By the way, I mean to add that George MacDonald Fraser's book The History of the Movies (I think) runs through all the historical efforts, including stuff like The Sea Hawk and The Black Swan, which the Flashman writer is a big fan of. It's well worth a look, esp as it compares fact with fiction.
Landmark of US cinema and notoriously racist, DW Griffith's 1915 classic Birth of a Nation, which depicts the American Civil War and its aftermath. When the film was released, the events were still very much in living memory, not that that means a lot; I mean, Nowhere Boy, the Lennon bio, is released while Macca is still going and he testifies to it being a fair bit inaccurate.
It's a three-hour epic, divided into three unequal parts. First part is about the war and North South divides in family and friends. A bit heavy going, I found. The next part is more entertaining but unfortunately it's also when the racism kicks in with a vengeance, as it's alleged that the North hand power over to the blacks to redress the balance and humiliate Southerners, who eventually learn to fight back against their oppression by forming the Ku Klux Klan.
It's odd to see the Klan depicted as heroes. Even with the horses done up in white cloth, looking like a pantomine horse, they look a bit hapless and comical, certainly not threatening as we're used to seeing them in movies. In some ways they seem the forerunnor of Batman, donning masks to redress social oppression. Imagine the 1960s Batmobile in white, prowling the streets, and you get the idea.
The white supremacists are the Cameron family, which may lend a certain frisson if the Tories get into power and go to meet Obama.
Some devil's advocate in me wondered if it was really so racist, after all, a lot of it recalls Robert Mugabe's landgrab in Zimbabwe, and to oppose that isn't racist. You could say Mugabe is a disgrace to his race - then again, no one says Hitler or Stalin is a disgrace to their race, unless it's the human race. Overall it makes for uncomfortable viewing however, though some loyal black servants are depicted as okay. The main black villain, a governor parachuted in to the South, is obviously a white guy blacked up. He lusts after Lillian Gish, who is real hot; he's a man after any white boy's heart frankly.
At this point my mind wandered onto a porn version of the film, with a lookalike Lillian Gish. Birth of Elation, in which she is willingly given a good seeing to at a masked ball by hooded members of the Klan. Later she samples the erotic delights of the black man... well, it was a three-hour film y'know.
Other than the recent Steve Martin incarnations, my wife had never seen any of the Pink Panther films, so we began watching them in chronological order (including the "Inspector Clouseau" oddity starring Alan Arkin). I had seen all of the Peter Sellers entries of the series, but had never seen "Curse" before. I remember when the film was released, and that it was a critical and box office failure, which might explain its absence from television and home video releases.
I had always thought the film was Blake Edward's misguided and pointless attempt to keep the Pink Panther franchise alive, but after watching "Trail of the Pink Panther" (for the first time since its theatrical release) I noticed the announcement at the end of the credits: "Coming Soon - The Curse of the Pink Panther". As a result, I watched the film with the viewpoint that this wasn't simply an 'add-on' but rather a film Edwards intended to make, regardless of the absence of Peter Sellers.
In a sense, "Trail" and "Curse" are essentially two halves of the same film. "Trail" starts out with Clouseau in search of the stolen (again) Pink Panther diamond, but due to the sudden death of Sellers during filming, the storyline was modified so that Clouseau mysteriously vanishes and his disappearance is investigated by a reporter portrayed by Joanna Lumley. Unfortunately, "Trail" results in a rudderless plot built on homages and recycled Sellers footage, strung together by faceless doubles and obvious voice-overs, and neither the theft of the diamond or the disappearance of Clouseau are resolved.
"Curse" was Edward's intended attempt to resolve both of the plotlines for the audience in an acceptable manner. Word-of-mouth typically bashes Ted Wass as a poor replacement for Sellers, but I never got the impression that he was intended as a 'replacement' but more of a bumbling master-of-ceremonies to guide the audience through to the conclusion, and provide a sufficient slapstick catalyst for Herbert Lom and the other stars. If the invisible caricature of Wass in the film's animated opening title sequence means anything, than it must be that he is simply a necessary but not prominent part of the storyline (oddly enough, in the animated sequence, the Pink Panther, usually Clouseau's fiendish nemesis, seems lost and worried without the inspector. Together, the Pink Panther and the Wass caricature walk off arm in arm, with a look of gratitude on the Pink Panther's face). Ted Wass's lack of 'presence' also serves as a good foil for the conclusion of the film in which...
it is revealed that Clouseau has undergone plastic surgery. Roger Moore appears as the cosmetically altered Clouseau and did, in my and my wife's opinion, an impressive imitation of Sellers' voice and presence. This scene at the end is probably worth viewing by any Moore or Bond fan.
