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Waterloo
1971
"How this ponderous peculiarity was ever billed as a family action film at the time i dont know. I saw this with my mum n dad - never remembered being so bored. Its a spectacle, for sure, and to be admired for its epic scale, but dreary and heavy-going as the mud the battle was fought in. Rod Steiger's over-acting sometimes works in the roles hes in (Duck you sucker hes perfect) but in this even his exaggerrated whispering to himself is irritating. A very confusing battle, too, not very clearly explained"
6 out of 10
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So, Bill, you call it PONDEROUS, BORING, DREARY, HEAVY-GOING, with Main Role OVER-ACTING and CONFUSING, NOT CLEARLY EXPLAINED BATTLE SCENES...
AND THEN GIVE IT A 6 OUT OF 10 !!!!!
Mitch...Have A Word 
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I gave it something for the spectacle and the epic size of it, and it was watchable, just slow and heavy.
I think 6 is fair. 7 and above makes it good.
Below 6 i thought i was being mean.
Ok 5.5.
You watch kev and see what you would give it.
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"You watch kev and see what you would give it"
----------------------
Are you Messin!!!
After that (6/10) Review !!! 
I wouldn't go near now it if it was titled STAR WARS Ep 10 RISE OF WATERLOO
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THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971) – 7/10
This campy horror film is set in 1920’s England, where “Dr. Anton Phibes” (Vincent Price), a famous organist, orchestrates a series of grisly murders of 10 doctors and nurses whom he blames for the death of his wife years earlier. "Inspector Trout" (Peter Jeffrey) is always one step behind Phibes, as Trout investigates the deaths of the victims, all of whom are murdered by one of the ten plagues that beset the Pharaoh of Egypt for enslaving the Israelites. Trout reaches the chief surgeon, “Dr. Vesalius” (Joseph Cotton) in time, but can he keep him alive, as Phibes, aided by his female assistant “Vulnavia” (Virginia North) strives to complete his revenge?
I originally saw this film in the theater, and it’s still a fun watch. The film has an art deco look, with great production design, along with a score peppered with songs of the period. The murders are inventive, along with some gruesome touches regarding Phibes himself. It’s a one-of-a-kind horror film (except, of course, for its less successful sequel, 1972’s DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN!). THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES took in $4.5 million at the U.S. box office, more than enough to prompt the sequel.
The music of the film has gone through many permutations. The original film featured a number of period songs, some of which were sung in the film and others which appeared as instrumentals. Between all of that was an original score by Basil Kirchin. American International Records released a mislabeled “soundtrack” LP that had some of the instrumental songs, none of the score, and replaced the sung songs with versions vocalized by Paul Frees, who impersonated everyone from Ronald Colman to Humphrey Bogart singing the songs (none of whom actually sang the songs in the film). This bastardization of the songs carried forward to the film’s early video releases on VHS and laserdisc, which replaced some of the songs, not with Frees’ versions, but with versions by yet other vocalists. This was rectified by the DVD /Blu-ray releases, which reverted back to the original song-tracks. As for Kirchin’s score, in 2003 it was released by Perseverance Records. The Frees LP remains unreleased on CD.
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Vincent Price in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES
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Posted: |
Mar 4, 2021 - 3:56 PM
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By: |
Rameau
(Member)
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Waterloo
1971
"How this ponderous peculiarity was ever billed as a family action film at the time i dont know. I saw this with my mum n dad - never remembered being so bored. Its a spectacle, for sure, and to be admired for its epic scale, but dreary and heavy-going as the mud the battle was fought in. Rod Steiger's over-acting sometimes works in the roles hes in (Duck you sucker hes perfect) but in this even his exaggerrated whispering to himself is irritating. A very confusing battle, too, not very clearly explained"
6 out of 10
I saw it when it opened in London's Leicester Square, I was really looking forward to it...& was really disappointed. Rod Steiger was pretty bad, & as you say, the battle is all over the place, you just don't know what's going on (& then you cease to care). I think it's more of a 3 out of 10.
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All done very flashy with lots of style & it's enjoyable, but think about it for more than five seconds or apply any logic to it & it all falls apart.
The best description of Hollywood in ages.
