Thanks to the vagaries of Netflix deliveries, I watched my second straight dystopian science fiction film, Surrogates, with Bruce Willis playing pretty much every character he's ever played (repeat after me: burned out, over the hill, tragic past. . .try something new, Willis) and Rosamund Pike as his way-too-young-for-him-even-as-a-robot wife. This movie is dud, down to the stupid premise (OK, I can understand why you might want to link yourself to a robot double if you have a dangerous job or if you go in for life-threatening thrills; but what's the joy in having a double if all you're going to do is deliver mail or mop floors?), the godawful production design, and the hey-this-isn't-1975 crappy special effects. I think this one was OK'd for production only after Mystery Science Theater 3000 went off the air and vowed never to come back.
Holmes and Watson adventure with Rathbone and Bruce, recommended by Alex. Yep, this is a good one. It's Hounds of Baskervilles territory, with an ominous, luminous ghost on the foggy mooreland, this time in a Canadian village. It's not based on a Conan Doyle story, but purists might like it as to all intents and purposes it could be set in Victorian times, save for Holmes' bit of patriotic praise for Canda, the part of the Commonwealth, shoehorned in at the end.
Often you feel Holmes is in real physical danger. The script, direction and music is superior to most other films. Maybe it's lacking something iconic about it, I'm not sure what.
Now it's a trilogy--last night I saw my third straight downbeat futuristic sci fi flick, Moon. I hadn't even heard of this film before it appeared on DVD, although it premeried at Sundance. I can only assume it didn't get wider distribution because it doesn't have explosions and overpowering CG work, and because the star is Mr. Average Joe Sam Rockwell. Visually the movie reminds me a bit of 2001, and at first I thought the story would owe something to the Kubric masterpiece--a lone human pitting his wits against a computer with a secret--but it emerges as something very different. A smart, engrossing film.
1935 Hollywood yarn to capitalise on the success of Treasure Island and The Count of Monte Cristo. With one big difference, it's Errol Flynn's first starring role and it rocks. One can't help but compare it to Lazenby's somewhat ill-fated high profile effort in OHMSS; mind you that was Lazenby's first ever film and of course he was compared to Connery. Of course, Flynn's brashness worked in this context and dare I say he also had the lovely Olivia de Havilland, who had more chemistry with her leading man than Diana Rigg had with hers.
This is a pirate film, but it takes a while for the pirate theme to emerge - over and hour in fact, as it's made clear that Flyn plays a reluctant pirate, forced into the game by circumstance. There's the same burning sense of injustice against the authorities we later see in The Adventures of Robin Hood. And also, we see a bit of it in Lazenby's Bond film. (I must admit I'd hoped Blood would be in lavish technicolour also but it isn't.) It's set in the time of King James II, which had me reaching for my reference book. He was a Catholic king who followed the reimposed King Charles II; James was very unpopular and himself got ousted by William of Orange; this was a century of tumultous change as it also saw the Civil War. That's the background, and Flynn is unfairly deported to Port Royale (it's just on Kingston town in Jamaica) to be a slave.
Basil Rathbone appears later in a role that reminds you why his disguises in the Holmes films are so effective.
Great stuff, and I personally preferred it to The Sea Hawk and of course The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,993Quartermasters
I liked Captain Blood as well, NP---great fun -{
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
'Twas the night before Oscars and I finally saw The Hurt Locker. Not so much a war film--there's really nothing about the conflict itself, and it's about as apolitical as you can get--but a look at three people living under the most stressful situation imaginable. This is perhaps the most tense movie I've ever seen, and the documentary style brings home what soldiers really have to go through. It's also interesting that the actors with the biggest names--or at least the most recognizable faces--are in the film for just a few short minutes each. Definitely recommended.
Vox clamantis in deserto
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
went to see alice in wonderland last night but got to the cinema too late so watched Solomon Kane instead. Hmm alright I suppose -very violent - not bad effects when there were some -but the tale was predictable. James Purefoy put in a solid enough performance and reminded me a little of Hugh Jackman to look at in Van Helsing. It was the scruffy pilgrim outfit that did it. I'd give it 5 out of 10 though because there wasn't anything made me go wow.
Do not laugh at me, I saw Avatar two times in cinema.