Edwards seems all to aware that the film is powerless without Sellers, and so ties a nice little bow on the end with the remaining cast members of the original Pink Panther film: David Niven (in his final film role), Capucine, and Robert Wagner. The appearance of the characters was established early on with Niven and Capucine's appearance in "Trail" and amplified by the later addition of Wagner.
In all, my wife and I were mildy impressed with "Curse", given we had every intention of turning our nose up at it without Sellers. For any Pink Panther fan, I think it's an acceptable entry given that the viewer watches "Trail" and "Curse" back to back and sees it as one film.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,994Quartermasters
Your spoiler is the best moment in the film, Daren! B-) I never get tired of watching it...
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
There's a charming dvd commentary with Maureen O'Hara. Have you seen Power in the Mark of Zorro, where he and Basil Rathbone give one of the best sword duels ever caught on film?
I bought that on DVD the other day. Haven't watched it yet though. I have seen the Douglas Fairbanks version though which is outstanding. Fairbanks is nuts, laughing his way through the film. Less keen on his Robin Hood movie though. His Merry Men were just a bit too merry for my liking.
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
Dare I say again...better than The Godfather when it comes to mob films. B-)
I love Martin Scorcese's early work and having seen all of his pictures (including Shutter Island as of late), this is hands down his best achievement. Maybe Casino or Raging Bull comes close... maybe.
20 years old now and I never tire of watching it all the way through.
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,700MI6 Agent
I have to watch this again myself R.A. I'd like to know how many takes it took for Liottas character to walk through the kitchen and into the dinning room.
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
RogueAgentSpeeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
I have to watch this again myself R.A. I'd like to know how many takes it took for Liottas character to walk through the kitchen and into the dinning room.
I take that's a knock against Liotta's aptitude to give a decent performance? )
Personally, I thought he did a good job of balancing the right sense of menace between the two extremes which were Tommy & Jimmy.
There was great chemistry with these 3 guys.
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice isUNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
John Drake recommended this a few months ago and ever since it's been hanging around my lovefilm high priority list like a bad dose of gonorreah. It was a liability; checking the Await Dispatching.... in the office, there was every chance the girl from accounts I'd been cultivating would pass by: "Oh, you're a member of lovefilm too! Yeah, I love watching DVDs, curled up on a sofa with a box of pizza. So, what's that about to be sent out? Ah. Right. Actually, I think I left something in the microwave...."
This is quite well photographed, chic in a 1970s way, but not with Syliva Kristel as the lead but a Melanie Sykes/Fatima Blush type who is very easy on the eye. The voices are all dubbed, lending it all the sincerity of a shampoo commercial, with few dialogue close-ups presumably to make the dubbing less obvious for other countries.
It has that Moonraker vibe; the blokes are not a day under 45 and have that shaggy hair and sideburns, tanned leathery skin and Aviator shades look, slightly flared trousers and navy blazors. Unlike today, there's that implication that to get sex you have to be part of the jet set and moneyed up.
At one point we have a nod to The Man With The Golden Gun, as Emanuelle, on her quest to evangelise sexual liberation and spread fortune cookie wisdom, encounters an American couple on holiday, who are Republicans don't you know?
A couple of scenes involving a gang bang on my copy faded out, I don't know if lovefilm's version is censored - all very odd. Not that I felt cheated, the sex here is all soft soap, soft porn, get your kit off in the bath stuff. As the lead is such a liberated, happy character, there's no edge to give flavour to the 'coupling' which tends to resemble that of Don't Look Back, thanks to the rather long rangy limbs, concave stomachs and bony ribcages on display. Emanuelle herself is a clothes horse but not very voluptuous, her inner thighs are so lean there's an odd, square gap at the top of them you could slide a Jeep tyre into.
There's an odd tune on the soundtrack that sounds like The Goons doing the Ying Tong Song - like, why? But another tune is okay and while none of it is really erotic, is a bit of a kitsch time capsule.
There's a charming dvd commentary with Maureen O'Hara. Have you seen Power in the Mark of Zorro, where he and Basil Rathbone give one of the best sword duels ever caught on film?
