Sat down last night and huddled up to the cosy log fire with Mrs thesecretagent and watched a film of her choosing. :x
Four Christmases.
Just F**king don't, alright!!!!! X-(
you still get husband points. don't gripe too much, there :P
I'm on a Miazaki kick lately thanks to a friend of mine...watched Spirited Away last night while Ponyo (both Japanese and English dubs) and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind downloaded...and I shall watch them soon
At Sword's Point - Early fifities technicolor period piece about the sons and daughters of the Three Musketeers. The Queen of France is in trouble and sends for her loyal King's Musketeers, but since quite a bit of time has passed their children take up the call.
Cornel Wilde plays D'artagnan's son and Maureen O'Hara plays the daughter of Athos. A young Skipper (sans Gilligan) plays Porthos Jr. and the villain is played by the magnificent Robert Douglas. (who played many a heavy in these things) Also Dan O'Herlihy is the best womanizing Aramis (Jr.) ever.
Anyone in need of Maureen wielding a sword wearing black thigh high boots for an entire picture, look no further! :x
The 1975 animated, and partially live action, film directed by Ralph Bakshi is a loose adaptation of The Uncle Remus tales published in 1881. Heavily updated and under the title Coonskin; Bakshi makes social satire in the vein of blacksplotation but with a purpose, it's simply telling the truth. Those who deem in racist usually do it out of liberal guilt. The charicatures are vicious in themselves because it represents the ugly reality the film is placed in and what was occuring at the time. Here blacks are portrayed in realistic roles as conman, gangsters, sports stars, and just plain bums. Naturally Blacks aren't the only ones who are charicatured; Jews, italians, and homosexuals are not spared. What Bakshi was trying to get at is his hatred for the skullduggery from everybody; People who manipulate and destroy to obtain power. I think the biggest target here was America in general under the guise of a busty woman named "Miss America" who slaughters black people any chance she gets in a darkly humorous manner.
What really makes the film so enjoyable is Bakshi's classic surrealism. At one point a dirty cop's drink is drugged with LSD and while tripping out, demons and all sorts of monsters rip him to shreds. He awakens from this episode driven mad because he has been made up to look like black woman. Sometimes it can a little confusing but it's also kind of enjoyable how creative all the imagery can be.
Watch the film with an open mind and have fun and try not to take it all too seriously.
This is the bootleg version with mostly John Barry's music cued over the top instead of the original soundtrack, it's also re-edited a bit so it moves along faster, it's quite watchable. Barbara Carrera's performance, which I find quite irritating in the original, is brilliant here, it's tranformed, though at the cost of Brandauer, who doesn't seem so impressive. Basinger is forgettable as usual but Connery seems very affable throughout. The Shrublans scenes have the feel of Midsomer Murders.
Problems remain: no outstanding action scenes. Connery is made to look far older than he actually was and his body language is very creaky, esp when mooching around Shrublands or Largo's yaght in his dressing gown. Bond himself is just as iconic it seems as in DAF; he seems to be a famous-ish character (Fatima wants him to write an endorsement of her love making ability) and has no dangerous moments really. Connery is almost like a Comic Relief performance, the BBC charity night where you get characters from soaps to join forces for a half-hour spoof special. It's them alright but you're not meant to take it seriously. Some horrible moments: Petacchi is just a horrible actor somehow, really uncharismatic. Brandauer looks like something out of Marillion or Genesis and his way of spying on his girlfriend while she's dancing; it's just one of those moments that put you off the movie totally. Still, I found this version very watchable up until the last half hour.
Can't believe you saw this film Alex, I have a copy at home I am about to watch, based on your comments, I can't wait.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Barry. Though I should correct one error, Maureen doesn't spend the entire movie in her fencing getup. Though she still does some butt whooping.
I ordered mine from the Warner Archive, those burn on demand DVRs. This one's color is not as great as others from their catalog, unfortunately.
Other classic Warner dvds which were pressed, like Scaramouche and The Adventures of Don Juan, have eye popping technicolor on my HDTV. Eleanor Parker's fiery red locks will knock your eyes out. Looks like it was filmed yesterday!
Sounds great. So long as it doesn't send up white male folk, I'll be there.
Well the italians you chaulk up to white males and though Miss America is a woman, she is suppose to represent "the man". Some may not find Coonskin funny just because it's really bizarre so it depends are your sense of humor. I should also stated that the three main characters are the straight guys but they end up in various roles common in black society at the time. Bakshi himself is Jewish BTW.