The first time it was great and very impressive but the second time I had a headache because of the 3D glasses (totally useless for this kind of film btw)!
Actually I finally came to the conclusion that it is not a "chef d'œuvre" but only a sort of Amusement park SFX stand...
... So I went to see Invictus, then I really enjoyed a good film!
Once you've started to read this it is just too late for you to understand that it has no meaning at all!
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,661Chief of Staff
Finally got around to watching Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen - what a trashy, big budget, popcorn, gratuitus shots of Megan Fox in skimpy clothing film it was.
Saw Love Happens the other day, it wasn't titled very appropriately having to do with grief and death instead of being romantic. But It did sport a whole lot of product placement to rival a James Bond movie, most notably Zegna suits and Armani shoes.
j.bladesCurrently? You must be joking?Posts: 530MI6 Agent
The last film i saw was Goldfinger in blu-ray, I might add, amazingly spectacular and even better then i last remeber it. And i want to try to hunt down the red berret, or paratrooper( US title) on blu-ray if its been remastered, directed by Terence Young it should be a treat.
"I take a ridiculous pleasure in what I eat and drink."
I guess my watching The Hurt Locker the night before the Oscars proved to be good luck for Kathyrn Bigelow and company. . .they can contact me if they want to know where they can send their appreciation (preferably in denominations of 100).
Anyway, while all this hooplah was going on, I watched a film I should have seen ages ago: Brief Encounter, written and produced by Ian Fleming's old pal Noel Coward and directed by the great David Lean. A cynic may say that it's all soap opera stuff now and certainly doesn't have the shock value it did 65 years ago, but it's still a wise and very human look at the consequences of extramarital affairs. It's also beautifully made and today looks as though it comes from another world--which, in some ways, it does.
I watched a film I should have seen ages ago: Brief Encounter, written and produced by Ian Fleming's old pal Noel Coward and directed by the great David Lean.
Didn't The Seven Year Itch spoof that, with its use of Rachmaniov (sp?). Celia Johnson was married to Ian Fleming's brother, if memory serves.
Another Oscar nominee, though I didn't have HB's goodluck charm effect. It's a spin-off from In The Thick Of It, a BBC political comedy, a foul-mouthed Yes Minister. Very very good, in its effect of a hapless politician's involvement in the run-up to a war on a Middle Eastern country. Didn't go all movie cinemascope on us either, which was a good thing, no lingering shots of Washington at sunset. Very sweary.
Cheers Loeffs. Even more amazing than us being in agreement is that Olivia de Havilland is still alive!
She was born in 1916.
Another amazing still-alive actor is Ernest Borgnine, Fatso in From Here to Eternity. Watching all those lean guys like Sinatra, Lancaster and Clift, it's amazing that the oldest, unhealthiest looking bloke should outlive them all.
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Finally got around to watching Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen - what a trashy, big budget, popcorn, gratuitus shots of Megan Fox in skimpy clothing film it was.
I loved it )
I echo those sentiments too -dare I say it but I've watched it the last three sunday's -only because my four year old is big Transformers fan though.
This is Sam Taylor-Wood's drama about John Lennon's teenage years and relationship with his errant Mum, Julia. (By the way, that's a good chat-up line if you meet a Julia: 'Oh right, half of what you say is meaningless...' It works, honestly.)
I had misgivings about this; it looked like the sort of 1950s period drama you get on Sunday early evening telly, so authentic is hurts. But I went along because my sister wanted to see it and to show willing.
It was awful, a horrible movie. Taylor-Wood is an artist; Ronnie Wood would have been better. It's all broad brushstrokes and the end result is like watching paint dry. Okay, that's an inappropriate jibe: Taylor-Wood is all art installation stuff. But that's the problem here: she is depicting an idea on repeat throughout the movie. So we see Lennon meeting his mum, and is amazed how wild she is, and a bit turned on maybe. Then back to his Aunt Mimi, who raised him, looking all prim. Back to his mum, and she's dancing and being wild again. Another scene of that, then back to Mimi looking prim again. Nothing ever really develops much.