I bought that on DVD the other day. Haven't watched it yet though. I have seen the Douglas Fairbanks version though which is outstanding. Fairbanks is nuts, laughing his way through the film. Less keen on his Robin Hood movie though. His Merry Men were just a bit too merry for my liking.
I hope you'll like it. Be prepared for a groaner or two the first time Power mutters a Spanish oath. But once he assumes the identity of foppish Don Diego by day and masked rider by night you'll be hooked. His pretense of a pampered aristocrat is actually pretty hilarious. ("My bath water was absolutely tepid!"), )
To his credit, Ty Power does not attempt a Spanish accent. Personally, I'd rather have the actor speak in his own voice anyway, rather then put on a fake accent. (not all of us our Peter Sellers) Anyway, he has everyone fooled with the sissy boy routine. Once he picks up that rapier and suprises Rathbone's character though, look out!
Dare I say again...better than The Godfather when it comes to mob films. B-)
20 years old now and I never tire of watching it all the way through.
Let's call it the "Godfather of the 90's"
But yes, amongst the best of mafia films ever made. Funnily enough you see several actors with small parts who later turned up as main characters in The Sopranos.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,700MI6 Agent
I have to watch this again myself R.A. I'd like to know how many takes it took for Liottas character to walk through the kitchen and into the dinning room.
I take that's a knock against Liotta's aptitude to give a decent performance? )
Personally, I thought he did a good job of balancing the right sense of menace between the two extremes which were Tommy & Jimmy.
There was great chemistry with these 3 guys.
No way. Ray Liotta is an awesome actor. But in Hollywood everything has to be perfect (well, mostly anyways). If that scene was filmed and printed from the first take, I'd be very impressed. Heck, who knows, maybe that was the first take.
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,994Quartermasters
I'm very excited---got off work about an hour ago, and strolled next door to Best Buy, in the mood to buy a DVD. And I found one---a film I've been waiting for on DVD for decades:
The African Queen B-)
Having trolled around on ebay for it for years, I'm aware it's been available in Europe (in some manner) on disc for a while, and of course there were a million pirated pieces of s**t from Hong Kong, but this is a meticulously restored version, in glorious 1951 Technicolor! My boys have never seen a Bogart film...and tonight I have the great joy of showing them this one... -{
Life is good.
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
I'm very excited---got off work about an hour ago, and strolled next door to Best Buy, in the mood to buy a DVD. And I found one---a film I've been waiting for on DVD for decades:
The African Queen B-)
Having trolled around on ebay for it for years, I'm aware it's been available in Europe (in some manner) on disc for a while, and of course there were a million pirated pieces of s**t from Hong Kong, but this is a meticulously restored version, in glorious 1951 Technicolor! My boys have never seen a Bogart film...and tonight I have the great joy of showing them this one... -{
Life is good.
I grabbed my copy at walmart, and you're darn right. It's about time people. Tons of crap is given dvd treatment and this classic takes this long for a release?!
Have always loved this film. It's yet another iconic role from Bogart, (a huge favorite of mine), who has incredible chemistry with Hepburn. (she was great in a similiar role with the Duke).
I always get something in my eye from Robert Morley's sad performance too. Place this dvd next to Caine Mutiny and Sierra Madre on the shelf. Life is good indeed.
A few weeks ago I wrote of my "discovery" of Moon. Well, I happened upon another excellent Britflick that was barely released in the US and which I hadn't even heard of until it came out on DVD: In the Loop. This is a political satire about a UK Prime Minister and US President (neither of whom is a character in the film) who are thinking about invading a middle eastern country, as seen through the eyes of lower-ranked Cabinet ministers and secretaries and their assorted staffs. This is a hilarious film, with some of the funniest (and dirtiest) dialogue I've heard--and it's smart, which could be why it wasn't widely shown in the US. Make up for this shameful neglect, fellow Yanks--see it today!
In the Loop. This is a hilarious film, with some of the funniest (and dirtiest) dialogue I've heard--and it's smart, which could be why it wasn't widely shown in the US.
Any more anti-Americanism HB, and I'll report you to the mods.
The Virgin Suicides.
La Coppola's debut, and very good too in that it improves in some ways on the book, which was a bit purple prosey for my liking. It kind of makes it clearer why the suicides in one family come about (the virgins are all gals natch, no nerdy speccy blokes with dried egg on the pullovers flicking the switch), namely that the society is so awful, whereas it seemed in the book their deaths were a big mystery (or was I just too boneheaded to pick up on it?) A young Kirsten Dunst who showed up in later Coppola films.
