[quote=“scherpschutter, post:11620, topic:1923”]okay, I admit it[/quote]
[quote=“Lone Gringo, post:11614, topic:1923”]@Sorcerer
Excellent film with a fascinating story, one of my favorite from William Friedkin.[/quote]
Could not agree more. I was really blown away when I first viewed the film.
Haven’t seen Sorcerer yet (really want to), but I’ve always liked Roy Scheider; in his seventies films, like Richard Dreyfuss, he could be a great everyman actor (see Jaws) in a very un-idealised way that means I always look forward to seeing his films.
Murder, My Sweet-1944:Great
Voyage Sans Espond/Voyage Without Hope-1943:Good
La Citta Si Difende/Four Ways Out-1951:Good
The Suspect-2013:Good
Oculus-2013:Good
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves-1944:Fair
Pompeii-2014:Shit
White House Down-2013:Shit
The Heat-2013:Shit
Weekend (1967) - 5/10
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) - 10/10
Seul contre tous (1998) - 10/10
A Day in the Country (1936) - 6/10
Toni (1935) - 7/10
Stalag 17 (1953) - 9/10
La Grande Illusion (1937) - 8/10
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013) - 9/10
'Seul contre tous (1998) - 10/10’
Half. If that.
Double Tap - Leslie Cheung is an expert at the “Double Tap”, a technique of two shots fired in quick succession in near enough the same place who is a master of the shooting range. He’d never shot anyone till he had to save all the spectators at the range from a crazed gunman who he killed with a shot to the head, after this he gets a taste for killing… I thought it was ok for a watch but nothing to recommend really.
The Foot Fist Way - Early low budget comedy starring Danny McBride, it’s got it’s limitations but worthy of a watch, if anything to see that start of a style of attitude prior to Kenny Powers.
Death Force - A Vietnam vet is (supposedly) killed and left for dead by his two partners in crime and dumped overboard, he ends up on a desert island where is is trained in the way of the samurai by two Japanese soldiers also stranded on the island. When he finally manages to get off the island he travels back to the U.S. to exact revenge on them and the crime syndicate they now run. You get exactly what you expect from this Cirio H. Santiago actioner, low budget fun.
Paths of Glory (1957)
One of the few Kubrick’s I haven’t seen before (others being the ones older than this one and Barry L). It has been long overdue, but I’m glad that I haven’t seen all the classics already, the future would look dull otherwise 
What can I say, I was not biased about the movie, but I can’t describe it otherwise than one of the greatest (anti) war movies of all time. It is also great legal drama, that part actually takes most of the run-time, but the one war action sequence is filmed brilliantly. The anti-war message is delivered thoughtfully and powerfully, like a punch in the stomach followed by the punch in the nose. The final comment on humanity and hope for the mankind is magnificent.
[quote=“titoli, post:11628, topic:1923”]Paths of Glory (1957)
One of the few Kubrick’s I haven’t seen before (others being the ones older than this one and Barry L). It has been long overdue, but I’m glad that I haven’t seen all the classics already, the future would look dull otherwise
What can I say, I was not biased about the movie, but I can’t describe it otherwise than one of the greatest (anti) war movies of all time. It is also great legal drama, that part actually takes most of the run-time, but the one war action sequence is filmed brilliantly. The anti-war message is delivered thoughtfully and powerfully, like a punch in the stomach followed by the punch in the nose. The final comment on humanity and hope for the mankind is magnificent.[/quote]
Couldn’t agree more. Along with A Clockwork Orange my favorite Kubrick.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969, Guy Hamilton)
Not the most logical choice if you want to watch a war movie on June 6, but the point is that I couldn’t find my copy of The Longest Day.
Anyway, Battle of Britain is said to be very loyal to historic events, and this might be true, but otherwise it doesn’t feel very different from all other old-fashioned war movies cast in the spot-the-star mould. It does some things right, it does other things wrong, and in the end it’s not very satisfying. The aerial battles are well-filmed, with real airplanes, not models, but they go on forever and in the end they become both boring and confused, because most pilots are unrecognizable in their cockpits.