Aaron Johnson is okay as Lennon, he captures his middle-classness though with glasses he becomes a bit Harry Potter. He's got the voice and the insolent look a bit, but really he's too tall and manly. Lennon was a proto-punk, he all the Fabs were mod types with slight bodies. Johnson is muscley and tall, he looks more like Travolta in Grease or the young Superman who outruns a train and squeezes his poor Dad to death. He towers over the other characters and is more a Pete Best figure.
Otherwise, no cliche is left unturned. Paul shows up, and asks for a cup of tea rather than a beer, because he's the nice and square Beatle. Later he talks about writing your songs as you get the publishing: because he's the calculated business one. He seems a prod-nosed little jerk. Some girl dubs Lennon a 'loser': hmm, that might make a good song later, d'ya think? Julia introduces him to rock n roll it seems, takes him to see an Elvis movie where teenage girls are screaming; John looks around and we see him think, "Hey, this is good, I should be a rock star!" All devoid of subtlety. It's a wonder when George appears (the actor looking nothing like him) he doesn't say, "I'm famished, anyone fancy an Indian takeaway?" Or someone saying. "That Lennon, he's going to get himself shot one day!"
And I somehow doubt that in one of the Lennon sex scenes, inserted to show he's normal and not fixated with his mum, that the hot young girl would groan orgasmically like a porn star and then - in time-honoured movie tradition - obligingly kneel down to give him a blow-job as the scene ends; not in the late 1950s I don't think. Man, if young Lennon was getting blow-jobs off hot chicks back then, I don't suppose he'd have cared about forming the Beatles. )
At the end it writes on the screen that Lennon phoned his Aunt Mimi every week for the rest of his life, which I somehow doubt is true. I can't imagine when he and Yoko were off their heads on heroin him calling up to ask what she had for dinner.
The other is Harold Lloyd's Safety Last.
Well, I'm not going to diss poor Harold, but I loved watching his stuff as a kid, starting with the compilation show Harold Lloyd's World Of Comedy, which you can get in the US but not over here. In particular, the music on the soundtrack was great; I can hum the tunes 25 years later. I rented this and the music is done by Carl Davis. He is brilliant but he did stuff for The World At War; it has a poignant, doom-laden feel to it. When Harold is in a spot of bother, you half expect Lawrence Olivier to interject with, "It was at this point the Nazis enacted their terrible revenge on the town's inhabitants...." It totally kills the mood. Bring back the old music, which had a Salad Days appeal that tied in neatly with Harold's romantic, carefree persona. When Harold climbs the building during his iconic moment, you're not laughing, it's more unpleasant suspense.
Scarlet Street, a 1945 film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Edward G Robinson as a meek, middle-aged bank cashier who gets fleeced by a dame and her ne'er do well paramour.
I rented this because I thought I ought to catch up on Lang's oevre, but it doesn't have the crazy camera angles and sets parodied in Son of Frankenstein and 1967's Casino Royale. To my eye, it unfolds in fairly conventional noir manner. Robinson is cast against type, but it works because you're wondering how long it will be before he flips if he finds out. But the plot strains credulity; it wouldn't take two days for the dame to realise that he's not the big shot successful painter he'd inadvertently led her to believe. Things pick up interest after half an hour, but so does the incredulity and a few plot holes possibly down to the Hayes Code having to be adhered to.
This 1970 period drama was touted as a lost gem when it came to my attention. It's set in Germany in the 1600s, during the 30 Years War, where Protestants are fighting Catholics and death and destruction is commonplace. It stars Omar Shariff as a wanderer who happens upon this idyllic valley hidden from the rest of the world, and a bearded but still handsome Michael Caine as the head of a bunch of mercenaries who've seen their share of fighting and massacre. Kronsteen shows up at one point too, briefly.
John Barry does the score and there's an early prototype of Moonraker's Space March as the main war theme, though Space March is more melodic to my ears. I know Barry can do no wrong on this site, but it does seem to be that he and Bond were a perfect match. In other films his signature style is often distracting and the romantic theme of this film, used repetitively and sometimes inappropriately, is intrusive and pretty corny.