I avoided this film when it came out because without the inimitable Mel Blanc, I thought the characters would be a shallow copy of the ones I grew up with. But I had fun with it, and it was enjoyable to see Timothy Dalton in the role of a spy again (even if it was hammy). The film is in the mold of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the FX have continued to evolve to a degree that I found myself suspending my disbelief on a number of occasions.
Quirky cult 1970s black comedy, a bit like The Graduate but darker. It's about a troubled teen from a well-to-do family, a sort of cross between John Cusack and Matthew Broderick, who befriends a woman about to turn 80. They both meet because they turn up at funerals - it's a bit Fight Club in that respect. This is one of BBC celebrity Jonathan Ross's fave movies; his wife drives a customised hearse like the one in the film, and indeed the kid looks a bit like the young Ross when he advertised Rice Krispies. I liked it, it did its Carpe Diem theme quite well, though the ending could be seen as a cop out.
Russian fantasy epic. Eye popping visuals. Borrows loosely from John Milius' false origin used in Conan the barbarian and Don Coscarelli's classic, The Beastmaster. (that old, last of his tribe, revenge, thing). Traces of LOTR in the shape of a demonic skull masked villain abound. Especially a scene where a sword of light reaches the heavens.
The lead is played by Aleksandr Bukharov, a warrior who scowls and is stoic most the time. There's a princess played by a gorgeous actress by the name of Oksana Akinshina. When she's on screen your heart will melt. Beautiful lady.
Better editing and a more even pace could've placed this to perfection ... however, it's still a terrific sword and sorcery picture with both CGI spectacle and great stunts. A crushing shame Hollywood today is unable to create a heroic fantasy like this! Pathfinder and Van Helsing can't begin to compare to Wolfhound. (imo anyway)
DVD has english dubbing option but bypass that junk immediately and watch it in its original language with the subtitles on. It's the true way to watch it and the way the creaters intended. Don't suffer terrible English voice actors!
PS: The hero's constant companion is a pet bat. Too cool.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,994Quartermasters
Slightly late in reporting, but I'm crazy busy with work and dream-work and family and yard work and family... Last Friday, took the boys to go see
"Clash of the Titans" in 3D
...Well, we had fun with it. The 3D wasn't as good as with Avatar (I understand that COTT was retro-fitted for 3D, versus being shot for it), and this version was just as silly as the 80s version. Sam Worthington was fine. Nice to see two Craig-Era Bond alumni in this one: Mads (CR) Mikkelson and Gemma (QoS) Arterton are both good as well. Loeff Jr and Loeff III were both keen to see it, and I got pretty much what I'd expected. The popcorn was buttery and delicious. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Then, the next night, Loeff III and I had the downstairs TV to ourselves, and we watched
"Bringing Up Baby"
a classic Howard Hawks screwball comedy from 1938, starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. How I enjoy these delightful old-school romps, which manage to exist in a parallel universe to reality wherein absurdity is both welcomed and celebrated. I'd previously shown Loeff III the also-charming Peter Bogdanovich offering from the Seventies, What's Up, Doc?, which is probably the last successful attempt at this now-extinct sub-genre...Loeff III emerged from WUP? with a minor crush on a young Streisand...he emerged from BUB with mild amazement that Hepburn was the same old chick from African Queen) 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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
Finally got round to seeing this, at the midnight screening at BFI Imax at Waterloo. It meant getting the night bus home, arriving back 4am.
I liked it. The 3D took some getting used to. There seemed to be smudge on the glasses bottom right, but it was there when I swapped with my sister's specs, so I guess it's an effect thing. It helps to tilt your head down and look up, like the expression Princess Di tended to do, to get the effect right. Some of the early 3D was plain awful and gimmicky; it's like you have a bloke on one plane, like a sheet of glass in the foreground, then a deliberately blurred background. That's not how one sees things, or at least how you experience them in real life. The magical alien world worked very well however, and it helped put over the effect whereby you feel that every living thing is interconnected. Maybe my eyes adjusted as it went on, but it seemed to get better.
The story has been done before, as has been pointed out. Some of the blatant anti-US or rather anti Iraq war stuff I found heavy handed, though you also sense that with this new effect-based movie, the emotions have to be simplistic in a Birth of Nation type way, as it's working on a primitive level. And it also has the white, western supremacy thing where even though
the guy has screwed up and betrayed the other race, he has to be their saviour and hero by 'taming' the big red bird, whereas in reality he'd be flayed alive and they'd bamboozle the marines all by themselves.
