[size=10pt]Alex Garland-Ex-Machina[/size]-size=10pt[/size]
Well, it’s not the best sci-fi i’ve seen in years…yet, IMO i thought first time director did a decent job in this fascinating, stylish and intriguing film. The acting, special effects, nudity and the scenery are all good, BUT it’s not for everyone. It’s a slow-burner drama mystery with much dialogue and sparse action, if any. Nevertheless i enjoyed it for what it is, however, it has an unsettling ending…i’m still thinking about it.
THE AMBUSHERS (1967, Henry Levin)
Continuing my exploration of the Matt Helm movies, I worked myself through this entry, the third in the series and reportedly the weakest of the lot. So true. Okay, the Helm movies are campy entertainment and should be watched as such, but while the first two movies were poking fun at the spy thriller genre (in particular the 007 franchise), madness has taken over completely in this third act. We get anti-gravity pistols, firing cigarettes and laser beams that melt belt buckles, so the villain’s henchmen end up with their trousers on their ankles while Matt Helm runs off with the girls.
The special effects are atrocious and the haywire plot is so vague that it’s almost instantly forgotten after the film is over. Some say there’s no plot at all (reportedly press releases opened with the line “So sorry, no summary on this one”). Well, I thought it was about a flying saucer, but maybe I made up my own plot. It happens: like beauty, the plot is sometimes in the mind of the beholder. Large parts of the movie are set in Acapulco and apparently some scenes were actually shot across the border, but we also get a lot of matte paintings. Some scenes looked as if they were shot in Dean Martin’s backyard.
On the plus side there’s the presence of both Janice Rule and Senta Berger and there’s also a fairly entertaining ‘refresher course scene’ at the beginning of the film. Janice Rule is not the usual type of Matt Helm babe (she was in her late thirties while Matt was often fooling around with girls that could’ve been his grand daughters), but she shows some great legs and seems to enjoy herself a lot in the role.
ROMANCING THE STONE (1984)
Eighties stuff revisited on request (somebody asked me to review it for a Dutch site). It’s actually as eighties as a movie can be: noisy, hectic, overindulgent, good fun if you’re into noisy, hectic and overindulgent entertainment. Those type of movies are not really my thing, but this one isn’t bad. Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner are a nice pair of fortune seekers (he a professional, she a frumpy writer of adventure stories now experiencing the real thing); the two are trying to safe Turner’s sis while treasure hunting in Colombia. One of the baddies is an all too typical Danny De Vito (still funny in a couple of scenes). Western fans will want to know that one of the Colombians (the drug lord who’s also a fan of Turner’s character, the novelist Joan Wilder!) is played by Alfonso Auro, one of the most colorful bad guys in The Wild Bunch.
Almost forgot about that film, its been that long since I have viewed. Probably when it first came out I imagine.
The Doll Of Satan
Elizabeth (Erna Schurer) travels from London to a castle in France which was owned by her late uncle and finds out she is being left it in his will, but certain people don’t want her to have it and want it for themselves. Anyone who interferes ultimately pays the price for doing so.
[size=12pt]HYSTERIA[/size] (1965, Freddie Francis)
A Hammer production with some horror influences, but rather a mystery thriller than a horror movie. Robert Webber, an American in Britain, loses his memory after a car crash. His only clue is the photo of a woman, torn from a newspaper and found on the spot. He is traumatized by voices and also stumbles upon bloodstained objects in the cupboards and shower of his apartment. Was he involved in a murderous crime before the accident or is somebody trying to drive him crazy?
The question in relation to these mystery thrillers always is: Will they come up with an explanation that is as intriguing as the intriguing events? In this case the answer will probably be: no. The film was scripted by Jimmy Sangster, one of the most prolific screenwriters of the famous production house, and he wasn’t too happy with his writings himself. The story is too convoluted and the explanation for the events seems a little far-fetched. There’s also a would-be funny interlude involving a French girl and her boyfriend (who want to rob Webber) that serves no real purpose.
All in all it’s still an enjoyable little thriller, well-shot, especially the interior scenes, and well-acted. Webber is merely okay in the lead, but Maurice Denham is a delight as an eccentric private detective ‘who hates violence’.
A Force of One (1979) - I like alot of Chuck Norris but don’t what people see in this one, not much of an action movie… but at least better than Breaker Breaker… looks great on blu-ray
HERCULES(2014) by Brett Ratner and starring Dwayne(The Rock) Johnson.
Well, as you would expect from a cheesy fantasy movie. Dumb story, cheesy dialogue and bad acting, but to be honest it wasn’t all that bad. Good action, impressive battle scenes and ( The Rock ) as Hercules is ok in this but that hair (wig) really had to go. Overall fun, great way to waste a Saturday afternoon.
