Haha, I got this one on a Rolling Thunder Pictures tripple bill. I laughed the whole way through.
Did you see the English dubbed version then? The one I saw was in Mandarin with English subtitles. I might wait a year or two and give it a rewatching, the 88 Films Blu Ray is about 12 dollars US.
Rewatched Once Upon a Time in America this weekend, I just love this movie for many diffrent reasons. The whole atmosphere is just overwhelming. Perfectly directed, to the point were even the slightest minor details has significant meaning. I discover new stuff every time I watch this. My interpretation of the plot also changes. My favourite scenes are the ones in the opium den, as well as when Noodles returns to Fat Moeâs in New York from Buffalo reuniting with him in his club after hours. It almost has that âLone gunslingerâ-feeling to it. I would really like to read the book by Harry Grey that this movie was based upon - "The Hoods. Did anyone here read it?
I know the book is supposed to be Greyâs pseudo-biography about his days as a gangster, though how much reflects his actual adventures and associations I donât know. I remember reading Leone met with Grey a few times, and was deeply saddened when he learned Grey passed away when he phoned him to tell him the film was going into production.
- Eriksson: M (cinema) 6/10
- Cavalcanti, Crichton, Dearden, Hamer: Dead of the Night 7/10
- Rohmer: My Night at Maudâs 7/10
- Arkush: Rock ânâ Roll High School 7/10
- Scola: Passione dâamore 6/10
- Archer: Django Strikes Again 3/10
- Kokkonen: Pohjan tähteet 9/10
- Argento: Phenomena (cinema) 8/10
- Welles: Magnificent Ambersons 8/10
- Franco: Countess Perverse 8/10
Watched La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte(Death Walks at Midnight) this afternoon and was thoroughly entertained and impressed. The twists and red herrings were well done. ****3/4 out of *****
(Iâd have given it 5 stars, but a 2-3 minute sequence of Italian audio was missing, though not anything to hinder the viewing)
DOOM (2005, Andrzej Bartkowiak)
Eight space marines (huh?), led by Dwayne Johnson, are sent on a mission to investigate what went wrong in a remote research facility on Mars. Based on a computer game and throwing in everything you can think of when talking about SF horror: genetic engineering, a space portal, men turned monsters, zombies, etc. Stupid and pointless, but one of those men turned monsters was a man in a wheelchair, so now we get a monster in a wheelchair! Also stars a then relatively unknown Rosamund Pike.
HANNAH (2011, Joe Wright)
½
Again genetic engineering, in a very stylish movie that seemed to have caused a lot of division among film critics and moviegoers: It was hailed by some as one of the best action movies in recent history, others described it as a nice package but an empty box. Saoirse Ronan is terriffic and the approach to the action scenes is refreshingly different (and so is the eccentric score by The Chemical Brothers), but yes, the story material is rather thin. The idea of secret government programs to tamper with childrenâs DNA in order to make them stronger, more intelligent and less emphatic, has been used too many times. Stephen King used it in a couple of his novels and thereâs even a TV series (created by James Cameron) called Dark Angel and starring Jessica Alba with the same premise. But, as said, itâs stylishly made and Saoirse Ronan makes all the difference
Rorouni Kenshin : Kyoto Inferno (2014, Keishi Otomo)
Âź (rating especially invented for this movie, youâll read why)
The first of two sequels to the successful Rorouni Kenshin movie. The former samurai-killer Battosai is leading a peaceful life now, but is asked to take up his sword again to stop another samurai-killer, who used to work for the Shogun and now threatens to overthrow the imperial government. Almost on a par with the first movie, but itâs a more straightforward story of good versus bad and thereâs also a bit more sentimentality. Silly dialogue lines go hand in hand with almost unbelievable action sequences. The ending is rather abrupt, so I guess the story will be continued in part III
Le Jeune Ahmed (2018, Dardenne brothers)
The latest movie by the Belgian Dardenne brothers. Known as left-wing film makers, they caused a shock by presenting a movie that is very critical of Islam and the well-meant but naĂŻve way western governments try to deal with it. Ahmed is a 14-year old boy of North-African descent, living in one of the suburbs of Liege, who starts his own private mini-jihad after being radicalized by a local imam. A clumsy effort to kill an infidel teacher leads to his arrest, but he has no trouble misleading all social workers in the detention facility he is sent to, and can therefore easily continue his private war on the infidels. After a few minor efforts, this is again Dardenne grand cru, an uncompromising movie experience that hits you right in the face. The brothers were criticized for not giving one of those popular explanations for the boyâs behavior (alienation, discrimination of muslims, etc), but this âneglectâ makes their movie only stronger: there are no easy answers to the question this movie raises
JOHN WICK (2014, Chad Stahelski)
Review coming up (on my Blog)
That was the best part in the film especially because the guyâs nickname was Pinky.
Lousy movie, great scene
I watched Virtual Weapon with Terence Hill. Surprised how much I ended up loving this strange little film.
Last 10
- Peckinpah: Ballad of Cable Hogue 10/10
- Scola: La Famiglia 7/10
- Stiller: SĂĽngen om den eldrĂśda blomman 6/10
- London: Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within (tv-movie) 2/10
- Kechiche: La vie dâAdèle 10/10
- Saura: Derprisa, deprisa 8/10
- Wnendt: Wetlands 5/10
- Anderson: If⌠7/10
- Stiller: Herr Arnes pengar 8/10
- Forman: One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest 9/10
At least one person who agrees with me about this movie. Peckinpahâs best, along with Ride the High Country
Enjoyed a quiet late night viewing of Torino Violenta from the Euro-Crime box set. I donât know why so many fans of Euro-Crime dump on this film, I enjoyed it a lot and thought it was well made
Without a doubt, the worst Euro crime film Iâve ever watched along with Destruction Force.
