Get yourself over to Wild Strawberries, Sawdust and Tinsel, and even Summer Interlude for more 1950s Bergman jewels, to name just a few off the top of my pointy little head.
I’ll search for these on YouTube next time I get the opportunity. Which will be Monday, as it happens.
Mitch, if you find yourself going to Scarborough fair, don’t forget to pop in on the way!
... Mitch, if you find yourself going to Scarborough fair, don’t forget to pop in on the way!
Ta .. will do ... but you'll excuse us waiting for the present weather to change. I read you're in for the sort of downpours we've had recently Our daughter has just returned from a short break, with friends, to Harrogate ... and says it's good enough for a return visit one day (if only the weather had been better).
A fantasy about a teacher and daughter who just want to teach Gods words in Bible study class in high school. The non-theists in town are a scary and angry mob who try to close down the club. Meanwhile the mean girls in school ransack the Bible study classroom and set the teachers house on fire for good measure. Because that's how we deal with them theists in America. Meanwhile some boy with a chemical imbalance falls in love with the teachers daughter and learns the way of God and goes off his med's and almost jumps off a bridge in depression. But all's good, prayer saved the boys life. The townsfolk come around, the Bible study stays in school and all the meanie students and townsfolk join in on Bible class. They never resolve if the kid with the chemical imbalance goes back on his meds. But he is a happy clam reading passages from the bible at the end of the film.
This is a decent family movie that should interest people of all ages. They've given the CGI dog, "Buck," an engaging but not cloying personality. The look of the dog is taken from a digital scan of an actual dog owned by director Chris Sanders and his wife. The film has plenty of other digital effects as well: an avalanche, pristine landscapes, long shots of Alaskan mining towns, etc.
Although this is being sold as a Harrison Ford movie, Ford only becomes the "owner" of Buck about half-way through the film. Prior to that, Buck is one of the dogs on the sled of a husband-wife team (Omar Sy and Cara Gee) who are delivering mail in Alaska. This first part of the film is actually more interesting than the Ford sequences.
Director Sanders (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON) calls once again upon John Powell to provide the score. It's a fine effort, but doesn't rise to the heights (no pun intended) of HTTYD. The score has some Celtic flourishes.
I just saw MIDWAY, and I was disappointed. I thought if the movie had removed the Pearl Harbor and Doolittle raid, it could have spent more time building up suspense for the Battle of Midway itself. The Charlton Heston movie did a good job of telling the story building up to the Battle of Midway, but ruined the movie with the inaccurate combat footage and the soap opera subplot.
It's too bad the Bruce McKenna (BAND OF BROTHERS) Midway movie was cancelled. His movie was a full-length version of an episode he wrote for THE PACIFIC that was not used because it was too expensive.
Machine Gun McCain (1969) 7.5/10 Well made Italian crime film with an extremely cool soundtrack by Morricone and some good performances - especially from Cassavetes, Falk and Gena Rowlands. Bit disappointed with the ending.
Machine Gun McCain (1969) 7.5/10 Well made Italian crime film with an extremely cool soundtrack by Morricone and some good performances - especially from Cassavetes, Falk and Gena Rowlands. Bit disappointed with the ending.
Bob kindly added some background info re: the film's production but, for me, it was a complete waste of everybody's time ... incl. mine! Bill challenged my views, too, but this is a film I'll happily not watch again. Mitch
Machine Gun McCain (1969) 7.5/10 Well made Italian crime film with an extremely cool soundtrack by Morricone and some good performances - especially from Cassavetes, Falk and Gena Rowlands. Bit disappointed with the ending.
Bob kindly added some background info re: the film's production but, for me, it was a complete waste of everybody's time ... incl. mine! Bill challenged my views, too, but this is a film I'll happily not watch again. Mitch
Hi Mitch. i just read your review....you did indicate that you had been a bit 'ungenerous' because of the format and watching it over a couple of days - and i think i was a bit generous (perhaps by a point or a half) because i like the score so much - so perhaps we are not such distant cousins when it comes to our taste in films. I mean how far can we be apart when we both have John Barry, Piccioni, Delerue, Morricone as our favourite composers ? for me Morricone's score was a major part of liking Machine gun McCain - i loved the way his ballad is first heard when we see MCCain getting out of jail, and the way that scene was shot in a POV way, with us not seeing his face.