Yeah, I'm just being a bit satirical. Bernard Manning's defense was that he made fun of everybody, but of course it was never working class white males.
Yeah, I'm just being a bit satirical. Bernard Manning's defense was that he made fun of everybody, but of course it was never working class white males.
Ah. Understood. I actually didn't know who that was. ;%
Tim Burton's sequel to the Lewis Carroll novel gives us a grown up Alice who keeps having strange dreams about talking animals while being suffocated by the expectations of her family and peers. Fortunately, a chance meeting with a strange rabbit wisks her away to Underland where she is tasked with helping her former friends defeat the evil Red Queen.
Normally I don't care for fantasy films like this but this engaged my imagination from start to finish. The material actually meshes well with Burton's sensibilities and we're treated to all sorts of fantastic characters and whimsical vistas. The characters, such as Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter or Helena Bonham Carter's CG enhanced Red Queen are all instantly memorable while Anne Hathaway's White Queen channels more than a little bit of Morticia Addams - would you expect any less from Burton? Mia Wasikowska is also very good as an Alice who is fast transforming into a grown woman even as she struggles with figuring out her own identity.
I watched the 3D BluRay and the sense of depth was excellent and well used throughout; Burton managed it incrementally, with the strength and frequency of the 3D effects gradually growing as the film progressed. In addition to an excellent sense of depth there were also plenty of great examples of objects appearing to come out of the screen.
James Cameron (he who's ego is even larger than his wallet but who's talent is sadly much smaller than either) famously criticized Burton for shooting the film in 2D and later converting it to 3D. Frankly, Cameron can kiss my ass. Unlike other conversions such as Clash of the Titans the 3D here is seamless and quite convincing and while Burton isn't always the most coherent filmmaker, Alice runs circles around Avatar in terms of sheer entertainment value, likable characters and not beating a message over your head.
Burton's best film since Ed Wood in my opinion and definitely worth a look.
I have to disagree. James Cameron is a good film maker. Is he the so called "genius" people make him out to be ? No. His films are a bit too "Hollywood" for me if that makes any sense, at least a modern day "Hollywood" I deeply resent. I am just sick and tired of these 200+ million dollar feature directors in general. Why do they need so much money ? So many great films of yester year don't cost a fraction of what these people spend on these films. These days if I watch any modern film, it's the smaller scale stuff. Or at least, the ones I want to see the most.
Early 1970s portmanteau horror with all-star Brit cast including David Warner, Ian Bannen, Donald Pleasance, Ian Carmichael, Margaret Leighton (who I confused with Margaret Lockwood of Wicked Lady fame), Peter Cushing and Ian Ogilvy.
It's by the same team who brought to the likes of Vault of Horror and The House that Dripped Blood. It's not too bloody, save the opening story, and the direction is polished. The story with Pleasance as a match seller befriending fellow ex serviceman Ian Bannen is the best, though it not so much spooky as creepy in the way it deals with social class differences. Otherwise the stories unfold much the way you expect, with Peter Cushing's antique dealer providing the link between the stories, as each customer to his shop tries a fiddle and gets their comeuppance.
The most awkward moment came when Ian Carmichael switches the price tags around on a snuff box he goes on to purchase. I myself did the same trick in order to purchase a Simon Templer Volvo at an antique shop many years ago. We're talking a few quid difference mind, and when I was 13. Maybe my ignominious life has been played out to account for that moment.
Going back to the movie thing i watched return of the pink panther not long ago. Funny in its own way, way better then the Steve martin ones. Would sellers have made more of the series if he didn't die? Oh and didn't moore play the inspector in a pink panther movie?
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Going back to the movie thing i watched return of the pink panther not long ago. Funny in its own way, way better then the Steve martin ones. Would sellers have made more of the series if he didn't die? Oh and didn't moore play the inspector in a pink panther movie?
Seller got tired of The Pink Panther series rather quickly. The only reason why he did The Return of The Pink Panther was because he was broke and he was doing terrible films at the time. I think he kept returning to the series because of the money. He was actually about to do another PP film entitled Romance of The Pink Panther just before he died.
As for your other question, Roger Moore played Inspector Clouseau in Curse of The Pink Panther.