I enjoyed it and felt immersed in it all; I can't imagine wanting to bother with it in normal 2D.
Embracing Chaos:The making of the African Queen. An excellent hour length documentary of interview vignettes and behind the scenes reels.
Was good to see Guy Hamilton again, he has some great stories such as losing Hepburn's private loo and her throwing up from dystentary between takes. Fascinating stuff, makes up for lack of audio commentary.
Embracing Chaos:The making of the African Queen. An excellent hour length documentary of interview vignettes and behind the scenes reels.
Was good to see Guy Hamilton again, he has some great stories such as losing Hepburn's private loo and her throwing up from dystentary between takes. Fascinating stuff, makes up for lack of audio commentary.
I watched that as well, right after the film. What a great story-behind-the-story...
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
witty political thriller from roman Polanski, based on Robert harris's novel. Both film and novel are a delightful f£@k you to mr tony Blair. Ewan mcgregor plays a ghost writer hired to write the memoirs of former PM Adam Lang (piercey brosnan). Olivia Williams is wonderful as the PM's wife. Polanski manages to make everything seem threatening, even a squirrel. Kim cattrall, you totally would. Stefanie powers is in there too, fittingly because this involves a moirder, and see that pierce brosnan, he would have made a great James Bond.
EDIT. Man I really thought Stefanie Powers was in there, but she's not. Best lookalike ever.
It's apparently traditional now to post an image of the film you last saw, so here goes--
Yep, Richard Harris in Cromwell. This came out in 1970, when filmmakers were still obsessed with making the next historical epic on the lines of Lawrence of Arabia or Dr. Zhivago. Unfortunately, Ken Hughes--he of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a portion of the 1967 Casino Royale--as a director was no David Lean, and as a screenwriter he was no Robert Bolt. What's more, the entire production comes across as amateurish, bringing to mind a high school production of Shakespeare, with actors self-consciously parading around in period costumes and emoting their lines for the ages. Bond fans may get a kick out of seeing Timothy Dalton (as a Royalist so foppish he takes his little dog into battle), Geoffrey Keen, and Charles Gray. Unfortunately, John Cleese isn't there to sing his classic Python song about Cromwell.
Comments
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Landmark of US cinema and notoriously racist, DW Griffith's 1915 classic Birth of a Nation, which depicts the American Civil War and its aftermath. When the film was released, the events were still very much in living memory, not that that means a lot; I mean, Nowhere Boy, the Lennon bio, is released while Macca is still going and he testifies to it being a fair bit inaccurate.
It's a three-hour epic, divided into three unequal parts. First part is about the war and North South divides in family and friends. A bit heavy going, I found. The next part is more entertaining but unfortunately it's also when the racism kicks in with a vengeance, as it's alleged that the North hand power over to the blacks to redress the balance and humiliate Southerners, who eventually learn to fight back against their oppression by forming the Ku Klux Klan.
It's odd to see the Klan depicted as heroes. Even with the horses done up in white cloth, looking like a pantomine horse, they look a bit hapless and comical, certainly not threatening as we're used to seeing them in movies. In some ways they seem the forerunnor of Batman, donning masks to redress social oppression. Imagine the 1960s Batmobile in white, prowling the streets, and you get the idea.
The white supremacists are the Cameron family, which may lend a certain frisson if the Tories get into power and go to meet Obama.
Some devil's advocate in me wondered if it was really so racist, after all, a lot of it recalls Robert Mugabe's landgrab in Zimbabwe, and to oppose that isn't racist. You could say Mugabe is a disgrace to his race - then again, no one says Hitler or Stalin is a disgrace to their race, unless it's the human race. Overall it makes for uncomfortable viewing however, though some loyal black servants are depicted as okay. The main black villain, a governor parachuted in to the South, is obviously a white guy blacked up. He lusts after Lillian Gish, who is real hot; he's a man after any white boy's heart frankly.
At this point my mind wandered onto a porn version of the film, with a lookalike Lillian Gish. Birth of Elation, in which she is willingly given a good seeing to at a masked ball by hooded members of the Klan. Later she samples the erotic delights of the black man... well, it was a three-hour film y'know.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Undemanding horror hokum. Good fun, the final scene left me a bit bemused.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Other than the recent Steve Martin incarnations, my wife had never seen any of the Pink Panther films, so we began watching them in chronological order (including the "Inspector Clouseau" oddity starring Alan Arkin). I had seen all of the Peter Sellers entries of the series, but had never seen "Curse" before. I remember when the film was released, and that it was a critical and box office failure, which might explain its absence from television and home video releases.
