The Watch… Above-average suspense spooker, about a college-girl who volunteers to serve as a firetower-lookout in a vast forest, where some murderous occurrences transpired. Flashbacks of her traumatic childhood are mixed-in, to add a little chaos to her (our) perception of things that can happen in-isolation. The supporting-cast is believable and react logically to events, specifically related-to events concerning the mysterious second tower, across the valley. The ending flops a little, but doesn’t distract from the film’s nervous atmosphere. Modest re-watchability factor.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:6180, topic:1923”]Snake Eyes (1998, Brian De Palma)
The opening is vintage De Palma, and the rest of the movie (a whodunnit developing in whirlpool style with a lot of multi-angle flashbacks) isn’t bad either, but not as good as this opening shot. Nic Ray’s exuberant acting style (he was clearly asked to act like this) works well for some time, but then starts working on your nerves. A great Gary Sinisi and an incredibly sexy Carla Cugino help (a lot).[/quote]
Yeah, I think the film is very underrated… such a Hitchcockian feel to it, like most De Palma.
what about some comics adaptation
i had an action movie session with friend and we watched Punisher, but not Punisher from 2004 or even Punisher WarZone from 2008
yap, Punisher from 1989 with good old Dolph Lundgren
despite the fact, he is not dressed in t-shirt with Skull, i think, it´s better than 2004 - probably worse than 2008
but, and this is big but, Dolph is the best Punisher ever imo, very cool in this movie and blackhaired (i think he looks better blackhaired than blondie)
and he has a bike 
and utmost “i don´t give a shit” attitude -
i was quite surprised by effective action scenes, and it is precisely what this movie needs - Dolph with a big shotgun ;D
although action ideas and technical merit is respectable, main villain killing is one big cliche and i truly wonder why in 1989 someone came with this hackneyed idea
problem with this movie is that (for someone) it doesn´t care much about comics,
and on the other hand it is somehow insufficient as a story of an action movie
[quote=“tomas, post:6183, topic:1923”]what about some comics adaptation
i had an action movie session with friend and we watched Punisher, but not Punisher from 2004 or even Punisher WarZone from 2008
yap, Punisher from 1989 with good old Dolph Lundgren
despite the fact, he is not dressed in t-shirt with Skull, i think, it´s better than 2004 - probably worse than 2008
but, and this is big but, Dolph is the best Punisher ever imo, very cool in this movie and blackhaired (i think he looks better blackhaired than blondie)
and he has a bike and utmost “i don´t give a shit” attitude -
i was quite surprised by effective action scenes, and it is precisely what this movie needs - Dolph with a big shotgun ;D
although action ideas and technical merit is respectable, main villain killing is one big cliche and i truly wonder why in 1989 someone came with this hackneyed idea
problem with this movie is that (for someone) it doesn´t care much about comics,
and on the other hand it is somehow insufficient as a story of an action movie[/quote]
punisher 1989 was one of my top 20 action films!
i loved this movie, all the other punisher films was crap to me
dolf lundgren has the charisma only of the true punisher
i still wait for a special edition unrated dvd from USA
[quote=“sartana1968, post:6184, topic:1923”]punisher 1989 was one of my top 20 action films!
i loved this movie, all the other punisher films was crap to me
dolf lundgren has the charisma only of the true punisher
i still wait for a special edition unrated dvd from USA[/quote]
yes, it is very good action flick, i like it 
friend told me that some scenes on the dvd were cut - some rough elements like chopped off hand and other nasty things
dolph is indeed very good, pity he didn´t make a sequel
[size=10pt]Point de Chute[/size] (1970) Robert Hossein
I must start by saying that while researching for this review, found out that many people considerer this film as a obvious rip-off of 1968 US film with Marlon Brandon “The night of the following day”, well the problem is that I’ve not seen this last one (actually I’ve a lot of Brando flicks to catch up, never been a very motivated fan really), so I won’t take that in consideration, no use to say that there’s always other that consider Hossein film a major upgrade.
It’s another stripped to the bone Hossein film, with few characters, few dialogue and very simple story, the economy of means in script and set its quite obvious, but if in other film the trick worked in perfection, here the simplicity just isn’t enough to pull the film from, let’s put this way, boredom, at least in the first half.
The second half is indeed better but for a film that depends a lot on the two main characters chemistry and development (Hallyday and Pascale Rivault), the director wasn’t capable of creating the bonds, between those two above mentioned, necessary to understand the ending, and it lacked that extra punch that additional stuff necessary to make the difference between good and not so good.
The film even with the obvious shortcomings does have its qualities, Halliday for instance is great even more for those like me that have grown up thinking the men was some kind of French Elvis, quite a mistake he’s a very capable actor, almost to iconic level here, the music (once again from Hossein Senior) c’est magnifique, the photography with color and black and white for the present scenes is also excellent (the film is made as long flashback), Hossein with only a few scenes looks quite menacing with his shades. There’s also some western moment towards the end in the best part of the film.