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FALL OF A KINGDOM
2019
(Also known as The Rising Hawk apparently)
Perhaps it shouldve been entitled the Lame Duck or the Fall of scriptwriting)
Where do i start with this? A lazy script for naive 12 year olds who have never seen a film. Starts out a kind of West side story in Carpathia, and turns into a warring factions unite against the invading Mongols (kings of the sun plot anyone?). The highlight for me was Alison Doody's incredible cheekbones (remember her Last crusade and a bond film?). Score was utterly bland.
During one of the pathetic "rousing" speeches where the actors and the extras all ended up screaming in approval at the plan to stop the mongol army i was reminded of that Pekinpah story where he kicked back a chair and screamed at RG Armstrong "I dont believe a God****** word youre saying!!!"
Well, thats how i felt. But i didnt kick a chair.
4.5 out of 10, and 1.5 of that is for Doody cheekbones.
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STORMY MONDAY (1988)
This is the movie that really made people sit up and take notice of cinematographer Roger Deakins - and now I see why; the photography is top hole.
This is a noirish Brit crime drama - concerning a grapple between club owner Sting and rapacious American businessman Tommy Lee Jones (100% mustache-twirling villainous here) for the soul of Newcastle. (As Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant once said, "Newcastle on a Saturday night - terrifying.")
The bruised innocents are a young Sean Bean and Melanie Griffith (looking the best I've ever seen her) hoping to outmaneuver Jones and Sting. There's also an almost buried subplot concerning a rumpled-faced Polish musician and the pretty blonde Polish woman he meets that becomes important by the climax. Jazz music plays a heavy part in this film along with writer-director Mike Figgis' soothing but sinister synths.
Quite heavy-handed in its view of American business (Jones' character is crass and manipulative) and there is some sort of "America Week" going on with a huge Pepsi bottle placed in the center of the town square. Subtle, Figgis.
But the cliches of the basic story are not the thing here. It's the mood, atmosphere, character interactions that matter. Griffith and Bean's first date at midnight is a mellow meeting, evoking a true sense of outside and inside a bar - it has a realness that so many movies lack. (One nice little moment: The bartender lists the Scotch he has in stock in a rhythmic, mellifluous manner without tripping over his tongue. Griffith laughs lightly in appreciation.)
Someone on imdb put it better than I did: "The atmosphere of the movie makes you feel as if you're having a nice evening out on the town, making your way from pub to pub. You can almost taste the beer, and smell the smoke."
Figgis and Deakins' handling of the look and feel of the film truly make this a keeper - even if the plot contrivances and attempts at true noir sometimes fumble.
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Mark, there are some great images in that film for sure. Decent film, too.
Yes, it has a special flavor. I'm wondering if we have any Newcastle people here at FSM who have seen it.
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"Ive got a date...with an april morning"
Did you not know it was fairly awful tosh, mitch?
Shouldve asked me.
Not quite as bad as Bad mans river!
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THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR (1961) – 7/10
This is the classic Disney comedy-fantasy in which Medfield College’s “Professor Ned Brainard” (Fred MacMurray) invents “flubber,” a gravity-defying substance that bounces higher each time it hits the ground. The film gets off to a raucous start, with Brainard blowing up classrooms and workshops on his way to accidentally inventing the magical substance, all while missing his impending nuptials (for the third time) to the college Dean’s secretary, “Betsy Carlisle” (Nancy Olsen). The first half of the film culminates in a wild laugh-out-loud basketball game full of special effects that took three days to shoot.
After that, the pace slows down, as Brainard gets involved in foiling a scheme by businessman (and chief Medfield financier) “Alonzo Hawk” (Keenan Wynn) to get his hands on the flubber. And when Brainard tries to give his invention to the Government, the Pentagon bureaucracy, the competition between the Services, and Hawk’s conniving all combine to overload the film with plot threads. Still, it’s an enjoyable picture, and MacMurray is perfect in his part.
Also appearing are Tommy Kirk as Hawks’ son, Ed Wynn (Keenan’s father) as a fire chief, and Edward Andrews as the Defense Secretary. George Bruns’ score is OK, but the best music in the film is the spirited Medfield Fight Song written by the Sherman Brothers, their first song for Disney. The $2 million production took in $9 million on its initial release, and re-releases over the years have brought the total theatrical receipts to over $29 million.
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Bob, As a very small boy i had no nuts to laugh off but that basketball match with the bouncy flubber trainers killed me.
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)