Caine has an early protype too - the "Ve ALL love you Freddie" German accent he would adopt 15 years later in Dirty Rotten Scoundrals. It's pretty iffy and unintentionally comic at times, he's the only one who bothers with a German accent, perhaps to take away the London wideboy. "You're only supposed to sack the bloody church!" )
The film didn't quite grab me. For a start, it's odd that Omar Shariff should be fleeing a plague pit and soldiers for only 2 minutes before stumbling upon this idyll. It doesn't seem that hidden to me, and if it is, how come the other soldiers found it at the same time? The happy and lovely aspects of the village passed me by, as the inhabitants - especially the women - had that neurotic German temper and look characteristic of the Luthran era, if you believe historian Kenneth Clark's take on it. The Lost Horizon did it all much better.
Still, it's a noble idea, just let down by unintentionally risble moments.
Last night I saw Law Abiding Citizen, with another one-time Bond contender, Gerard Butler. Hmmm. This is the rare movie that made me genuinely uncomfortable. It starts with a scene of realistic, unsettling violence--the rape/murder of a woman and small child--and contains fairly serious questions about the American judicial system as well as more scenes of unnerving violence (including another scene in which a child is traumatized). . .all in service of what is basically an action flick in which Butler's character transforms from a sympathetic victim into the kind of super villain who would be better off battling our own James Bond or even Batman. Ultimately the movie left me wanting to take a bath.
Vox clamantis in deserto
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,993Quartermasters
Haven't seen it yet, Hardy, but it kind of sounds like Death Wish once upon a time...whilst the violence and horror had relevance to the protagonist's motivation, it was squirm-inducing and smacked of gratuitousness...
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Well, Loeffs, Death Wish was more about the protagonist taking on the criminals who wronged him; while in LAC the Butler character is out to show that the entire criminal justice system is deserving of punishment. What's more, Charles Bronson's character stuck to the realm of believability--just taking on the bad guys with his wits and weapons--while the Butler character has disguises, gadgets, technology, and the sort of ability to plan ironic deaths that makes The Joker look like an amateur. The styles in the film just clashed too much, too garishly.
Vox clamantis in deserto
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 26,661Chief of Staff
Now it's a trilogy--last night I saw my third straight downbeat futuristic sci fi flick, Moon. I hadn't even heard of this film before it appeared on DVD, although it premeried at Sundance. I can only assume it didn't get wider distribution because it doesn't have explosions and overpowering CG work, and because the star is Mr. Average Joe Sam Rockwell. Visually the movie reminds me a bit of 2001, and at first I thought the story would owe something to the Kubric masterpiece--a lone human pitting his wits against a computer with a secret--but it emerges as something very different. A smart, engrossing film.
I had heard of this film before and it was on my 'must see' list...the film got pretty good reviews but it seemed to get more attention because the director is David Bowie's son !
I kinda had the same idea as Hardyboy....that this film would have man vs rogue computer as it's main theme....but it's so much better than that. I also think the twist is almost 'glossed over' though....but what a great performance from Sam Rockwell...I've yet to see a bad performance from this guy though.
Amiably brainless fun from Jason Stratham. Great stuff, though a bit too silly this time and some collateral damage from bystanders getting shot. This time round Chilios' heart has been removed and he has to pump up the replacement using electric shocks (hmmm, not sure that would work in real life). I can't think of anything else as unPC as this out there, so it gets kudos for that. A bit cursed, as David Carradine and Corey Haim make appearances.
Barbarella
A lava lamp of a movie, lovely to look at but not very enlightening. Not sure what age group it's aimed at as there are breast shots early on in the movie but it's all so juvenile, a bit like Help! but without the songs. Of course, this was the age of b+w TV so the visuals would be the selling point in itself. A very static movie, and the character just goes from one pretty torture scenario to another. Odd to have the Stones bird (whose name escape me, oh Anita Pallenberg) dubbed by 1950s Kind Hearts and Coronets starlet Joan Greenwood (I assume it was her). Also, the music lets the film down a bit, aside from the catchy opener.
Well, I'm not going to diss poor Harold, but I loved watching his stuff as a kid, starting with the compilation show Harold Lloyd's World Of Comedy, which you can get in the US but not over here. In particular, the music on the soundtrack was great; I can hum the tunes 25 years later. I rented this and the music is done by Carl Davis. He is brilliant but he did stuff for The World At War; it has a poignant, doom-laden feel to it. When Harold is in a spot of bother, you half expect Lawrence Olivier to interject with, "It was at this point the Nazis enacted their terrible revenge on the town's inhabitants...." It totally kills the mood. Bring back the old music, which had a Salad Days appeal that tied in neatly with Harold's romantic, carefree persona. When Harold climbs the building during his iconic moment, you're not laughing, it's more unpleasant suspense.