I had always thought the film was Blake Edward's misguided and pointless attempt to keep the Pink Panther franchise alive, but after watching "Trail of the Pink Panther" (for the first time since its theatrical release) I noticed the announcement at the end of the credits: "Coming Soon - The Curse of the Pink Panther". As a result, I watched the film with the viewpoint that this wasn't simply an 'add-on' but rather a film Edwards intended to make, regardless of the absence of Peter Sellers.
In a sense, "Trail" and "Curse" are essentially two halves of the same film. "Trail" starts out with Clouseau in search of the stolen (again) Pink Panther diamond, but due to the sudden death of Sellers during filming, the storyline was modified so that Clouseau mysteriously vanishes and his disappearance is investigated by a reporter portrayed by Joanna Lumley. Unfortunately, "Trail" results in a rudderless plot built on homages and recycled Sellers footage, strung together by faceless doubles and obvious voice-overs, and neither the theft of the diamond or the disappearance of Clouseau are resolved.
"Curse" was Edward's intended attempt to resolve both of the plotlines for the audience in an acceptable manner. Word-of-mouth typically bashes Ted Wass as a poor replacement for Sellers, but I never got the impression that he was intended as a 'replacement' but more of a bumbling master-of-ceremonies to guide the audience through to the conclusion, and provide a sufficient slapstick catalyst for Herbert Lom and the other stars. If the invisible caricature of Wass in the film's animated opening title sequence means anything, than it must be that he is simply a necessary but not prominent part of the storyline (oddly enough, in the animated sequence, the Pink Panther, usually Clouseau's fiendish nemesis, seems lost and worried without the inspector. Together, the Pink Panther and the Wass caricature walk off arm in arm, with a look of gratitude on the Pink Panther's face). Ted Wass's lack of 'presence' also serves as a good foil for the conclusion of the film in which...
Edwards seems all to aware that the film is powerless without Sellers, and so ties a nice little bow on the end with the remaining cast members of the original Pink Panther film: David Niven (in his final film role), Capucine, and Robert Wagner. The appearance of the characters was established early on with Niven and Capucine's appearance in "Trail" and amplified by the later addition of Wagner.
In all, my wife and I were mildy impressed with "Curse", given we had every intention of turning our nose up at it without Sellers. For any Pink Panther fan, I think it's an acceptable entry given that the viewer watches "Trail" and "Curse" back to back and sees it as one film.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I bought that on DVD the other day. Haven't watched it yet though. I have seen the Douglas Fairbanks version though which is outstanding. Fairbanks is nuts, laughing his way through the film. Less keen on his Robin Hood movie though. His Merry Men were just a bit too merry for my liking.
I love Martin Scorcese's early work and having seen all of his pictures (including Shutter Island as of late), this is hands down his best achievement. Maybe Casino or Raging Bull comes close... maybe.
20 years old now and I never tire of watching it all the way through.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Personally, I thought he did a good job of balancing the right sense of menace between the two extremes which were Tommy & Jimmy.
There was great chemistry with these 3 guys.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Emanuelle in Bangkok
John Drake recommended this a few months ago and ever since it's been hanging around my lovefilm high priority list like a bad dose of gonorreah. It was a liability; checking the Await Dispatching.... in the office, there was every chance the girl from accounts I'd been cultivating would pass by: "Oh, you're a member of lovefilm too! Yeah, I love watching DVDs, curled up on a sofa with a box of pizza. So, what's that about to be sent out? Ah. Right. Actually, I think I left something in the microwave...."
This is quite well photographed, chic in a 1970s way, but not with Syliva Kristel as the lead but a Melanie Sykes/Fatima Blush type who is very easy on the eye. The voices are all dubbed, lending it all the sincerity of a shampoo commercial, with few dialogue close-ups presumably to make the dubbing less obvious for other countries.
It has that Moonraker vibe; the blokes are not a day under 45 and have that shaggy hair and sideburns, tanned leathery skin and Aviator shades look, slightly flared trousers and navy blazors. Unlike today, there's that implication that to get sex you have to be part of the jet set and moneyed up.
At one point we have a nod to The Man With The Golden Gun, as Emanuelle, on her quest to evangelise sexual liberation and spread fortune cookie wisdom, encounters an American couple on holiday, who are Republicans don't you know?