Of those, my favourite is a tie between the latter two. The Social Network was great, although I do wonder how factually accurate it was, but it's still good to gain an insight into how Facebook was launched.
Due Date was hilarious. So was RED, but in a different way. RED started off a little slow, but the movie more than makes up for it with the action towards the end. The humour in RED is of a dry, witty type - which I prefer overr the silly, in-your-face type humour.
I really should kick myself for not mentioning this film in the "Best Westerns" thread. Actually if I may be so bold, this is probably the greatest western of all time. The film stars Joan Crawford as Vienna and Sterlying Hayden as the name sake character. Hayden has a screen presence here equal to Robert Mitchum, a laid back style mixed with an innate swarthiness and sexual charisma. Johnny "Guitar" was in fact Johnny Logan, a dangerous gunslinger who abandoned his old life for music. His former lover, Vienna, contacts Logan to play music for her saloon. Despite Vienna's hard-as-nails exterior, she was repulsed by darker side of Logan. Still, the two never really stopped loving each other. They both become potential victims of a vindictive woman named Emma Small. Small was dating an outlaw named "Dancin' Kid" but The Kid left her for Vieanna. Now Emma rallied a deputy and a blood thirsty posse against them both and all hell breaks loose.
Nicholas Ray directed this Johnny Guitar and really, who better for the job. Ray's best work such as On Dangerous Ground, In a Lonely Place, and Rebel Without a Cause explored how flawed human beings are not monsters and/or the ugly side of ignorance. He does no less in Johnny Guitar. Emma Small manipulates a town that already feared the rapidly growing and increasingly "fenced-in" western United States in the form of Vienna's Saloon. Logan represents that living an entirely peaceful life is nearly futile when a town is entirely against you; Words only go so far. The film gives an excuse for the violence not for the sake simply saving oneslife but living in a world where people can get what they want by playing on fears.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, Johnny Guitar has yet to see a Region 1 DVD release. A shame it so sorely deserves it.
I watched Sudden Impact for the first time ever last night - the fourth Dirty Harry film and directed by Clint Eastwood too - it was brilliant!
Things I hate:
1. People who hate things.
2. Irony.
3. Lists.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,699MI6 Agent
It seems a lot of us like to watch movies. Someone posted the below video on another message board. It's about six minutes long and is pretty good. Enjoy!!
"Tokyo Gore Police" A Japanese shock/sci fi action film. Very pulpy and fun. Great special effects, direction, acting and writing. Much like a live-action anime film. It actually included 2 references to James Bond! Describing a legendary cop with a "license to kill" and later they used the line "I think he got the point" from Thunderball!
Robert De-Niro stars as the psychotic Max Cady terrorising his former defense lawyer Nick Nolte and his family. Directed by Martin Scorsese the film is a re-make of the 1962 thriller with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck (the two appear briefly in this film). Whilst not one of Scorsese's best Cape Fear is a hugely enjoyable suspense thriller nonetheless. The cinematography often echos that of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly "Vertigo", with its use of sharp colours and dramatic close-ups. Not to mention the update of the original Bernard Herman score.
De-Niro is brilliantly creepy as Cady and clearly has fun playing up the character's madness - even if he does over-do it a little in the final 10 minutes.
Comments
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
you still get husband points. don't gripe too much, there :P
I'm on a Miazaki kick lately thanks to a friend of mine...watched Spirited Away last night while Ponyo (both Japanese and English dubs) and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind downloaded...and I shall watch them soon
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
Oh yes, husband points and a few in reserve. Can't wait to trade them in at some point.
http://apbateman.com
haha have fun :P
mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
Cornel Wilde plays D'artagnan's son and Maureen O'Hara plays the daughter of Athos. A young Skipper (sans Gilligan) plays Porthos Jr. and the villain is played by the magnificent Robert Douglas. (who played many a heavy in these things) Also Dan O'Herlihy is the best womanizing Aramis (Jr.) ever.