Carl Davis scored almost every silent film ever made an in particular he worked with the Lloyd estate to do new scores for his movies. He is silent film scoring at the moment - I'm pretty surprised that his World At War music is THAT remembered now.
The World of Comedy compilation you saw was scored by Walter Scharf, who did The Man From UNCLE and Mission Impossible TV music after this gig. The recording from his score is a prized possession of mine.
Thanks, Cat. The World At War is oft shown on British TV, mainly BBC4. I also like Davis' work for Private Schultz, a WW2 comedy series with Michael Elphick, but there the theme is appropriately hangdog and comically downbeat. IMO it doesn't work for Harold Lloyd, but I much prefer the Walter Scharf stuff. Then again, there was other music for Lloyd's lengthier films (Damn! The internet is one set-up where you can't hum to someone!) that was perky and fun, did Scharf do that too?
Comments
Holmes and Watson adventure with Rathbone and Bruce, recommended by Alex. Yep, this is a good one. It's Hounds of Baskervilles territory, with an ominous, luminous ghost on the foggy mooreland, this time in a Canadian village. It's not based on a Conan Doyle story, but purists might like it as to all intents and purposes it could be set in Victorian times, save for Holmes' bit of patriotic praise for Canda, the part of the Commonwealth, shoehorned in at the end.
Often you feel Holmes is in real physical danger. The script, direction and music is superior to most other films. Maybe it's lacking something iconic about it, I'm not sure what.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
1935 Hollywood yarn to capitalise on the success of Treasure Island and The Count of Monte Cristo. With one big difference, it's Errol Flynn's first starring role and it rocks. One can't help but compare it to Lazenby's somewhat ill-fated high profile effort in OHMSS; mind you that was Lazenby's first ever film and of course he was compared to Connery. Of course, Flynn's brashness worked in this context and dare I say he also had the lovely Olivia de Havilland, who had more chemistry with her leading man than Diana Rigg had with hers.
This is a pirate film, but it takes a while for the pirate theme to emerge - over and hour in fact, as it's made clear that Flyn plays a reluctant pirate, forced into the game by circumstance. There's the same burning sense of injustice against the authorities we later see in The Adventures of Robin Hood. And also, we see a bit of it in Lazenby's Bond film. (I must admit I'd hoped Blood would be in lavish technicolour also but it isn't.) It's set in the time of King James II, which had me reaching for my reference book. He was a Catholic king who followed the reimposed King Charles II; James was very unpopular and himself got ousted by William of Orange; this was a century of tumultous change as it also saw the Civil War. That's the background, and Flynn is unfairly deported to Port Royale (it's just on Kingston town in Jamaica) to be a slave.
Basil Rathbone appears later in a role that reminds you why his disguises in the Holmes films are so effective.
Great stuff, and I personally preferred it to The Sea Hawk and of course The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
The first time it was great and very impressive but the second time I had a headache because of the 3D glasses (totally useless for this kind of film btw)!
Actually I finally came to the conclusion that it is not a "chef d'œuvre" but only a sort of Amusement park SFX stand...
... So I went to see Invictus, then I really enjoyed a good film!
Once you've started to read this it is just too late for you to understand that it has no meaning at all!
I loved it
~ Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Anyway, while all this hooplah was going on, I watched a film I should have seen ages ago: Brief Encounter, written and produced by Ian Fleming's old pal Noel Coward and directed by the great David Lean. A cynic may say that it's all soap opera stuff now and certainly doesn't have the shock value it did 65 years ago, but it's still a wise and very human look at the consequences of extramarital affairs. It's also beautifully made and today looks as though it comes from another world--which, in some ways, it does.
