Jerry Lewis film The Disorderly Orderly
-Usually I like Lewis comedies but this one was just mostly unfunny mess.
Thunder In The City, 1937ā¦ An absolute Edward G. Robinson masterpiece, as a fast-talking advertizing-exec whoās fired from Americaās top agency for being too ācreativeā. (causes a riot by having trapeze-artists performing stunts, suspended from an ad-zeppelin over New York) So he goes to England to visit his distant relatives, who mistakenly think heās a wealthy tycoon. He presently crafts a worldwide stock-manipulation scheme disguised as a commercial mining ventureā¦ falling in-love, as London falls in-love with him.
Itās amazing that many of the filmās dynamics are still in-play now, as relevant as tomorrowās financial headlines.
A Lovely Way To Die - Kirk Douglas is an ex-cop who has now taken on the role of protecting accused murderess Sylva Koscina whilst sheās on trial but he falls for her, Eli Wallach is her lawyer. In her first screen role Ali MacGraw has a very small part at the start. Really enjoyable whilst viewing it but the ending was a bit damp. Even though itās a U.S. film shot in the States it has a Euro feel about it. The transfer of the Koch DVD looks fantastic.
Little Fauss and Big Halsey.
Robert Redford and Michael J Pollard are both excellent here as we follow their adventures as they travel to various motor cycle events, and race their bikes. Redford in a bit of a different role here, and for me one of the best I have seen him in. I was reading that Redford does not like the role though.
[quote=āENNIOO, post:8884, topic:1923ā]Little Fauss and Big Halsey.[/quote]Funny enough I was only sent a DVD-R of it from someone last week, taped off Sky years ago, unfortunately itās got a line running through near enough the last half hour but someone else is now getting me one.
Iād never heard of it until a few weeks ago.
Mine is not the best copy as the audio goes a bit out of sinc, but one I will watch again for sure when a better print comes available.
Heavenās Gate (1980) by Michael Cimino.
Not an unappreciated masterpiece, as some people might call it and a disappointment overall. The first part is tremendous (extremely opulent), while the second half is a little uninspired. Cimino doesnāt know where he wants to end it all and hence it becomes an overambitious, self-indulgent clutter. The direction feels undisciplined and Cimino presents too many episodes and sub-plots, thus it all seems to be quite uneven and somehow slightly messy. An introduction of Isabelle Huppertās character was so abrupt that I almost started to ask myself if she had already appeared on the screen. Her role isnāt imposing, quite superficial I must say and she is nothing but an old-fashioned heroine (yes, sheās stunningly pretty in this, but it doesnāt render her role more impressive). Fortunately it never gets too soapy and overall itās enjoyable in its own way. The cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond is sublime and truly fabulous, loads of brown and white color - visually stunning and from this point of view even outshines Deer Hunter (maybe even one of the most beautifully shot American flicks - hey, the picture is remarkably delightful!). However, this longer version still feels like a $36 million thrown to the winds, as Roger Ebert put it (not a big fan of his - he is an incredible snob, but sometimes heās right), although his treatment is too harsh towards Ciminoās effort, since there is really plenty to gloat over. In spite of being unequal in quality, itās frequently a superb visual and emotional feast. If United Artists had supervised this and hadnāt lost control over it, it would have been much better, though I guess it would be something totally different. I also wonder what Ciminoās original cut (over 5 hours) would look like. Would it feel tighter? I donāt know, but all we can do now is only to assume.
Gets weak 7/10
[quote=āENNIOO, post:8884, topic:1923ā]Little Fauss and Big Halsey.
Robert Redford and Michael J Pollard are both excellent here as we follow their adventures as they travel to various motor cycle events, and race their bikes. Redford in a bit of a different role here, and for me one of the best I have seen him in. I was reading that Redford does not like the role though.[/quote]
Caught that one on TV quite a few times when i was younger. Good, quirky fun.
āFrom Here to Eternityā - hadnāt seen it in decades, and forgot that itās a bit of a soap opera! Great film, thoughā¦
Itās very well acted and photographed and overall, consumately made. However, Fred Zinnemannās direction could been more āadventuousā (although truth be told, the only film of his where his direction I consider was more than good was in High Noon).
THREE AMIGOS (1986, John Landis)
After the hard work on Once Upon a time in the West and Heavenās Gate I thought it was a good idea to pick a more lighthearted movie. Not the best of ideas. I had seen parts of it when it was shown on TV, but never watched it A-Z.
This comedy about three stars from the silent era, who are taken for real heroes in revolutionay Mexico, is not entirely hopeless, but somehow I had expected a bit more. Chevy Chase and Steve Martin are not among the greatest American comedians in history, but not among the worst either and both perform a few funny routines, but in the end itās not enough to save the movie from boredom.