A couple of scenes involving a gang bang on my copy faded out, I don't know if lovefilm's version is censored - all very odd. Not that I felt cheated, the sex here is all soft soap, soft porn, get your kit off in the bath stuff. As the lead is such a liberated, happy character, there's no edge to give flavour to the 'coupling' which tends to resemble that of Don't Look Back, thanks to the rather long rangy limbs, concave stomachs and bony ribcages on display. Emanuelle herself is a clothes horse but not very voluptuous, her inner thighs are so lean there's an odd, square gap at the top of them you could slide a Jeep tyre into.
There's an odd tune on the soundtrack that sounds like The Goons doing the Ying Tong Song - like, why? But another tune is okay and while none of it is really erotic, is a bit of a kitsch time capsule.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
To his credit, Ty Power does not attempt a Spanish accent. Personally, I'd rather have the actor speak in his own voice anyway, rather then put on a fake accent. (not all of us our Peter Sellers) Anyway, he has everyone fooled with the sissy boy routine. Once he picks up that rapier and suprises Rathbone's character though, look out!
And then there's Linda Darnel :x
Let's call it the "Godfather of the 90's"
But yes, amongst the best of mafia films ever made. Funnily enough you see several actors with small parts who later turned up as main characters in The Sopranos.
No way. Ray Liotta is an awesome actor. But in Hollywood everything has to be perfect (well, mostly anyways). If that scene was filmed and printed from the first take, I'd be very impressed. Heck, who knows, maybe that was the first take.
The African Queen B-)
Having trolled around on ebay for it for years, I'm aware it's been available in Europe (in some manner) on disc for a while, and of course there were a million pirated pieces of s**t from Hong Kong, but this is a meticulously restored version, in glorious 1951 Technicolor!
Life is good.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Have always loved this film. It's yet another iconic role from Bogart, (a huge favorite of mine), who has incredible chemistry with Hepburn. (she was great in a similiar role with the Duke).
I always get something in my eye from Robert Morley's sad performance too. Place this dvd next to Caine Mutiny and Sierra Madre on the shelf. Life is good indeed.
Any more anti-Americanism HB, and I'll report you to the mods.
The Virgin Suicides.
La Coppola's debut, and very good too in that it improves in some ways on the book, which was a bit purple prosey for my liking. It kind of makes it clearer why the suicides in one family come about (the virgins are all gals natch, no nerdy speccy blokes with dried egg on the pullovers flicking the switch), namely that the society is so awful, whereas it seemed in the book their deaths were a big mystery (or was I just too boneheaded to pick up on it?) A young Kirsten Dunst who showed up in later Coppola films.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I avoided this film when it came out because without the inimitable Mel Blanc, I thought the characters would be a shallow copy of the ones I grew up with. But I had fun with it, and it was enjoyable to see Timothy Dalton in the role of a spy again (even if it was hammy). The film is in the mold of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the FX have continued to evolve to a degree that I found myself suspending my disbelief on a number of occasions.
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Quirky cult 1970s black comedy, a bit like The Graduate but darker. It's about a troubled teen from a well-to-do family, a sort of cross between John Cusack and Matthew Broderick, who befriends a woman about to turn 80. They both meet because they turn up at funerals - it's a bit Fight Club in that respect. This is one of BBC celebrity Jonathan Ross's fave movies; his wife drives a customised hearse like the one in the film, and indeed the kid looks a bit like the young Ross when he advertised Rice Krispies. I liked it, it did its Carpe Diem theme quite well, though the ending could be seen as a cop out.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Russian fantasy epic. Eye popping visuals. Borrows loosely from John Milius' false origin used in Conan the barbarian and Don Coscarelli's classic, The Beastmaster. (that old, last of his tribe, revenge, thing). Traces of LOTR in the shape of a demonic skull masked villain abound. Especially a scene where a sword of light reaches the heavens.
The lead is played by Aleksandr Bukharov, a warrior who scowls and is stoic most the time. There's a princess played by a gorgeous actress by the name of Oksana Akinshina. When she's on screen your heart will melt. Beautiful lady.
The leads ... http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2007_Wolf_Warrior/007WFR_Oksana_Akinshina_007.jpg
Better editing and a more even pace could've placed this to perfection ... however, it's still a terrific sword and sorcery picture with both CGI spectacle and great stunts. A crushing shame Hollywood today is unable to create a heroic fantasy like this! Pathfinder and Van Helsing can't begin to compare to Wolfhound. (imo anyway)
DVD has english dubbing option but bypass that junk immediately and watch it in its original language with the subtitles on. It's the true way to watch it and the way the creaters intended. Don't suffer terrible English voice actors!