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
Didn't The Seven Year Itch spoof that, with its use of Rachmaniov (sp?). Celia Johnson was married to Ian Fleming's brother, if memory serves.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Another Oscar nominee, though I didn't have HB's goodluck charm effect. It's a spin-off from In The Thick Of It, a BBC political comedy, a foul-mouthed Yes Minister. Very very good, in its effect of a hapless politician's involvement in the run-up to a war on a Middle Eastern country. Didn't go all movie cinemascope on us either, which was a good thing, no lingering shots of Washington at sunset. Very sweary.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Cheers Loeffs. Even more amazing than us being in agreement
She was born in 1916.
Another amazing still-alive actor is Ernest Borgnine, Fatso in From Here to Eternity. Watching all those lean guys like Sinatra, Lancaster and Clift, it's amazing that the oldest, unhealthiest looking bloke should outlive them all.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I echo those sentiments too -dare I say it but I've watched it the last three sunday's -only because my four year old is big Transformers fan though.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Nowhere Boy
This is Sam Taylor-Wood's drama about John Lennon's teenage years and relationship with his errant Mum, Julia. (By the way, that's a good chat-up line if you meet a Julia: 'Oh right, half of what you say is meaningless...' It works, honestly.)
I had misgivings about this; it looked like the sort of 1950s period drama you get on Sunday early evening telly, so authentic is hurts. But I went along because my sister wanted to see it and to show willing.
It was awful, a horrible movie. Taylor-Wood is an artist; Ronnie Wood would have been better. It's all broad brushstrokes and the end result is like watching paint dry. Okay, that's an inappropriate jibe: Taylor-Wood is all art installation stuff. But that's the problem here: she is depicting an idea on repeat throughout the movie. So we see Lennon meeting his mum, and is amazed how wild she is, and a bit turned on maybe. Then back to his Aunt Mimi, who raised him, looking all prim. Back to his mum, and she's dancing and being wild again. Another scene of that, then back to Mimi looking prim again. Nothing ever really develops much.
Aaron Johnson is okay as Lennon, he captures his middle-classness though with glasses he becomes a bit Harry Potter. He's got the voice and the insolent look a bit, but really he's too tall and manly. Lennon was a proto-punk, he all the Fabs were mod types with slight bodies. Johnson is muscley and tall, he looks more like Travolta in Grease or the young Superman who outruns a train and squeezes his poor Dad to death. He towers over the other characters and is more a Pete Best figure.
Otherwise, no cliche is left unturned. Paul shows up, and asks for a cup of tea rather than a beer, because he's the nice and square Beatle. Later he talks about writing your songs as you get the publishing: because he's the calculated business one. He seems a prod-nosed little jerk. Some girl dubs Lennon a 'loser': hmm, that might make a good song later, d'ya think? Julia introduces him to rock n roll it seems, takes him to see an Elvis movie where teenage girls are screaming; John looks around and we see him think, "Hey, this is good, I should be a rock star!" All devoid of subtlety. It's a wonder when George appears (the actor looking nothing like him) he doesn't say, "I'm famished, anyone fancy an Indian takeaway?" Or someone saying. "That Lennon, he's going to get himself shot one day!"
And I somehow doubt that in one of the Lennon sex scenes, inserted to show he's normal and not fixated with his mum, that the hot young girl would groan orgasmically like a porn star and then - in time-honoured movie tradition - obligingly kneel down to give him a blow-job as the scene ends; not in the late 1950s I don't think. Man, if young Lennon was getting blow-jobs off hot chicks back then, I don't suppose he'd have cared about forming the Beatles.
At the end it writes on the screen that Lennon phoned his Aunt Mimi every week for the rest of his life, which I somehow doubt is true. I can't imagine when he and Yoko were off their heads on heroin him calling up to ask what she had for dinner.
The other is Harold Lloyd's Safety Last.