Sorcerer.
Group of men take on the task of transporting some explosives via truck on a very dangerous treck across some rough terrain. The scenes with the trucks is the best segment of the film as has alot of suspense set in the very sweaty jungle most of the time. Superb ahead of its time score by Tangerine Dream.
[quote=“ENNIOO, post:12271, topic:1923”]Sorcerer.
Group of men take on the task of transporting some explosives via truck on a very dangerous treck across some rough terrain. The scenes with the trucks is the best segment of the film as has alot of suspense set in the very sweaty jungle most of the time. Superb ahead of its time score by Tangerine Dream.[/quote]
I reckon I need to track this one down. It was enthusiastically recommended to me on another site not so long ago.
L’Occhio dietro la Parete (Eyes behind the Wall - 1977, Giuliano Petrelli)
Fernando Rey is a wheelchair-bound author who spies on his tenant (John-Philip Law) for inspiration for a novel or simply for the kick of it; to increase the thrill of it all, he asks his much younger partner (Olga Bisera) to seduce the tenant and have sex with him so he can watch them.
Nothing is what it seems in this sleazy combination of giallo and sexy melodrama. Rey is not the only character who has some odd perversions: there’s also a servant with a fixation on pubic hair, the tenant is a serial killer and to make this mix even more spicy, the movie also has a homosexual rape-scene thrown in. That’s all? No, there are a few (surprising, but ridiculous) revelations in the last few minutes that will take your breath away.
Rear Window was no doubt a source of inspiration, but the finale seems closer to Claude Sautet’s Les Choses de la Vie. Doesn’t really work as a thriller, doesn’t work at all as a drama, but has a few sex scenes that are quite remarkable. Not surprisingly this remained Petrelli’s only movie as a director.
2/5
This one pleased my deviant mind.
I can see that 
[quote=“ENNIOO, post:12271, topic:1923”]Sorcerer.
Group of men take on the task of transporting some explosives via truck on a very dangerous treck across some rough terrain. The scenes with the trucks is the best segment of the film as has alot of suspense set in the very sweaty jungle most of the time. Superb ahead of its time score by Tangerine Dream.[/quote]
Great film great soundtrack. The original “The wages of fear” is also great.
Pete Townshend seems to think so!
Had a Michael Winner double bill last night, watched Firepower and The Wicked Lady.
[quote=“ENNIOO, post:12271, topic:1923”]Sorcerer.
Group of men take on the task of transporting some explosives via truck on a very dangerous treck across some rough terrain. The scenes with the trucks is the best segment of the film as has alot of suspense set in the very sweaty jungle most of the time. Superb ahead of its time score by Tangerine Dream.[/quote]
Interesting coincidence; I just watched this last night for the first time. Awesome film. I already owned the soundtrack CD. I was a bit surprised that much of Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack wasn’t used in the film.
I also watched the 1968 documentary Monterey Pop.
THE OMEGA MAN, starring Charlton Heston.
Based on Richard Matheson’s classic novel, ‘I Am Legend’…‘The Omega Man’ has always been a favourite.
Yes, its a shame that.
[size=12pt]ANZIO (Lo Sbarco di Anzio - 1968, Edward Dmytryk)[/size]
A war movie about the disastrous allied amphibious landing in Anzio, in January 1944, South-West of Rome. The landing was a success - no wonder: the beach was virtually unprotected - but then commander Major General J.P. Lucas inexplicably decided NOT to march on to Rome but to build a beachhead near the coast instead. This gave the Germans time to regroup their forces: The allied forces were surrounded and it took them several months to break out. 30,000 allied soldiers died near Anzio.
Basically this is a Hollywood backed, Italian war movie. Famed producer Di Laurentiis wanted his own ‘Longest Day’, but due to financial problems he wasn’t able to carry out his plans (his business partners feared that audiences wouldn’t be interested in what was considered as a major disaster). Only the first half hour and the finale are set near the Anzio bridgehead, in-between we get a story about a small group of soldiers lost behind enemy lines - the kind of story Italian war movies of the period (“Macaroni Combat”) were famous for.
Uneven to say the least, not the great movie it was supposed to be, but remarkably enjoyable. It’s said that Robert Mitchum hardly had a sober moment on the set, but he turns in a decent performance nonetheless. Also starring Peter Falk, Earl Holliman, Arthur Kennedy, Mark Damon and Reni Santoni (Robert Ryan briefly appears as a staff officer based on real-life lieutenant-general Mark Clark). Some spectacular and tense action moments, notably a protracted scene around a mine field.