I didnt mind McCain. Was certainly watchable. Very well constructed set piece heist. It shows the treacherous ambition of the bosses and i also liked how it showed the network of people on the lookout for cassavettes and eklund when they were on the run. A few tracks of ennios i recognised but it was probably one of his most badly-used scores. And florinda bolkan in another incredible dress with huge deliberate holes in it got the vote up. Id give it 7.5 out of 10.
Since you guys were talking Machine Gun McCain...i thought id bump my view.
The Saint (1997). I've never seen it & I found it very enjoyable, the (younger slimmer) Val Kilmer is great. I could have with a bit less Russia & a bit more the rest of the world & I didn't know what was going on in the last quarter of the film, but that's usual for me with action movirs. No Blu-ray, but the DVD looks very nice (& it only cost me £2 s/hand.
In the crime drama STICK, "Ernest 'Stick' Stickley" (Burt Reynolds) returns from prison, and very soon gets involved with his old friend "Rainy" (Jose Perez) in a drug-running deal that goes sour. Hired by a rich investor (George Segal), he tries to walk the line, but trouble follows him throughout as he tries to collect a debt and make up for lost time with his daughter "Katie".
Burt Reynolds agreed to both star in and direct the picture (his fourth as director), which is based on an Elmore Leonard novel. Re-shoots were ordered by Universal after poor responses were received from test audiences. Screenwriter Joseph C. Stinson was hired to rewrite scenes, including changing the ending to be more “upbeat.” The studio also wanted additional action scenes--at a further cost of $3 million--and a reduction of the film's humor to make it more commercially viable.
In the end, both Elmore Leonard and Burt Reynolds pretty much disowned the film. But Reynolds mainly blamed himself, for acceding too readily to the studio's demand for changes. But I didn't find the film to be all that bad, just a mixture of good and bad. Some of the action scenes are well set up, while a few strain credulity. The story generally makes sense, once you get over the fact that the initial killing that sets the revenge plot in motion seems totally unmotivated.
Reynolds has good byplay with most of the characters, particularly George Segal as an affable millionaire, Richard Lawson as Segal's black butler, and Candice Bergen as the love interest. But Bergen's role seems underwritten. Then there is Charles Durning as a drug dealer, wearing a ridiculous looking hairpiece, and given enough character tics to drive you as wacky as he appears.
There is good location shooting in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. But there is a dated '80s synth score by Joseph Conlan and Barry De Vorzon. The one constant in the film is Reynolds. He was going through a number of health issues during filming, but if anything, his wan appearance and subdued manner work for the character, who is supposed to be a recently released convict intent on not ending up back in stir, but still not willing to let himself be pushed around.
Dar Robinson, Burt Reynolds, and Jose Perez in STICK
Not hard to see why this failed. It's a globetrotting adventure with all the excitement at looking a stranger's holiday photos. Time crawls watching this thing. The three main Angels aren't bad but they don't make too much impact either. The action scenes are sparse, unmemorable and badly done. Their special effects are clunky. The script is poor, the direction is below good TV series level functional. It lacks personality across all levels.
This was the amazing first couple of the lines from the film:
Angel - I think women can do anything. Man - Just because they can, doesn't mean they should, right?
Black Christmas (2019) 0/10 A Blumhouse production, which i didn't realise before i watched it. Their stuff is usually garbage. This one seems to have the budget of a TV episode from 1995 and looks absolutely terrible on top of being badly written and directed.
The story is basically this: all men, especially white men, are evil.
And i'm not actually kidding. I was pretty surprised that was it, and banged home verbally ("against the white supremacist patriarchy") and visually (anti-male t-shirt slogans that if it were aimed at women would make you hate the man wearing it) every few minutes. A message as subtle as an axe to the head.
It's the usual girls on campus facing a masked killer, but with added ripped-from-the-headlines plot details: like the bust of a venerated old racist being removed from campus; the threat of a campus serial rapist not being taken seriously; an old white teacher only teaching about old white men's writing; petition and complaints again said teacher; a school syllabus that is outdated and racist/sexist.
Imogen Poots and Cary Elwes i like, and they're watchable here, especially Poots, who is sympathetic and does a good job in the lead. But the script is just bad and the painfully blunt social commentary that is integral to it really does seem that the writer read it the morning they were writing their script and threw it in. I can only imagine the self-congratulatory creators' commentary the DVD must have.
Also, there's a really painful bit at the end that is so awkwardly staged it rivals the Avengers Endgame moment where all the female super-heroes are lined up and charging at the baddies - except it's even worse.
A bad film. A bad horror film. But a very modern horror film.