The best jokes are all in the first half (or does the movie simply outstay its welcome?) and once the premise is set and we get the joke, Landis doesnāt know where to go with the story. In any case, a running time of 104 minutes seems far too long for a movie like this. The leader of the baddies is played by Alfonso Arau, one of the most recognizable faces from Peckinpahās Wild Bunch (I didnāt remember this or had never noticed it before), but that joke falls flat too after the initial fun of thinking: 'Hey, who the hell is this this guy? Is he really ā¦"
Disappointing.
2/5
Something From Nothing: The Art Of Rap - Ice-T meets up with (mainly) old school rappers. Purely enjoyable. I wouldnāt even have recognised Kool Moe Dee if his name hadnāt come up, looks totally different.
Abschied von gestern/Anita G/Yesterday Girl (1967 ALexander Kluge)
An interesting film, a bit too much Godardian at its worst (Our heroin played by the directorās sister, sometimes resembles Anna karina in Vivre sa vie), but at his best is a very inteligent film, with several messages underneath the misfortunes of the heroin, or better saying main characterās, life in West Germany.
The film tells the story of a Young girl arrived from East Germany to the West side, her non adaptation to the her new/old life, and we really never know if its her fault or other are to blame, or no one is to blame and things are as they are, the strange thing is that as I watch the film Iāve never felt sorry for Anita, why I donāt know.
Impressive scene where Anita is on trial cause a very small ofense and in the end convicted to jail, the shots of her and the Judge, her silence and the Judge speach are just priceless.
Interesting film from an interesting director, but not for every one taste
1950, Kill Or Be Killedā¦ Glistening liāl Lawrence Tierney gem, where heās an air-conditioning expert in South America whoās framed for murder. He escapes to a jungle-plantation and takes over. -Finds romance as he devises a revenge-plot to clear his name. Key guest-stars: hungry pirahnasā¦ Tierneyās suave animalism is always like watching a thunderstorm in a bottle.
Saw Argentoās Inferno on the Koch Media BluRay yesterday. Beautyful disc, beautiful film. Nice colours, nice story. Like it very much.
Hows the Koch disc of inferno compared to the Arrow release?
Is it on par with Suspiria? Iāve heard a lot of rather negative opinions on this one.
The Blue-Underground disc is better than the Arrow on so Iād say thatās the one to compare it with.
Fuck Arrow and their shoddy releases with foul covers.
Can you please elaborate on why you think Arrow releases are shoddy Yodlaf? I donāt know much about Arrow but Iām planning on buying up a whole bunch of them. Iām a stickler for special features and Arrow releases have special features up the wazoo. It seems each release has at least 2 hours of extras and also reversable covers, booklets, etcā¦ As far as extras goes, they are far superior any of the R1 companies including BU. But perhaps the picture quality leaves something to be desired?
What type of extras are found on the koch Inferno disc?
I think they are shoddy because whenever there is another version they are always better. (apart from Zombie which is claimed looks better, when I looked at the screen comparisons between Arrow and Blue-Underground, they both had shots that each of them bettered the other on so neither is better, apart from the fact the Arrow one has 6 seconds missing from the boat at the start)
Bird With The Crystal Plumage - Blue-underground is gorgeous, Arrow is washed out and in wrong ratio.
City Of The living Dead - BU Looks better than Arrow.
Inferno - BU looks better and is better framed.
Bay Of Blood - Arrow Blu is washed out, Anchor Bay DVD looks better.
Deep Red - BU looks significantly better than Arrow
Tenebrae - Arrow is supposed to be god awful, French releases miles better but has forced subs.
Demons 1 & 2 - Arrow have colour and timing problems, no doubr the forthcoming Synapse ones will trump it.
Phenomena - The only Arrow one thatās really alright out of all the ones listed, but there is a Synapse one of this also on the way, will it better it? I should imagine so.
Thereās probably more that could be pointed out too. Not to mention most of Arrows extras are shit, anyone got City Of The Living Dead? check out the intros to the interviews etc, awful animation, downright terrible, I said so on Cunt labs forum, sorry I meant Cult labs forum, and got a pm from one of the mods saying not to say derogatory things about Arrow products and whoever did it took care love and attention to it, a week later they kicked me off. Glad as the place is full of cunts, the majority of them are clueless about Euro stuff unless their beloved Arrow or Shameless released them. And the shit some of them come out with āNot a film Iād want in my collection but if it came out in a yellow box Iād buy it in an instant!ā
You say Arrow have better extras? No way. They have more extras, not better, most of them are padded out with clips and long intros. More extras doesnāt mean better extras 