Well, I'm not going to diss poor Harold, but I loved watching his stuff as a kid, starting with the compilation show Harold Lloyd's World Of Comedy, which you can get in the US but not over here. In particular, the music on the soundtrack was great; I can hum the tunes 25 years later. I rented this and the music is done by Carl Davis. He is brilliant but he did stuff for The World At War; it has a poignant, doom-laden feel to it. When Harold is in a spot of bother, you half expect Lawrence Olivier to interject with, "It was at this point the Nazis enacted their terrible revenge on the town's inhabitants...." It totally kills the mood. Bring back the old music, which had a Salad Days appeal that tied in neatly with Harold's romantic, carefree persona. When Harold climbs the building during his iconic moment, you're not laughing, it's more unpleasant suspense.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I rented this because I thought I ought to catch up on Lang's oevre, but it doesn't have the crazy camera angles and sets parodied in Son of Frankenstein and 1967's Casino Royale. To my eye, it unfolds in fairly conventional noir manner. Robinson is cast against type, but it works because you're wondering how long it will be before he flips if he finds out. But the plot strains credulity; it wouldn't take two days for the dame to realise that he's not the big shot successful painter he'd inadvertently led her to believe. Things pick up interest after half an hour, but so does the incredulity and a few plot holes possibly down to the Hayes Code having to be adhered to.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
The Last Valley
This 1970 period drama was touted as a lost gem when it came to my attention. It's set in Germany in the 1600s, during the 30 Years War, where Protestants are fighting Catholics and death and destruction is commonplace. It stars Omar Shariff as a wanderer who happens upon this idyllic valley hidden from the rest of the world, and a bearded but still handsome Michael Caine as the head of a bunch of mercenaries who've seen their share of fighting and massacre. Kronsteen shows up at one point too, briefly.
John Barry does the score and there's an early prototype of Moonraker's Space March as the main war theme, though Space March is more melodic to my ears. I know Barry can do no wrong on this site, but it does seem to be that he and Bond were a perfect match. In other films his signature style is often distracting and the romantic theme of this film, used repetitively and sometimes inappropriately, is intrusive and pretty corny.
Caine has an early protype too - the "Ve ALL love you Freddie" German accent he would adopt 15 years later in Dirty Rotten Scoundrals. It's pretty iffy and unintentionally comic at times, he's the only one who bothers with a German accent, perhaps to take away the London wideboy. "You're only supposed to sack the bloody church!"
The film didn't quite grab me. For a start, it's odd that Omar Shariff should be fleeing a plague pit and soldiers for only 2 minutes before stumbling upon this idyll. It doesn't seem that hidden to me, and if it is, how come the other soldiers found it at the same time? The happy and lovely aspects of the village passed me by, as the inhabitants - especially the women - had that neurotic German temper and look characteristic of the Luthran era, if you believe historian Kenneth Clark's take on it. The Lost Horizon did it all much better.
Still, it's a noble idea, just let down by unintentionally risble moments.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I love the music of this film
Once you've started to read this it is just too late for you to understand that it has no meaning at all!
Well, I haven't quite had the same respect for John Barry since he score Howard the Duck
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I had heard of this film before and it was on my 'must see' list...the film got pretty good reviews but it seemed to get more attention because the director is David Bowie's son !
I kinda had the same idea as Hardyboy....that this film would have man vs rogue computer as it's main theme....but it's so much better than that. I also think the twist is almost 'glossed over' though....but what a great performance from Sam Rockwell...I've yet to see a bad performance from this guy though.
Amiably brainless fun from Jason Stratham. Great stuff, though a bit too silly this time and some collateral damage from bystanders getting shot. This time round Chilios' heart has been removed and he has to pump up the replacement using electric shocks (hmmm, not sure that would work in real life). I can't think of anything else as unPC as this out there, so it gets kudos for that. A bit cursed, as David Carradine and Corey Haim make appearances.
Barbarella
A lava lamp of a movie, lovely to look at but not very enlightening. Not sure what age group it's aimed at as there are breast shots early on in the movie but it's all so juvenile, a bit like Help! but without the songs. Of course, this was the age of b+w TV so the visuals would be the selling point in itself. A very static movie, and the character just goes from one pretty torture scenario to another. Odd to have the Stones bird (whose name escape me, oh Anita Pallenberg) dubbed by 1950s Kind Hearts and Coronets starlet Joan Greenwood (I assume it was her). Also, the music lets the film down a bit, aside from the catchy opener.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Carl Davis scored almost every silent film ever made an in particular he worked with the Lloyd estate to do new scores for his movies. He is silent film scoring at the moment - I'm pretty surprised that his World At War music is THAT remembered now.
The World of Comedy compilation you saw was scored by Walter Scharf, who did The Man From UNCLE and Mission Impossible TV music after this gig. The recording from his score is a prized possession of mine.
Roger Moore 1927-2017