Anyone in need of Maureen wielding a sword wearing black thigh high boots for an entire picture, look no further! :x
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGhCuXaKnM8
The 1975 animated, and partially live action, film directed by Ralph Bakshi is a loose adaptation of The Uncle Remus tales published in 1881. Heavily updated and under the title Coonskin; Bakshi makes social satire in the vein of blacksplotation but with a purpose, it's simply telling the truth. Those who deem in racist usually do it out of liberal guilt. The charicatures are vicious in themselves because it represents the ugly reality the film is placed in and what was occuring at the time. Here blacks are portrayed in realistic roles as conman, gangsters, sports stars, and just plain bums. Naturally Blacks aren't the only ones who are charicatured; Jews, italians, and homosexuals are not spared. What Bakshi was trying to get at is his hatred for the skullduggery from everybody; People who manipulate and destroy to obtain power. I think the biggest target here was America in general under the guise of a busty woman named "Miss America" who slaughters black people any chance she gets in a darkly humorous manner.
What really makes the film so enjoyable is Bakshi's classic surrealism. At one point a dirty cop's drink is drugged with LSD and while tripping out, demons and all sorts of monsters rip him to shreds. He awakens from this episode driven mad because he has been made up to look like black woman. Sometimes it can a little confusing but it's also kind of enjoyable how creative all the imagery can be.
Watch the film with an open mind and have fun and try not to take it all too seriously.
Sounds great. So long as it doesn't send up white male folk, I'll be there.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
This is the bootleg version with mostly John Barry's music cued over the top instead of the original soundtrack, it's also re-edited a bit so it moves along faster, it's quite watchable. Barbara Carrera's performance, which I find quite irritating in the original, is brilliant here, it's tranformed, though at the cost of Brandauer, who doesn't seem so impressive. Basinger is forgettable as usual but Connery seems very affable throughout. The Shrublans scenes have the feel of Midsomer Murders.
Problems remain: no outstanding action scenes. Connery is made to look far older than he actually was and his body language is very creaky, esp when mooching around Shrublands or Largo's yaght in his dressing gown. Bond himself is just as iconic it seems as in DAF; he seems to be a famous-ish character (Fatima wants him to write an endorsement of her love making ability) and has no dangerous moments really. Connery is almost like a Comic Relief performance, the BBC charity night where you get characters from soaps to join forces for a half-hour spoof special. It's them alright but you're not meant to take it seriously. Some horrible moments: Petacchi is just a horrible actor somehow, really uncharismatic. Brandauer looks like something out of Marillion or Genesis and his way of spying on his girlfriend while she's dancing; it's just one of those moments that put you off the movie totally. Still, I found this version very watchable up until the last half hour.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I ordered mine from the Warner Archive, those burn on demand DVRs. This one's color is not as great as others from their catalog, unfortunately.
Other classic Warner dvds which were pressed, like Scaramouche and The Adventures of Don Juan, have eye popping technicolor on my HDTV. Eleanor Parker's fiery red locks will knock your eyes out. Looks like it was filmed yesterday!
Well the italians you chaulk up to white males and though Miss America is a woman, she is suppose to represent "the man". Some may not find Coonskin funny just because it's really bizarre so it depends are your sense of humor. I should also stated that the three main characters are the straight guys but they end up in various roles common in black society at the time. Bakshi himself is Jewish BTW.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Ah. Understood. I actually didn't know who that was. ;%
Tim Burton's sequel to the Lewis Carroll novel gives us a grown up Alice who keeps having strange dreams about talking animals while being suffocated by the expectations of her family and peers. Fortunately, a chance meeting with a strange rabbit wisks her away to Underland where she is tasked with helping her former friends defeat the evil Red Queen.
Normally I don't care for fantasy films like this but this engaged my imagination from start to finish. The material actually meshes well with Burton's sensibilities and we're treated to all sorts of fantastic characters and whimsical vistas. The characters, such as Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter or Helena Bonham Carter's CG enhanced Red Queen are all instantly memorable while Anne Hathaway's White Queen channels more than a little bit of Morticia Addams - would you expect any less from Burton? Mia Wasikowska is also very good as an Alice who is fast transforming into a grown woman even as she struggles with figuring out her own identity.
I watched the 3D BluRay and the sense of depth was excellent and well used throughout; Burton managed it incrementally, with the strength and frequency of the 3D effects gradually growing as the film progressed. In addition to an excellent sense of depth there were also plenty of great examples of objects appearing to come out of the screen.
James Cameron (he who's ego is even larger than his wallet but who's talent is sadly much smaller than either) famously criticized Burton for shooting the film in 2D and later converting it to 3D. Frankly, Cameron can kiss my ass. Unlike other conversions such as Clash of the Titans the 3D here is seamless and quite convincing and while Burton isn't always the most coherent filmmaker, Alice runs circles around Avatar in terms of sheer entertainment value, likable characters and not beating a message over your head.