Casino Royale (2006)-
The Narrow Margin (1952)-1/2
5 Dolls for an August Moon (1970)-1/2
Avengers:Endgame-
The Adventurers (2017)-
Central Intelligence-(2016)-
The Silence (2019)-
Captain Marvel (2019)-1/2
Stuck at home Iâve been watching a few films between the dippers changing.
The captain (der Hauptmann) Robert Schwentke â (2017)
I started to watch this by chance, and halfway through the movie did some research and notice it was bases in a true story.
The plot based in true events and characters, is very interesting, it tells the story of a young German soldier during the last days of the war trying to survive amid the chaos, when suddenly finds an uniform of a Captain, and from then impersonating his new character as an officer with drastic consequences.
The premise is simple showing how power can corrupt anyone in any circumstance. But not only for the historical background the film deserves a watch, the acting is very good (apart from sometimes the main actor trying too much to be good), the B&W image fits the mood of the film, being well directed sometimes feeling like a dark humor I think unintentionally .
Think of Schlinderâs List but the other way around, a powerful story to be told.
The Siege of Jadotville â Ritchie Smyth (2016)
I like this small histories about less known events, but urging to be told. The film set in 1961 tells the story of an Irish Army unit serving as peace keeping blue Helmets force under the UN in Congo.
The soldiers were ill equipped with mostly light fire arms some WWI and WWII machine guns, and no past combat experience.
Theyâre mission like mostly is these cases was defensive peace keeping, not of combat, patrolling the villages and not much more.
The problem was that Congo a new country then due to the recent decolonization from the Belgium kingdom, was rich in Diamonds and no one really wanted to let go.
So the UN Soldiers thanks to some Machiavelli international political intrigue (coming also from their country) face themselves in a mission impossible, defend a small mining village in the Katanga region with only little military resources and no support at all, against some of the most experience African soldiers/mercenaries send by France, commanded by French and Belgium veteran soldiers.
This was no Zulu type situation, the enemy in this case was more equipped with not only more soldiers but with more fire power they even had an airplane, and with experience commanders. For the Irish it was like going out prepared to a Sunday picnic but end up doing a three day gipsy weeding.
I wonât tell much more of the developing of the story and ho it ends, but itâs a clinically well-made film, tension builds perfectly, and the actors do decent job, Jamie Dornan (the guy from fifty shades of gray) as the Irish Commander makes a decent job (even if with an American accent), and also Mark Strong as the shady politician who betrays the soldiers. The action scenes are well made for such an under the radar film, above all itâs a war film.
It was Netflix made, so if you can catch it I highly recommended it a good old school war movie, just lacking a bit more plot on the political background of the story.
4 stars of 5
Watched Napoli Violenta (Violent Naples) Friday afternoon. Slow start, but well worth what happens throughout. ****1/2 out of *****.
Over the last couple of monthsâŚ
Il Gattopardo (Visconti, 1963) - 4.5/5
Le Notti Bianche (Visconti,1957) - 4.5/5
LâEclisse (Antonioni, 1962) - 4.5/5
La Notte (Antonioni, 1961) - 4.5/5
Divorzio allâitaliana (Germi, 1963) - 4/5
Rocco e i Suoi Fratelli (Visconti, 1961) - 4/5
Viaggio in Italia (Rossellini, 1954) - 3.5/5
Roma CittĂ Aperta - (Rossellini, 1945) - 3.5/5
Miracolo a Milano - (De Sica, 1951) - 3.5/5
Il Grido (Antonioni, 1957) - 4/5
Il Tetto (De Sica, 1956) - 3.5/5
Kwaidan (Kobayashi, 1964) - 4.5/5
The Virgin Spring (Bergman, 160) - 4/5
Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932) - 4/5
Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945) - 4.5/5
Too Late for Tears (Haskin, 1949) - 4/5
The Killers (Siodmak, 1946) - 4/5
Rollercoaster (Goldstone, 1977) - 4/5
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Curtiz, 1938) - 4/5
The Brain (Hunt, 1988) - 4/5
Basket Case (Henenlotter, 1982) - 4/5
The Monster Squad (Dekker, 1987) - 4/5
Phantasm (Coscarelli, 1979) - 4/5
Safety Last (Newmeyer/Taylor, 1923) - 5/5
Speedy (Wilde 1928) - 4/5
The Freshman (Newmeyer/Taylor, 1925) - 4/5
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925) - 4/5
To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock, 1955) - 3/5
Most people on the face of this earth had already seen this movie, some of them more than twice (so Iâve been told)
So I thought it was time for me to give it a chance as well
Oh well âŚ
Read all about my experiences here:
http://sg-movie-reviews.blogspot.com/2019/06/john-wick.html
Canât understand the appeal of this movie - just another tedious shoot 'em up, with an indestructible hero, which = no tension whatâs so ever.
PS: From the Urban Dictionary
**wick
In Northern Ireland the term wick is used to mean no good. Usually is replaced by other harsher words as a child gets older. Today one might say if something is wick, âit sucksâ.
That movie is completely wick.**