PS: The hero's constant companion is a pet bat. Too cool.
"Clash of the Titans" in 3D
...Well, we had fun with it. The 3D wasn't as good as with Avatar (I understand that COTT was retro-fitted for 3D, versus being shot for it), and this version was just as silly as the 80s version. Sam Worthington was fine. Nice to see two Craig-Era Bond alumni in this one: Mads (CR) Mikkelson and Gemma (QoS) Arterton are both good as well. Loeff Jr and Loeff III were both keen to see it, and I got pretty much what I'd expected. The popcorn was buttery and delicious. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Then, the next night, Loeff III and I had the downstairs TV to ourselves, and we watched
"Bringing Up Baby"
a classic Howard Hawks screwball comedy from 1938, starring Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. How I enjoy these delightful old-school romps, which manage to exist in a parallel universe to reality wherein absurdity is both welcomed and celebrated. I'd previously shown Loeff III the also-charming Peter Bogdanovich offering from the Seventies, What's Up, Doc?, which is probably the last successful attempt at this now-extinct sub-genre...Loeff III emerged from WUP? with a minor crush on a young Streisand...he emerged from BUB with mild amazement that Hepburn was the same old chick from African Queen
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Finally got round to seeing this, at the midnight screening at BFI Imax at Waterloo. It meant getting the night bus home, arriving back 4am.
I liked it. The 3D took some getting used to. There seemed to be smudge on the glasses bottom right, but it was there when I swapped with my sister's specs, so I guess it's an effect thing. It helps to tilt your head down and look up, like the expression Princess Di tended to do, to get the effect right. Some of the early 3D was plain awful and gimmicky; it's like you have a bloke on one plane, like a sheet of glass in the foreground, then a deliberately blurred background. That's not how one sees things, or at least how you experience them in real life. The magical alien world worked very well however, and it helped put over the effect whereby you feel that every living thing is interconnected. Maybe my eyes adjusted as it went on, but it seemed to get better.
The story has been done before, as has been pointed out. Some of the blatant anti-US or rather anti Iraq war stuff I found heavy handed, though you also sense that with this new effect-based movie, the emotions have to be simplistic in a Birth of Nation type way, as it's working on a primitive level. And it also has the white, western supremacy thing where even though
I enjoyed it and felt immersed in it all; I can't imagine wanting to bother with it in normal 2D.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Was good to see Guy Hamilton again, he has some great stories such as losing Hepburn's private loo and her throwing up from dystentary between takes. Fascinating stuff, makes up for lack of audio commentary.
I forgot how much I enjoy that movie!
Largo: Do you know a lot about guns, Mr. Bond?
Bond: No, but I know a little about women.
I watched that as well, right after the film. What a great story-behind-the-story...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
witty political thriller from roman Polanski, based on Robert harris's novel. Both film and novel are a delightful f£@k you to mr tony Blair. Ewan mcgregor plays a ghost writer hired to write the memoirs of former PM Adam Lang (piercey brosnan). Olivia Williams is wonderful as the PM's wife. Polanski manages to make everything seem threatening, even a squirrel. Kim cattrall, you totally would. Stefanie powers is in there too, fittingly because this involves a moirder, and see that pierce brosnan, he would have made a great James Bond.
EDIT. Man I really thought Stefanie Powers was in there, but she's not. Best lookalike ever.
There's talk of the trailer being expanded into a full-length feature film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBM3j7x4Lcw
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yep, Richard Harris in Cromwell. This came out in 1970, when filmmakers were still obsessed with making the next historical epic on the lines of Lawrence of Arabia or Dr. Zhivago. Unfortunately, Ken Hughes--he of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and a portion of the 1967 Casino Royale--as a director was no David Lean, and as a screenwriter he was no Robert Bolt. What's more, the entire production comes across as amateurish, bringing to mind a high school production of Shakespeare, with actors self-consciously parading around in period costumes and emoting their lines for the ages. Bond fans may get a kick out of seeing Timothy Dalton (as a Royalist so foppish he takes his little dog into battle), Geoffrey Keen, and Charles Gray. Unfortunately, John Cleese isn't there to sing his classic Python song about Cromwell.