WORST OF ALL - AND THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HEINOUS - they try and steal the brilliant jump scare from Exorcist 3 - and utterly fuck it up! Morons.
Wrestles sincerity with pedantry and a not-so-helpful dash of soap opera theatrics, but thankfully the focus was kept to a pivotal case, presenting the record humbly instead of becoming an arch of RBG's life. Desplat's turn as Philip Glass was admirable, but there were times when I felt hoodwinked by its uplifting bait-and-switchiness when the same jovial motif is presented as a setup to a setback in her life.
Five Feet Apart - 7/10
The script performs Olympic gymnastics to overly explain its wacky premise and title, and because of that, my disbelief was suspended, even when it often delves into convenient, tear-duct-annihilating sappiness right up to the end. The leads (whose characters' names have the kind of rhyme that easily lends to a memeable portmanteau) have amazing chemistry and their affair proceeds at a believable pace. The songs are sometimes endearing and sometimes intrusive, depending on the scenes.
The Fighter - 7/10
This seems to form an unofficial trilogy (alongside Silver Linings Playbook and Joy) from David O. Russel about underdogs trying to succeed despite their INCOMPREHENSIVELY DOUCHEY FAMILIES. I mean YOIKS. Is there something you're trying to tell me, Davey? Anyway, the leads are presentable with their questionable range of Massachusettes accents, but Bale truly shines as Lord-Emperor Douchegurgler, the riches-to-rags pugilist fighting for his singular bout of halcyon glory, playing on repeat like a scratched DVD, versus the result of his miserable aftermath.
Bermude: La Fosse Maledetta (1978) Watched this thanks to someone on youtube who has recently uploaded this. I am a big fan of the score by Cipriani and the film gets two points just for the fabulous score. The film itself is a right mess - so badly edited that a fairly simple start ends up being totally confusing. The script is woeful. The performances are poor.... With the exception of 40's star Arthur Kennedy as the villain... He is ok, a bit hammy. There is a really wierd and atmospheric scene with this doll floating in the water and a bunch of people jumping in after it...... I'm not sure what this scene was about, but I liked it... It had an strange eireeness to it that is replicated in a number of the underwater scenes that are the highlight of the movie. I enjoyed the film (mainly for the music) despite the many. flaws. 5/10
Hot Air. (2018). A predictable but enjoyable film that has a similar premise to the Dwayne Johnson film 'The Game Plan', with Steve Coogan's shock jock having his comfortable life overturned by the sudden, unwanted arrival of his estranged niece. The film is funny and I really enjoyed Coogan's put downs, and seeing his real character slowly revealing itself thanks to his niece, superbly played by Canadian actress Taylor Russell. There are some touching moments at the end, and the drama provides a good counterpoint to the acerbic comedy. 6.5/10
Not hard to see why this failed. It's a globetrotting adventure with all the excitement at looking a stranger's holiday photos. Time crawls watching this thing. The three main Angels aren't bad but they don't make too much impact either. The action scenes are sparse, unmemorable and badly done. Their special effects are clunky. The script is poor, the direction is below good TV series level functional. It lacks personality across all levels.
This was the amazing first couple of the lines from the film:
Angel - I think women can do anything. Man - Just because they can, doesn't mean they should, right?
That's what Malcolm should've said in Jurassic Park.
...Hi Mitch. i just read your review....you did indicate that you had been a bit 'ungenerous' because of the format and watching it over a couple of days - and i think i was a bit generous (perhaps by a point or a half) because i like the score so much - so perhaps we are not such distant cousins when it comes to our taste in films. I mean how far can we be apart when we both have John Barry, Piccioni, Delerue, Morricone as our favourite composers ? for me Morricone's score was a major part of liking Machine gun McCain - i loved the way his ballad is first heard when we see MCCain getting out of jail, and the way that scene was shot in a POV way, with us not seeing his face.
Yes, we enjoy the same composers' works ... but, on this occasion, I found the Maestro's score okay .. but of little benefit to the film. I have many of his scores and this is one which ranks very low with me. Strangely it is somewhat unique: in many of his scores you can hear similar ideas as in one or more other scores but with this film he uses the idea of a ballad, à la Dimitri Tiomkin (from a decade prior) ... but I can't recall any other time he tried this. And away from the main theme, with or without lyrics, there's not much to celebrate. Not for me.
Our daughter has just returned from a short break, with friends, to Harrogate ... and says it's good enough for a return visit one day (if only the weather had been better). 
Bill challenged my views, too, but this is a film I'll happily not watch again.