But it just isn’t enough to save the film from being boring and if not from total averageness, at least from missing the point. The main actress unknown Pascal Rivault, looks like some second rate Mimsy Farmer, even if with the right age just looks excessively old for the part.
So not an effective work as Hossein as presented us before, a bit pretentious and with a nouvelle vague feeling but in the bad way. A great music score and a solid performance from Johnny Hallyday are just enough to save the day.
My classification? Well better say my rating, which seems to be the fashionable word these days BBB+ or trash, well a 3 stars rating out of 5, not the type of film our mate Sartana1986 would probably like, and I didn’t like that much either.
Tobruk, classic ww2 movie.
The score is probably my favourite Tangerine Dream score. Really suits the film aswell.
[quote=“tomas, post:6185, topic:1923”]yes, it is very good action flick, i like it
friend told me that some scenes on the dvd were cut - some rough elements like chopped off hand and other nasty things
dolph is indeed very good, pity he didn´t make a sequel[/quote]
yes they cut many scenes i hace the original uncut version but the trasfer from those scenes are in a very bad shape
like puting the bad transfer into the good one, the uncut version it’s much much better than the cut one
Watched some Fulci, some Argento and also Sandy Whitelaw’s Lifespan, some kind of a revelation. An intelligent and fascinating sci-fi mystery with an unique score and a talented cast (Hiram Keller, Tina Aumont and Klaus Kinski). I blind bought Mondo Macabro’s DVD after seeing the trailer and even though I had some relatively high expectation, the film managed to surpass them. One of the best film I’ve seen in quite a while.
If you like the trailer, you’ll probably like the film :
Herostratus - I found it quite hard to sit through and it was most definately overlong at 2hrs 22mins. Some of the film was alright and there were some great camera shots here and there. The most interesting thing about it was probably some of the experimental type scenes and a young Helen Mirren prancing about.
Yeah, I just watched it last night… one of my favourite crime films… and the ending is perfect, the way the music carries onto the credits.
Yep. Great desert ‘feel’. And great depth and crispness of Leo Gordon’s script, who also co-stars.
I haven’t seen the 2008 Czech production of the same name.
Annie Hall (Allen / 1977)
The wife has been reading Diane Keaton’s memoirs so decided it was time we revisited the film Woody made about and with her. It still stands up really well and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with it.
[quote=“tomas, post:6185, topic:1923”]yes, it is very good action flick, i like it
friend told me that some scenes on the dvd were cut - some rough elements like chopped off hand and other nasty things
dolph is indeed very good, pity he didn´t make a sequel[/quote]Yeah, it got butchered for an R rating. The UK got the R print and butchered it even more!
As far as I know the Japanese and German editions are fully uncut.
Oh, and I think the old Dutch tape may be too.
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:6195, topic:1923”]Yeah, it got butchered for an R rating. The UK got the R print and butchered it even more!
As far as I know the Japanese and German editions are fully uncut.
Oh, and I think the old Dutch tape may be too. ;)[/quote]
oh, those goddamned butchers!
I watched Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun (1987) yesterday. An excellently made film with money on the screen with a fantastic child performance from Christian Bale. John Malkovich is also very good in this World War Two movie.
Another Earth (2011) by Mike Cahill
very interesting movie
one day a duplicate of our Earth appears on the sky - although it contains this great idea, which raises a perfect sense of wonder of SF genre, it is more human drama than science fiction
in its minimalistic style and focus on characters it reminds movies like Quiet Earth or Gattaca
inconspicuous film, but surely recommended
BRONCO BULLFROG - Watched it this afternoon, another worthwhile release on the BFI Flipside collection.
Del is 17 years old, even though an apprentice welder is also a petty crook, a friend of his, Bronco Bullfrog has just got out of prison and has a little “work” for him. Del ends up running away with his 15 year old bird with the police on their tail.
The black and white photography looks nice and crisp, well worth a watch.
One of the extras is a 35 minute short called “Seven Green Bottles” which is basically about a bunch of kids who bunk off school and go shoplifting, setting fires, breaking into parking meters etc. It’s a great little gem. some of it reminded me some of the silly shit me and some of my pals used to get up to as kids.
OSS 117: Murder for Sale (Hunebelle / Desagnat / 1968)
Not as good as either of the two previous OSS 117 flicks I’ve seen but diverting enough as a eurospy outing. In truth, it was the cast list that drew me to this one. John Gavin as the famous agent was fine but the support list is enough to whet the appetite of any here. Robert Hossein, Luciano Paluzzi, Margaret Lee, Rosalba Neri, George Eastman, Piero Lulli. Not to mention Curt Jurgens. With all that on show I hoped for a bit more really but everyone except Gavin gets far too little screen time and, Robert Hossein’s doctor not included, they all play cardboard cut outs instead of real characters in truth. Lulli and Neri don’t even get any lines which seems a terrible waste. Despite what little he has to work with Hossein is the stand out. He seems to be able to portray more simply by sitting at his desk smoking a cigarette than most actors can with a page of dialogue.
Watched an English dub of the French Gaumont DVD which was very nice quality.