The flimsy script saddles dozens of actors with stereotypical roles, making it hard to identify with any of them. Christopher Plummer and Susannah York come off best as a quarrelsome couple, and Kenneth More is a pleasure to watch - as usual - as York’s buttoned-up but otherwise good-natured superior who might have an eye on her. York also provides the movie with a (very welcome) dash of eroticism.
The film was a critical (and financial) failure and after the first negative comments, some twenty minutes were cut from the running-time; it now runs a little over two hours, which is more than enough for a movie that lacks any real momentum, but the cuts have caused a few awkward transitions.
Easily one of the best film ever made.
It was one of my very favourite movies when I was a kid. I haven’t seen the flick since I was about 11.
The Spitfires used in Batlle of Britain, belongued to the Portuguese Air Force, that was the only Air Force in the world with Spitfires in active duty at the time the film was made.
I watched the mandatory The Longuest Day, was in some TV channels, like some parts, mostly the ones directed by the French director, the scenes with the Rangers and Rob Mitchum, but John Wayne really spoils the film for me.
[quote=“El Topo, post:11632, topic:1923”]but John Wayne really spoils the film for me.[/quote]Hardly surprising though is it.
I watched THE LONGEST DAY a couple of years ago (for the first time since I was a kid) after I had visited the beaches of Normandy.
It’s not a particularly great movie, but as a spot-the-star spectacle it’s far better than BATTLE OF BRITAIN.
I found my copy in the meantime, but don’t really feel like rewatching it A-Z. Maybe a couple of scenes.
Agree with the sentiment that The Longest Day is better than Battle of Britain: the former’s black and white cinematography and staging at least manages to convey the requisite somber atmosphere. Although, A Bridge Too Far, in my experience, is still by far the best of the all-star restaging-a-major-battle-from-WWII films, with some tense vignettes (particularly those scenes with Sean Connery).
[size=12pt]The Philadelphia Experiment -1984 - Stewart Raffill [/size]
The second view of this film after almost thirty years hiatus.
Not an obvious choice for a watch, but after forty you become a regular client of the things you’ve watch as a teen.
Michael Paré was a household name on those days Streets of Fire was a huge success in Portugal, every kid wanted to be like him. So any film with him was a must see.
The plot its Ok I guess a mix of Starman and other science fiction films. I’m saying the obvious here, but I saw it now with different and more experience eyes, and its easy to find out why Paré or Nance Allen acting career never really went nowhere than this or Robocop for Allen, they really couldn’t act, Paré is real a hopeless case in acting terms.
Anyway I can see why this was an appealing film for teens an easy watch, who cares about acting when you’re 16.
One I viewed at the cinema on a re-release in the 90’s sometime.
I saw The Longest Day in cinema around 1970 and then again on DVD after visiting Normandy a few years ago. In-between I never watched it A-Z but I don’t know how many times I watched a couple of minutes or a bit more when the film was on TV, on the 6th of June, of course.
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:11627, topic:1923”]The Foot Fist Way[/B] - Early low budget comedy starring Danny McBride, it’s got it’s limitations but worthy of a watch, if anything to see that start of a style of attitude prior to Kenny Powers.
[/quote]
I saw The Foot Fist Way when it was in limited theatrical release several years back. What made it funny to me is that I’ve actually seen and met guys like that in the U.S. martial arts scene. McBride’s character is pretty accurately portrayed; there is truth within it. I’d seen such people at least as early as the 1980s. They were most visible in American open karate tournaments. I’m sure McBride, or whoever thought up the main character, based him on people like that they’d seen or even knew.
The Wild Rovers - 1971
I picked up the Warner disc of this, which is in great condition a few weeks ago. Its a long western, just over 2 hours, and it does does suffer from a few scenes that could not be included, as they just added on to kill time. I later learnt that Blake Edwards wanted this film to be a three hour epic, but did not like the the finished film, also because they changed the ending to a more upbeat one. Aside from these few scenes, its a great little seen western. Ross (William Holden) and Frank (Ryan O’Neal) are two cattlemen who plan to rob a bank so Ross can retire to Mexico, so of course as in most western traditions, it goes balls up, and ends up with the two being hunted. Holde looks great as the old, haggard gunslinger, and O’Neal’s role is played more as the “dumb blonde” of western heroes, though he he does have some terrific lines. All in all, a lovely little western, with some nice direction by Edwards. 8/10