, was awkward and unfunny. Terrible script.
However its one redeeming feature is when any score kicks in.
So when they next talk on fsm about good score terrible film...boy oh boy have i got a contender you!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Probably hardly ever shown as it was so awful!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 9, 2020 - 11:09 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
L’ECLISSE [The Eclipse] (1962) – 6/10
The best reason I can give you for watching this plotless film from Michelangelo Antonioni is this: Monica Vitti. In this film, she is as beautiful as she ever looked, and even though she doesn’t do anything of interest in the movie, just watching her walk, sit, or stare into the camera can make what would otherwise be two tedious hours fly by.
The film even lacks scenic interest, as we are not in the touristy parts of Rome, but in the nondescript suburbs—small apartments, wide streets nearly devoid of cars or people--and the Rome stock exchange, where Vitti occasionally meets with friends and with Alain Delon, a trader with whom she has a casual, aimless romance, solely to break up the boredom of her life. There’s only one thing that keeps us from being as bored as she is. We’ve got her to look at.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 11, 2020 - 12:07 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
OLIVIA (1951) – 7/10
Vito Russo's 1981 book The Celluloid Closet described this film as “hothouse lesbian passion in an upper-class French girls’ school.” But since this is a 1951 film set at the turn of the century, if you are looking for girl-on-girl action, you are going to be sadly disappointed. What director Jacqueline Audry gives us in this adaptation of Dorothy Bussy’s novel (published anonymously) is the story of teenager “Olivia Dealey” (played by Marie-Claire Olivia) who comes to the boarding school run by “Mademoiselles Julie and Cara” (Edwige Feuillère and Simone Simon), two women who are also the school's joint owners.
Olivia finds the school rife with jealousies, as to who will be the favorite pupil of Julie, who every year seems to select one girl for special attention. It is soon apparent that this year’s chosen one is Olivia, and among other perks, she finds herself being taken to the nearby town for high tea by Julie. Olivia also finds herself falling in love with Julie, such that she cannot bear to be out of her company. Even Julie recognizes Olivia’s devotion as being obsessive, the more so because it is causing Cara anguish, as Julie spends little time with her. Things come to a head when a tragedy strikes the school.
This was one of the first French films to portray lesbian relationships, and one wonders how it managed to be distributed in the U.S. by Arthur Davis Associates in 1954. The fact that everything is just (strongly) suggested rather than being made explicit helped, I’m sure, along with the fact that the importer likely did not seek Production Code approval. The film is well-acted by the all-female cast, and the 2018 restoration boasts sparkling black-and-white photography by Christian Matras (LE GRANDE ILLUSION, LOLA MONTES).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zorro and the three musketeers 5/10 with Gordon Scott, Giacomo Rossi Stewart and Livio Lorenzon ( with hair!). Gordon looked good, sword fights were ok , costumes ok music by Savina ok. Yet the film was still a bit disappointing. I think it was a bit too light . Too much ' aha ' followed by sword fight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I love "Aha!" Followed by sword fight
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 12, 2020 - 10:08 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
APACHE TERRITORY (1958) – 7/10
As drifter “Logan Cates” (Rory Calhoun) travels through Apache desert lands on his way to Yuma, Arizona, he comes across young “Junie Hatchett” (Carolyn Craig), the sole survivor of a wagon train massacre who has been left to die by the Indians. Proceeding on to a desert well surrounded by rock formations, the two there find “Lonnie Foreman” (Thomas Pittman), whose traveling companions have been killed by the Apaches. They are subsequently joined by “Grant Kimbrough” (John Dehner) and his fiancée, “Jennifer Fair” (Barbara Bates) who are going to Yuma to catch a stage East. As it happens, Cates and Fair had once been lovers, but he left her when he couldn’t settle down. Then, a calvary sergeant (Francis De Sales) and five troopers straggle in, the survivors of an Indian attack on their column. Finally, into this Grand Central Station of the desert comes “Lugo” (Frank DeKova), a Pima Indian with a bagful of gold, in search of water. The Apaches (no friends of the Pima) are hot on his trail, and so a siege begins.
This film, based on a Louis L’Amour novel, proceeds along familiar lines, with the motley group arguing among themselves as to how best to extricate themselves from their predicament, and with various of the men trying to assert leadership. The group is slowly whittled down by the Apaches, as food and then water start to run low. The compact little drama is well-performed by a competent cast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cue some predictable hater to say Dont bother. 
But it has much to like.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cue some predictable hater to say Dont bother.
But it has much to like.
I'd say bother. Even if it was just to round the saga off. And it wasn't that bad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rambo last blood 7/10. Better than I was expecting. Not as relentlessly action packed as some of the others. But packed when it did arrive. Heads and limbs falling faster than royal mail shares.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 14, 2020 - 12:39 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
|
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (1981) – 8/10
I admit to knowing little about punk music, since I studiously avoided it during its heyday. That’s why this film by Penelope Spheeris is particularly useful to someone like me. Featuring concert footage of Los Angeles punk bands, and interviews with band members, with the publishers of Slash fanzine, and with the punks who made up their audience, the film offers a look into a subculture that was largely ignored by the rock music press of the time.
Bands included are Black Flag, Germs, X, Alice Bag Band, the Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, and Fear. The film doesn’t claim to be a comprehensive survey of punk, or to include the most popular or accomplished bands. Most likely it covers bands that were located in or passing through Los Angeles from December 1979 through May 1980 when the film was shot. The bands (and their fans) range from the mildly subversive to the massively aggressive. The film uses titles to identify most of the band members and others appearing on screen, and also helpfully provides subtitles for some song lyrics that would otherwise be unintelligible.
The film captures the undeniable energy of this musical genre, as well as the fatalism of some of its adherents. The promotional poster for the film (and the record cover of the soundtrack album) features a close-up photo of Germs singer Darby Crash supine on stage with his eyes closed. Crash died from a heroin-induced suicide shortly before the film was released (the poster was designed before his death).
When THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION first played in Los Angeles, LAPD Chief of Police Daryl Gates wrote a letter demanding the film not be shown again in the city. In 2016, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Birdman of alcatraz
Knew of the movie n score but never seen it.
Class film. Lancaster impeccable. Malden and Savalas good. 8 out of 10.
(Weirdly he was actually the birdman of Levenworth, - he was sent to alcatraz but had to leave his birds behind) but i guess alcatraz sounded better!)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
