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ThebGentle Trap(1960) 6/10 Withe Spencer Teakle and (oily)Martin Benson Decent b movie. At just an hour moves along nicely. Teakle and partner rob a safe but get jumped by Benson's men. He wants the jewels for himself, he's the big cheese. The rest of the film has Teakle avoid Benson/ trying to get one over on him. Abley acted. Benson is his usually slimey self.
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Posted: |
Aug 13, 2022 - 1:25 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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IF ONLY (2004) – 6/10 In this fantasy romance, Jennifer Love Hewitt plays aspiring musician “Samantha Andrews,” who is currently knee-deep in love with her very busy British boyfriend. That boyfriend, “Ian Wyndham” (Paul Nicholls), seems to take Sam for granted, but when she interrupts a crucial meeting at work, unnecessarily as it turns out, the guy's at the end of his rope. But just as Sam and Ian look like they're about to call it quits ... a car comes out of nowhere and smashes Sam to death. But through some sort of divine intervention, Ian is about to get a second chance with Sam. This is a sappy romantic comedy-drama that is made tolerable by Nicholls’ sincere acting and Love Hewitt’s eye candy appeal. Love Hewitt plays a singer-songwriter in the film, and wrote the two songs she sings in the picture. Adrian Johnston’s score is routine. Love Hewitt also co-produced this wish fulfillment film, which was shot in the UK. The picture plays like a Lifetime Channel movie, and television is ultimately where it debuted in the U.S. in 2006 after knocking around foreign theaters for two years.
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Isn't Life Wonderful(1953) 6/10 With Cecil Parker, Donald Wolfit Parker's brother, Wolfit, is a pisshead. In order to save the family any embarrassment ( when Parker's future sis 'n' law arrives) they set him up with a job in a bike shop. Not bad but not great. Parker and Wolfit are cracking as usual. Some good lines , mostly by Parker. And there were more stiff upper lips than the shirt collars, on display. Some familiar minor characters present eg George Woodbridge ( hello, Mr. Pipkin).
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Posted: |
Aug 14, 2022 - 12:53 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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BULLET TRAIN (2022) – 8/10 Brad Pitt is a guy with the codename “Ladybug,” an agent of some sort who is on a train out of Tokyo. His mission, given to him by a female handler over the phone, is to lift a briefcase of cash and get off at the next stop. The cash is currently in the hands of “Tangerine” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and “Lemon” (Brian Tyree Henry), two hired guns who have recovered it along with the kidnapped son of Japanese/Russian crime lord “White Death” (Michael Shannon). Also on the train is “Kimura” (Andrew Koji), whose young son has been thrown off a building. He is meeting “Prince” (Joey King), the young woman who did the deed and who has a henchman in the boy’s hospital room to finish the job if Kimura does not kill White Death for her. All these people work out their various agendas on the two-hour train ride to Kyoto, where White Death is awaiting delivery of his cash and his son. Before they do, we are treated to plenty of hand-to-hand fights, shootings, poisonings, and other general nastiness—plus a number of flashbacks that explain who these people are and how they all came to be on this train together. This is a PULP FICTION-like crime drama with lots of dark humor. Pitt’s character is low-key and into Tai chi. At every stop he just wants to grab the briefcase and exit the train, but is constantly thwarted by one circumstance or another. Director David Leitch is yet another former stuntman turned action director. His first big film was ATOMIC BLONDE (2017), and he has since helmed DEADPOOL 2 (2018) and HOBBS & SHAW (2019). He has also been a producer on the JOHN WICK films. One of his hallmarks as a director is that all of his action scenes are well shot and easy to follow. Of course, in this case, it helps that most the action takes place in the confines of a train. The train is curiously half-empty at first, and by the end of the journey is completely devoid of all passengers except our main characters, but that is explained through a throw-away line. The score by Dominic Lewis gets in some decent rock licks during a few of the fights, but otherwise is themeless, except for a Morricone-like tune for White Death. A few judiciously selected songs also make their presence known. Releases of both the score and songs are available as downloads.
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Posted: |
Aug 15, 2022 - 1:49 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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CATTLE DRIVE (1951) – 7/10 In this family-oriented western, young Dean Stockwell is the spoiled son of railroad magnate Leon Ames. On a train trip, the boy is accidently left behind after the train stops to take on water from a tower in the middle of nowhere. He is discovered by cowpoke Joel McCrea, who is out trying to capture a wild black stallion that has been raiding the horses on the cattle drive where he’s the number two man behind trail driver Howard Petrie. Stockwell joins the drive, which is headed for Santa Fe. Along the way, the kid learns a little about hard work, humility, and honesty from McCrea, cook Chill Wills, and the others on the drive. That’s pretty much all there is to this 77-minute oater. The only gunfire in the film is some shots used to start and then turn some stampeding cattle. The film has a stock music score and decent color. Ten years later, this would have made a great feature version of “Rawhide.” The film took in a modest $2.7 million.
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Posted: |
Aug 17, 2022 - 12:06 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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Theatre of Blood (1973) ... 5/10 My first viewing, though I recall trying to watch it many years ago (can't recall: poor quality VHS or TV broadcast). It was a challenge to get through it in one sitting as the one-idea plot soon became tedious. Just as in, say, Four Weddings ... by the third you're thinking oh no, there's another wedding to come, here we know there's always another critic to be slain. Yes, there's some amusement in seeing how each is dispatched but not being a Shakespearean scholar - quite the opposite: I have no interest in the works - such jollity was minimal. The highlight was watching a great bunch of British actors ham it up, several playing against type (e.g. the wonderful Harry Andrews) and I was pleased to see Ian Hendry in such a major role. Despite liking Diana Rigg I wasn't taken with her role ... I didn't think she played it well but this was largely because it was so poorly written. It might have helped if we hadn't known from the outset that she was aiding her father. But it was Vincent Price who was the nail-in-the-coffin. Perhaps it was intentional: the critics had dismissed him as old-fashioned but his acting was so awful that they were correct. As for Michael J. Lewis' score: the oh, so lovely title music did not set the scene and at times, such as the sword-fight and the follow-up back story of Lionheart being rescued from the Thames, was so wrong that it was distracting. Rarely have I noticed a score so wrong for the visuals. As a black comedy it was not meant to make sense and in that it succeeded magnificently.
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Swimming Pool (François Ozon, 2003) 6/10 (Watched on ARTE) Atmospheric and interesting "erotic thriller" (Wikipedia), very well acted, but in the end, not quite as clever as it hoped to be. Worth watching if you're in the mood for a slow burn mystery movie that takes place in and near a swimming pool in France. Sure a movie for hot days. :-) Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) 10/10 (Watched on Bluray) Not much to say, I guess everybody knows this one... vintage summer blockbuster movie, in fact, the "original" summer blockbuster movie. Just everything in this movie works now just as good as it did then. It's one of the all time great movies in my mind.
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