Burton's best film since Ed Wood in my opinion and definitely worth a look.
Early 1970s portmanteau horror with all-star Brit cast including David Warner, Ian Bannen, Donald Pleasance, Ian Carmichael, Margaret Leighton (who I confused with Margaret Lockwood of Wicked Lady fame), Peter Cushing and Ian Ogilvy.
It's by the same team who brought to the likes of Vault of Horror and The House that Dripped Blood. It's not too bloody, save the opening story, and the direction is polished. The story with Pleasance as a match seller befriending fellow ex serviceman Ian Bannen is the best, though it not so much spooky as creepy in the way it deals with social class differences. Otherwise the stories unfold much the way you expect, with Peter Cushing's antique dealer providing the link between the stories, as each customer to his shop tries a fiddle and gets their comeuppance.
The most awkward moment came when Ian Carmichael switches the price tags around on a snuff box he goes on to purchase.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Seller got tired of The Pink Panther series rather quickly. The only reason why he did The Return of The Pink Panther was because he was broke and he was doing terrible films at the time. I think he kept returning to the series because of the money. He was actually about to do another PP film entitled Romance of The Pink Panther just before he died.
As for your other question, Roger Moore played Inspector Clouseau in Curse of The Pink Panther.
Love Actually. The Mrs really is getting the best of me at the moment!
http://apbateman.com
The Social Network
Due Date
RED
Of those, my favourite is a tie between the latter two. The Social Network was great, although I do wonder how factually accurate it was, but it's still good to gain an insight into how Facebook was launched.
Due Date was hilarious. So was RED, but in a different way. RED started off a little slow, but the movie more than makes up for it with the action towards the end. The humour in RED is of a dry, witty type - which I prefer overr the silly, in-your-face type humour.
No, no you're probably in the rare group of straight 20-something males that "actually" ADMIT to liking that film. I like it too.
1. People who hate things.
2. Irony.
3. Lists.
I really should kick myself for not mentioning this film in the "Best Westerns" thread. Actually if I may be so bold, this is probably the greatest western of all time. The film stars Joan Crawford as Vienna and Sterlying Hayden as the name sake character. Hayden has a screen presence here equal to Robert Mitchum, a laid back style mixed with an innate swarthiness and sexual charisma. Johnny "Guitar" was in fact Johnny Logan, a dangerous gunslinger who abandoned his old life for music. His former lover, Vienna, contacts Logan to play music for her saloon. Despite Vienna's hard-as-nails exterior, she was repulsed by darker side of Logan. Still, the two never really stopped loving each other. They both become potential victims of a vindictive woman named Emma Small. Small was dating an outlaw named "Dancin' Kid" but The Kid left her for Vieanna. Now Emma rallied a deputy and a blood thirsty posse against them both and all hell breaks loose.
Nicholas Ray directed this Johnny Guitar and really, who better for the job. Ray's best work such as On Dangerous Ground, In a Lonely Place, and Rebel Without a Cause explored how flawed human beings are not monsters and/or the ugly side of ignorance. He does no less in Johnny Guitar. Emma Small manipulates a town that already feared the rapidly growing and increasingly "fenced-in" western United States in the form of Vienna's Saloon. Logan represents that living an entirely peaceful life is nearly futile when a town is entirely against you; Words only go so far. The film gives an excuse for the violence not for the sake simply saving oneslife but living in a world where people can get what they want by playing on fears.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, Johnny Guitar has yet to see a Region 1 DVD release. A shame it so sorely deserves it.
1. People who hate things.
2. Irony.
3. Lists.
Filmography 2010:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4dEWOB6THE&feature=player_embedded
Robert De-Niro stars as the psychotic Max Cady terrorising his former defense lawyer Nick Nolte and his family. Directed by Martin Scorsese the film is a re-make of the 1962 thriller with Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck (the two appear briefly in this film). Whilst not one of Scorsese's best Cape Fear is a hugely enjoyable suspense thriller nonetheless. The cinematography often echos that of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly "Vertigo", with its use of sharp colours and dramatic close-ups. Not to mention the update of the original Bernard Herman score.
De-Niro is brilliantly creepy as Cady and clearly has fun playing up the character's madness - even if he does over-do it a little in the final 10 minutes.